Editing Rex Applegate (section)

==Battle methods==

===Unarmed combat===
In 1943 he wrote ''Kill or Get Killed'', which is still considered a classic manual of [[Western martial arts|Western-style hand-to-hand combat]].  The updated 1976 edition of ''Kill or Get Killed'' was published by the [[United States Marine Corps|US Marine Corps]] as Fleet Marine Force Reference Publication 12-80.  From the foreword:

<blockquote>Fleet Marine Force Reference Publication (FMFRP) 12-80, ''Kill or Get Killed'', is published to ensure the retention and dissemination of useful information which is not intended to become doctrine or to be published in Fleet Marine Force manuals.</blockquote>

and

<blockquote>This reference publication was written in 1976 by Lieutenant Colonel Rex Applegate, USA (Ret), with the help of the Combat Section, Military Intelligence Training Center, Camp Ritchie, Maryland.  At last there is one volume which speaks to the subjects of unarmed combat (offensive and defensive), combat use of weapons, disarming the enemy, handling of prisoners, the handle of mob/crowd disobedience, the use of chemicals in such situations, and how to establish a professional riot control unit.</blockquote>

Applegate developed the techniques outlined in the book during his work with [[William E. Fairbairn]], who had previously developed his own techniques while working for the Shanghai Municipal Police from 1907 to 1940.  Fairbairn drew heavily on [[Chinese martial arts]], which he simplified and tailored to the needs of police training in one of the world's most crime-ridden cities, due to its history of crime related to the [[opium]] trade, the [[Taiping Rebellion|rebellion]], and the activities of [[Triad (organized crime)|Triad]] gangsters. His result was the development of [[Defendu]], widely considered the first of what became known as modern [[combatives]].<ref name="BB">{{cite journal|last=Angeles|first=Lito|year=2001|title=Battle School|journal=[[Black Belt Magazine]]|publisher=[[Active Interest Media]]|volume=39|issue=47|pages=74–77}}</ref> Applegate's techniques are heavily based on Fairbairn's Defendu, enhanced with feedback from the OSS operatives who put his techniques into action during World War II.

===Combat handgun techniques===
Applegate was a proponent of the [[combat pistol shooting]] system outlined in ''Kill or Get Killed'', which is based on [[point shooting]] with a strong emphasis on training for close-range, fast-response shooting. This system is somewhat at odds with another prominent system (developed and promoted by [[Jeff Cooper (colonel)|Jeff Cooper]]) called the [[Modern technique (shooting)|modern technique]]. Both systems have many supporters, with variants of Cooper's system being more commonly used.  Supporters of Cooper's methods point to the near-universal use of his system in the [[International Practical Shooting Confederation]] and other forms of [[action shooting]], while Applegate's supporters point to police incidents where officers trained in Cooper's methods discharge many rounds at close range (most measured in tens of feet (3 m) or less) with few (if any) disabling hits.  The last years of Applegate's life were spent promoting his combat-pistol-shooting methods to police agencies. Applegate co-wrote ''The Close-Combat Files of Colonel Rex Applegate''<ref>{{cite web|title=CLOSE-COMBAT FILES OF COLONEL REX APPLEGATE|url=http://www.paladin-press.com/detail.aspx?ID=155|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060312124354/http://www.paladin-press.com/detail.aspx?ID=155|archive-date=March 12, 2006|access-date=2006-05-11|df=mdy-all}}</ref> (with Chuck Melson), and was a founding member of the International Close Combat Instructors Association.

===Combat knife innovations===
[[File:Applegate-Fairbairn Combat II Knife.jpg|thumb|Applegate–Fairbairn fighting knife]]
In the early 1980s, Applegate released a design called the [[Applegate-Fairbairn fighting knife]] (a modified version of the World War II [[Fairbairn-Sykes]] knife). The new knife's design was a collaborative effort by Applegate and Fairbairn during World War II, eliminating the major weaknesses of the F-S knife (among them a weak blade point and the impossibility of determining the blade's orientation by grip alone). Boker Knives offers several versions of the A-F knife. [[Gerber Legendary Blades]] produced a line of folding knives by Applegate and [[Bill Harsey, Jr.]] based on the Applegate-Fairbairn fighting knife.

In the late 1980s Applegate released a modified version of Fairbairn's [[Smatchet]], which had been used by the SAS and OSS during World War II. The development of this weapon began as a collaborative effort between Applegate and Fairbairn during the war. Applegate named his {{convert|10|in|cm|adj=on}} double-edged knife the "Applegate-Fairbairn Combat Smatchet"; it was initially offered as a handmade knife by Bill Harsey, Jr., and later by Wells Creek Gun and Knife Works, and after that by [[Al Mar Knives]]. Following Mar's death, [[Böker]] Knives was licensed to produce it. Applegate later had Harsey design a "Mini-Smatchet" (with a {{convert|4.75|in|cm|adj=on}} blade) which was produced by Boker.

Applegate was inducted into the [[Blade (magazine)|Blade Magazine]] Cutlery Hall of Fame at the 1994 Blade Show in [[Atlanta, Georgia]] in recognition of the impact his designs have made upon the cutlery industry and for his writings on knife fighting.<ref name="HOF">{{cite news |title = Colonel Applegate Inducted into the Hall of Fame| work = Blade Magazine| date = July 31, 1994 }}</ref>