The Self-Defense Photo Of The Day. Above you have it, an Austrian Glock pointed at an attacker armed with a knife – way too close for comfort and bound to leave a mark or two somewhere, somehow, at least on someone. Luckily this is only melee training for the soldiers in the Austrian Bundesheer, and you can see the participants and the location below.

From the caption, machine-translated from Austrian:

A hand-to-hand combat instructor course, in which eleven cadre soldiers took part, recently ended at Pioneer Battalion 1 of the “light” 7th Jägerbrigade. The aim of the course was to ensure that the future instructor can correctly convey the necessary skills for self-defense / hand-to-hand combat and the use of direct coercive force in a methodically and technically correct manner. Close combat situations can arise if the handgun or handgun cannot be used (e.g. endangerment of one’s own, ban on fire, inhibition, etc.). If the use of weapons is not necessary, but the “use of action-related physical strength” is necessary, this must always be based on the principles of proportionality and self-protection.

and onwards:

The high point of the training was a target review in the context of various deployment scenarios in an urban environment. The participants required a quick assessment of the respective situation, an offensive approach and, above all, precise application of the techniques they had learned. “Deliberately bringing about stressful situations during combat and hand-to-hand combat scenarios make course participants realize how important it is to constantly practice these techniques,” says constable Dominic B. from the 7th Staff Battalion.
The knife attack in March 2018 on a soldier of the Austrian Armed Forces in front of the Iranian embassy, ​​as well as the terrorist attack in Vienna on November 2nd, 2020, showed that this training has lost none of its topicality.

The Steyr AUG (Stg77) and a Glock (Pistole 80).

All photos are taken by Alexander Kraßnitzer / Bundesheer.

Have you been in a situation like the one in the top image?