Bob Kasper, the late
internationally known writer and expert combat instructor, was a
former USMC Military Policeman and USAR Cavalry Scout. Bob got
his first taste of combatives in the
Marine Corps in 1969, and his interest never stopped. While
stationed in
Japan for 13 months, he studied
Tai-ho Jutsu from a Captain in the
Japanese Defense Force. After the Marines, he studied
shito-ryu with
Yoshisada Yonezuka for 9
years in Cranford, NJ and was promoted to
Nidan in that style. During this period, Bob met and
trained with Charles Nelson, a WW2 USMC close combat
instructor. Nelson’s techniques cemented Bob’s commitment to
researching, learning, and training in WW2
combatives. During the ensuing years, he was promoted to
Sandan, Yodan,
Godan,
continuing on to Shichidan 7th
Dan in 2000, thus holding black belts and instructor ranks in
several martial art disciplines.
Bob’s first training center was
opened in 1979, a self-defense school called Personal Survival
Tactics in
Elizabeth, NJ. He also operated
the American Karate
Jutsu
Center in Lewisburg, PA in the early eighties, before relocating
back to NJ forming the Personal Combative Tactics School.
In 1992, Bob received AKJ
Sokeship, IKSA and founded the
American Karate Jutsu, a situational
self defense art that was based on the practical application of
Nelson’s Ju-jitsu and the power of Shukokai
karate.
Also, in November, 1992, Bob
founded the Gung-Ho-Chuan Association, a brotherhood of Marine
Corps veterans who research, practice, develop, and teach WW2
based close quarters combat used by the elite Allied forces. He
wanted a name that Marines could relate to that had significant
meaning. Since his training paralleled the original Raider
Battalions commando-type close combat training, he requested
permission from the Raiders Society to use the kanji and name
brought back from
China by Carlson Evans, the first
commanding officer of the 2nd Raider Battalion. As
Bob continued to evolve so did the GHCA into a brotherhood of
combative skills instructors and an association which still
remains true to its roots.
An avid knife enthusiast
throughout his life, Bob began his study of Western knife
fighting also in the late 1970s while researching WW2 Close
Quarter Combat. The result was his creation of
Kni-Com, a modern American program
of instruction which utilizes principles, techniques, and
tactics from Western military and criminal schools of knife
fighting. It is based on the reality of a violent knife attack
and the body’s natural reaction to it. Bob strongly believed
every knife fighting program of instruction must include
training in realistic knife assaults. Like any other combative
skill it must include a blend of defensive and offensive tactics
designed to quickly end a confrontation without sustaining a
serious injury. Bob developed Kni-Com
for the average person with average ability to learn combative
knife skills in a reasonable amount of time. He wanted to
develop an aggressive system for all those who carry a knife for
defensive purposes. He based its success on the fact it is now
used to train Special Mission Units within the Department of
Defense, several Special Operations Units, high risk diplomatic
security details, and protective security personnel in high risk
environments. He also trained air marshals, police and sheriff
departments, national and international. Bob himself was
deployed to Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Israel, Mexico City,
and Bogota, Colombia to train
protective security personnel in various hard skills.
As a Close Combat Subject Matter
Expert and author of the close combat knife curriculum for the
United States Marine Corps, Bob’s KNI-COM system was geared
toward the personnel he trained and the time he was allotted to
train them. He couldn’t afford to have a complicated,
time-consuming, hard-to-retain curriculum. It has to be simple
and effective. Kni-Com is Bob’s idea
of what knife fighting in the street should look like.
Bob designed his Kasper Fighting
Knives to compliment his successful knife fighting system. “A
knifist (Bob’s word for a combative
knife expert) has certain needs as to how a knife should feel,
carry, and perform during close combat.” Because Bob worked
the knife more dynamically and realistically, he wanted his
knives to feel as if a part of his hand knowing this builds
confidence when doing his techniques. The Kasper Fighting Knives
are a direct result of over two decades experience, research,
and practice of combative knife skills.
Bob, internationally known for
his many knife designs, was an Honorary Member of The
Knifemakers’ Guild. He designed
fourteen Kasper Fighting Knives to compliment his successful
knife fighting system.
The Kasper Folder was designed by
Bob to perform under the rigors of extreme, sudden violence.
He used his knife “The Companion”
for the base design. A deep finger groove, rounded pinkie hook,
raised serrated thumb ramp, a heavy duty look and feel, a
Persiah profile and aggressive
blade. “A Kasper Companion that folds in half. A knife
designed to do what its cousin can do with a little more
flexibility.”
During his prolific writing
career, Bob was the Street Smarts editor for Tactical Knives
magazine for over 5 years. He also wrote close combat/knife
related articles for Combat Knives, Modern Knives, Fighting
Knives, Full Contact, Guns and Ammo, Soldier of Fortune, and
Gung-Ho magazines. In addition, he was creator and editor of
SNAPPIN
IN
,™
the Combative Journal of the Gung-Ho Chuan Association.
In 2001, a special caucus of the
Canadian Society of Arwrologists
inaugurated the American Society of
Arwrologists naming Bob, Founder and 1st
regent. He was in the process of writing a book incorporating
Dr. Perrigard’s principles and
techniques into the Gung Ho Chuan Association’s Close Combat
Program of Instruction when he met his untimely death.
