We recently had a new cable installation in the house, and I have been very busy training to learn all the new channels. So, like any other modern man, I have simply resorted to flipping through the channel guide to find something to watch.

Then I got to pay when I came across the classic ’80s detective series, Magnum PI

During this episode, Magnum was fighting some gangsters and one of his opponents took out nunchucks and quickly knocked out Magnum’s friend.

Being the smart guy that he is, Magnum didn’t rush inside. Instead, he grabbed an ashtray and used the can to block the gun’s many hits before finally knocking the attacker unconscious with it.

For eight seasons, Tom Selleck plays private investigator Thomas Magnum, an Army Academy graduate, ex-Seal, and Vietnam veteran. Magnum lived on Tom Clancy’s beautiful estate as author Robin Masters.

In exchange for living rent-free on the estate and being allowed to use Robins’ red Ferrari 308 GTB, Magnum took care of security with Englishman Jonathan Quayle Higgins III, a former British Army Sergeant Major.

If working the estate with all the great perks wasn’t enough to keep Magnum busy, he did a lot of other investigative work and had to deal with drug dealers, hitmen, terrorists, spies, and even the most mundane assignments like divorce cases. . I can’t think of a private investigator or Navy man I have met who is not a fan of the show.

It’s important to note that while Magnum may have gotten into fantastic adventures every week, the melee skills he used in almost every episode were real-world self-defense. And looking back at the show, Magnum clearly displayed his military martial arts background. After all, Magnum dealt with attackers wielding everything from martial arts weapons to bottles, bats, and of course firearms.

Magnum learned his martial arts when the military was still using the highly effective WWII combat gear developed by Charles Nelson and BJ Cosneck for the Navy and Marines. These men taught martial arts for the battlefield and street fighting, not sports.

But Magnum wasn’t the only one who showed prowess in hand-to-hand combat. Higgins, a veteran of more than twenty years of military service, was familiar with numerous martial arts, although he clearly drew on the self-defense methods taught by Colonel William E. Fairbairn. Magnum’s friends Rick and TC also showed what they learned in the Marines in countless fights alongside Magnum.

Magnum was a member of SEAL Team One operating out of Da Nang, Vietnam and served under the command of the CIA Station Chief during the war (Magnum and his friends can often be seen wearing Da Nang baseball caps). Magnum did not learn hand-to-hand combat in a nice, clean martial arts school, but in the streets of Da Nang and in the jungles of northern Vietnam. Magnum never wasted time in postures or trying to do specific movements. Instead, when he saw a threat and attacked. If he had the advantage of having firearms or other weapons, he used them.

During his wartime service, Magnum and his friends escaped from an enemy prison camp and had to disarm their pursuers with their bare hands. In one case, while searching for a kidnapped friend, Magnum has to fight an accomplished martial artist from Japan. Although his opponent throws many powerful kicks, Magnum keeps attacking until the other man falls.

Despite the fact that Magnum was a fictional character, there are many lessons to be learned from him. He and his friends were proud patriots who never regretted their service in Vietnam and understood the real dangers of the cold war and terrorism. They were not complacent either. Magnum and all his friends used sports to maintain functional strength. Higgins even joined the children on a rescue mission in Cambodia and was still in a position to act.

In Hawaii, many martial arts are taught to eager students, but the style used by its most famous fictional resident is still the best. On an island where the environment is diverse like Hawaii, you must be able to adapt to all possible self-defense situations. You cannot afford to have a limited ability to protect yourself. The smart writers of the TV show obviously caught on to this and kept Magnum using their combative military rather than joining the karate and ninja craze of the time.