Special Combat Aggressive Reactionary System Special Combat Aggressive Reactionary Systems ( SCARS ) is an American combat fighting system created by Jerry L . Peterson . Founding . SCARS is based on sciences of psychology , physiology , physical movement as well as research on the nervous system . SCARS was developed by Peterson after serving two tours in the US Army 173rd Airborne Brigade during the Vietnam War . It was debuted in 1987 , and began to be taught to various military , law enforcement , and security units , such as the Arizona State police . Currently , SCARS is taught through private seminars , larger scale contracts , online training and DVDs . It contains no defensive actions , as all checks against the enemy ' s kicks or punches are delivered as strikes to vulnerable nerve s . The program is based upon the idea that every human body reacts in the same way to specific injuries , and the program puts together various strikes to specific nerves , bones , and organs in order to debilitate an aggressive individual . The goal is to produce an " autokinematic reaction " , which is a medium - term extreme level of pain . The three main elements of SCARS are geometry , physiology , and physics , and avoids the spiritual aspect that is prevalent in many martial arts . It focuses on immediate threat elimination and does not include an element of spiritual development . Government personnel training programs . SCARS was initially presented to the Department of the Navy in 1988 . " SCARS Institute of Combat Sciences " has developed training courses for the US Army , Air Force as well as foreign governments and various law enforcement agencies . For the first seven years the fighting system remained exclusively known to and practiced by government personnel . The program was taught via seminars , government contracts , and also the SCARS Institute of Combative Sciences , once known as " the most expensive school in the world " . The US Navy developed a training manual for teaching SCARS to members of the Navy and SEALs . It states in its introduction that it was used as " an educational system dealing primarily with the thought process in high risk areas of combat " and meant to " increase an individual ' s decision making skills in high stress areas of conflict " . Public Education . In 1993 the company produced video programming to teach its techniques to the general public . Those who learn from the full series of videos are allowed to begin attending training sessions at SCARS official training center . It is intended to teach reliable defensive techniques over the span of three days . The remainder of the Navy program was not released to the public in the videos or otherwise . The videos were first distributed in 1993 as the most expensive collection of defence videos ever produced , however they sold a large number of copies , grossing $ 1 million in the first nine months . In 1999 a SCARS TV program was scripted and cast , though it was not produced . Blake Peterson also published the book " Attention ! Teachers , Students and Parents ! Survive the Unsurvivable ! - What Science Tells Us About Fear , Self - Defense , School Shootings and Why Guns in Schools Might Not Be the Best Solution " in 2013 , using SCARS as the basis for teaching supervisory figures how to deal with the increasing gun violence in US schools . Criticisms . Due to its length ( taking men out of the field for 30 days ) , cancellation of some SCARS courses was approved on April 17 , 1998 by the Naval Special Warfare Commander , G . M . Moy , Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations . Navy SEAL LCDR Mark D . Divine called SCARS " a very effective offensive fighting system , " but also criticized Peterson for " his ego and inflexibility . "