A question I’ve always asked myself and I’m sure many people would like to know. Are there real-life Jason Bourne’s out there? For those who don’t know Jason Bourne was a series of books adapted into movies about a government agent known as an asset that are activated by the government to perform a certain task. Usually assassinating someone and make it look like an accident. He was highly trained in computer hacking, can speak multiple languages, weaponised combat, evasion tactics, intelligence gathering, a skilled driver in multiple types of vehicle and of course was extremely effective in hand to hand combat. Pretty much a super soldier. To learn all of the above skills would take years and years. Even starting martial arts as a kid and then enlisting in the army aged 18 would take years to master them to the level he shown. Not just Jason Bourne. There’s James Bond, Ethan Hunt and in terms of gaming, characters like Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell and Snake from the Metal Gear series. So, are there real-life one-man armies out there, unmatched in hand to hand combat and arms fire that can infiltrate a place, assassinate a target and get out? Kind of like a modern-day Ninja.

Real life Jason Bourne

From my own experience, I have spoken to someone who claims he has done work for the CIA so the first thing I asked him is there real-life Jason Bourne’s i.e. government assets? He replied in terms of espionage, hacking, speaking languages and spying there are. I asked what about the hand to hand martial art skills and firearms. He said no that’s made up for the movies.

After some research, this seems to be the main answer that comes up. They kind of exist but nowhere near the movies. Others are saying what CIA agents do in foreign countries is just watch the local news, talk to ordinary people, and keep their eyes open. They will also seek out “human intelligence”: making contacts with locals who might be in a position to know something. But the idea that CIA agents go around killing enemies and having exotic adventures is highly misleading.

Now, I’m not really talking about standard CIA agents. I’m talking about government black-ops programs that train individuals to be killers.

Obviously, there no official information on this so most of it is here say.  Most of the research I found was people posting on forums and Quora so if they are telling the truth or not is anyone’s guess. Here is one such comment I found on Quora:

I know two people personally who have gone through that. They were picked from an elite military unit, sheep-dipped, as some SAD members are, and put through a mind control protocol developed by a number of psychiatrists, lead in that group of psychiatrists is/was a Canadian psychiatrist I won’t name

Their personalities were basically destroyed to a degree so that an altar could be created in their minds, who would rise to the top and control the person, making them killers with extraordinary skill and without hesitation. When they were needed, a handler would contact them with the appropriate trigger to cause their alter to take control. They’d complete their assignment. And have no memories of it at all. They had civilian jobs and you could spend a week with one and never know they were expert, hardcore killers

Now the idea that someone is brainwashed or programmed to assassinate someone is not as farfetched as you might think. There have been killers through-out history that have killed and have no knowledge of doing so and why they did it, saying they were brainwashed. Most famously, Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan who still to this day says he was brain-washed. Darren Brown performed a live experiment where he basically brainwashed someone to assassinate Stephen Fry with a fake gun when he was triggered too. Obviously, the person thought the gun was real and he was really killing Stephen Fry.

After some more digging about I came across some more comments from peoples real-life experience of Jason Bourne type people.

Intelligence agencies don’t utilize ‘secret agents’ in the way one might imagine

Their tactical needs are handled by members of the Special Activities Division if the Central Intelligence Agency. These men are largely former special operations personnel from America’s elite military units. These men are invariably skilled in hand-to-hand combat but you have to remember that Hollywood seldom gives realistic depictions of professional violence

many of these men are also drawn to martial arts and may develop expertise in multiple disciplines beyond the hand-to-hand training they receive in the Special Forces Combative Program (essentially mixed martial arts with a focus on mechanically disabling or killing your opponent rather than defeating them by the rules of a combat sport). Jocko Willink, a former career Navy SEAL who is now an expert in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, is an example of a man who is quite capable of running through multiple men at a time and he isn’t even the absolute pinnacle of hand-to-hand combat in the Special Operations community.

So, it seems there certainly are capable people out there that are completely aware of their surroundings, experts in hand to hand and fiearms but performing all of their stuff Jason Bourne performs with his level of skill would take a team of people plus years and years of training. One of the most amazing stories of a real-life Jason Bourne was of someone they called The East European. You can read his story here.

If you wanted to become Jason Bourne

So, I’m sure some of you are asking how do I become like that. He’s bad arse. if you really wanted to gain the skills of Jason Bourne how would you go about it? Where would you start?

• He has multiple passports and can go anywhere at any time.
• He has the skills necessary to defend himself.
• He can blend into any crowd and disappear.
• He speaks multiple languages and can navigate any situation.
• He’s in peak physical condition, prepared for any scenario.
• He has Advanced computer skills across all technology.

So, let’s briefly break it down. Avoiding the multiple passports bit and speaking multiple languages because I’m sure you all know what that involves. Learn a new language. Let’s just say you want to be able to kick arse like Jason Bourne.

Peak Physical condition

At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.

To perform the feats Jason Performs without getting completely out of breath your going to need to been pretty adapted at Parkour. Not necessarily flips and what not but running across rooftops, jumping to next levels can really keep you fit. On top of that, you would need a strength program as well as some interval training. So, so far, your time is being taken up by learning different languages, practicing Parkour, strength and interval training.

Self Defence

No doubt about it the most impressive things about Jason Bourne is his hand to hand combat skills. Dispatching multiple enemies in the blink of an eye some of them even armed.

From the look of his fighting style, it looks to be a hybrid of different martial arts. I’m guessing Krav Maga mixed with Systema mixed with Street Wing Chun and even some Judo and Brazilian Jujitsu.

So, does that mean you have to learn 3-4 different martial arts all at once, becoming quite adept and confident at each? Maybe. But there are schools out there that will combine styles for example when Kickboxing first came about it was a combination of Muay Thai, Karate and Boxing. Gary Daniels the action star when he first got into martial arts, he said he started off with a style called Mongolian Kung Fu” that combined Wing Chun, boxing, Mongolian Wrestling, and Wushu.

So, if you can find such a modern self-defense class that combines martial arts then do it but if you’ve got to study each individually then I’d say spend a least about a year studying each style, attending class 3-4 times a week. Even that is probably not enough but hopefully, they will complement each other.

On top of all this if you want to be able to blend into any crowd like Jason Bourne then you going to need to start reading up on body language. There are probably even body language courses out there for different purposes.

So, if you want to be able to kick arses like Jason Bourne then in all honesty what covers most of the self-defense, physical fitness, and expert arms fire is joining the army. More specifically a unit like the Royal Marine Commandos. I heard rumors they even learn things like skiing down mountains while shooting stuff. Crazy. So, if you don’t mind being sent to war zones that’s one route otherwise it sounds like a case of a full-time job if your rich of learning different languages, body language practice, self-defense training, strength, and fitness training and even some hand to hand weapons training.