The Seven Strategies of Hand To Hand Hand Combat Combat
Writings of Purpose and Intent
By
ERNEST EMERSON
Copyright ©2015 Ernest Emerson All rights reserved. No part of this this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the author. ISBN-13: 978-1507688816 ISBN-10: 1507688814
About the author: Ernest Emerson is the founder and owner of the company, Emerson Knives, Inc. and is considered “The Father of Tactical Knives” having designed the most iconic and well -known combat knives in history. He is a Black Belt Hall of Fame member and United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame Member and is a “Tier One” hand-to-hand combat and edged weapons instructor who has taught his combat system to many of the world’s most deadly warriors, including the U.S. Navy SEAL Teams, U.S. Marines, U.S. Army Special Forces and various Government agencies. Sir Ernest Emerson is a Knight of The Noble Order of the Black Shamrock and also holds the coveted title of Master-at-Arms. He is a noted lecturer, author and is an expert witness for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office in deadly force cases. He has appeared on many T.V. shows, radio programs, and has acted as a technical expert on numerous award winning movies. His background includes playing professional baseball, boxing, Jeet Kune Do and Gracie Jiu Jitsu. He is the founder of The Emerson Combat System and is the owner of the Black Shamrock Combat Academy in Los Angeles, California. He is the husband of a beautiful wife and the father to three wonderful children. Mr. Emerson is a Rock n’ Roll junkie and enjoys the taste of fine Scotch whiskey. He may be contacted at
[email protected].
Dedication Dedicated to all those who know our fight has just begun and stand ready and willing to sacrifice everything to preserve our way of life. There is no higher calling.
Disclaimer Please note that the author is NOT RESPSONSIBLE in any manner whatsoever for any injury that may result from practicing the techniques and/or following the instructions given within. Since the physical activities described herein may be too strenuous in nature for some readers to engage in safely, it is essential that a physician be consulted prior to training.
Contents Introduction - Surviving in the Arena of Life and Death Chapter 1 - The Strategy of Strategies Techniques without Strategy are useless Chapter 2 - The Strategy of Principles Principles Never Change Chapter 3 - The Strategy of the Three Laws The Three Laws of Combat and the Six Triggers Chapter 4 - The Strategy of Techniques The Perfect Technique Chapter 5 - The Strategy of Processes Have the Proper Plan Chapter 6 - The Strategy of Action The Action/Reaction turn around Chapter 7 - The Overall Strategy Pre-Emptive Self Defense Conclusion
Emerson’s Commandments of A Warrior 1. Protect the weak 2. Defend the innocent 3. Standup to tyranny and unjust behavior 4. Take responsibility for your actions and be prepared to accept the consequences 5. Honor friendship with loyalty 6. Stand tall in the face of adversity 7. Ask more of yourself than others 8. Never do anything without a purpose 9. Never do anything that is useless 10. Be honest in your intentions and actions with everyone you meet
Introduction Surviving in the Area of Life and Death
There have been hundreds of books written on the subject of hand-to-hand combat over the last 30 or 40 years. Most of these books were instructional manuals mainly dealing with the subject of fighting skills in this manner: “If he does strike A, then you do technique B.” And it was unfortunate that a lot of those books were written by authors taking the stance, “It’s my way or the highway” or “I have all the answers.” I’ll give you some advice about those kinds of teachers. If anyone ever says that he doesn’t need grappling skills because he has the techniques to counter grappling, he doesn’t know how to grapple. And if someone tells you that you don’t need stand up skills, then he doesn’t know how to box. The simple truth is that you need some of everything to be truly prepared to combat an individual who is trying to take your life. A majority of self-defense and martial arts books are written to satisfy the reader’s need for answers, for technical advice, if you will, in learning how to fight against another human being. Well, there are things you can learn from a book and there are things that you can’t learn from a book. Can you learn to swim from a book? Can you learn to play football from a book? Can you learn to shoot from a book? If you are even wondering about those questions, I’ll give you the answer to all of them. The answer is no. Yet there are still many who are under the mistaken assumption that they can learn to fight from a book. Of course, it does sell a lot of books. But exactly like swimming, you need to get in the water and you need to have someone coach or teach you how to swim. There’s no way around it. As one who has devoted his entire life to the arts of combat, I will tell you that it takes thousands of repetitions to “own” a technique and constant maintenance and reinforcement to maintain those acquired skills. I will also tell
you that it takes two to tango. You need a training partner to practice the techniques with and against. Although a great many of these fighting books are well-written and lavishly illustrated, at best they merely serve as a good reference book for a particular martial art or combat style that the student might already be studying. But far worse, they can give you a false estimation of your abilities. Believing incorrectly that you are prepared, will get you killed in a real life-or-death encounter. You can’t learn to play piano from a book. You need a piano and a piano bench where you will spend countless hours playing scales, learning, and practicing songs and teaching your fingers what notes to play and when. You must also learn the “language” of music and be able to read music to become a truly accomplished musician. Then you must also learn the principles of music to physically express through the instrument, the actions needed to produce the wonderful sound we call music. None of that comes from a book. It comes from doing. However there are books that can teach you about combat. The greatest books about combat, the ones that have survived over the centuries, and the books that will continue to be relevant for the next thousand years, are books about combat theory and strategies, not combat techniques. The greatest of these books that come to mind and the best-known are, “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, “The Book of Five Rings” by Myamoto Musashi, “The Art of War” by Nicolo Machiavelli, “On War” by Carl von Clausewitz, and two recent notable additions to the list by Lt. Colonel David Grossman, “On Killing” and “On Combat.” These are the books that matter. These books are taught at Annapolis, West Point, Harvard, Yale, and Oxford. In fact they are referenced in most universities and taught in all military academies throughout the world. They are the books of the theories and strategies of combat and warfare. It is interesting to know that out of the thousands of pages contained in these books, there is not one fighting technique taught. Strategies and principles are the why’s, when’s and where’s of warfare and it is the only information contained in those books. Yet collectively
they have saved the lives of thousands who have found themselves pitted in battle against a determined and deadly opponent.
All the books I’ve just
mentioned are universal in nature, meaning that their wisdom and insight can applied to all types of warfare whether on land, sea or air because they recognize and abide by the universal laws and principles of combat and conflict. Therefore they work equally well and are equally as valid whether they are applied to infantry, artillery, naval engagements, or dogfights between fighter jets. Each of these authors through whatever means, came to the realization and conclusion that it is the theory, the strategies and tactics behind combat that ultimately determine the victor from the vanquished. In this book, in that same philosophy, (my strategy) that I will attempt to accomplish the same goal. That goal is to define the strategies and principles behind human combat on a man to man level. If you have read any of these great works, you may see many parallels and commonalities with my own thinking. I have also read them and have as a result been greatly influenced by their wisdom and knowledge. If you have not read them, I suggest you do. I must add that you will find that the wisdom and the influence of these great authors, these warrior philosophers, can also be applied just as well and with great positive effect to both your business and personal life. If you choose to apply the universal principles they espouse to other areas of your life, you will soon find that they are not confined only to the world of combat. My book, “The Seven Strategies of Hand-to-Hand Combat” will explain the physical and psychological effects on an individual faced with the probability of individual man-to-man, hand-to-hand combat. It will further explain the strategies and principles that you can apply without prejudice, across the board to improve your ability to not just survive combat, but to prevail in combat and vanquish the foe. It does not matter in which martial art or combat art you are trained in.
I have devoted my entire adult life to the study of this subject and have taught, trained with, and trained thousands of individuals in the art of combat, both unarmed and armed with weapons and firearms. As an instructor I have worked with Law Enforcement entities, Government Agencies, the U.S. Military, including Special Forces, Navy SEAL Teams, and also Military and Law Enforcement units in a number of allied countries. Following the strategies that I have presented in this book has made me both a more efficient, effective fighter and a better instructor throughout my career. I hope that what I have learned and now present to you, will also help you.
Chapter 1. The Strategy of Strategies Techniques Without Strategy Are Useless
Every plan must have a strategy, otherwise you would never know what you want to do, where you want to do it, or when you wanted to start or stop. How would you ever accomplish anything, if you didn’t know what you wanted to do in the first place? Not having a strategy is like taking your car on the freeway and just traveling about aimlessly only changing lanes or taking a turn when the other drivers forced you to do so. You would be in a completely reactive state, without a choice, only doing things or taking any action when others force you to do so, without a choice. If you are in this type of reactive state in combat you will lose and you will die. Granted this is an extreme analogy because most people when attacked will attempt to defend themselves in some primal way. But to make that “way” more effective, to make it the most effective that it can be, you need a strategy with which you are able to construct a plan. Then you can devise the tactics and/or techniques necessary to carry out the strategy. I believe it was von Clausewitz who made the simple statement, “Tactics without strategy are useless.” It has also been said “All other things being equal, the side with the best strategies will always win.” That’s my quote and I’ve found it to be true in all competitions from football to hide and go seek. Knowing that all strategies flow from plans and tactics flow from strategies, it becomes evident that even in our day-to-day activities running around ” like a chicken with its head cut off” doesn’t do you much good at all. When you are overwhelmed by events or a situation, just stopping, assessing your situation and coming up with a strategy to fix the problem or better your situation, can bring a sense of control, and give you what you need to take care of that situation. Of course, you need to stick to your strategy, especially if it’s a sound one. That’s
the purpose of this book, to give you seven sound battle proven strategies (and a few more tips) for surviving mortal combat against another human being. These seven strategies really define two important statements you’ll find in several places throughout this book “Never do anything that is useless.” “Never do anything without a purpose.” I firmly believe these statements to be true in lifeand-death combat, for without a strategy, a game plan, how would I ever know what is useful or useless and how would I ever know if what I was doing served the right purpose toward my goal? I would like you to imagine something. Imagine a football game where two teams are playing each other. One of the teams, Team 1, is coached by the legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi, whose team has all the skills, tactics and benefits of the master strategist, with a game plan to emphasize his own team strengths while exploiting the weaknesses of the other team. Team 2 is a highly skilled team of players who can run, pass, block, and tackle, equally as well as Vince Lombardi’s Team 1. However, they have no coach, no plays to execute, no game plan–no strategy to win. The players on both sides are of the same skill level, the same size and fitness. Which team do you think will dominate the game? Which team do you think will win? Did you pick Team 1, Vincent Lombardi’s team? I hope so. Because then you already know and understand that a game plan or a strategy, can tip the scales in your favor, especially if your strategies are better than your opponent’s and most always if your opponent has no strategy at all. In order to create efficient, effective, and positive results in respect to hand-tohand combat, you need a strategy for each and all of the separate parts that make up the whole. Of course, the whole or overall umbrella goal is that you survive. That goes without saying.
But, wanting to win is not a strategy. You need to be able to identify and then break combat down into its essential
raw ingredients, its basic parts so that you can then address each of those components individually. Strengthening them, improving them, and tuning them so that once they are reassembled is a stronger whole and as a result and you’ve created for yourself a better, more effective warrior. This training of component parts must require that each and all individual components be driven by its own strategy to achieve your desired outcome. Strategy must be the overriding guide for all of your training so that even in practice, you are never doing anything that is useless and never doing anything without a purpose. Let’s leave doing things of no use and doing things of no purpose to the bad guys, and hope that those traits become their habits and not ours. (Let’s also hope that they don’t read this book.) By defining and applying the strategies in this book, you will start to see where you need improvements and ways you can train to bring about the desired results. Strategists as a rule are not lazy types. It is in their very nature to be more efficient, to not waste time and to try to get as much done as possible in a minimum amount of time. As you progress through this learning process, you will start to see that having a strategy, the right strategy, can be applied to almost everything you do on a daily basis. Once you’ve made it a habit you will find yourself applying it to more and more of the things that you do. Just don’t fall prey to self-doubt. This habit of strategies is not greedy, it’s not obsessive, and it’s not a waste of time. It’s about being efficient in your life and working hard to bring about the positive results you desire, without wasting the precious personal time we are given to exist on this earth. It is extremely important when it comes to training because we already have little time available for friends, family, jobs, and just plain fun. Knowing that I have to train, I want my training time to be as efficient as possible and to produce the best possible results that I can get from the precious time I spend doing so. The strategy of having a strategy will get you from here to there, quick, fast and in a hurry.
Chapter 2. The Strategy of Principles Principle Never Changes. It doesn’t see bad or good, and it works just as well for the bad guys as it does for the good guys
All things in life are governed by the laws of nature, the laws of God, and the laws of physics, science, and chemistry. Everything that we do is governed by those principles. If anything were able to exist outside of those laws and principles, it would have to be from another dimension. I don’t think that exists yet. These principles existed long before man appeared on this earth. They have been in place since the moment of creation – since the first billionth of a second in the cataclysmic birth of our universe called the Big Bang. All matter in our universe is governed by the same laws of physics whether it is here and now or in a galaxy millions of light-years away. It has not changed since the beginning of time. How does this relate to hand-to-hand combat? Well, just like all the other aspects of life as we know it, hand-to-hand combat is also governed by a set of principles and laws which control all of the physics, the chemistry and the psychological effects that apply to combat. In fact, a lot of what takes place in hand-to-hand combat operations are actually the result of the influence of the simple laws of physics; the transfer of energy, the law of gravity, Newton’s second law, and more. There also are the mechanics of human physiology, the instinctual survival skills that we possess as a species, and of course, the psychological/physiological effects of stress on an individual facing a dangerous or life-threatening event. These are principles that we are all governed by and once you become aware of them you can then use them as tools in your arsenal. It doesn’t matter whether it is between two nations, two armies, two battleships,
two planes, two platoons, or two human beings. The principles will never change or mutate. Further, man has two arms and two legs and until that changes, the principles of hand-to-hand combat won’t change either. As you will discover, our advantage is that the principles apply exactly the same to the bad guy as they do to the good guy. You might ask, if they apply equally to both you and the bad guy, what good are they and how can they be an advantage to us? The secret is that if you become aware of this equality, then you can manipulate them to cause the opponent to react to them in a way that works to your advantage and his disadvantage. In this way you start to influence factors that you are now no longer reacting to, but are now controlling of. By doing so, the opponent has no choice but to react to and be controlled by the forces you are manipulating beyond his control. So where do we go from here? Well, have you ever seen an athlete who always seems to be just one step ahead of not only the competition, but also his own teammates? Sometimes it seems like he has a sixth sense in his ability to outwit, outsmart, and outplay his opponents. Most of the time he doesn’t even know how he does it. He just does it. It just comes natural. Well the truth is, it doesn’t ust come natural to anyone. That athlete, learned how to do it. He just didn’t realize that it was a learned skill – actually a combination of learned skills. These athletes, the superior performers, have in addition to mastering the physical skills of their sport, also mastered the principles of manipulating the environment to their advantage and to the disadvantage of their opponents. Always remember that these same principles apply to you, me, and the bad guy. A lot of these “gifted” athletes master the manipulations of these principles simply by trial and error. They just go with what works and then do it over and over again. Perhaps they have a greater innate ability to recognize these advantages and lock onto them, adding them to their skill set. Great for them. Unfortunately for most of us, we need to actively and consciously identify, learn,
and practice the applications of those principles in order to add them to our skill set. Oftentimes it takes a teacher to identify and make one aware of these concepts so a student can learn how to use them to his advantage against an opponent in a sporting endeavor or in combat These principles are universal truths that have proven to be true and consistent for all human interaction, in terms of combat. These principles or laws as you might call them, are necessary to the understanding of the strategies that are borne out in this book. These truths do not change. They are immutable and have been with us since the very first human conflict. One of my friends, a wrestling coach, once told me that track and field was invented when two caveman went hunting and the fastest one ran down a deer and killed it. When the slower caveman showed up a couple of minutes later, wrestling was invented. These laws, these universal truths, and these principles really go that far back. There are two premises you must be aware of first. As I’ve already stated, you must understand that all the laws, truths and strategies apply equally, both to you and the bad guy. They are not considered good or bad and they don’t take sides. The second premise is this: everything that you are, you learned to be. And everything that can be learned, can be taught. Remember, Mozart was not born knowing how to play the piano – I promise. So how you might ask, does this apply to hand-to-hand combat, if it does it all? Well, it does and it does a lot. You see, by learning these universal laws, you start to become aware of how they affect you and how you can manipulate them in your favor. By accepting the fact that you can learn anything, you can learn how to use them against your opponent. You can learn what’s happening to him and use it to against him. And ust as the laws, the truths, the strategies of hand-to-hand combat apply man-toman, they also readily apply unit to unit, army to army and nation to nation. They don’t know scale. They just are. And surprisingly, they apply equally as well in business environments, which after all is just another form of competition between opponents toward a stated goal.
Millions of words have been written throughout recorded history about the subject of hand-to-hand combat, going all the way back to a time when hand-tohand combat was the only method of combat that existed. Over the millennia, a lot has changed: the methods of warfare, the weapons, the technology, and the scale of destruction we are now capable of unleashing. The methods of waging warfare have evolved to such a degree that there are soldiers engaging in combat, in the midst of a battle, while sitting at a computer terminal 10,000 miles away in a bunker at the Pentagon. However, there are things that will never change, no matter what the level of sophistication that has evolved in our ability to wage warfare. The two single greatest unchanged factors in the ability to successfully defeat an enemy are as follows:
1. All conflicts (warfare or combat) are governed by a constant set of principles and strategies that are always in effect. The combatant who understands and manipulates, or applies these strategies and principles in a more advantageous manner will overcome the opponent. 2. The second factor is the human factor as it is applied to the first factor. Strategies and principles are only as good as an individual’s ability to recognize, understand, and apply them, either to his advantage or to the disadvantage of his opponent. In simple terms, all other things being equal, the side with the better strategists will prevail. Which in the context of this books leads us to a question. Can a smaller weaker opponent defeat a larger stronger opponent? Not just yes, but hell yes! You only need to look back at the historical record, taking note of the Spartans stand at Thermopylae, Hannibal’s victories over the armies of Rome, the destruction of the 17th, 18th and 19th legions of Tiberius by Arminius, leader of the barbarians at the battle of the Tutebourg forest, the Israeli war of independence, and of course, very important to all of us, the
American Revolution, where a ragtag army of farmers, merchants, and tradesmen, under the command of General George Washington forced the surrender of the mightiest military empire on earth, Great Britain. And let no one ever forget that lowly Judean Shepherd squaring off against the Philistine giant recorded in the Bible as David versus Goliath. All of the above are but a few of the thousands of times where disadvantaged “inferior” opponents were able to overcome or defeat the “superior” opponent. And in every case, that victory was made possible by the superior manipulation and resolute applications of the immutable strategies and principles of combat. This now brings us to the purpose of this book and leads us to the next question.
What are these
principles, these grand strategies, and how can they be applied effectively at the intimate level where the very essence of all human conflict originates--the individual struggle between two human beings in the life and death arena of hand-to-hand combat?
Chapter 3 The Strategy of the Three Laws The Three Laws of Combat and the Six Triggers
The three immutable laws of combat are as follows:
1. Control of Distance – He who controls distance controls the fight. This includes when to attack, when to disengage and the choice of staying outside the effective range of the enemies weapons, within the effective range of the enemy’s weapons, and inside the effective range of the enemy’s weapons. You must be the one making the choices of controlling the distance between combatants. As a result, by controlling the distance, you are also working in a large way to bring law number two into effect.
2. The Opponent Must React to You – Not You to Him. As I will mention later in this book a person cannot react faster than another person can act. For the moment you’ll just have to accept that as a fact. I'll address it in Chapter 6, “The Strategy of Action.” As I said earlier, controlling distance is already a factor in forcing the opponent to react to you, and as long as the bad guy is reacting to you, you have the upper hand. Think about it with this statement in mind. “You can't be effective if you’re defensive.” Wait a minute you say, I've heard of fights being won by a defensive fighter who gave a stellar defensive performance. That may well be the case sometimes, but in a boxing match, there is a referee, rules, points, and the loser doesn’t die. And having a strategy of taking punches just to get some punches in, does not make for a long career, even in boxing. So you can see that a strategy can be either good or bad. The best fighters, the champions, always had the best offensive game, the heaviest punches and the most knockouts. Here is the difference. Taking some punches and lasting out a round in a boxing match
and taking multiple strikes to the head with a pipe, a few dozen stabs from a knife or a couple of shots from a gun are entirely different situations. The bottom line is that if you are fighting defensively, you are reacting to the opponent and he is deciding what to do and when to do it. That is not the way to win, for you anyway. So I hope you are seeing that you have to go on the offense and you must remain on the offense until the threat is neutralized. The key is to keep on attacking so he doesn't have time to act but can only react to your attack which makes true the adage “the best defense is a good offense.” I believe in taking this a few steps further as I state in my classes, “The only defense is offense.”
3. Destruction of the Opponent – “It ain't over till it's over.” – Yogi Berra Regarding the case of combat, Yogi’s street philosopher’s wisdom is oh, so true. As long as the opponent has the potential to do you harm, as a determined foe he will try to harm you. So many times good guys have been seriously messed up by bad guys who are left with just an ounce of fight left in them. Throughout history armies have been defeated by those who were given the time or opportunity to rally and literally “snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.” In the case of a deadly attack in hand-to-hand combat, you have to continue with your “mission” until it is complete. And that “mission” is to completely remove the ability of the threat to harm you, your loved ones or your teammates. Now whether that means he is knocked out, choked out, or carried out in a body bag, depends on the threat, the environment and the severity of the danger to you. You will be the ultimate judge of when the threat is neutralized. But even in the chaos of combat, you must make that choice wisely, because you may end up standing in front of a judge as a result. And you want him to rule in your favor. For a detailed explanation of the legal aspects of self-defense and the use of deadly force, read my articles “Legal Advice on the Use of Deadly Force” and “The
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If these laws are the immutable laws of combat that you must control, we must now look at how that is accomplished. What follows are the six tactics that you must use to overcome the opponent and neutralize the threat. I also refer to them as instinctual triggers which when pulled cannot be resisted or ignored, because they are, in effect, triggering instinctual survival responses in the opponent. These are responses which they cannot resist but must react to, be affected by, and must deal with, which for a period of time, removes or negates their offensive capability.
Tactic #1. Controlling the Distance. In terms of controlling the distance, if you can't get away, you must take it away. In other words, think about a barrage of artillery fire on the battlefield. If you are attacked and you have the option of disengaging and moving away, getting out of range of the shells, the threat cannot reach you or harm you. You would call it a strategic retreat to either give yourself time to reassess, regroup or escape. Option two would be to stay put and keep getting shelled. This is “no man's land” and you do not want to stay there or have to cross it more than once. The third option to control distance is simply to take it away. To do this, what I'm describing is closing the gap, shooting in and thereby negating the effectiveness of the enemy’s weapons, whether gun, knife, punches, kicks or even artillery shells. And this also works to support law number two by forcing him to react to you. This would be the same as a boxer being pummeled, closing the gap and going for the clinch. We'll talk more about this later.
Tactic #2. Destruction of Balance Anytime you are thrown off balance, as in being knocked down or falling, it is an instinctive reaction to “catch your balance”. For example, if you are being
pushed backwards you lose virtually all of your power and your attention is much more occupied and concerned about not tripping and falling than about throwing punches. If you are being taken down, tripped, thrown, or swept, your hands (which are essentially your weapons), will drop to try and break your fall. That is why a takedown is so effective in a fight as it completely overrides the opponent's ability to fight back. Once on the ground, the opponent usually has only one thing on his mind, to get back on his feet. Unless, of course you’re fighting one of the Gracie jujitsu family. Then you'll wish you had controlled the distance, tactic #1, by running away. I’m not really kidding though, with so many people training in MMA these days you just might run into one of those guys. The good thing is the bad guys, real bad guys, don't usually come from that crowd.
Tactic #3. Constriction of Airways or Blood Flow You have to breathe and your blood has to flow to the brain. Do this for me. Hit the deck and give me 25 push-ups. Now give me 25 jumping jacks. Now hold our breath and give me 25 more pushups. I'm serious. Try it. You'll start to see what I mean about needing to breathe. Your brain needs oxygen and blood is the delivery system. If blood flow is cut off even for a matter of seconds, you go to sleep. More than a few seconds and brain cells start to die. A little longer and you’re dead. Our instinct to breathe is a prime directive. We take breaths regularly to remove the oxygen from the air to supply it to our blood. We will die within minutes if that process is stopped. When our breathing is physically restricted we start to panic and no other thought exists except to free the restriction and get the breath in. It is so overpowering that merely placing a hand over someone's nose and mouth triggers the response. It's a trick I used to use in high school wrestling and jiujitsu competitions when I was in a “predicament.” A more drastic and definitely lethal tactic is a strangle. This is the act of shutting
off the trachea, or crushing it, which prevents air from getting to the lungs which will also cause an immutable reaction.
A choke on the other hand squeezes the veins and arteries shut on the sides of the neck, cutting off the blood flow to the brain. This causes unconsciousness within 5 to 10 seconds if a proper “seal” is put on and no blood is getting past. In this case one cannot fight off going unconscious no matter how big or strong he is and no matter how powerful his strength of will. He will pass out.
Our body knows that it is the neck that is our most vital and most vulnerable part of our physical machine. It will instinctively do anything to protect it from harm. So attacking the neck, by striking the neck or squeezing the neck will do one of two things. That specific attack will either work as intended to cause death or unconsciousness, or if it is unsuccessful, in case you cannot get a firm hold or seal, it will still definitely get the opponent's attention. He will still have to defend against that attack no matter what, which results in taking away his offensive mindset and gives you further opportunity to attack. If he’s reacting, he’s not attacking. Remember when he's not attacking, he better be reacting to you and your attack. And remember the hand over his mouth and nose works in a pinch, even in a real fight. Also bear in mind of course, rapid loss of blood pressure such as from a severed carotid, brachial or femoral artery will have the same effect of unconsciousness and death. Either way, blood is not getting to the brain and that is the strategy.
Tactic #4. Obstruction of Vision Have you ever been poked in the eye? If you have, you'll know I'm talking about. If you have not, then consider yourself lucky. It's not pleasant. The fact is,
it's overwhelming. If you get poked hard in eye, I'll tell you this, your hands will go up, you’ll bend forward the waist and a voice will be screaming in your head “My eye! My eye! My eye!” We need our eyes to survive. We need them to hunt. We need them to escape from being hunted, and we need them to fight. That is why attacking the eyes is considered a primary target. There is a huge portion of our frontal cortex that is dedicated to vision and when our vision is obstructed there is an overpowering urge to clear the obstruction. Just putting your hand over the opponent's eyes will cause him to react. I also used that “secret” technique in high school wrestling, when I was in a jam. If just covering them is good, think what a good eye jab will do. Or in the extreme, gouging someone's eye out of the socket. Always remember this is not a sport, it’s life or death.
Tactic # 5. Create Structural Damage Broken bones and severed tendons cannot be fought off or overcome by will. Although in the extreme case of combat, pain tolerance and fierce resolve can shunt the pain, it cannot fix the damage. There is a big difference between the pain of bumping your knee on a table corner and the damage caused by tearing the ACL ligament in your knee. You can grit your teeth and limp away from both of these injuries, but the painful table bump will still allow you to run or fight. The torn ACL ligament will not. The point is that you can fight off pain, but you can't fight off structural damage. So if you can cause structural damage, say by hyper-extending a joint, perhaps the elbow or the knee, you'll start to tip the odds in your favor. Severed tendons behind the knee or a severed Achilles tendon will put someone at a serious deficit in terms of capability and fighting ability. A friend of mine who was a very dangerous man once told me, “I've seen a man fight with one arm, but I've never seen a man fight with one leg.” Think about that.
Tactic # 6. Disruption of the Central Nervous System When the brain bounces off the inside of the skull, it causes damage, a concussion, called a knockout in boxing. The effects of a concussion can last for a few seconds or for months, as in the case of a coma, or it can cause death, depending on the force and severity of the blow to the head. Without going into details here I’ll just say, the best way to knock someone out with a punch is to target the chin. Hitting either side is best, which causes a violent and sudden rotation of the head. Or if you're coming straight up the middle, a straight punch to the front of the chin causes a sudden back-and-forth movement. Both cause the brain to rattle around inside the skull. Remember this. A hook to the jaw is the sweetest punch in boxing for good reason. Another way to cause disruption of the central nervous system is to break or sever the spinal cord, as in breaking the neck or penetrating the brain with an object such as a knife, screwdriver or ice pick. The mafia has been doing that last one for years. Disrupt the brain or disconnect it from the rest of the body and there's no more fight and definitely no more threat. These are the things that individually or by themselves may or may not be enough to overcome a truly determined opponent. But if your strategy is to use these tactics and you employ them in combination with each other or simultaneously, against the opponent, they will work. You just need to be using fighting techniques that support these tactics. When we get into the chapter on “The Strategy of Techniques” you will need to assess your training to be sure that any and all techniques you are studying or learning have these tactics as their ultimate goal.
Chapter 4. The Strategy of Techniques The Perfect Technique
As I have stated previously this is not a book of techniques, but as the title implies, a book of strategies. These are principles and attributes that you can apply to training, your mindset and your efforts and abilities to survive an encounter with hand-to-hand, life-and-death combat. In this chapter I will give you some strategies about techniques that you can use to both evaluate your own training or to modify and supplement your training in areas that you deem necessary. In terms of a life and death struggle, let me start with these two rules. I call them rules because in this context they are absolutes. This is not training. This is not sport and there are no rules, no referees and no do-overs. In this “competition” the winner lives and the loser dies. You’ve already seen these rules once, but they are so important, that here they are again.
Rule # 1. Never do anything that is useless. Rule # 2. Never do anything without a purpose. With these two rules firmly in place, let’s take a look at getting the most out of your training efforts. First I want to say this, I've never trained for sport. I've never trained for fun or the health benefits of the hard physical efforts it involved. I trained for combat and it has always been the driving force for everything I do and have done for the last 40 years. I have nothing against those who train for any other reason. It's just not me. I'll be the first to admit that I like violence. Maybe there's something wrong with me in that respect, I don't know. I gave up trying to figure myself out awhile ago and I just went with it.
Yes, I have been a competitor. I was a four-year letterman in high school in multiple sports and I went to college on a football scholarship, played pro baseball (minor leagues), boxed as an amateur and competed in scores of tournaments in kickboxing and jiujitsu, and I fought, anytime – anyplace. I'm Irish. And I've had more than a few lessons beaten into me along the way. When it comes to techniques keep this in mind. The brilliant master strategist, Karl von Clausewitz stated, “Superior strategies make up for inferior tactics and superior tactics make up for inferior skills.” What does this mean in terms of actual combat? What it says to me is that the actual technique, the very thing we spend the most time on in our training, is the least important thing. Here is something that may be a little more relatable to hand-to-hand combat and essentially states the same principle. One time Bruce Lee was asked by a student, what were the targets, the vital points that he should strike at in his attack? Bruce replied simply “Don't worry about that. I want you to learn to hit so hard that it doesn't matter where you hit the opponent. You will cause him harm and pain.” If you don't know much about Bruce Lee, I'll just tell you this, he was one Bruce Lee in the movies and he was another Bruce Lee in person. He was direct, brutally honest, and he was only about combat. Bruce Lee also said one time, “Before I studied martial arts, a punch was just a punch and kick was ust a kick. After I learned martial arts a punch was no longer just a punch and a kick was no longer just a kick. There were jabs, crosses, back fists, front kicks, hook kicks, sidekicks and many more. But after I understood the martial art, a punch was just a punch, and a kick was just a kick.” My point in bringing all of this up is simply that you cannot possibly learn or remember every technique, every punch or kick that exists let alone learn a separate response to every different attack. Yet most of us spend a lifetime of training searching for that new technique, a new punch or kick, trap, lock, takedown or submission that will give us that extra edge. Once again, it's just human nature and in this case it's “the grass is greener” syndrome. But I’ve got
to tell you this, I’ve seen guys that had multiple black belts in multiple disciplines get their asses handed to them by an untrained undisciplined bar fighter who was well-just a fighter. All the thousands of techniques they knew did them no good, because they crossed the wrong side of a good old street fighter with a bad attitude and six beers in his belly. Most of the time it’s because as a “real” fighter, the bad guy had through the school of hard knocks, learned the very strategies and principles I’m teaching you in this book. He didn't know what he was doing; he was just doing what worked. He wasn’t bound by any rules, dogma, or convention; he just fought. And it worked. Here’s what you should know about techniques. I will use the following strategies and principles as your guide. All techniques should be evaluated first on these two overall principles:
1. Economy of Motion – Everything you do must be direct, simple and quick. 2. Efficiency of Action – Every technique has to work with as little complexity as possible and must deliver as much energy or power as possible into the target, the opponent. A technique must be easy to learn, easy to retain, effective to deliver, and easy to administer under the stress and chaos of combat. Legendary Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest of all professional football coaches, took the Green Bay Packers to 5 NFL Championships and 2 Super Bowl Championships on two basic plays, the power sweep and the midrange pass. They were successful even though the other team knew what was coming. The reason was that it was simple, direct and the Packers did it better than any other team in the league. The most feared Olympic wrestler of all times Alexander Karelien basically used one technique, the suplex. But he was so good at it that every opponent knew that if Alexander got his hands on you, you were going to get suplexed and the match was going to be over. He was so feared that opponents would come out onto the mat on their knees hoping that this would stop them from getting picked
up and tossed backwards over his shoulders. Now of course the Packers had more than two plays and Karelien had consummate wrestling skills, but the fact remains that they didn't need complexity to be effective and it wasn't some secret technique passed down from some monk in a cave. They were skills that every high school football player and high school wrestler learns at the beginning of their career. Bruce Lee once said, “Sometimes the ordinary becomes extraordinary because it is so ordinary.” It took me over 20 years to truly understand the meaning of those simple words. I hope it doesn't take as long for you.
The Perfect Technique Every technique that you are taught and are training to use for real combat has to fulfill these basic criteria, otherwise you are wasting your time and you should discard it. A. It must place you in a superior tactical advantage. B. It must place the opponent in an inferior tactical position. C. It must unbalance, damage, incapacitate or kill the opponent. D. It must protect you from harm. E. It must give you the opportunity to disengage when appropriate. Like I've said previously, if you are practicing anything that does not abide by and adhere to these basic principles, then you’re wasting your time. Go back to learning how to throw a right cross that will send the bad guy into the next week and you will be far better served. Every technique should be applied with extreme violence of action and without hesitation or mercy afforded to the opponent until the threat is neutralized.
I'll finish this where I started because it is so important: Never do anything that
is useless and Never do anything without a purpose. Anything more or less will likely get you killed. As described by fellow tactical trainer Rory Miller, you should also evaluate the attributes of each individual technique using the following criteria for his standards: 1. The technique should be fast. 2. The technique must work. 3. The technique should be simple. 4. The technique should work without modification in a range of applications for most common attacks, without having to change for different attacks or different weapons. 5. It must be easy to learn and train. 6. It must put you in a position to be able to follow up with more techniques. I would also like to add that if you are learning or practicing a technique that gives you any difficulty in executing perfectly in training, you should discard it because you will never be able to do it in combat.
Chapter 5. The Strategy of Processes Have a Plan- the Proper Plan Everything that you do or encounter in life has been previously done by someone else. In the last 35-40,000 years out of the billions of us who have lived on this earth, some other human being, perhaps hundreds, maybe thousands, have been in the exact same situation-no matter what it is. Nothing is unique. Now, if you agree with that, you can start looking at human combat in the same way. And by doing so, you can break the stigma of psychologically viewing everything you encounter as a brand new or unique experience. It’s as simple as shifting your mindset to accept that others have done this before. If you can shift to that way of thinking then you can start to see things in a more detailed, analytical manner. This allows you to break down all combat scenarios in order to see them as a sum of their parts. And if you can do that, you can break any scenario down into its component parts. By doing this you can develop specific training methodologies to “learn” your way through any number of combat scenarios, and develop the ability (the goal) to be in control of the situation rather than letting the situation control you. This is The Law o Processes and as I refer to it here, The Strategy of Processes.
By viewing
various combat scenarios including hand-to-hand combat, as a sequence of intersecting events and actions/reactions you will be able to discover the various commonalities that exist. Realizing that these commonalities exist is also part of a process, you can then use them as learning opportunities, addressing the individual parts specifically and separately, developing specific skills to address techniques and training methods. These will give you the ability to perfect skill sets that consist of many solid individual components which then gives you an even stronger whole, when combined and then applied. I know it may sound like I’m getting kind of “out there” but if you simply look at everything as a
process, you can dissect and learn that process like any other subject you may study. It’s kind of like a guitar solo, which is a bunch of individual notes put together in a sequence and pattern that has rhythm, timing, and a purpose--to sound as cool as the guitarist can make it. In the hands of a master, it sounds so fluid that it is almost magical. But if you were to want to learn to play that same solo, you would break it down into its component parts and learn 3 or 4 notes at a time before moving on to the next 3 or 4, practicing them painfully slow as you perfect each sequence of notes a small set at a time. Once these 3 or 4 note subsets are learned, then you start to combine them into the solo as a whole. If you were to try to learn how to play solo by starting at the beginning and going all the way through every time you practice it, you’d never get it. Learning that solo is a process and like all the strategies I outline in this book, it doesn’t care how, why or where it is applied, it just is. Let’s look into how the strategy of processes applies more specifically to Hand-to-Hand Combat. If you agree with me that combat can be broken down into a collection of processes, then we can break it down into its component parts to address them individually. By my definition, combat is when one individual attempts to impose or assert his will over one who attempts to resist that effort. That imposition of will may consist of the taking of property, food, money, land, possessions, subjugating or enslaving an individual, or the act of robbery, kidnapping, rape, physical harm or murder. Anyone who attempts to make someone do something they don't want to do falls under the imposition of will. Granted, sometimes someone imposing their will on another can also be a good thing, if it's done for the correct reasons. But since we're in a book about human combat, we’ll work from the stance that someone is trying to impose their will on you for the wrong reasons. This also allows us to break down the act of the imposition of will into physical warfare and/or psychological warfare. Not every form of combat has to be purely physical, for there are all of the psychological aspects of imposing one's
will on another including domination, intimidation, fear, threats and the like, which are all weapons in the game of psychological warfare. Sometimes merely the threat of violence is strong enough alone to beat someone into submission without a blow ever needing to be thrown. Then of course there are those who use both physical violence and mental violence to accomplish their goal against their chosen victims. The problem with these psychological types of attacks is that most of the perpetrators are masters of their game and they are also masters of picking out the right victim to wage their combat against. So they win almost all the time. We’ve all run into people like this. It's that guy about which you've said, “Put me in a locked room with that asshole for 10 minutes and we'll see how tough he thinks he is then.” Anyway, I digress. What I'm going to talk about is the physical side of combat and the processes involved in its unfolding. We’ll talk about it from both sides, both the good guy’s side and the bad guy’s side. First we’ll take a look at it from the bad guy’s side. Attacks are bound of course by the obvious laws of nature and also by man's ability to consciously manipulate his environment. Therefore although an attack can occur with or without a weapon, it will still be bound by the same principles and processes that are the common denominators in almost all attacks, whether a weapon is used or not. An attacker is a predator and just like any other predator for example a lion, he rests on a fine balance beam which teeters delicately between success and failure. A lion survives if it can gain more energy than it loses in the process of acquiring food during a hunt and attack. If the balance tips too many times the opposite way, and the lion ends up using more energy than is gained, the animal will starve. It is the same concept in regard to the human predator. The bad guy is always looking for the easiest mark in a victim-one which requires the least amount of effort for the greatest reward. Lions will target the young, the elderly, the weak or infirm. Potential targets for a human predator are basically the same. The bad guy is not going to attack the college linebacker because he isn’t sure he will win and doesn't want to attack a victim who will likely fight back. What
happens to the predatory lion if it breaks it’s leg taking down a wildebeest? Well simply, he then gets moved from the category of predator to the category of prey. The hyenas will make sure of that. It's also the same for the human predator. He wants to get in, get what he wants, and get out, so he can go home to watch TV, rather than making a trip to the emergency ward and then to jail. This is why the elderly, women, and children are the most likely victims of a predatory attack. Thus there is a process that the bad guys go through in selecting a potential victim. By the way, you can look at the bad guy who is a predator as being a person whose job it is to be a predator. Realize that in most cases that has been his job for most of his life. He is pretty damn good at it. In fact he is an expert. He is so good that when it comes down to preparing to go to work, he can scan the herd, (a group of unsuspecting humans), and it only takes him a couple of seconds to identify his potential victims. He will then act to separate the intended victim from the rest through a manipulation of various processes to set up an ambush point, propagate his attack and leave. There are so many types of predators and so many variations of attacks in so many various environments where they occur that I could write an entire book about the predator/prey process and their methods of attack. Perhaps I will. It would be a good one, especially for all parents to read and their kids to read as well. What I will do here is describe a very generic attack scenario and how you may circumvent or minimize its effectiveness. I hope that you will see that it is a process and if, God forbid, you ever become a part of that process, you will be able to recognize it and break the sequence. The typical generic attack scenario process goes like this: Then predator picks out a potential prey then, either through a manipulated contact or by circumstance, separates the victim from others, lures them to a predetermined location, or waits until they cross an ambush site, and then either launches a surprise attack or if they are in personal contact with the victim, causes a
distraction and then attacks. The sequence is almost always the same, whether it starts with meeting someone at a bar, conning an unsuspecting individual into going somewhere with them, slipping a drug into a young lady’s drink, or by following a victim on the way to their car, or even following them home. A predator will always look for the best ambush site. Ironically, sometimes this may be in the “safety” of the victim’s own home. In fact some of the most violent crimes actually occur in the victim's home due to the element of seclusion and the security in perpetrating a crime where it is likely that no one will hear or interfere. Anyway, the absolute best way to avoid any attack is to never allow yourself to be considered as a potential victim during the initial scanning process. The best way to do that is to be aware and to look aware. For example, the lookout for the rest of the herd rarely, if ever, gets attacked. Another way to take yourself off the bad guy’s radar is to make eye contact. By doing in essence a “reverse scanning” which simply consists of making brief eye contact with any or all potential predators, it serves to take you immediately off their list of potential victims. This is not a “hard look” or a challenging stare, but a brief moment of eye contact which says I see you, I know you're there and I’m watching. In the world of criminal behavior there is an old truism and it goes like this: “There are only two people who will ever look you directly in the eye, a cop or a bad guy.” So if you keep your eyes open and actively reverse roles with the bad guy, you won't be considered a potential victim. This is especially true when it translates into a clear signal that says you are aware and alert and you'll respond with violence if you are forced to. Also by maintaining your training, both physical and mental, and by keeping the proper mindset, you will exude a “presence” that translates into the “I'm not your victim” air that creates a sort of force field that bad guys will pick up on instantly. Ironically, undercover operators have to be constantly aware of and conscious of not exuding that “presence” so that bad guys are not able to see through their cover and ID them as an operator. It is
called in that community, the art of becoming the grey man. So you can see that there are various processes at work here and that an attack will always follow some type of process unless you're dealing with a mentally deranged individual where spontaneous aggression or loss of impulse control may dictate their actions. Actually I'm pretty sure there’s probably a process going on there also, but it's too convoluted to figure out, for me anyway. I guess it would suffice it to say that you should be very “on guard’ when dealing with “the crazy homeless guy from under the bridge.” So if there is a process that takes place leading up to an attack by a bad guy, it would be safe to say that there is also a process that starts with the one who is the target of that attack. Let’s break down those processes and see how they affect your ability to respond.
Breaking the OODA Loop Hopefully, if you are involved in Law Enforcement, Military service or training in personal protection, whether as a profession or just for the safety of yourself and your family, you’ve heard of the OOODA Loop. Here’s a very brief description. The idea of the OODA loop, an acronym for the terms Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act describes the internal processes that the human mind goes through every time it perceives some type of unfamiliar stimulus from the environment. Its action is not necessarily predicated by a threat or danger, but by a trigger stimulus that a human being encounters, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent. OODA simply describes the process that the human mind goes through every time it encounters an outside stimulus, from jumping out of the way of a moving vehicle to nearly running into someone who is trying to pass through a doorway at the same time as you are in a “shall we dance?” moment. It was conceived of and codified by Air Force Lt. Colonel, John Boyd, called “30 second Boyd,” for his prowess in aerial combat, and his ability to defeat any enemy within 30 seconds of engagement. He became one of this nation’s top military strategists, was a brilliant, cerebral analyst and is responsible for dozens
of training and combat strategies including the Navy Top Gun Fighter training program. His ideas, innovations, and influence alone are responsible for saving the lives of numerous of U.S. soldiers. Please bear in mind that the OODA loop does not exist alone or in an isolated state. It is interwoven within the fabric of Fight or Flight, Situational Awareness, personal conditions of awareness, previous experience (or lack thereof) and of course, your own unique personality traits. The OODA loop is the name given to the sequence of events that your human computer goes through as it processes the constant stream of data and stimulus that bombards your brain in your every waking and non-waking moment. It is probably not noticeable to us for most of the mundane and non-threatening events that we experience all of the time. It becomes very evident and very important when we are confronted with a high stress, dangerous or life threatening event. Knowing that the OODA loop exists and that we are all in effect slaves to it, gives us the opportunity to analyze it, address it, and with proper training use it to our advantage. The letters OODA make up the acronym for the terms (in their sequential order) that describe the sequence; Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.
Below is a brief description of the process.
Observe, Orient, Decide, Act Observe: The initial stimulus triggers a response. For example, you are in a dark room and a TV set goes on unexpectedly. unexpectedly. It gets your attention and you look in its direction – what’s that? Stimulus Orient: Identification of Stimulus Oh, that's the T.V. and that’s the Seinfeld show. Choice of Action Decide: Decision to Act / Choice I’ve seen that episode – I’m going to change channels.
Action: The physical act of carrying out the decision. You reach out and change the channel to another show.
This is a fixed sequence of events and if this sequence is started or engaged, it follows through from start to finish. It can be speeded up slightly through training, most notably scenario training, but cannot be speeded up past a certain point due to the fixed time of human cognitive analysis and the action / reaction sequence. The only way that the OODA loop’s process can be speeded up is by removing steps from the process. Since I just stated that once the OODA loop process is started, it must always follows through from start to finish, then how is this possible? The answer is by having a pre-planned course of action. In other words, having a
plan before the OODA process begins, eliminates or removes two of the steps from the four step OODA OODA sequence. And these steps can only be removed through training. Specifically, training is designed purposefully to remove those steps. The two steps that can be removed through this training are Orient and Decide, leaving only Observe and Act. This effectively cuts the fixed time sequence of the OODA loop in half. Through training, both physical and mental, these steps are addressed again and again at ever increasing speed so that when engaged in combat, there there will be complete and immediate immediate action without thought.
The
phenomenon referred to by trained and experienced operators is "The Calm of Combat." Here is an example as explained to me by my friend and former Navy SEAL, Larry Yatch. Yatch is owner and director of SEALED Mindset, a state of the art firearms and combat training school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Let’s say you enter into a coffee shop and sit down to relax. A sketchy, tattooed male in a hoodie enters the shop. Your trained level of situational awareness alerts you. Noting that he seems “out of place” you then observe that he is exhibiting a number of nervous and subliminally noticeable, suspicious actions. Your thought process should be: there is something odd here, that guy looks bad. If he pulls out a gun to rob this place, I’m taking cover, drawing my weapon and I’m going to shoot him. By having this “plan" already in place you have already addressed Orient and you have already addressed Decide. So, if the thug does pull out a gun and screams, “Allah Ah Akbar! Everyone must die!" You You will still need to observe his observe his actions. But you have already oriented, oriented, (ID’ed him as a threat). You have also already made your Decision your Decision about about what you are going to do (cover and shoot). You only
have to Act (aim and press the trigger). This type of training, designed to facilitate the process of complete action without thought , is the same training undertaken by Tier One operators in premission training in preparation for an assault against a specific objective. The most relevant and obvious example of this is the recently released "declassified" information about the training undertaken by the SEAL operators leading up to Operation Geronimo and the successful takedown of Osama Bin Laden. Those operators spent months training in a complete and accurate (as accurate as intel provided) mock-up of the compound housing the terrorist. Through hundreds or thousands of repetitive drills under simulated combat conditions, pursuing every "what if?," scenario that could be imagined, the operators were being forged into a machine where all extraneous decision making processes were removed, leaving only immediate responses to action dictated in actual combat to be addressed. And even those decisions were pre-rehearsed as accurately as possible to limit the decision making process where immediate response/action is required. The result is the creation of a system of interacting gears as finely tuned as a precision Swiss chronograph--a deadly timepiece that when wound up and set in motion will not stop ticking until the objective is achieved. By doing so, this training or rehearsal process, is designed to eliminate any moments of indecision, hesitation or questions in the most critical instant, where the time between Decision and Action can spell the difference between life and death. By having a thoroughly practiced plan developed in which; if A then B, if C then D, etc., is already thought out, rehearsed, and decided upon prior to the engagement, then the OODA loop process can be broken and as a result, effectively shortened. Bear in mind that the faster I can go to from Decision to Action, the more I cause the enemy to engage his own OODA loop again and again, placing him at the mercy of this process, where he is continuously
operating in a reactionary mode, thereby negating his role as an effective combatant. Also bear in mind that these operators have layers of contingency and backup plans in place, also well practiced, just in case something does go wrong, which as we all know is unavoidable in combat. In the same regard, agents of the Secret Service, especially on the Presidential details are trained specifically to "act without thinking," or so it would appear when they are called into action. In reality, they are thinking. But they are thinking about what they are going to do before they have to act. "That one looks suspicious. Where am I going to move, intercept or shield my principal if that guy steps forward?'' This minute to minute planning, the act of always thinking ahead, is of course, on top of the all the other contingencies already in place if a threat is presented against their principal. These agents have to stay a step ahead of the game, in fact several steps if possible. They cannot possibly react before a bad guy acts -- physically. This is where training about recognizing a threat before it manifests comes into play, the ability to pick out the bad guy before he acts. However, a lot of bad guys are very good at masking their intent until they act. As a result in this case, the agents have to Observe and Decide before the potential assassin can act. That is truly the only advantage the agents have in the moment of micro-seconds that exist which separates the difference between a zealous fan and a deadly assassin. This high level of readiness, this unceasing vigilance is the result of years of collective experience, historical analysis and state-of- the-art training designed to give the small but critical advantage in keeping the President safe from harm. As you may surmise, not everyone is cut out to be a Navy SEAL, Delta Operator, Secret Service Agent or SWAT team member. These types of individuals and those in similar job descriptions are indeed the cream of the crop
and yet it still takes them years of training to make the starting lineup. However, the same principles can allow you to facilitate and “upgrade" your training and raise your capabilities to new levels of readiness and ability. But bear in mind this. Bad guys train too and they have on-the-job experience. Taking the extra effort in learning how to break the OODA loop may give you the advantage you may need to survive a deadly attack. Let’s take a look at how and why the OODA loop can be detrimental to the performance of a skill set. We are going to choose a Major league power hitter-a home run slugger for our example. In this case you can fill in any name because they're all been through this same experience, the slump. I know this because I played pro ball. If you look at the hitter, barring an illness or injury, the hitter is the same on any given day as he was on any other day. The swing is just as good as it always was. It is the same swing as six minutes ago, six days ago, six months ago or six years ago. He has swung that bat thousands of times and connected solidly with hundreds of hits and home runs. He's still in the prime of his career and facing the same caliber of pitchers that he has always successfully faced. Yet for some reason there comes a time when he cannot put the bat and the ball in the same place at the same time. This continues in spite of the fact that in batting practice, he consistently drives balls over the fence again and again. He knows he can still do it and in the batter’s box in the game in front of 55,000 fans he can't get a hit. As you may have surmised, this is not a physical thing, it's a mental thing. Now, let’s apply the principles of the OODA loop to the batting sequence. His lifetime experience of hitting a ball which once involved only Observe and Act. It now has become Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. In effect, this batter has allowed his brain to get in the way. This has slowed down his ability to swing at a 96 M.P.H. fastball just enough to no longer get "good wood” on the ball. His flash picture of the ball leaving the pitchers hand, the point where he begins his swing, has slowed just enough to place him just a quarter beat "behind" the
pitch. Result-the slump. Of course we all know that once you're in a slump, the more you think about it, the deeper the hole becomes. That’s one of the wonders of the human psyche. But it's also the key to allowing us to excel at a chosen endeavor whether it’s hitting a target or hitting a ball. How would one break out of the slump? What type of training could be used to get that batter back on his game? Again, I discussed this with my friend Larry Yatch. Our training solution might not be what is currently prescribed by a Major League batting coach, but Larry has proven it works for combat shooters and the principles for performing any complex skill set under pressure are essentially the same. Our solution would be to subject the batter to as much stress and outside interference as possible, to overload the "thinking" brain as much as possible so it cannot do its “job.” This stimulus would include auditory, physical, and mental stress. For example, auditory stress could include loud noise such as blaring music, shouting, screaming or other auditory stimulus. Training could include rapid fire pitches delivered by a machine or maybe pitching delivered by two pitchers in rapid succession allowing the batter only enough time to reset before he would need to swing again all the while being bombarded by a cacophony of other auditory, visual and mental stress. You could even use wind driven by fans to blow streamers as distractions on each side.
The key would be to get the
hitter to bat under these induced conditions without being able to process all this stimulus streaming in at once so that his brain effectively throws up its hands in frustration and simply quits. This would then force the batter back into the shortened sequence of Observe ct, the zone that and mode that got him into the Majors in the first place. A mode in which pure physical skills have been honed to the point of perfection, in which they are not impeded by a slower decision making process during every pitch. A place where the batters confidence is then restored to his pre-slump
level of performance. How does this apply to combat? Well, just like any other highly technical skill performed under stress, the principles and their resultant effects on human performance are exactly the same. A shooter also knows when he's not on his game, when something just isn’t right. Sometimes just taking a day or two off from training is all it takes to get back on track. Sometimes adding something completely different into your training to shock the system, is what is needed. And sometimes it's the performance of those skills under the stress overload process that is what is needed to break the slump, a complete reset, you could say. Sometimes it’s all of the above. I must state though, that for the beginning or novice trainee, this overload system will not work. Why? Because if a beginning ball player has an incorrect stance, improper grip, sloppy swing or is afraid of the ball, it is not going to matter how slow or fast the OODA loop process is until he has mastered the correct basics of his desired skill set and has a consistent foundation of correct individual skills that support the correct, repeatable, physical skills needed for the overall endeavor. As with a shooter who has a terrible grip or trigger press, it is not until those physical disparities are correct that the mental processes can be specifically addressed with measurable results. As you can deduce, it is impossible to address a trainee’s "problems" without this process of elimination. The start of this process must be determined by asking the question, “Is this physical or mental?” This has to be identified before either aspect can be addressed with tangible results. Physical problems have to be addressed first always. And in regard to those Tier One Operators, it is after the perfection of the highest levels of physical skills that they often find that the next phase is sometimes the harder, steeper path to climb. The path they will now be facing, is the training of the mind.
The Process of Fight or Flight I am sure that many are aware of the “fight or flight” reaction. Did you know that there was more, much more, to it than just those two words? When the brain is triggered by a spontaneous, unexpected and surprising stimulus, certain autonomic functions go into action. I use the term “surprise” to denote that it must be something of distinction to trigger the action. In other words - a loud noise, perhaps a gunshot, explosion, or scream is more likely to trigger the response than a whisper or a cough in a theater. However, that same cough will trigger the response reaction if it comes from downstairs at two o’clock in the morning when you and your wife are both in bed.
So, just
remember that the same stimulus can produce completely different results in different contexts. For the purpose here, I will reference the loud, scary types of stimulus that trigger a response. Let’s use this example. It’s two o’clock in the morning and you are alone in your pitch black hotel room. You’re just drifting off to sleep when you hear your hotel room door close. I guarantee, no matter who you are, fight or flight is going to kick in at that moment.
So let’s see what happens.
Your body
immediately tenses up, your eyes open wide, your pulse jumps dramatically, your breathing becomes shallow and your ears strain to hear any micro sounds in the room. This is the first phase of the fight or flight reaction. Most people would call this terror or at least a moment of stone cold fear, but it is really not. It is merely a physiological response to a perceived threat. Whereas engaging the OODA loop is a reaction to all stimuli, the fight or flight response is activated by the amygdala to a perceived threat or danger. Just what happens when a perceived threat is received by the mind? There are dozens of things that begin to take
place but I will be dealing with the most obvious and the most dramatic aspects of the response sequence. The first response is the trigger into action of the amygdala, the primitive section of our brain dedicated almost solely to keeping us alive. It is where most of our “survival instincts” reside. One thing to understand first is that the amygdala acts much like a reflex. As you know when a doctor strikes your knee to “test your reflexes,” the strike stimulus goes right from your knee to the base of your spine and back. It doesn’t even involve the brain. It’s also the same reason you can jerk your hand so fast off a hot stove top. You don’t get the chance to “think about it.” It’s the same with the amygdala. When it is triggered by a perceived threat stimulus, the signal goes straight to the amygdala without higher brain function interference. One thing to note though is that because this is a reactive, direct stimulus/response equation excluding higher brain processes, the amygdala does not know if a stimulus is an actual threat, perceived threat, imagined threat, or no threat at all. It just sees threat, each and every time. This, I venture, is your body’s ultimate failsafe mechanism. It just kicks in. You assess and get to figure out what to do, after it’s done its job. So what does it do? (Please understand that a lot of these things are happening simultaneously even though I am mentioning them individually.) Cortisol and various adrenaline hormones are immediately dumped into the organs and muscles. The major function of the cortisol is to increase blood sugar levels for quick energy bursts and to lower sensitivity to pain. The effect of the adrenaline is to super charge the body, to give it the ability to go to afterburners with resultant strength and power to move quicker, hit harder, lift more, or run away faster. It also gives you the shakes, the nervousness, the butterflies in your stomach, and the rush that you feel after an adrenaline dump
which can last for 20-60 minutes after the threat has been removed. Your breathing becomes more rapid, bringing more oxygen into the body. Your heart rate jumps dramatically pumping more blood to the muscles. The blood vessels near the skin and to an extent the extremities, (fingers, toes, etc.), constrict, restricting blood flow, making more blood available to the core strength, muscles. The eyes dilate allowing in more light thereby increasing your ability to see. Your hearing becomes more acute. The stomach muscles tense up to protect the middle organs. The shoulders hunch up to protect the vital neck area. Your hands come up to the front to provide protection of the eyes, neck and face and to form a roadblock in front of the eyes. Your legs tense, flex, and bend slightly so that you may spring into action, whether it is to run or stand and fight. Then there are the “other” effects, depending upon the type of confrontation and duration of the threat. For example in a gun fight, you may experience tunnel vision (hyper-focus on the threat) selective auditory exclusion, not-hearing the explosions of gun fire, yet still hearing the bolt of the gun racking back and forth or no other sound than the sound of shell casings hitting the floor. And, the most puzzling of all effects - time distortion, when things seem to be moving in slow motion. Although things do not slow down, the brain seems to go into a hyper-speed processing mode, clearly at a much higher rate than normal. It takes in much more data while the data stream of the real time event itself does not increase or decrease. I would describe it like watching a normal event filmed by an ultra-high speed camera and then played back in regular speed. I’m sure you’ve seen the films of drops of water hitting the top of a puddle. You’ll see that there’s more to that drop hitting the puddle than meets the “normal” eye. However, these “other” effects usually only take place if the “fight” is actually engaged, as opposed to the initial effects of Fight or Flight, before the fight
starts. So now what happens? The amygdala went into action giving you all these wonderful tools to keep you alive. All of this happens almost instantaneously and gets you to the starting gate where you get to make the choice of either ‘fight or flight.” What do you do then? This is where the higher brain starts to be engaged, past the pure, instinctive reactive mode. It’s not quite a fully conscious decision yet, but this is when you begin to decide what to do. So far I have only talked about two options, fight or flight where you either engage the threat or disengage the threat and flee to safety. Did you know that there are more reactions possible--three more in fact? There are a total of five options that become choices as a result of the amygdala turning on its switch. They are Fight, Flight, Posture, Submit, or Freeze. Fight or flight are obvious, so what about the other three? Remember one thing. We are humans, but we are still animals and we are subject to the same reactions as those of our animal relatives. These attributes are of course, more evident in mammals than in most other creatures. If you’ve never experienced the “other” three reactions, I’m sure you’ve seen them in animals.
The
remaining three reactions, Posture, Submit, and Freeze, are all possible options to a spontaneous, unexpected threat stimulus. How you will react depends on the threat, the environment, precursor events, the OODA Loop process, your own life experience and of course, training.
Posture The word posture defines one or both combatants or potential combatants taking action to intimidate the other. This could be called the face off waiting for the first one to blink. Many times in nature and quite regularly in humans, this is the moment where combat will be avoided by one of the parties simply backing
down. In the animal world, (including us,) the purpose of this mechanism is to prevent combat from taking place. If two lions engage in actual combat there is the high probability of injury to both participants. In the wild, any injury more serious than a scratch is probably a death sentence. The “law of the jungle,” is that if you are sick, weak, old or injured, you automatically become prey, even if you once were the king. Have you ever seen a cat that was startled or squared off against another cat? You may have seen the cat turned sideways, its hair all puffed up with its back arched high in the air, growling or yowling. This is a perfect example of the posturing process at work, in which the cat attempts to look larger, more intimidating and more formidable to its rival. If you have ever been confronted by a growling, snarling angry dog with its teeth bared, and hackles up, you were witnessing a posture process in action. I’m sure you’ve seen the posturing process between young men about to fight, arms splayed, fists clenched, chest puffed up. However some, when their fight or flight mechanism was activated, may have opted for the next option, submission.
Submit This option is complete surrender to the will of the rival. There are times when the dynamics of the environment, the nature of the attacker, and severity of the threat combine with your own experiential processes to trigger a submissive response, the “please don’t hurt me” response.
I have personally witnessed
individuals take a severe beating all the while offering no resistance other than yelling, “Why are you doing this? Stop! Stop! Why are you hitting me?” I know this for a fact because one time it was me. In nature, animals “dropping their guard,” lowering their head or gaze, turning their back, or exposing their soft underbelly to their opponent, are exhibiting a
submissive response. In pack animals this establishes the “pecking order” of dominant and subordinate hierarchy or rank within the social structure of the pack. Between two rival males it determines which one will be the one to breed and pass on his genes.
The most dangerous aspect of falling prey to a
submission response is that you are at the complete mercy of the “victor.” In the animal world the victor generally stops his aggressive actions. However, with human beings all bets are off and the human sociopath may just decide to terminate your existence.
Freeze The remaining option is the “freeze.” People have described it variously as being frozen with terror, paralyzed by fear, or just scared stiff.
These words are
definitely describing the freeze response, and unfortunately it is all too real. It may indeed be an extension of the “freeze” mechanism instinct used by baby animals to conceal their presence and remain undetected by predators when being hunted. The obvious danger in this case is that offering no resistance at all, not even raising your hands to protect yourself, keeps you in a completely helpless and vulnerable position in the face of extreme danger or violence. This is definitely the worst position to be in when your life is hanging in the balance. Nonetheless it does happen. syndrome.
In nature this is described as the “deer in the headlights”
I believe, as do many that this is the result of an “event” so
unexpected, so far out of context, that to an “inexperienced” individual the data pouring in is overwhelming. Their human computer just cannot process it and goes into a shutdown mode. What do I mean by inexperienced individual? What I mean is that a person used to a high stress environment, lifestyle, or job is not likely to be one who experiences the “freeze.” Very few combat veterans experience the freeze, nor do ER Doctors, Policemen, firemen or fighter pilots. It’s just that their personal
experience has forced them to make decisions in situations that most people never, ever experience. A majority of people misinterpret this reaction as one of fear or cowardice, when in fact it is just one of a set of normal psychological/physiological reactions to a threat. Anyone who has ever been in combat – any honest person - will tell you they have been scared in combat and scared every time they have experienced it. If anyone ever says he was not scared, he was either lying or has brain damage or – he is lying. The difference is simply this. Combat experience is really just the difference between being scared and doing nothing and being scared and doing something. The veteran will be the one who acts and the rookie will be the one who freezes – at least in the beginning. You may have read in a paper I published on the attributes and actions of a sociopathic predator that I described the sociopath’s experiential familiarity as; “he’s done this before” in explaining how he is able to move fluidly through a high stress environment. People who have experienced ongoing exposure to decision making and actions in high stress environments are much quicker to “sort it out” in the face of spontaneous life threatening situations. Unfortunately this works the same for a bad guy as it does for a good guy. The bad guys just get their experience from doing “bad” things. Most people do not have any of that historical experience and they never will. This fact is exactly the reason that the 9-11 hijackers started their deadly scheme by cutting the throats of the innocent flight attendants to accomplish the takeover of the planes. They were counting on the fact that the paralysis of fear would strike the passengers and give the terrorists enough time to assault the cockpit, kill the pilots, and take complete control of the planes. So how do you deal with all these processes: the OODA Loop, Fight Flight, Posture, Submit, and Freeze? Well, the first step is by education. Simply by becoming aware of what will happen, the time that you are caught up in them
and controlled by them will shorten. The best and most effective way is to engage in active training. Put yourself through high stress, realistic scenarios, while forcing yourself to work through decision-making processes and active responses under pressure, in the midst of a fluid, ever-changing sequence of events. For this you need to go to the next level of training which is practicing under simulated combat conditions, the “sparring” part of advanced training. In football it would be the scrimmage on Thursday before the Friday night game. In the military it would be “Top Gun” fighter pilot training or war games. Unfortunately not many people have the option or opportunity to access such training. In lieu of not having that training option, the next best thing you can do is to imagine yourself being in these different situations confronting various threats and imminent dangers, then working through them in your mind, using your imagination. What I’m describing is the tool of Creative Visualization and how you can use this valuable tool to enhance the effectiveness of your training regimen.
Creative visualization The art of training without training Let’s take a look at a couple of ways the addition of Creative Visualization can be used to enhance your training program.
First I’m going to break the use of Creative Visualization to two categories; 1. Positive Training Reinforcement 2. Simulated Realistic Training The first category contains what most of us might be familiar with from sports, the part where the athlete, say a sprinter, visualizes himself outrunning his
competitors and crossing the finish line first. Almost all top athletes use this type of creative visualization to enhance their positive reinforcement and confidence for competition. However, this type of visualization is just the tip of the iceberg. A few years ago a psychology professor tried an experiment in his class regarding what effect creative visualization had upon the mind/body connection and what if any, validity there was to its positive effects on the learning process. He told the class that they were going to learn how to shoot free-throws with a basketball. He took the class to the basketball court and had one of the varsity team players come in and demonstrate/teach the class how to properly shoot a standard free-throw. Then they tested the entire class on their ability to shoot free-throws and recorded the results. Then the teacher told the class that they would be divided into two groups. One group (A) would come to the gym every day and practice shooting free-throws for one hour, five days a week. The other half of the class, group (B) would come to the gym only one day a week on Mondays, and shoot free-throws for a half hour only. But, for the remaining four days, group (B) would spend a half hour a day imagining (visualizing) themselves shooting free-throws as realistically as they could visualize in their mind. At the end of the semester they all came back to the gym to be tested once again, group (A) having spent over 45 hours of actual practice time and group (B) having spent only eight hours of actual, hands on, practice time. How do you think each half did? Many would think that group (A) would do much better since they spent six times the amount of actual practice time learning their new skill than group (B) did. However, think about this, every time a student in group (A) practiced his shots, he made some and he missed some. Yes, some of his shots went through the hoop but many more shots were too long, too hard, too flat, too short or too far off to the right or left and did not go through the goal. In essence, they were
practicing and reinforcing bad habits each time the shot wasn’t a swish through the net. So when the, “shoot off” test was conducted between the two teams, much to everyone’s surprise, team (B) ended up shooting not just as good, but better than group (A). How could that be possible? It doesn’t seem logical. But think about this. Every time the (B) students closed their eyes and imagined themselves taking a shot, guess what kind of shot it was? It was pure net, a perfect shot. So in effect, if they spent a total of 45 hours practicing their free-throws over the semester, 82% of their practice time was spent shooting a perfect free-throw every time they shot. Even though it was strictly in their mind, via Creative Visualization, they were developing a habit, a habit of perfection that translated to a higher skill level in the end. And that was that. Or so it was thought. Well, leave it to a certain, “government agency” to become aware of the experiment who then started testing it in regard to teaching their operators shooting skills. And guess what? They were able to repeat the results, which enabled them to cut down on range time and spend more time teaching their recruits, “other valuable skills.” So the value of creative visualization in training a skill set is the result of the body not knowing the difference between what is real and what is a dream. After all, our body becomes completely paralyzed during deep sleep so that we don’t thrash about during our dreams and hurt ourselves or anyone else. All because when we dream, our body can’t tell that it’s not real. This is the same reason in terms of the experiential process that creative visualization translates to the learning process so effectively. After all, practice doesn’t make perfect. Only
perfect practice makes perfect. The second benefit of creative visualization is the ability to create a vast movie of scenarios in the mind. As I have stated previously, one of the mantras of the
Emerson Combat System is; “You never want to run into something for the first time combat.” Now, you can practice, and you can practice a lot. You can also do scenario training. But you can’t practice everything and you can’t possibly game out every possible scenario. And, if you are the average citizen, you don’t have the means or even access to those types of training. But, you can create scenarios in your mind, in a multitude of ways. For instance you can imagine a carjacker sticking a gun in your ribs as you walk from the store exit to your car. You can do the, “what would I do if this happens?” game about any number of possible predicaments you might find yourself in. Then create that scenario in your mind and go through mentally how you would react to that situation. You simply put yourself through it just like you’re watching yourself in a movie. Here’s a for instance; you walk into your house and two thugs are beating your wife, demanding to know, “Where is the money?!” Seeing this, you assess the situation, acquire the target, draw your weapon press the trigger and your heart stops, as it makes the loudest sound in the world – click! Now you have to do a tap and rack to recharge the weapon. Then you need to reacquire the target, reassess, and once again face the decision of shoot – no shoot. In order to do that scenario in real life you would have to have two role players acting as the bad guys, your wife, yourself, and the time to do it, which most of us just don’t have. What happens if you visualize these things happening and then imagine yourself working through them? In effect, after having seen them in your mind, you won’t be facing them for the very first time if they ever happen for real. Using this imaginative training called, Creative Visualization, for creating scenarios that you might encounter, you will be much better prepared to respond and much quicker to react. Remember, “You never want to run into something for the first time in combat” If we agree that all of these interactions can be broken down into processes and
sequences and even though each individual scenario comes with its own unique set of circumstances, there are always commonalities that occur. It is then that you can develop two important areas of expertise. The first is the ability to sense and or see an attack in the making (the attack process) before it happens and then interrupt the process. The second area of expertise is that, being aware of the processes that affect you, you can then train to affect, strengthen or control the individual components of that process. By strengthening or addressing those parts as individual component parts you will discover where any added training or emphasis is needed. I will again use a boxing analogy. When I'm teaching a novice boxer how to punch, I basically let him go with his own punching style at first. I carefully observe and see his punches as a sequence of individual components and pick out those individual parts that need the most work or special attention. Once that component is addressed through training, adjustments or exercise, I move on to the next component and so on until we eventually get to the mental components which are always the last puzzle piece in the picture. I'm big on planning. For example at Christmas time in order to pick up all the gifts I'm going to buy that are “I want this for Christmas” items, I first call the stores that have these items to verify that they have them in stock. Then I make a map, a route, and make a big loop from my house to those stores and back again to my house. I go early in the morning to avoid crowds and traffic and usually complete the “must have” phase of my shopping in two to four hours, not three or four days. It works for me because I have a plan. Knowing where you going to do before you start makes life a lot easier and a lot less stressful. The same strategy also applies to combat. Having a plan before you are attacked, or before you attack, is a wise thing. It allows you to go into an auto response mode which turns you from reactive to pro-active as you progress through this programmed behavior mode.
You are about to learn the
significance of this as we discuss that subject in the next chapter. By having this
automatic course of action preplanned before the trigger event, or an attack, it allows you to move efficiently and effectively immediately out of the gate. If your attacker has by chance taken you by surprise or by way of an “ambush” he will soon find out that he's got an even bigger surprise coming back at him by having picked the wrong target. Now, remember I said this sounds easy? Well there is a military axiom to also be aware of. It goes like this, “Everyone has a plan until the first shots are fired,” also stated as, “No plan lasts past first contact with the enemy.” Or as Mike Tyson once said so eloquently, “Everybody's got a plan until the first guy gets hit in the teeth.” So, you might be asking, what's the point? Well, the point is this. You can't make it easy, but you can sure make it easier if you have a strategy upon which your plan is based. And in terms of life or death combat, easier can make all the difference in the world. Remember, the billions of dollars that built all of the hotels and casinos in Las Vegas are the result of the fact that they've tipped the odds just slightly in their favor. In combat, tipping the odds in your favor always pays off.
Chapter 6. The Strategy of Action The Action/Reaction Turn Around Becoming difficult to hit. I think everyone would agree that it is much more difficult to hit a moving target than to hit a stationary target. Further I think we would all agree that it is even more difficult to hit a moving target that is trying to hit us back at the same time. I will then ask this question. For those of you who have been in the Corps, if you are ambushed what is your standard, pre-programmed response to the ambush? The Marine Corps answer is; you engage the enemy and counterattack with overwhelming firepower. If that strategy is good enough for the US Marines, then it's good enough for me. So if we all agree that the above statements are true, then let's use these truths to construct a strategy that takes advantage of them and make them work for us and against the enemy. Although what I stated above sounds simple and easy on paper, when the sh!t hits the fan, it gets a little harder to execute. Honestly, I’m not going to B.S. you, no matter what, it will always be difficult and never easy, because you are dealing directly with the spontaneous unpredictability of another human being. When it happens, a violent attack is almost always an ambush, a surprise attack, because it gives the attacker the best advantage and the opportunity to do the most damage. While you are initially reacting to him, he is basically controlling your actions. Now if you have read this far, you already know rule Number 2 of The Three Immutable Laws of Combat . The attacker must react to you and not ou to him. But the cold truth is that no matter how well-trained or how prepared you are, unless you initiate the action, you will always be in the reactive mode during the initial moments of any attack. The key to your survival hinges on
how much time you spend in that reactive mode. The less time there, the higher your probability of survival. However, if you have a plan of action before you are attacked, you will spend less time in a reactive mode where the bad guy can do the most harm to you, simply because you don't have to think. You just have to act. But if, have said, all plans go awry when the fight starts, what do you do then? Well, you continue to apply the strategy, which determines and guides your further actions. What is The Strategy of Action? If you reduce it to its simplest ingredient, it is movement. Movement changes everything. I do a drill on the morning of the first day in every one of my classes to illustrate this point. I get a student out of the class to help me demonstrate. I hold out my hand, palm facing him and tell him to throw 10 good jabs at my hand which I'm holding stationary in front of him at chest level. The student proceeds to hit me 10 times with good solid jabs, every one right on target. Then I tell him to throw another 10 jabs, only this time I move my hand side to side in a straight line, not fast but in a steady, slow, side to side motion. Of these 10 jabs about seven strike the target hand, squarely. Next I tell him to throw another 10 jabs, but this time I move my hand side to side and up and down in a random rhythm again, still not fast. Of those 10 jabs only three or four hit squarely and some miss completely. Mind you I'm still moving slowly. Then I tell him to hit 10 more times and I let him throw 2 or 3 abs Suddenly, I close the distance and go in for the clinch. This usually catches him by surprise and he can't throw any jabs at all since I’ve wrapped him up. The point of the drill is to illustrate that just by adding movement into the equation, not even fast movement, I take the effectiveness of his attack down by 70%. Remember I'm not moving fast and more importantly I was not even trying to hit him back or counterattack. Then when I go to the clinch I’ve taken away all of his ability to attack. I want you to think about two trained boxers trying to hit each other while preventing themselves from being hit. I hope you are starting to understand how hard that is to do. I also hope that you can see that
what the drill illustrates is the gradual shifting from me reacting to him, to him reacting to me just by adding movement alone. Then by changing the movement to a more random pattern, leading up to the clinch, I effectively diminish his 100% offensive ability to a state of virtually 0% offensive capability after I wrap him up. Another drill we do is one that few people believe until I show them. In this drill I have a student stand about 5 feet in front of me with an Airsoft pistol, off safety in a low ready position. If you look at the two of us you would see that he only has to raise his pistol about 10 inches to shoot me square in the chest. I also have an Airsoft pistol, tucked into the front of my waistband in full view. I have told everyone, I can pull my gun out of my waistband and shoot him (the student) before he can raise his gun to fire even while I'm in full view. Most of the students don't believe me. And then I proceed to do it again and again. The reason? Well, it’s not that I'm Flash Gordon. The reason is due to human reaction time. It's not a fair start because a third party is not saying ready, set, go, in which case I would lose every time. I'm cheating by starting when I want to start and when he doesn't know I'm going to start. Thus, because he doesn't know when I'm going to make my move, I win every time because quite simply, he can't react faster than I can act. It takes him a couple of milliseconds to see me move, process it in his mental computer (the OODA Loop) and then start his response. By then I’ve got my gun out and have fired off a shot to his center of mass. It is important to understand how these action/reaction principles can either work against you or work for you depending on your awareness of them and your ability to manipulate them as quickly as possible. Bear in mind that an attack against you will, as I previously stated, most likely be a surprise attack. In this event you will be, by the very nature of the attack, in a reactive, defensive, mode for some period of time. The key is to limit that amount of time to as short a period as possible, because that time, when you are in an unavoidable reactive
state, is the time when the attacker is in a 100% offensive mode and can do the most damage to you. In order to keep that time as short as possible there are number of things you can put into place before the attack, or bring into use when the attack takes place. This will be covered in the next chapter, “The Overall Strategy -- Preemptive Self-Defense.” For now I'm going to discuss the tactics supported by the Strategy of Action that you can employ to work for you and conversely, against the opponent. Once again I’ll use boxing as an example to illustrate. If you've ever watched a boxing match you've seen what is called a flurry. A flurry is when one of the boxers opens up on the other boxer with a barrage of rapid, consecutive punches. When that happens, the boxer on the receiving end has no option but to cover and back away, most often into the ropes, where the barrage continues. In order to really get what I'm saying you’ve got to realize that this happens to the best fighters in the world, even the world champions. The reason is that even seasoned veterans, the best in the world, cannot immediately counter such an overwhelming attack. Even athletes at the highest skill level and experience cannot overcome the action/reaction principle. That is, until they are able to turn it around. How is that accomplished? There are only three ways. The first way is through Movement, the slip, duck, bob and weave, or footwork, getting out of the way of the flurry, off of the line of fire. Number two is The Clinch in which the boxer being struck grabs the arms or upper body of the attacking boxer and ties them up. Like a bear hug. Three, The Counter-Attack where the boxer being attacked becomes the attacker and does the action/reaction turnaround, forcing the attacker back to a reactive mode. It's called fighting out of the predicament. It's the same principle as the Marine Corps response to an ambush, attacking back with overwhelming firepower. In fact, I've seen a number of bouts where the boxer on the receiving end of being pummeled, blindly starts punching back, fights out, starts a flurry of
his own and knocks out the other boxer who started the attack. Since the first boxer was being 100% offensive he was not paying any attention to his own defensive skills. As a result gets caught by a hard cross or a left hook to the jaw, and down he goes. Here are the reasons that I'm using boxing as a vehicle to make these points.
One. It's very easy to physically represent, and easy for you to picture, or see in your mind.
Two. It clearly shows that we are all subject to the same reactions, even the best of the best.
Three. An attack is an attack, whether it is in a sporting event or an alley behind the bar. Any attack, since it involves human beings is bound by the exact same principles, regardless of the intended outcome. We all both act and react in the same manner and always will, because we humans are all the same both physically, physiologically, and psychologically. The real difference lies in the intent of the attack and the degree of violence used towards the desired outcome. In this case, you will be the intended victim, up against the ropes for the first few milliseconds (an eternity in a life-and-death struggle) and you will need to get out of that situation once it begins – a process – as quickly as possible. Yes, you are going to be caught in that “What the Hell!?” moment. Yes, you are going to get hit, stabbed or shot. But are you going to just stand there or are you going to fight back, fight back with everything you've got? And now I ask, how are you going to fight back? The first thing you need to do is accept the fact you are not Superman and the only advantage that you have will be your training, preparation and perhaps some experience. But, all other things being equal, these are the factors that give you the advantage and it is a big advantage if you act to use it. As I've said during the initial moments of the attack, you will not be in control of the situation and will be subject to all of the instinctual and physiological
responses that are hardwired into our survival mechanism. These are the fight or flight mechanism, the startle response and the physiological mechanisms of internal responses such as the adrenaline and cortisol release, the amygdala takeover of cognitive brain function, auditory exclusion, tunnel-vision, circulatory conservation, an increase in heart rate, along with all the other things that are designed to increase our chances for survival when facing spontaneous danger. What you need to accomplish is to attempt to fast-forward through all these things to get to the next scene as quickly as possible. A lot of being able to speed up the process is accomplished just by becoming aware of those processes. You need to understand just what is going on when it happens so you are not caught completely unaware. That is what I'm attempting to do in this chapter. Since this is a book of strategies, much like Miyamoto Musashi’s book, “The Book of Five Rings” which outlines strategies and not techniques, I will not be going into specific counters or individual techniques. Rather I leave you with this statement. Always remember the Second Rule of The Three Immutable Laws of Combat as stated earlier in this chapter. The opponent must react to you and not you to him. You need to make this your mantra and when the time comes turn that mantra into action as quickly as possible by any means necessary in order to turn the tables on your attacker.
Chapter 7. The Overall Strategy Preemptive Self Defense The idea or, Art of Preemptive Self-Defense is the real key to your personal security and can be defined as a working blend of situational awareness, proper attitude, and preparation (training). In the movie “Enter the Dragon,” Bruce Lee is challenged to a fight by a fellow passenger and competitor, on the boat ride to the island where a great martial arts tournament is to take place. Bruce Lee is asked by a fellow competitor what his “style” is. Bruce replies “It is the style of fighting without fighting.” “Show me,” was the other’s reply. Bruce calmly told the challenger that there was not enough room on the deck of the boat for proper fight and suggested that they get into a small boat being towed behind the main boat and go over to a nearby island where they could fight with more room. The anxious challenger promptly jumped into the boat and Bruce simply let out the rope, leaving the arrogant challenger stranded and being towed behind by himself in the rough waters of the Hong Kong Bay for the remainder of the ourney. Everyone on deck laughed. “That is the art of fighting without fighting.” I call it Preemptive Self-Defense and it is the ultimate high art of personal security. Preemptive Self-Defense is in a nutshell all of the strategies and tactics used to avoid an attack or a fight before it ever happens. This is done through a combination of preventive measures, correct decisions, situational awareness, and good old common sense. And I can't stress common sense enough. So let's start with common sense. Most people seem to think that things in life ust happen. Especially to them and they have no say in the matter. In reality though things do happen, and you actually have a large say in regard to when, where, and what those things are and whether they are good or bad. Let's look at it like this. You could be the one saying, “I couldn't believe it. I never saw it
coming,” or if you were honest and 100% objective about what happened, you should be saying, “If I had checked my gas before I was driving through East LA, I would never have run out of gas or better yet, I should have driven around East LA and not through it.” Or for example, “I shouldn't have stopped at that biker bar at 1:30 AM Saturday night for a last drink after leaving my buddy's house.” Or even better yet, “I shouldn't have been drinking and driving.” Although these are simplistic, they do make a point that you really have much more control over the events that happen in your life. Or you can just be lazy, relax and keep rollin’ with the flow. I guess the reason that the latter behavior dominates is because of the laziness of human nature that we all possess to varying degrees. The real truth is that you actually have almost 100% control over all of the things that happen in your life. Personally I don't believe in luck, good or bad, and I'm aware that almost every bad thing that has ever happened to me in my life, I set up to happen either by laziness, lack of attention, or through bad decision-making. I guarantee to you that no matter what your situation is, it didn't happen because someone flipped through phone book pointed a finger at your name and said, “You random bastard. You’re next.” If you’re with me on my premise that you actually have control of the bad things that happen to you, then doesn’t it make sense that if you consciously take control, you should also believe that you can make good things happen to yourself just by taking that control, paying attention, not being lazy, and of course, making good choices and decisions. You should be applying this basic sound philosophy to the entirety of your life. If you do, then you should also apply the same principles to your personal security and use it as a foundation for Preemptive Self-Defense. A further aspect of Preemptive Self-Defense is the idea of situational awareness. Situational awareness is defined as a state of cognitive awareness of your surroundings in a 360° perimeter in the environment that you are in for at least 20 to 30 feet out in all directions, including all the individuals within that radius
that have the potential to interact with you. For further explanation of situational awareness please refer to my book, “Surviving Inside the Kill Zone, The Essential Tools You Need to Survive Deadly Combat.” In short, always be aware of your surroundings, the people around you and where all the possible chokepoints and any avenues of escape are located. This takes practice but it can be accomplished. Although you will find the following discussed in several of my other books, it is so important that it bears repeating here. One of the best ways to get to this degree of attention is to abide by Col. Jeff Cooper's color code system awareness. There has been a lot written about Colonel Jeff Coopers color code system and the conditions of awareness. This system has been successfully taught to and used by Military, Law Enforcement and civilians for decades. Basically, the origin of the color code system is that colonel Cooper deduced that there were four levels of awareness that constantly affect us as human beings and that we are always in one of those conditions. Further, they will definitely affect your ability to survive a life threatening crisis or event depending on which condition you are in at the onset of the event. In order to simplify and teach these conditions in an understandable manner to military recruits during their training, he assigned a color code to each of the four conditions or levels of awareness. These conditions are described here in the words of Colonel Cooper;
1. Condition White -You are unprepared and unready to take lethal action. If you are attacked in condition white you will probably die unless your adversary is totally inept.
2. Condition Yellow -You bring yourself to the understanding that your life may be in danger and you may have to do something about it.
3. Condition Orange - You have determined upon a specific adversary and are prepared to take action, which may result in his death, but you are not in a lethal mode.
4. Condition Red -You are in a lethal mode and will shoot if circumstances warrant it. (These are the same conditions in my words as I teach them in my classes. I have modified them slightly to suit my needs and teaching curriculum.)
1. Condition White -You are awake but not paying attention to your surroundings or environment. 2. Condition Yellow-You are paying attention to your situational awareness, surroundings, environment and are aware and assessing others in your vicinity for potential threats to your safety.
3. Condition Orange-You have positively identified a threat and are actively formulating a countermeasure and response.
4. Condition Red-You are actively responding to the threat which now has you engaged in combat - the fight. For a more detailed explanation of these conditions and how they apply to personal defense and Tactical and Combat awareness please read the article I wrote, "Pre- Emptive Self Defense Parts I and II” found at; The GuardianShepherd.com or Emersonknives.com As it is with everything, the more that is learned, more experience garnered, and more results analyzed, the process of evolution will inevitably occur. And so it is with the four conditions as developed by Colonel Cooper. As a result of this evolutionary process, enter the 5th condition- Condition
Black. Condition black is the place in a fight, in combat, where you cease to exist. The you that I am describing here is the conscious you, the thinking you, the you that you know. It is in this condition (Black) that all cognitive operations cease to register. There is no thinking, no decision making, no internal dialogue, no reasoning, no
regard for safety and importantly, No Fear. There is no before. There is no after. There is only now. If all thinking and all cognitive process have ceased to function, then there is no capability of judgment. Since nothing can be judged or assigned a value, there is - no fear. This is the state of existence described by the Samurai Warrior as complete disregard for the self. This is as close to the pure animal state that a man or woman can ever get. This is, you might say, the state of pure survival instinct. It is the time and place where the lizard brain and our lowest brain functions are now in control. It is the "blind rage" that some have described after life and death confrontations. And this creature that emerges has only one goal, survival. In this condition the creature that now inhabits the human body will do anything to get out of the situation. Since this primal creature has no sense of self, no reasoning, it does not know what it can do or what it cannot do. This is how the 80-year-old grandmother can pick the tractor up off of her grandson, or the soldier who can charge the machine gun nest and kill 4 enemy soldiers with his bare hands before he notices he has been shot 5 times. This is the realm of what I describe as the elemental fighter. I have always believed and long taught that inside all of us is an instinctual fighter - quite literally, our tooth and claw, cornered, animal self. Fortunately, I guess, few of us have ever had to access that being, our dark passenger. I would say overall, that this is a good thing, since it is a testament to the order of our society, our laws our ethics and our morals as a whole. I have met my "Dark Passenger" and it is an experience that is pure and powerful, shocking, yet exhilarating and in the end alluring and addicting. Perhaps this is in part, why so many people love the roller coaster and the out of control, wild abandon that it can create. But, the true experience of Condition
Black is Black is far beyond the effects that a ride on a roller coaster can produce. To be in such an elemental state of existence where there is only pureness of action, where no thoughts can occur is an experience that is rarely visited by some and never experienced by most. As I state time and time again in my classes," You never want to experience something for the first time in Combat," so it is with Condition Black. So I ask, can we induce it in training? Yes, we can and it is always one of the "highlights" of my course. By creating specific training exercises you can get a student to experience Condition Black. You can be in a fight, a real fight and never leave Condition Red. Red. In Condition Red you Red you are still able to cognitively think, decide and act. But given the right, or wrong stimulus, whether it is merely an overload of the system or some internal switch that gets tripped due to a certain combination of psychological buttons being pushed, Condition Black can be triggered. When you enter Condition Black , you are still able to act physically at least, but the result is more like lashing out in any and all directions. This can cause some problems. Because you don’t know what you are doing. You may end up doing the wrong thing which can cause more harm than good, which is not a good thing. Suffice it to say that one of man’s greatest fears, a real gut wrenching primal fear, is the loss of control. To lose control, control of your actions, control of your safety, safety, goes against our primal instinct for self-preservation. Whether that loss is to an outside entity, a circumstance, a bad guy, mother-nature, or some other cause, the loss of self-control can put you very close to a Condition Black event. Condition Black can indeed seem a frightening place place to visit. But, like all conditioning, once you have been pushed there, not only does it get a little less scary, but the stimuli’s and circumstances that trigger Condition Black are pushed a little further back. Your boundaries have now been increased. As your boundaries are pushed back, you are able to exert more control over a traumatic situation for a longer period of time, even in the face of chaos and deadly threat,
perhaps never reaching Condition Condition Black Black at all.
This would be the realm
described as, "The Calm of Combat." Through proper training in forcing your access and exposure to Condition Black, you have a better chance of engaging in combat in which you are still able exert some control over events to the best of your ability (Condition Red) rather than losing complete ability to to control anything (Condition Black). As you may surmise, once you are engaged in combat, a far better tactical position is to stay in Condition Red than in Condition Black. Just knowing that Condition Black exists is of course the first step in training to use it to your advantage. In life or death combat you need every advantage you can muster to be on your side. These collective tactics and strategies along with your own experiences may ultimately add up to enough of an advantage to destroy the enemy, ensure your survival and lead you out of the dangerous dark and into the safety of the light. Col. Cooper devised the color code system to provide young inexperienced military trainees an easy way to assess the personal state of awareness in any given situation. It gives you an easy way to both assess and train yourself to move to and from various levels of awareness as the situation may warrant. It has been taught to the military for over 50 years and is also taught to law enforcement personnel and tactical operators the world over, due to its effectiveness as a training philosophy and the soundness of its principal. The third component of Preemptive Self-Defense Self-Defense is training. I would define training as all actions that you engage in to give you the experience of how to respond to any potential threat or danger. All of your training should have as its goal to equip you with the right tools, both physical and mental to be able to make the most efficient and safest choice in responding to any threat or attack, before, during, and after the event. There is a saying that we use in my classes and we repeat it over and over again. “You never want to run into something for
the first time in combat.” Your training should always reflect an attempt to give you an experience to better prepare you for combat before you are actually in combat. You want the first time you experience something to be during training, not when someone is bearing down on you with a pole axe or a knife. In terms of Preemptive Self-Defense Self-Defense this training should also prepare you to recognize potential threats, pick out a bad guy guy from the rest, recognize the precursor signals for an imminent attack, both in terms of an attackers personal physiological and physical changes, such as increased respiratory rate, nervous behavior, furtive eyes, clenched fists, face wiping, excessive perspiration etc., or any other actions which seem out of place or just do not fit . You may also see other clues such as heavy clothing when it is warm, bulges that appear under clothing, extra heavy backpacks, or even the types the types of of clothing they are wearing. This would also include an awareness of nonverbal communication with others in the vicinity, such as looks, stares, or nods being repeated with other individuals who would want to appear separated from each other (on purpose). In addition an experienced operator will tell you that they will always look at the hands and shoes of potential bad guys. The banker or an accountant will not have gnarly callused hands, nor will he be wearing running shoes or worn boots. Preemptive self-defense requires an unceasing vigilance in an ongoing program of training and preparing in order to keep oneself abreast of new tactics and methods used by the bad guys and terrorists who are always looking for new ways to do us harm. I'll simply close this chapter with this story of former heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson. Once when tracked down by a sports reporter while doing roadwork running at 4:30 AM, in 15° above zero weather on the lonely back-roads of Massachusetts in preparation for upcoming fight, the reporter asked, “Mike why are you out here training like this, in this weather, at this time of the morning?”
Mike simply replied, “Because my
opponent is not.” Mike Tyson won the WBC world heavyweight boxing championship at 21 years of age, the youngest in boxing history and this was the
fight he was training for. In this instance we can all take a lesson from Mike Tyson’s statement.
Conclusion The arena of man-to-man, hand-to-hand combat is a cold lonely field and a place where only the truth is allowed to exist. It is lonely in that when you are engaged in single combat it is you and you alone against your opponent. There is no backup, no team, and no brother in arms to help or bolster your effort. Everything depends on you alone and your efforts, your choices, your will, and your ferocious resolve to defeat your opponent and to survive the outcome. Is also the place were only the truth can be spoken. It is a place were false words mean nothing, a place where there is no diplomacy, no posturing, no bragging or bluffing and no deception, only the raw truth. After the first blow is thrown, only the truth can prevail. The outcome is determined by who is ready, who is better skilled, who has the strongest resolve, who has the better training, and who is better prepared. But even more important, it is determined by the one who has the better strategies. At the end when one stands victorious over the other, these truths will become self-evident and it will be known who the superior combatant was. The honest truth will prevail. What role does honesty play in terms of human combat? It is a necessary and vital key to success. If you are not honest, completely honest with yourself in terms of your abilities, your physical skills, your force of will, your capacity, then you are entering into combat with a shield of falsehoods that will be crushed easily by your opponent. Unless you know what your true capabilities and capacities really are, then you are arming yourself with blanks. Blanks may look real and sound real, but they will not kill. I’ve said many times throughout this book, you need to self-evaluate both your physical training, capabilities, and your mental readiness, capacity, in order to see where your work needs to be done. I hope that by using, “The Seven Strategies of Hand-to-Hand Combat,” you are able to see where and how you need to work for improvement in developing the skills and attributes needed to survive a deadly attack. If as a result of reading this I can get you to start asking
why, why am I doing this, why is my instructor teaching this? Then you are on your way to self-realization and I have done my job. “Be thou not deceived by dogma or impressive falsehoods which are built on shifting sand. Build your fortress upon the bedrock of truth and it will last an eternity.” – Ernest Emerson By Your Leave, Ernest Emerson - Deep in the North Woods 2014
Bonus Chapter Thank you for reading this book. I have included as a bonus for you, the first chapter of one of my other books for you to read. If you are interested you can find this book along with all my others to purchase at Amazon.com or for an autographed
copy,
you
can
order
directly
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website,
TheGuardianShepherd.com
Bonus Articles As an extra bonus I've also included here two articles from my website TheGuardianShepherd.com, where you will find dozens of free articles and information concerning counter-terrorist training and tactics, personal security, personal family safety, training, conditioning, and self defense. You will also be able to download lectures, seminars and training routines to give you the tools, skills and mentality needed to be the most effective "Guardian Shepherd" for yourself, your family, your loved ones, and others who might need your protection in a time of need.
BONUS CHAPTER from
Surviving Inside The Kill Zone Chapter 1 Education
Knowledge destroys fear. It is human nature that we fear what we do not know. I believe it is one of the most basic survival skills that we are born with. It is natural that we all become victims of it to some degree at various times in our lives. Such fear is an obstacle, a big one. Fear makes us hesitate. Fear makes us question our abilities. It shakes our confidence. Fear dulls our edge and saps our strength. Fear gives our enemies their power. We fear what we think is dangerous, or what could cause us harm, or what we think is more powerful than us. And never forget this, “power perceived is power achieved.” There is an antidote, a cure for fear and it is simple. That cure, that antidote, is knowledge. To gain that knowledge you must seek it. You must spend time and effort to gain it. Because it requires a little extra effort, a little work, and some honest self-evaluation, it is the reason why so many have never conquered their own simple personal fears. It’s just easier to live with the hope that you will never have to face your fear than it is to face it and conquer it. The simple truth is that the more we know about something, the less we fear it. Fear I believe, is an irrational emotion. Now don't misunderstand what I'm stating, conquering fear with knowledge does not negate or take away danger. Danger is real. Danger hurts. Danger kills. Fear does not. But if you are embraced by the
irrational fear of something that is truly dangerous, you cannot formulate a rational plan to combat or negate that danger. In a perfect world, you would be aware of danger, you would respect it, and you would acknowledge it as a potential threat, but you would not fear it. Of course things always sound easier than they really are and this is definitely not a perfect world. In terms of a threat to personal safety (in this case a deadly attack) in order to come up with a working plan or solution to combat such extreme physical violence, you must apply the same formula. You must educate yourself about the enemy or potential enemies. You need to learn their tactics and strategies, their most likely moves, their modus operandi. I also believe in addition to that, you must also become aware of their motivations, their convictions, their history and of course their weapon systems. In understandable terms, you would deal much differently with the mugger who just wants your wallet so he can buy his next meth high than you would with the suicide jihadist who not only wants to kill as many innocents as he can, but also himself, in the process. Most criminal acts and also terrorist acts, follow a pattern. Even if it is only a general pattern, there is still a pattern in there somewhere. Here are some examples: it is almost always the case that if a mugger, a rapist or an attacker binds you, ties you up, or attempts to remove you from the scene of the initial attack, his plan is to kill you. It is also true that in any hostage takeover situation, the best time to escape is in the chaos and confusion at the beginning of the attack, because the bad guy’s next move is to round everyone up to control the situation and the hostages, rendering the chance of escape virtually impossible. It is also true that almost all attacks are in the form of an ambush and involve the element of surprise or a distraction to be successful. For example, I've always taught my wife and my daughters to never park next to a van and to always park where it’s well lit. By the way, using a van is the same tactic we (the good guys) use to do a snatch and grab, because it works so well. Although I'm using these
simple common sense anecdotes as examples to make a point, there are hundreds if not thousands who fall prey to predators every year because they are not aware of these three simple bits of knowledge. I am an eternal student. I am a student of human nature, of human interaction, of human conflict, and of human reaction to conflict. I'm a student of criminal behavior, criminal gangs, of terrorists and the acts of terrorism. I pay attention not only to trends in criminal behavior but also to the cluster effects of terrorist or criminal acts. In terms of becoming aware of criminal trends one sometimes only needs to watch the evening news. For example, a serious criminal trend called the knockout game has recently gone viral among young street punks in cities across the US. For those of you who do not know what it is, I will educate you. As an unsuspecting victim passes by a group of three or more punks “minding his own business” one of them steps out and cold cocks the unaware victim with a sucker punch that knocks the person out cold. The victim could be anyone, 12 years old to 85 years old, male or female. I've seen film of an 85year-old grandmother after being struck, hit the deck so hard that her head bounced off the ground. I believe she ended up in a coma. I’ve seen a 40-yearold man in a business suit carrying a briefcase hit so hard that he fell face first against the curb, dying from the impact--all for the laughs and giggles of some stupid ass punks playing a game. Do you think I pay a little more attention now when I'm out walking and need to pass some teenagers loitering, and hanging out, on the sidewalk? You only get one guess to answer that question. People often ask me, why do you always want to face the door or sit next to an exit in a restaurant, theater or at any public event? Well, the simple answer, the only answer, is so I can see who is coming into the establishment and if shit hits the fan, I can get my family out of danger fast. In the event of an attack or terrorist event, such as the Nairobi mall attack, things happen in milliseconds that can spell the difference between being a casualty and
being home that night with your family. Educating yourself about the actions of potential attackers and then being able to plot solutions to their actions is actually the easiest of the seven essential skills to acquire yet is probably the most overlooked and neglected of all. After all, you can acquire this skill in the safety and comfort of your own home with just a few good informative books. In fact, I’ll give you a good list of recommended reading at the end of this book.
BONUS ARTICLE 1 of 2 Know Who You Are Up Against What Makes A Street Fighter So Effective?
Let’s take a look at two fights: The lights are bright, the cheers and whistles of the crowd have a strange rhythmic ebb and flow. It sounds a little like you’re hearing it all through a long cardboard tube. You’re in a light sweat. The gate behind you swings shut and you look up towards the cheers, but can see nothing because the spotlights are pointed, it seems, directly at you. Your mind is racing but you are focused. Your hands tremble slightly and you begin to breathe deep and heavy to get more oxygen into your body. You can actually feel your heart beat faster and faster. Looking across the ring you see him.
He looks mad, focused and intense,
hopping from one foot to the other in the universal rhythm known only to fighters. I’m Ready, I’m Ready, I’m Ready. “Fighters touch gloves!” breaks your concentration and you step forward to the center of the ring.
Or: Its 10:30 PM as you turn down the street to your apartment and you notice there are no parking spots out front. “I know it’s late, but can’t there just be one open spot that isn’t a block away? Wait a minute, there’s one” Looking at the spot, it does look tight but you can fit.
As you jockey the car back and forth your thoughts go to your boss.
“Whenever Tom is absent the boss always yells at us. We’re not absent. Why doesn’t he yell at Tom?” You open the door reaching across for your briefcase and step out. “By the time that jerk Tom gets back to work everything has
calmed down.
This is the fourth time it’s happened.
The boss is an—“
WHAM! It’s not a noise but a blinding flash of white light that drops you to your knees. Your right hand shoots reflexively to the back of your head. Something hits you explosively in the middle of your back and drives your face hard into the pavement. You hear something. It’s not a voice, it’s more like a snarl crossed with a grunt, not really even human sounding. It’s getting louder – each time you are hit. Again and again something explodes into the side of your face and ribs. Three more times something slams down between your shoulder blades and finally grinds you into the cold blacktop. The crushing blows stop and you hear footsteps, running footsteps, and the world fades to black.
Two Different Fights – Two Different Worlds. Which one are you preparing for? Welcome to the world of the street fighter. Many trainers, fighters, instructors and martial artists train for fighting in the street- or at least they say they are. They are training to beat the legendary “street fighter”- or at least they think they are. Now, I’ve heard the arguments that the average martial artist could beat most people in the street. Well we’re not talking about “most people.” The street fighter I’m talking about is a ruthless thug, who’s probably done prison time, might have already killed someone and wouldn’t hesitate to stomp your face into hamburger after he’s knocked you down and out. This is by no means the guy most fighters would want to meet in the street. Unfortunately, these guys do exist. I’ve come across several in my career. Fortunately, I’ve not had to deal with them physically, but I’ve seen the brutal and shocking results of their actions. He won’t just beat you, he will kill you -are you prepared? Here’s an old military axiom to remember: Proper planning leads to perfect performance.
As a trainer and instructor, I have an obligation to prepare my charges for the worst-case scenario. It’s just common sense. If you prepare (train) for the worst, you’ll be able to handle most other situations you encounter. In order to train effectively to meet a deadly attack, in addition to all your basic training (conditioning, drills, sparring, etc.) you need to know what you’re up against so you can be prepared both physically and mentally should you ever cross paths with a real bad guy. So, back to the original question: What makes a street fighter so effective? Here’s a list of attributes. Some of these you can prepare for, some you can incorporate into your own training, some you should just be aware of, and some you or I just won’t do, because we are the good guys. This list is in no particular order. There are really only varying degrees of these attributes in every bad guy, since any bad guy is a little different from any other bad guy, just as you and I are different from each other. However, since we are dealing with the violent aspect of typical sociopathic behavior, certain commonalities exist. Most attacks by these thugs will be stacked in their favor from the very beginning. You will need every ounce of your resolve and willpower, on top of any physical prowess, to survive a true deadly attack. If you are lucky, you’ll be able to avoid this type of encounter just by staying alert, using common sense and listening to your gut feel. “I don’t think I should go into that bar with all the Harleys out front,” would be a good example of using all three tools that I’ve just mentioned. But let’s say that you just didn’t listen to your better judgment and you find yourself in the midst of 20 “patched” members of an Outlaw Motor Cycle gang who haven’t had any sleep for the last 3 days because they’ve been propped up on meth. On top of that, they’ve been drinking non-stop 6 AM to 6 AM for the last 72 hours. This is not uncommon
behavior amongst the radical hard-core biker gangs.
There is nothing
resembling normalcy in this human cauldron. And on top of that, almost all of them have done time. Since most of you can picture this scenario, I’m going to use it as the vehicle to illustrate the attributes. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be Outlaw Bikers, but it certainly could. If you happen to piss one of them off, who and what would you be up against?
You Will Be Ambushed Almost all of these types of attacks are unprovoked, surprise or ambush attacks. Remember, I said the odds are going to be stacked against you? This is where it starts. This will not be the “You wanna step outside? bar fight. There is no sense of fair play involved here. You will be distracted or ambushed, perhaps in the bathroom, perhaps on the way to your car, and if you are not absolutely “switched on” as the Brits say, you’ll never see it coming. This is the first big advantage the “street fighter” uses to his advantage – he knows he is going to attack – you don’t.
He’s Willing To Do Anything Another advantage that this thug uses to his advantage is that he is willing to do whatever it takes – anything – to win. Everyone loves to boast about what they would do against a bad guy. Would you really tear someone’s cheek off the side of their face? Would you really bite someone’s nose off? Would you crush someone’s throat with the heel of your boot? Would you hesitate, if even for an instant, if you needed to do these things? He wouldn’t. We are the good guys, and just being good puts us at a disadvantage in a case like this. We have an unwillingness to fight dirty, to cheat to win. They have no rules – we have all the rules. Whether it was from religion, family, society, sports, it doesn’t matter, but we have been imbued with morality, a sense of fair play, honor, and a sense of respect for other human beings. I am not judging anything here, but I will say that just an instant of hesitation at the critical moment, in a life or death struggle, can ruin your day. The bad guys do not have a moral braking system like (I hope) we all do. When they see you frothing blood or going into convulsions on the ground, there is no angel sitting on their shoulder saying, “I think he’s had enough.”
He’s Done This Before Or he’s had it done to him. Experience is such a great teacher; unfortunately it does not differentiate between good or bad behavior being the result. Believe me, when one of these “Street Fighters” stomps some guys head into the ground, it’s not the first time he’s done it or experienced it. This is his game, his rules and he’s used to how it’s played.
Extreme Violence of Action Luckily, most of you will never encounter or experience extreme physical violence. Be thankful for that. For most people, even soldiers, encountering
extreme violence, especially for the first time, can have extreme effects. When confronted with extreme violence, normal human reactions can range from a dumb founded freeze, to on the spot nausea. This dumbfounded freeze up, coupled with a gut wrenching feeling somewhere between fear and dread, was the tactic used to advantage by the 9-11 hijackers to wrest control of the planes, passengers and crew when they violently killed flight attendants in full view of everyone or the plane. Bad guys, real bad guys are almost always the result of a violent past.
You must understand that not only have these individuals
experienced violence before, some of them actually enjoy it. They are not like you or me and they know this works to their advantage. You cannot allow yourself to go into a “deer in the headlights” mode in the midst of a violent attack. For your training it is important to try and create scenarios that will bring out this surprise and fear, so that you aren’t seeing it for the first time in the middle of a real life and death situation.
This is the same reason the U.S. Navy
developed Top Gun and the US Air Force developed the Red Flag training programs for pilots. The more realistic you make the combat training, the higher probability of survival in actual combat.
Attitude and Intent When the enraged biker decides to attack you, it is done with an attitude (anger, ferociousness, vengeance) and intent (your complete and utter destruction). You on the other hand are going to be fighting strictly defensively, with no intent, just survival instincts and self-protection at work. It’s important to realize that until you turn this reactionary mode around in your mind, you will be doing just that-reacting.
You have to be able to start acting (fighting back) as quickly as
possible. Being in this reactive mode for even a few seconds is plenty of time for an attacker to cause you grave harm. Unfortunately, most martial arts are taught from a reactive premise, i.e.; if he strikes – you do this, etc. Most arts are more defensive in nature, than offensive. I guess that’s because we are the good guys and not the attacker. However, you must add some aspect of offensive and pre-emptive (first strike) training to be realistic in respect to being, “Combat Ready.” Once again, scenario training is very valuable for you to be ready to go offensive and turn the tables on the attacking thug or street fighter.
Just
remember if you are only practicing defensive counters, you’re letting him strike first. In that case, the odds are going to be with him, not with you.
He Will Be Armed Remember when I said the real “veteran” street fighter would use everything to his advantage? He’s not going to fight you without a weapon. Gun, knife, pool cue, bottle, pipe or rock, he will have something in his hand that can cause you great bodily harm. Have you ever seen a biker without a knife? There is a reason. Start practicing against weapon attacks.
He Won’t Be Alone He will have an accomplice. Someone will be there to set you up, to distract you, or to help him attack you. Contrary to what many say, it’s not because these thugs are cowards. In fact many of them are extremely brave, by anyone’s standards, when viewed objectively. I have seen some really bad (evil) guys stand down 5 or 6 formidable opponents and not backup one inch. It’s just that they know from experience that the odds are better for them when there are 2, 3, 6 or 12 against one.
He’s Not In Shape He doesn’t have to be. This is a fight, not a match. They don’t last that long. Seconds maybe – nowhere near a three-minute round. How many punches can you throw in 10 seconds? How many stomp kicks can you deliver in 5 or 6 seconds?
That’s usually all it takes.
Blind rage, fury, adrenaline and
methamphetamine can carry the most out of shape, overweight, outlaw biker, long enough to bring mayhem and serious injury, even death, to another human being. In the end these are some, but not all, of the characteristics that give the real street fighter his edge. It is important for you to know that you have to fight until you prevail or escape. You cannot stop or give up, ever. There will be no quarter given and no mercy shown by the type of sociopathic, hyper-aggressive outlaw that I’ve been describing. Take a new look at your training and decide what type of fight and what type of fighter you are training to do battle against. -Ernest Emerson
BONUS ARTICLE 2 of 2 The Human Machine The human body is a perfect, natural, machine.
It strives always, to do
everything with the least amount of effort and to the most benefit for itself. In everything we do, it searches for perfect rhythm, balance, and timing. These traits or attributes are part of the overall package that has enabled us to survive on this planet in one form or another for the last six or seven million years. It has an unarguable, proven track record. The human body has perfect body mechanics. What are body mechanics, you ask? Quite simply body mechanics are the physical movements performed by the body needed to accomplish an action. Standing up, walking, swimming, or throwing a knockout punch are all the result of body mechanics. important questions are these;
The real
what are perfect body mechanics? Can I get
them? How do they affect punching power? Unfortunately in some regards, we humans have been blessed with higher thinking capability, a more developed cognitive sense which gives us the ability to analyze, judge, and interpret everything that comes across our radar screen. It has enabled some to flourish, such as Mozart, Shakespeare, Thomas Jefferson and Britney Spears. Unfortunately, this ability also enables us to override many aspects of our natural behavior. It’s too bad that the body mechanics of our perfect human machine is one of those attributes that we can over-ride. By the way, I’m just kidding about Britney. I bet you thought I’d just blown all my credibility. Anyway, back to the questions regarding body mechanics. What are perfect body mechanics? This is the body merely trying to get the most done with the least amount of effort.
No unnecessary, extraneous or
exaggerated effort. Perfection in this regard is efficiency. No wasted motions
and more importantly no wasted energy. Can I get perfect body mechanics? You already have perfect body mechanics! All you have to do is scrape away the eight layers of paint you covered them with to expose the bare natural wood that lies underneath. Then with a little sanding and polishing you’ll have that beautiful natural grain once again. I will help you do this. How do body mechanics affect punching power? The mechanics of throwing a punch involve the entire body, right from the toes to the top of your head. It takes all of them working in unison to deliver a correct punch with power behind it. Anything that is out of rhythm, not in balance or out of sync takes energy away from the punch. Remember, less energy delivered = less power. Yes, you can still punch without everything being perfect for you. In fact in a real fight or even a match, it never is perfect for you so you’re going to want as much going for you as you can. Knowing and training for perfect body mechanics will give you more power even when things are not perfect. Let’s take a look at body mechanics from the ground up. I’m going to dissect this subject bit by bit and I fully expect you to think, “This guy has too much time on his hands.” Actually I don’t. I have several companies to run, a family of five, and a horse ranch. I have no time to waste. So when I train I want to get the absolute most out of every moment I’m in my gym. If I put the gloves on, I want to practice exactly the way I want to be when I’m in the fight. That is why I’m going to make this statement in Big Bold letters. “If You Don’t Practice Perfect, Then you’re Just Practicing Mistakes.” I don’t want to waste my time or yours.
Pick a Model – A Good One
Here is a big secret, Please don’t tell the bad guys. If you want to be perfect then model yourself after perfection. This really is one of those secret keys to success and I’ve taught people how to use it as well as having used it myself since I was in grade school. I was doing this for 25 years before I even knew what I was doing or just how valuable it really was. I was just doing something that seemed natural and worked for me. As I said before I was a pretty good athlete and I have to believe that it was in a significant way due to what I now know as modeling. I wanted to be a pitcher so I modeled myself after my Baseball hero Sandy Koufax. I wanted to be a quarterback so I modeled myself after Bart Starr. When I got interested in Boxing I modeled myself after Muhammad Ali and Alexis Argüello. What the heck is Emerson talking about? You should ask. When I talk about modeling I don’t just mean to be inspired by a chosen model. What I mean is that you imagine yourself as that individual. Hey, I’m not getting weird here. I’m only referring to this during training. As a young little leaguer I tried to pitch just like Sandy Koufax. I tried to mimic his stance, his wind up, the long step he took forward, his delivery and his finish on the mound. For those of you who do not know Sandy Koufax, he was one of Baseball’s greatest pitchers with ERA stats and strike out records other pitchers dreamed about.
There was
something about him that was so smooth, so natural, and so effortless. When it came to football, Bart Starr was the same, effortless, graceful and effective. Could it have been their body mechanics? I would practice throwing baseballs at a chalk drawn strike zone on the side of a brick building for hours throwing just like Sandy Koufax.
When I started
playing football, I would throw a football through a hanging tire for hours. I was Bart Starr. Think of it like this. Remember guys who would imitate movie stars and politicians. They were called impersonators. They would study all the nuances
of their subject, their voice, their speaking rhythms, their expressions, their gait, and any other nuances they could find. Well I found that the more I did it the better I got at it. Someone could say, dribble like Elgin Baylor or shoot like Pistol Pete Maravitch and I could imitate them, reasonably well. What I didn’t realize was that this form of imitation, this physical imitation, had helped me develop my athletic abilities immensely. By imitating these superstar athletes I was developing my body mechanics, my rhythm, my balance, and my power. Since I admired the pro stars of my time I was copying if you will those who had become superstars for a reason. They were the best at that they did. I didn’t try to imitate the fat guy down the block shooting hoops in his driveway. Would you? There were reasons these guys were good and a large part of it was their form, their athleticism, and their Body Mechanics. When I got into boxing I learned to mimic the jabs, the footwork, and grace of Ali. My jabs got better, my footwork got better. When I imitated Joe Frazier my hooks and overhand right got better. When I imitated the perfect form of Alexis Argüello my form got better. Here’s a quick tip I learned from Muhammad Ali. Ali had what a lot of Boxers (mainly his opponents) called a ghost cross. It comes out of nowhere and bam! Lights out. Most fighters throw their punches in a rhythmic pattern 1, 2 – 1, 2 or 1, 2, 3 – 1, 2, 3. They throw their jabs bring it back and throw the cross. Now if you look back on some of Ali’s films you will see him throw the cross, his ghost punch, directly behind the ab. One clearing the way for the other. What he does is to let the jab go and throws the cross while the jab is still on its way, not even to the target yet. The difference is like this; Bam dot Bam (conventional) and BaBam! From Ali. Now, bear in mind that he did not do this all the time because he needed to establish a rhythm or pattern to fool the opponent and set the opponent up so his ghost punch would work. He created a false rhythm then broke that rhythm completely baffling his opponent time and time again. Try it yourself on the heavy bag and just remember there’s quite a difference between Bam dot Bam
and BaBam! That’s the difference. No boxing coach ever showed me this and I never would have learned it if I had not been modeling Muhammad Ali. Modeling has worked for me in shooting, fighting, training, speaking and teaching. It is a multipurpose tool that you should definitely add to your training agenda. There are four basic things you need to model successfully. 1.
Believe that there is someone who is better than you so you can accept improvement in yourself. You should call this: Realistic Self Evaluation.
2.
Pick a good role model(s). Don’t base it on your likes or dislikes, or your instructor. Pick the best. For example, when I was bent on increasing my power I used Mike Tyson. Do I like Tyson? Absolutely no. But at that time he was the youngest boxer in history to win the Heavyweight title and his first 8 or 10 fights were knockouts in the first minute of the first round. Bad Guy – Furious Puncher.
3.
A mirror. You got to be able to see yourself, your moves, your motion, and your progress in order to improve.
4.
You need to think of yourself as a human tape recorder. Train yourself to be able to physically imitate others and you will see and feel the benefits of imitating someone who is not just better than you but the best at that they do.
The Natural Have you ever seen or known a natural athlete? The kid in school who was good at everything. The one that every sport just seemed to be easy for them. While you and I struggled to perfect these skills they would just show up and shine. Well it took me a long time, almost 30 years to realize that we all are that natural
athlete. We are the culmination of human evolution. We are alive, not because we understand physics or can create great works of art or music. We are alive because our ancestors could stay a couple steps ahead of that saber-toothed tiger. We are alive because our ancestor could jump over the trap that the bear fell into. We are alive because our ancestor could throw a rock so hard it could kill the sloth so everyone could have dinner that night. Just because we can go to the moon doesn’t mean we have lost those abilities, those attributes, and those skills. Our ancestors weren’t 9 feet tall and they didn’t have 3 arms or 4 legs. They were just like you and me in almost every detail. Hell, a Neanderthal or CroMagnon man could pass you in a mall and you’d never even-know it. Except for the grunts, the club and the woman he was dragging by the hair. Seriously what I’m getting at is this. We still possess these skills and we are alive because our ancestors were the strong ones, the smart ones, the natural athletes. However, we don’t have to fight for survival from the moment we are born, like they had to. I’m willing to bet the average 12 year old cave boy could run, jump, and fight pretty damn well, by anyone’s standards. He had to, in order to survive. However, as a whole we do not now need to practice these skills in order to survive. That’s why we now have obese children that already have elevated cholesterol levels by the age of eight. But I digress. Where am I going with this anthropology lesson? I’m going back to the natural athlete. Conversely, how many of you have known someone who just wasn’t coordinated. The kid who was clumsy, uncoordinated and maybe just sucked at sports. Perhaps it was me or perhaps it was even you. If you were that kid or if you are the guy who always has said, I’m just not coordinated, I’ll never be as good as him. I’m here to tell you that’s B.S.; capital B period, capital S period. A martial arts student once approached Bruce Lee and ended his conversation by saying “I’ll never be as good as you. You have a natural talent, a gift. Bruce looked at him and simply said “If you trained 16 hours a day you’d be as good as
I am.” We are all gifted. We all have these natural talents. It’s just that if you don’t use them, if you have never used them then those skills, agility, balance, and power won’t be as sharp or efficient as they would have been in a highly trained individual. You would be the “un-coordinated” guy. But if you have mentally convinced yourself that you are not “coordinated” then you have to change your mind first.
If you can’t change or throw out and completely destroy that
mindset, then you will always be uncoordinated. But if you can, if you can truly believe that you are capable of perfection in motion then you can fulfill that goal. Training your physical skills is the easy part, and proper training can address that, training your mind is the difficult part. If you don’t believe. If you don’t believe in yourself then you can never reach your personal ultimate performance potential. I don’t just want you strong. I don’t just want you stronger. I want you to be as strong as humanly possible. That’s the goal, brother. Why have I been talking about all this “in your head,” stuff? Because you have to have to believe you can get better, stronger, and faster. If I were able to look you directly in the eyes right now and you were to tell me, “I will never be able to be better,” I will be the first one to call you a liar.
The Mechanics of Mechanics Let’s get to the mechanics part of body mechanics. Some of the key issues in any training regimen are the perfection of the basic fundamental skills.
It has been said that an expert is merely one who has
mastered the basics. Unfortunately, most of us view the basic skills in any learning progression as just some things to get out of the way so we can get to the fun stuff. I wonder how many people have been accidently killed by a gun, in the hands of someone who did not have knowledge of basic firearm handling skills but knew how to pull the trigger?
Well in the case of developing proper body mechanics, it’s all about fundamentals, but they must be the right fundamentals. Now, if you were to come to me and say, Ernest give me 30 seconds of advice that will improve my skills the most. I would say, “Spend at least an hour a day practicing footwork drills.” You would look at me with the “That’s it?” look. Believe me I’ve seen it many times before. And I’ve always said “Yeah that’s it.” If you ever ask me anything, be prepared for an honest, forthright answer. I’m not here to impress you or myself. Those days are long, long in my past. I’m here to give you something that’s going to help you - nothing more, nothing less. Let’s face it; footwork skills are the basic fundamental skills that must be the foundation for skills in any sport, except maybe chess. Is that a sport? It’s your feet that move you and they are the building blocks upon which everything else is built. Look at it this way. I could build the most solid brick wall in the world, rebar, concrete, bricks, everything done right, but if my footing (foundation) is sitting on a pile of soft sand I can tip the wall over just by giving it a good shove. Now my strong wall is sitting on its ass. Don’t let that wall be you. One of the world’s greatest guitarists is a man named Steve Vai. This is not just a public accolade. The entire world’s other great players look at Vai and just shake their heads. “He can do things other guitarists don’t even dream about.” We’ll guess what? Steve Vai has followed a grueling 10 hour guitar workout for years, that’s right, 10 hours. Remember Bruce Lee, 16 hours? Anyway, three hours of every workout is devoted to practicing scales. One of the first things you’re taught when you begin to take guitar lessons.
In fact scales are
fundamental to the mastery of any musical instrument, they are the footwork drills of musical mastery. Are they fun? Not for most people. Everyone just wants to pick up that axe and jam because that’s the fun part. Back to my answer to the 30 seconds of advice; I spend at least an hour of every
workout on footwork drills. Granted, I mix a lot into the drills such as bobbing, weaving, ducking, and shadowboxing but it is as while I am shuffling forward, backward, sidestepping, circling and generally doing all the dance steps of boxing. The paradox is that if I could teach the way I really want to I would devote half the training to footwork drills. I can guarantee that I would have better fighters in those classes but no one would want to attend the seminars, on top of the fact that everyone would be worn out after the first hour of class. So what I’ve done is fold-in and also disguise a large amount of footwork training into drills that the students aren’t even aware of. They think they’re doing one thing but I’m really training their feet. So here we go. Now it would seem there must be thousands of drills to teach footwork skills the way I’ve described so far. In reality there are not. You can make unlimited combinations out of just the two basic steps I’m going to describe. Just as there are only eight notes in the musical scale, by varying their timing, their pitch (sharps and flats) and the combinations of notes (melody) songwriters and composers have written millions of beautiful yet wonderfully different songs. It just depends on how creative you are, or want to be. There are two more things that I want to say and stress before I get to the training. I will from time to time state that something is a rule. I have to call them something. Maybe fundamental principle is a better descriptor but saying rule just sounds more authoritarian. This is where I’m going with this. There are rules and there are no rules.
There are rules about stance, footwork,
combinations, defense, offense that we’ll talk about. But remember this point. You gotta learn the rules before you can break the rules. For example; Salvador Dalí the famous artist is generally known as the guy who painted noses on the sides of heads and ears in the wrong places. Well, he could still draw and paint contemporary art at a level as good as any world famous artist. He could create images, just like Caravaggio, Van Gogh, or Monet. He just chose to break the rules. It didn’t mean he didn’t know the rules. Muhammad Ali broke almost
every fundamental rule of boxing throughout his career. Angelo Dundee said Ali had ruined more boxer’s careers than anyone else in history with his hands down boxing guard. You had to be as good as Ali before you tried using antics like that. And remember Rope a Dope? He just let the opponent pummel him over and over while he leaned back on the ropes. No trainer or coach would ever recommend such unheard of behavior. Angelo Dundee would go hoarse screaming at Ali to get off the ropes but in the midst of this terrible fusillade, Ali would suddenly sidestep and hammer his opponent with a flurry of damaging punches. Ali knew what he could get away with because he let his body, his machine run without letting his mind get in the way. He was an improviser. And speaking of improvisation, if you ask any real musician what is the pinnacle of the musician’s art, they will tell you that it is improvisation. They will also tell you that it is the hardest thing they had to learn to do. The reason is that in order to improvise, to just flow, you have to disengage your thinking brain and just feel. You just let the music pour out. The Japanese Samurai called it “the loss of self.” It was a state of mind where conscious thinking and essentially you ceased to exist. This was because if you were engaged in a deadly duel with lethal swords and the difference between life and death was measured in milliseconds, well you just did not have time to think. If you had to think, you would die. It takes almost a lifetime of study in any endeavor to get to the degree of innate and intimate understanding to be able to let go of your conscious mind. Part of that understanding is the knowledge and acceptance that the human body is that perfect machine that I talked about at the beginning of this article. Once we accept that fact, we just need to let that perfect machine do its job. -Ernest Emerson
Recommended Reading List for increasing your ability to Detect, Deny and Destroy
Recommended Reading
The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker On Combat by Lt. Col. David Grossman On Killing by Lt. Col. David Grossman Defensive Living by Ed Lovette and Dave Spaulding Under and Alone by William “Billy” Queen Terror at Beslan by John Giduck The Mighty Atom by Ed Spielman Fearless – Adam Brown by Eric Blehm The Unthinkable By Amanda Ripley
OTHER BOOKS BY ERNEST EMERSON Chain Reaction Training Don’t buy this book if you are a quitter. It’s not for you. You’ll hate it, you’ll dismiss it, and you won’t see any results. If you’re a quitter get out of here. Go to the yoga section. This is a book about hard-core physical training. It’s about functional, combat strength and conditioning. It’s not about losing weight or bodybuilding. It’s about Warrior Strength. A warrior needs functional strength. A warrior needs Neanderthal strength, CroMagnon Strength, the strength that kept our ancestors alive when everything that existed in their world conspired to kill them, and only the strong survived. A warrior needs the strength that he can use to fight in combat, survive in combat, or save a teammate in combat. In terms of training, that’s a whole different creature than a gym membership workout, a bodybuilding workout, or even what most would consider a hard training routine. Think about it like this. What if you need to sprint a quarter-mile over uneven terrain to rescue a teammate out of a downed Helo, sling him over your back and then carry him back a quarter-mile to a safe position. If you run out of gas or God forbid quit, then your buddy dies. You never want to be that guy. If you follow the Chain Reaction Training protocol you won’t.
Developed by Black Belt Hall of Famer and renowned tactical instructor Ernest Emerson, the Chain Reaction System is designed to build 100% usable, allterrain, combat fitness and strength. Drawing on a lifetime of hands-on experience and knowledge, Emerson is interested in one thing only, optimal human performance. Just like in his combat classes, Emerson is concerned with getting students to perform at their true maximum potential, far beyond what they may think is the limit of their ultimate efforts. That is what is needed to survive, and prevail in combat. Life-and-death, hand to hand, combat consists of three fundamental components. 1. The skills 2. The mindset 3. Physical strength and conditioning All three of these have to be optimized in order to engage in combat with the confidence that you will win. And you know, confidence in combat is a huge factor. Without it you are guaranteed to lose. There’s nothing that builds self-confidence to the degree that being strong and fit does. However, few outside of the Special Operations community, Naval Special Warfare (SEALs), or Olympic athletes ever experience the extreme fitness levels that these 1%ers do. A friend once asked, “Who do you think is the toughest S.O.B. on earth?” The answer? A 135 pound Marine, just out of boot camp. He is the strongest he has ever been. He is in the best condition he’s ever been in, and he knows that in a fight, there’s no other human being on earth that will run him out of gas. That is confidence. The Chain Reaction System is a training regimen that will build that extreme
level of fitness and, that extreme level of confidence. Based on a combination of functional strength, and core conditioning exercises, they are pushed to the extreme by completing a chain from start to finish without stopping. It pushes all three components of physical conditioning, the ATP system, the glycolic system, and the aerobic system to new limits. Limits beyond what you once thought you were capable of doing. Emerson explains in precise, simple, terms how the system works, why the system works, and then gives you a plan for setting up your own regimen, depending on what equipment or facilities you have available. It leaves you with no excuse for not being able to train. In fact, he provides you 25 days of Chain Reaction Routines, his own routines, which amounts to over a month’s worth of training. So if you don’t get the results promised, it will only be because of your own weak will and lack of resolve. Emerson leaves you with no excuse. It has been said that the greatest fear of growing old is that other men stop seeing you as being dangerous. The Chain Reaction Training System will keep you very dangerous. Available at: Emersonknives.com
Surviving Inside The Kill Zone This is not a book of techniques. This is a book about what you need to know in order to make any technique work when a real bad guy is trying to kill you.
Ernest Emerson is an instructor, author and
lecturer. He is a Black Belt Hall of Fame member, owner of the Black Shamrock Combat Academy and one of the most sought after tactical instructors in the world. One of his most popular lectures, is titled “Surviving Inside the Kill Zone.” He has often been asked the question, “When are you going to put this in a book?” That question is now answered. This book not only covers all the material of the lecture/seminar but much more than can be discussed in a two hour classroom lecture. In the brutal arena of life and death combat, there are things that you can do and things you can’t. There are also things you should always do and there are things you should never do. And the right things that you are able to do in combat are the ones that will enable you to survive a deadly attack. Emerson always starts this lecture with the question; “How many first responders are in this room?” There are always several police, firemen, or paramedics in the audience who raise their hands. And then the lecture starts. In this book you will learn the principles, concepts, strategies, and tactics behind the training methods Ernest Emerson has been teaching to members of Special Operations Units, Government Agencies, and Counterterrorist Units for over two decades.
The book breaks down the subject into seven related but distinct chapters that starts with Education, stressing the importance of learning strategies, tactics, weapons, and methodologies of the bad guys. Emerson then follows with a further exploration and recommendation for choosing the right weapons, how to judge a training system, and how to identify what you really need to know and how to learn it. Emerson explains why half of what you know, won’t work in combat and only about half of what really works in combat is what you’ll actually be able to do. That only leaves about 25% combat effectiveness, when you’re up against someone is who trying to take your life. This book gives you the tools to make that 25% more effective and powerful than the other 75% left behind. The book introduces you to the rules of combat, the important role of goals, the right strategic objectives, and how to apply them to both training and combat. Emerson provides valuable insight into the predator/prey relationship and how you can use it to work against a predator to effectively take you off their, “radar” as a potential prey. Learn how to identify and break the sequence of events that leads to a surprise attack. Mr. Emerson also teaches the CIA maxim of Detect, Deny, Destroy, and explains how a system that works so well for their officers can be used to work just as well for you. Knowing that the physical battle is only part of any aggressive or violent confrontation, Emerson devotes an entire chapter to the Warrior Mindset and also the importance of the Will in developing the absolute conviction that you will never quit and never, ever give up, using the same techniques as taught to U.S. Navy SEALs. There is also very valuable information on developing the Mental Trigger, material that until now has never been covered in any other civilian source.
And you will learn how functional conditioning and strength play a vital role in your ability to fight and prevail against the attacker. Combat strength and conditioning is explained in terms that allow you to reevaluate your training regimen and fine tune it for optimum combat performance. It was mentioned that at the beginning of his lecture, “Surviving Inside the Kill Zone” he asks how many first responders are in the room? Emerson asks the same question at the end of the lecture. This time every hand in the room goes up. Read this book and get ready to raise your hand. Get your copy at: Emersonknives.com or TheGuardianShepherd.com
7 Essential Skills Needed To Survive A Deadly Attack In this book, Black Belt Hall of Fame instructor, and Tier One combatives trainer, Ernest Emerson takes you through a detailed dissection of what a human being faces when targeted by dangerous predators in a violent, deadly, assault and what you can do to stop it, dead in its tracks. Based on the Emerson Combat Systems premise that “Offense is Defense,” Ernest Emerson explains in detail the Seven Essential Skills you must possess in order to protect not only yourself, but also your loved ones from deadly harm. In terms everyone can understand the author gives you the same tools, used by Special Operations Operators, CIA Officers and U.S. Navy SEALs, to become a warrior of consummate skills. Skills that go far beyond your physical training in order to train the most powerful weapon you possess, your will. Designed to support any platform of training or skill set that you are currently using, the principles in this book teach you how to take your abilities to that Tier One level of operational functionality. In very simple terms, no matter what you do, this book will give you the tools to do it better. When you are fighting for your life, you need every possible advantage you can muster. You can’t let anything get in the way. The eighth and ninth commandments of “Emerson’s Commandments of a Warrior” are as follows: 8. Never do anything without a purpose 9. Never do anything that is useless.
There’s no place where these words are more truthful than in hand-to-hand, lifeand-death combat. Each chapter addresses a different aspect of the skills you will need to stack the odds in your favor, should true evil ever come knocking at your door. Learn the true value of gut feel, and realize that it is your best friend and how you better start listening to what it is telling you. Never underestimate the power of the will to survive and how it can be harnessed to push you past the tipping point in favor of your survival. Learn how the, “Loss of Self” is the key to ultimate performance and the ability to fight without fear of harm. That attribute along with the strategies of purpose, means, and intent are all explained in a way that enables you to plug them in to your mindset and training and then express them physically, through your fighting ability. These are the skills and attributes that produce the Warrior Mindset and the Ferocious Resolve that will carry the day on the field of battle. Emerson continues with a clear discussion of the concept of Moral Clarity. By defining where you stand morally and how far you will go to defend yourself and others, is an all important aspect of self-defense, combatives, and all fighting skills, that are seldom if ever, discussed by any other instructors. Emerson forces you to face the cold hard facts of deadly force so you can make an informed decision about your capacities long before you face those realities in the heat of a life-and-death struggle. You cannot be encumbered by hesitation or indecision at a time where fractions of a second can spell the difference between life and death. This book teaches you how to make those decisions before the fact and how those decisions carry the weight that will tip the balance in your favor when push comes to shove. Get your copy at: Emersonknives.com or TheGuardianShepherd.com
VIDEOS BY ERNEST EMERSON Unconventional Edged Weapons Combat I-V This instructional series is the educational equivalent of a master's degree in Edged Weapons Combat. This is a course. It is a series of instructional evolutions enabling you to super charge your fighting skills. Taught in a progressive layering system using the Accelerated Learning Protocol this course takes you, (regardless of your previous experience or expertise) to a new level of dynamic and unprecedented skill in Edged Weapons Combat. This material has never been available to anyone outside of personal instruction by Ernest Emerson who is regarded as one of the world's leading instructors to military and government agencies worldwide.
VOLUME I FOUNDATIONS Building a solid foundation is the fundamental core of developing the Ultimate Fighter. This volume contains the principles and drills needed to develop efficient movement, combat footwork, regaining your stance from the ground and development of the Universal Fighting Stance. Drills and techniques for accessing and deploying your knife are covered, as well as a Bonus Track - Warm up and Stretch. Get your copy at: Emersonknives.com or TheGuardianShepherd.com
VOLUME II TRAINING This volume, Training teaches you how to develop your skills to their ultimate potential. Covered here are the drills and exercises needed to supercharge your natural, instinctive, abilities. The topics covered include mastering body mechanics, speed training, and developing Ultimate Power. It also includes detailed sections on developing the proper mindset, the universal rules of combat and the anatomy of a knife attack ending with the Golden Rule of Surviving combat. Get your copy at: Emersonknives.com or TheGuardianShepherd.com
VOLUME III PPLICATIONS This is where you learn the tools of the trade. In this third Evolution, Emerson introduces you to all aspects of using the knife as a weapon. Through a series of drills and exercises you will learn how to utilize the principles from foundations and training in actual applications of the knife. Taught here are the strikes, combinations, and techniques including the dynamic art of knife boxing, needed to become a master in the use of a knife and how and when to use them to their maximum potential. Get your copy at: Emersonknives.com or TheGuardianShepherd.com
VOLUME IV INTEGRATED WARRIOR What is the Integrated Warrior Protocol? It is the ability to flow seamlessly between one weapons system and the next. Most arts teach knife techniques, Empty Hand and Grappling as single arts. What happens when you integrate all systems at once? This is the integrated Warrior Protocol. Learn to integrate your knife techniques into your fighting, your boxing, your takedowns and your throws. Learn a system never taught before to the general public and completely revolutionize your fighting ability forever. Get your copy at: Emersonknives.com or TheGuardianShepherd.com
VOLUME V DVANCED TACTICS Advanced Tactics is where you put everything together.
This
volume
is
the
culmination
of
everything taught in Volumes I-IV. Here you will see everything from unarmed techniques against the knife attack,
knife
against
knife,
the
devastating
effectiveness of the "Tiger Gut" and "Buss Saw" and introducing you to the revolutionary and efficient art of knife trapping. Get your copy at: Emersonknives.com or TheGuardianShepherd.com
THE COMPLETE COMBAT KARAMBIT This course introduces you to an entirely new and revolutionary way of fighting with a knife. Developed by Instructor Ernest Emerson to be straightforward, effective, and efficient, this fighting style has to be experienced to be believed. This course is, in large part, the same system that Emerson originated and teaches to elite military units worldwide. This knife fighting style, proven in modern combat, has never been seen by civilian subjects until the release of this course. Modified to exploit the advantages of the Karambit Knife, this amazing fighting system is hard core, bare bones, and brutally effective. Mr. Emerson teaches a brutal and effective method of fighting that is highly regarded at the highest levels of the U.S. Government and the U.S. Military. Considered a valuable National Asset, Mr. Emerson instructs U.S. Elite Counter - Terrorist Units along with other "Special" Units of the United States Government in the brutal realities of life and death, hand-to-hand Combat. In this instructional series, The Combat Karambit, you can learn how to use what Mr. Emerson has called one of the best Personal Defense Weapons ever developed - the Karambit Knife. Emerson has taken an age old weapon and thrust it into the 21st century applying his methods of modern, state of the art, combat applications. Now you can learn from the instructor who teaches those considered the Tip of the Spear in America's ongoing war on Terror and are at this moment hunting down and neutralizing those who threaten terror against America. Get your copy at:
Emersonknives.com or TheGuardianShepherd.com
The Author Hundreds of books have been published about personal protection, self- defense, conditioning and training, so what makes these so special? Whatever the case, if you are at all like me you are only looking for results. I am a results oriented individual in everything I do and it is driven particularly by how little time I actually have to do anything I want to do. It’s the same for you. Without a clear path to results, you’ll waste a lot of money and even more valuable, your precious time, and in the end walk away disappointed and disillusioned. You’ll find that all of these books are designed not so much to teach you something new or to undo what you already know, but instead to enhance the mastery of the skills that you already possess. In essence, to make you more effective, more efficient and to super charge the power that you already have. My goal in everything that I write or teach is to enable that reader or that student to get the absolute most benefit out of their efforts and in the end create an individual who is able to realize the ultimate expression of their performance in these skill sets. Especially if you are ever called to action to use your skills to protect yourself, your loved ones, a teammate, or some other in need of help. It’s not so much about what you do, but about being the best at what you do. These books are all written with that goal in mind. If you go to the web sites – Emerosnknives.com or TheGuardianShepherd.com, you will find access to these and other books by Emerson, along with safety products, self-defense products,, the blog, articles, recommendations, videos, and related tips including advice on self-protection and walking the path of a “Warrior Shepherd,” one who will willingly and without hesitation stand in harm’s way to protect those who are in need. Mr. Emerson is a noted author lecturer and teacher. He is a respected historian
