How fast do you make your techniques hurt? Seems like an odd question, right?!?!? Well, it is actually quite a good one! Not all pain is created equal. It turns out some pain is faster than others! Time to talk some science...
By studying a scientific process known as nociception, we learn that pain comes in at least two basic forms: fast and slow. Nociception is a process of encoding and processing noxious stimuli. So, what is that?
Basically, these are pain stimulations where there is potential for bodily harm. These impulses are initiated by nociceptors, otherwise known as pain receptors. Once range of motion or impact reaches an internal threshold, these pain receptors fire signals along the spinal cord to the brain.
Where do these pain receptors live? They are located along joints and in the skin. Their distribution varies within the body, but are in greater densities along the extremeties. For thsoe who love joint locking, especially fingers, you now have a good idea why fingers make such good targets!
Fast pain travels along type Aä fibers and terminates on the dorsal horn of the spinal cord where these synapse with the dendrites of the neospinothalamic tract. Fast pain can be felt in as fast as one tenth of a second! This pain is usually felt as a sharp acute pain. These are often stimulated along with tactile receptors which keeps the pain being felt as localized but intense pain.
In contrast, slow pain is transmitted by type C fibers, which are slower, to laminae II and III of the dorsal horns, which are known as the substantia gelatinosa. One tenth of these signals eventually terminate in the thallus and the other nine tenths terminate in the medulla. Pain is typically felt as more of an aching, burning, or throbbing pain.
How does this apply to CombatiX™? Well, it is simple. We try to stimulate Fast Pain Receptors as often as possible. This fast signals travel at lightening speeds through the brain stem and cause immediate reaction. When dealing with someone who is pain resistant, this is one of the most effective ways to get them off their feet. Often, the legs have buckled before they feel any pain; in some cases they never do feel it! Either way, these type of techniques are not really pain compliance techniques, since feeling it is not necessary to get them to work. Instead, they cause neurological reflexes to take place that are operating at a subsconscious level.
Now go grab a partner and make it hurt fast and good...
Sunday, July 1, 2012
The OODA Loop
OODA Loop is a concept created by USAF Colonel John Boyd. It is an acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Action.
He created this primarily for helping fighter pilots get through the mental process for taking action more quickly. In the business world, "time is money" but in life-and-death situations, "time is death."
If one can minimize the time it takes to take a correct action greatly increases one's survival rate. Taking too much time or getting hung up in the Orientation Phase can kill you.
First, let's remember that we have dealt with the Observation Phase of OODA by discussing the Levels of Awareness. Being more aware of your surrounding, gets you through that phase much faster.
As I said, most people get caught up in the Orientation Phase. This is where one must filter the information collected in the Observation Phase and process it. One's ethics, morality, religious inclinations, and such have a tremendous impact on how long this phase takes. For example, if someone believes killing is always wrong, it will be extremely difficult to overcome this in a real-life situation.
Unfortunately, many people never consider how they feel about this until it is too late. Instructors should regularly help their students confront the question of whether they are prepared to injure or even kill another individual if the situation arises.
Mental imagery can be used to help one answer these questions and pre-program their minds to take action when necessary.
We have also looked at the Decision Phase with the study of Hick's Law. As you may remember, fewer decisions leads to a faster response time.
The final step is the Action Phase. If one reaches this point, strikes and/or defensive actions are taken and then the process begins again. After fighting back, more Observation is needed to determine how the opponent reacted. This information must then lead to Orientation, more Decision, and likely more Action.
The possibility exists, however, for an individual to get "stuck" at some point in the loop. If fear is not controlled, it will escalate into a "Fear Loop" which can get stuck in a repeating cycle if one does not break out of it, but more on that later...
It is also possible, for someone to get to one phase such as Orientation and decide they do not have enough information and thus go back tomore Observation. This can happen at any point. It may even happen jsut before taking Action, thus delaying Action until more Observation, Orientation, and Decision.
It should be real obvious by this point that we must learn to get through this process as quick and efficiently as possible to survive an attack. It is also interesting to note that an opponent goes through the same process. Wanna bet who typically gets through it faster?
Case Study of a Home Invasion Attempt
Let's take a look at an application of some of what we have discussed already. Consider the following actual case study:
The Interview was his initial request was to borrow a flashlight. What was meant as an act of kindness by the lady was interpretted by the thug as compliance. His later request after returning was to use her phone. He expected this would allow him entry to her home, but she was too smart for that. She wanted to keep him on the porch. Perhaps a better idea would have been to offer to call someone for him if he gave her the number through the door. This way she could be helpful without putting herself in danger. But, it is easy to play arm-chair analyst.
Fortunately, not only was she smart enough to sense something was wrong and listen to her intuition, she was also physically and mentally prepared to do what was necessary to live. We must all do the same.
The fact this guy only displayed a weapon after he was attempting to force his way in, means he may have been prepared to use it. We will never know. Had she not been armed and had the mental determination to use it, things could have been disasterous!
It reminds me of a famous movie line, "That's not a knife; this is a knife!" Imagine the thug's surprise when he determined that his Interview was wrong and he chose the wrong person to mess with! It was enough to make him run away like the coward that he is!
GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. -- A 68-year-old Greenville County woman pulled a gun on a man who tried to force his way inside her home, deputies say.Did you catch the "Interview" process in this story? If not, read it again.
The woman and her friend, Diane Gordon, said they had seen the man walking on Cutler Street.
"This fellow had been pretty much canvassing the neighborhood all day," Gordon said.
The man said he was looking for his keys and he was going door to door.
Nick Robertson said the man also stopped at his house.
"It just didn't sound right, so he left after he saw there were too many people -- too many men -- in the house."
The man borrowed a flashlight from Gordon's friend, and later in the day, at about 7:30 p.m., he came back to her house and asked to use her phone.
Gordon said, "She is pretty sharp and she actually had a gun. She was scared because he wouldn't go away. He kept knocking on the door."
She said she did not let the man inside but allowed him to use her phone from the porch.
The incident report says the man pushed open the door, pulled a gun from under his shirt and told her to "Get back in the house."
"When he pulled his gun, she pulled her gun and he said for her to get in the house and she said she would kill him first," Gordon said.
The man froze, and then ran away.
Zach Hinton, with the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, said the man is white, about 40 years old, average height and he was using the name Eric. He had receding, light-brown hair and was wearing a light-colored T-shirt and blue jeans.
Greenville County deputies are still investigating this case. Deputies said the woman had an active concealed weapons permit and had every right to use it to protect herself.
Read more:
http://www.wyff4.com/news/30168387/detail.html#ixzz1jZOeb8h8
The Interview was his initial request was to borrow a flashlight. What was meant as an act of kindness by the lady was interpretted by the thug as compliance. His later request after returning was to use her phone. He expected this would allow him entry to her home, but she was too smart for that. She wanted to keep him on the porch. Perhaps a better idea would have been to offer to call someone for him if he gave her the number through the door. This way she could be helpful without putting herself in danger. But, it is easy to play arm-chair analyst.
Fortunately, not only was she smart enough to sense something was wrong and listen to her intuition, she was also physically and mentally prepared to do what was necessary to live. We must all do the same.
The fact this guy only displayed a weapon after he was attempting to force his way in, means he may have been prepared to use it. We will never know. Had she not been armed and had the mental determination to use it, things could have been disasterous!
It reminds me of a famous movie line, "That's not a knife; this is a knife!" Imagine the thug's surprise when he determined that his Interview was wrong and he chose the wrong person to mess with! It was enough to make him run away like the coward that he is!
Timetable of Death
About W. E. Fairbairn
Let's begin our Discussion of the Fairbairn's Timetable of Death by first looking at who he was. The following was taken from WikiPedia:
William Ewart Fairbairn (28 February, 1885–20 June, 1960) was a British soldier, police officer and exponent of hand-to-hand combat method, the close combat, for the Shanghai Police between the world wars, and allied special forces in World War II. He developed his own fighting system known as Defendu, as well as other weapons tactics. Notably, this included innovative pistol shooting techniques and the development of the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife.
The television series Secrets of War suggested him as a possible inspiration for Q branch in James Bond.
Military Career
Fairbairn served with the Royal Marine Light Infantry starting in 1901, and joined the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP) in 1907. During his service with the International Police in Shanghai, Fairbairn reportedly engaged in hundreds of street fights in the course of his duties over a twenty-year career, where he organised and headed a special anti-riot squad. Much of his body, arms, legs, torso, even the palms of his hands, was covered with scars from knife wounds from those fights. Fairbairn later created, organised and trained a special anti-riot squad for the Shanghai police force, as well as developing numerous firearms training courses and items of police equipment, including a special metal-lined bulletproof vest designed to stop high-velocity bullets from the 7.63x25mm Mauser pistol.
During World War II, he was recruited by the British Secret Service as an Army officer, where he was given the nickname "Dangerous Dan". Together with fellow close-combat instructor Eric Sykes, Fairbairn was commissioned on the General List in 1941. He trained British, American and Canadian Commando forces, along with Ranger candidates in close-combat, pistol-shooting and knife-fighting techniques. Fairbairn emphasised the necessity of forgetting any idea of gentlemanly conduct or fighting fair: "Get tough, get down in the gutter, win at all costs... I teach what is called ‘Gutter Fighting.’ There’s no fair play, no rules except one: kill or be killed,” he declared.
For his achievements in training OSS personnel, Fairbairn eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel by the end of the war, and received the U.S. Legion of Merit (Officer grade) at the specific request of "Wild Bill" Donovan, founder of the U.S. O.S.S.
In an effort to define how long it takes for a person wounded by a knife wound to either lose consciousness or die from hypovolemic shock, Fairbairn created his well-known Timetable of Death as seen below:
No one knows quite for sure where he got his numbers but they have come under some scrutiny in the past few years. While no one doubts his fighting prowess or his intent to train troops, but his numbers seem to be off the mark in areas. For instance, the depth of some arteries and organs appear to be different from known anatomical sciences.
It also appears that his estimates of bleedout times do not match with tactical experience. Due to these inaccuracies, a few researches have attempted to re-calculate the times. I too have taken up this challenge!
From looking at the attempts of others, it appeared to me that blood pressure, the effects of Body Alarm Response, heart rate and other factors such as gender, were not being factored into the calculations.
After great research, it became obvious to me that new methods had to be created that took all of this information into consideration. My calculations are based on Cardio Physics of the human body.
The basic conclusion of this research is that several knife fighting tactics are flawed. When one considers that some knife instructors advocate attacking vascular targets due to bleedout time, it becomes apparent that they may not have complete information. Or else, their numbers may be based on Fairbairn's original research. While attacking vascular targets do in fact kill, the times are often longer than what most people expect.
To make it far easier to calculate time for shock, time to loss of consciousness, and finally time to death, I created an application to make running scenarios much easier. With this tool, it is possible to estimate these times for various genders, body sizes (height and weight), different heart rates, and blood pressures. This allows you to simulate at rest as well as under stress. Moreover, you can see the effects of stress on the body.
Let's begin our Discussion of the Fairbairn's Timetable of Death by first looking at who he was. The following was taken from WikiPedia:
William Ewart Fairbairn (28 February, 1885–20 June, 1960) was a British soldier, police officer and exponent of hand-to-hand combat method, the close combat, for the Shanghai Police between the world wars, and allied special forces in World War II. He developed his own fighting system known as Defendu, as well as other weapons tactics. Notably, this included innovative pistol shooting techniques and the development of the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife.
The television series Secrets of War suggested him as a possible inspiration for Q branch in James Bond.
Military Career
Fairbairn served with the Royal Marine Light Infantry starting in 1901, and joined the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP) in 1907. During his service with the International Police in Shanghai, Fairbairn reportedly engaged in hundreds of street fights in the course of his duties over a twenty-year career, where he organised and headed a special anti-riot squad. Much of his body, arms, legs, torso, even the palms of his hands, was covered with scars from knife wounds from those fights. Fairbairn later created, organised and trained a special anti-riot squad for the Shanghai police force, as well as developing numerous firearms training courses and items of police equipment, including a special metal-lined bulletproof vest designed to stop high-velocity bullets from the 7.63x25mm Mauser pistol.
During World War II, he was recruited by the British Secret Service as an Army officer, where he was given the nickname "Dangerous Dan". Together with fellow close-combat instructor Eric Sykes, Fairbairn was commissioned on the General List in 1941. He trained British, American and Canadian Commando forces, along with Ranger candidates in close-combat, pistol-shooting and knife-fighting techniques. Fairbairn emphasised the necessity of forgetting any idea of gentlemanly conduct or fighting fair: "Get tough, get down in the gutter, win at all costs... I teach what is called ‘Gutter Fighting.’ There’s no fair play, no rules except one: kill or be killed,” he declared.
For his achievements in training OSS personnel, Fairbairn eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel by the end of the war, and received the U.S. Legion of Merit (Officer grade) at the specific request of "Wild Bill" Donovan, founder of the U.S. O.S.S.
In an effort to define how long it takes for a person wounded by a knife wound to either lose consciousness or die from hypovolemic shock, Fairbairn created his well-known Timetable of Death as seen below:
No one knows quite for sure where he got his numbers but they have come under some scrutiny in the past few years. While no one doubts his fighting prowess or his intent to train troops, but his numbers seem to be off the mark in areas. For instance, the depth of some arteries and organs appear to be different from known anatomical sciences.
It also appears that his estimates of bleedout times do not match with tactical experience. Due to these inaccuracies, a few researches have attempted to re-calculate the times. I too have taken up this challenge!
From looking at the attempts of others, it appeared to me that blood pressure, the effects of Body Alarm Response, heart rate and other factors such as gender, were not being factored into the calculations.
After great research, it became obvious to me that new methods had to be created that took all of this information into consideration. My calculations are based on Cardio Physics of the human body.
The basic conclusion of this research is that several knife fighting tactics are flawed. When one considers that some knife instructors advocate attacking vascular targets due to bleedout time, it becomes apparent that they may not have complete information. Or else, their numbers may be based on Fairbairn's original research. While attacking vascular targets do in fact kill, the times are often longer than what most people expect.
To make it far easier to calculate time for shock, time to loss of consciousness, and finally time to death, I created an application to make running scenarios much easier. With this tool, it is possible to estimate these times for various genders, body sizes (height and weight), different heart rates, and blood pressures. This allows you to simulate at rest as well as under stress. Moreover, you can see the effects of stress on the body.
Now, you can calculate these with a web application on our website at:
Forced Teaming
Forced Teaming is a common tactic to gain compliance over an Interviewee. What is it? It is simply making an implied connection between two parties when there, in reality, is none! Let's look at an example.
In Gavin de Becker's book, The Gift of Fear, he describes an example of Foirced Teaming where a predator is interviewing a potential victim and she is walking to her apartment. He picks up a can of cat food which she has dropped and walks toward her. Smiling, he makes a statement such as "we have a hungry cat in there." This is an attempt to make her feel a sort of connection with him whereby he wants to show his compassion for the cat, but more imporatantly, he wants he to see they working together toward a common goal.
If this is a new concept to you, you may think there is nothing wrong with such a statement. And you may or may not be right. It depends on the situation. The reality is that everyone uses tactics like this all the time to manipulate one another. Sales associates, managers, friends, etc., all use this principle.
So how do you know when it is a problem? When it manifests with other alarming principles. One by itself may not mean much, but three or four may signal things are going wrong for you. Recognizing that this is happening is the first step.
For this young lady, the first thought in her mind when he said this should have been "we do not have a cat, I do!" She may even vocalize this. Would that be rude? Perhaps. But, it may also save her life! So what if she seems rude. Unless she plans to be friends with him, she should err on the side of caution. If he is really an ok guy, he will understand and they can joke about it later. If not, then it is in her best interest.
Statements that use words like "we" and "us" when "you" is more appropriate, should set off alarm bells in your mind! If this continues, and especially, if other alarms are present, it may be best to get out of there quick!
Remember that a team works together and is made up of two or more people who know one another and have trust. A stranger is not part of any team you want to be on!
In Gavin de Becker's book, The Gift of Fear, he describes an example of Foirced Teaming where a predator is interviewing a potential victim and she is walking to her apartment. He picks up a can of cat food which she has dropped and walks toward her. Smiling, he makes a statement such as "we have a hungry cat in there." This is an attempt to make her feel a sort of connection with him whereby he wants to show his compassion for the cat, but more imporatantly, he wants he to see they working together toward a common goal.
If this is a new concept to you, you may think there is nothing wrong with such a statement. And you may or may not be right. It depends on the situation. The reality is that everyone uses tactics like this all the time to manipulate one another. Sales associates, managers, friends, etc., all use this principle.
So how do you know when it is a problem? When it manifests with other alarming principles. One by itself may not mean much, but three or four may signal things are going wrong for you. Recognizing that this is happening is the first step.
For this young lady, the first thought in her mind when he said this should have been "we do not have a cat, I do!" She may even vocalize this. Would that be rude? Perhaps. But, it may also save her life! So what if she seems rude. Unless she plans to be friends with him, she should err on the side of caution. If he is really an ok guy, he will understand and they can joke about it later. If not, then it is in her best interest.
Statements that use words like "we" and "us" when "you" is more appropriate, should set off alarm bells in your mind! If this continues, and especially, if other alarms are present, it may be best to get out of there quick!
Remember that a team works together and is made up of two or more people who know one another and have trust. A stranger is not part of any team you want to be on!
The Interview
The Interview is a process of victim selection which few prey know anything about. Unfortunately, this causes them to pass the Interview process. Having an understanding of what it is and how it is conducted, and more importantly, why is instrumental in failing it. Why would you want to fail an interview? Because this one may cost you your life!
Victimology is the study of victims and why they were chosen to be victims in the first place. When interviewed after a violent encounter, most victims report that they had no idea why they were attacked and even go so far as to state that they had no idea what was about to happen. After probing by investigators, however, most begin to remember details leading up to the attack that did not seem quite right. Gavin de Becker in his incredible book, The Gift of Fear, describes many such incidents.
The reality is that most people remember things prior to the attack that after review, seemed like strange questions or statements. This is a usually part of the predator's Interview process. Only when a potential prey passes his/her Interview, does the predator solidify their choice of prey.
There are different types of Interviews. Some are verbal and others are non-verbal. They can also be done either from a distance or close-up. The key is to understand that they do occur and know how to fail them!
Let's look at a common situation to help illustrate one way the Interview is conducted. Also keep in mind that there is a Force Continuum at work here. In a situation where an individual wants to abduct a young lady, he may approach her offering to help her carry groceries into her apartment. If she accepts, then he moves onto the next Interview "Question." If she refuses, he may make a second offer with a little more force. If she relents here, then he has learned that while she may initially resist, with more pressure, she will relent. This is bad news indeed!
If the predator moves onto the next step, he may carry the groceries from her car to her door. If she stops at the door and thanks him, itending for him to stay outside, he will take what he has learned and insist on "being a gentleman" and putting the groceries on her counter. With his knowledge he has gained that it may take a couple of attempts of insisting, he will test her further to see whether she allows him in.
At this point, if she does allow him into her apartment, an attack is likely. Naturally, he may overplay the idea of being a "nice guy." He may also bring more manipulation methods into play such as Forced Teaming, which we will likely discuss later. The more alarms that she can recognize, the more likely she is to avoid the problem by failing the Interview.
Why does the predator go through all of this? Basically, because they are cowards! They choose the victims who will offer the least resistance and will be least likely to bring charges against them or even report the attack. The predator needs someone who will put up little resistance, someone they can dominate without drawing too much attention from the neighbors.
So how could they lady have failed the Interview? By saying "No!" and meaning "No!" she convinces the predator that perhaps he chose the wrong prey. By showing that she is confident, loud, and determined, she conveys to him that she is more trouble than what he wants. She has to make eye contact and stand firm in what she says. In his mind, she is intimidating and there are always easier victims.
Naturally, there are several other ways Interviews are conducted. Sometimes it is two men in a bar or on the street. The idea is the same. At some point if the victim "passes" the Interview, the predator decides that his victim selection is correct and he is ready to take things to a physical level. If things go poorly for the predator, the process may cease and they may take off looking for an easier prey.
Another Type of Interview
Above, we talked about the Interview process that a predator uses to interview a potential victim. This was part of our study of Victimology. This time, we will talk about a type of mixed Interview that involves both verbal and non-verbal "questions."
Let's consider a scenario where two guys get into a heated argument. If you are paying close attention, you realize that the Interview has already started! Verbal fights are often part of the process. We can imagine that at least one of the guys has assumed a position with his chest enlarged and puffed out. He is making a territorial display to look as big as possible to try to intimidate his opponent. Why? Because this is a non-verbal "question." If the display causes his opponent to back off, then he grows in confidence. If, however, it causes his opponent to become more aggressive, he realizes that his "prey" is not initimidated.
If the decision is made to continue, one party may escalate force to contact. Often, this is done as a small push. Although force is escalating, this is usually a test before a punch is made. At this point, passing the Interview process would be to not react immediately. Failing it might be to push back even harder. This is where things have to turn around or a fight is imminent. Often at escalataing force, one or both parties feel that fighting is the only resort. They have to "save face" with everyone around and feel there is no alternative. This is why the study of verbal de-escalation techniques is essential to avoid conflict! A fight may be avoided by use of verbal techniques which allow the aggression to evaporate with one or both being able to salvage dignity and not looking afraid.
Back to the Interview. If the victim does not strike back and looks fearful, the attacker may determine that it is safe to launch an attack or may seek more assurance by pushing again -- this time harder! If he makes another more forceful push, he is probably getting close to making a real attack.
As you can guess, a punch is almost always next. Notice how the whole situation escalated from posturing, to yelling, to pushing, and ultimately to physical assault. While some people will walk up and strike you without notice or apparent reason, this Interview process is quite common. Even when attacks seem to come out of nowhere, the reality is that the predator was likely conducting the Interview non-verbally from a distance by observation.
In these cases, they may stalk their potential prey and learn their schedule, the times they are alone, and their awareness levels. When they are convinced they have enough information and the time is right, they attack. To the victim, this was out-of-nowhere, but in reality, it was quite planned.
Being aware of people who seem out of place or seem to take too much notice of you is the first step in failing the Interview.
Victimology is the study of victims and why they were chosen to be victims in the first place. When interviewed after a violent encounter, most victims report that they had no idea why they were attacked and even go so far as to state that they had no idea what was about to happen. After probing by investigators, however, most begin to remember details leading up to the attack that did not seem quite right. Gavin de Becker in his incredible book, The Gift of Fear, describes many such incidents.
The reality is that most people remember things prior to the attack that after review, seemed like strange questions or statements. This is a usually part of the predator's Interview process. Only when a potential prey passes his/her Interview, does the predator solidify their choice of prey.
There are different types of Interviews. Some are verbal and others are non-verbal. They can also be done either from a distance or close-up. The key is to understand that they do occur and know how to fail them!
Let's look at a common situation to help illustrate one way the Interview is conducted. Also keep in mind that there is a Force Continuum at work here. In a situation where an individual wants to abduct a young lady, he may approach her offering to help her carry groceries into her apartment. If she accepts, then he moves onto the next Interview "Question." If she refuses, he may make a second offer with a little more force. If she relents here, then he has learned that while she may initially resist, with more pressure, she will relent. This is bad news indeed!
If the predator moves onto the next step, he may carry the groceries from her car to her door. If she stops at the door and thanks him, itending for him to stay outside, he will take what he has learned and insist on "being a gentleman" and putting the groceries on her counter. With his knowledge he has gained that it may take a couple of attempts of insisting, he will test her further to see whether she allows him in.
At this point, if she does allow him into her apartment, an attack is likely. Naturally, he may overplay the idea of being a "nice guy." He may also bring more manipulation methods into play such as Forced Teaming, which we will likely discuss later. The more alarms that she can recognize, the more likely she is to avoid the problem by failing the Interview.
Why does the predator go through all of this? Basically, because they are cowards! They choose the victims who will offer the least resistance and will be least likely to bring charges against them or even report the attack. The predator needs someone who will put up little resistance, someone they can dominate without drawing too much attention from the neighbors.
So how could they lady have failed the Interview? By saying "No!" and meaning "No!" she convinces the predator that perhaps he chose the wrong prey. By showing that she is confident, loud, and determined, she conveys to him that she is more trouble than what he wants. She has to make eye contact and stand firm in what she says. In his mind, she is intimidating and there are always easier victims.
Naturally, there are several other ways Interviews are conducted. Sometimes it is two men in a bar or on the street. The idea is the same. At some point if the victim "passes" the Interview, the predator decides that his victim selection is correct and he is ready to take things to a physical level. If things go poorly for the predator, the process may cease and they may take off looking for an easier prey.
Another Type of Interview
Above, we talked about the Interview process that a predator uses to interview a potential victim. This was part of our study of Victimology. This time, we will talk about a type of mixed Interview that involves both verbal and non-verbal "questions."
Let's consider a scenario where two guys get into a heated argument. If you are paying close attention, you realize that the Interview has already started! Verbal fights are often part of the process. We can imagine that at least one of the guys has assumed a position with his chest enlarged and puffed out. He is making a territorial display to look as big as possible to try to intimidate his opponent. Why? Because this is a non-verbal "question." If the display causes his opponent to back off, then he grows in confidence. If, however, it causes his opponent to become more aggressive, he realizes that his "prey" is not initimidated.
If the decision is made to continue, one party may escalate force to contact. Often, this is done as a small push. Although force is escalating, this is usually a test before a punch is made. At this point, passing the Interview process would be to not react immediately. Failing it might be to push back even harder. This is where things have to turn around or a fight is imminent. Often at escalataing force, one or both parties feel that fighting is the only resort. They have to "save face" with everyone around and feel there is no alternative. This is why the study of verbal de-escalation techniques is essential to avoid conflict! A fight may be avoided by use of verbal techniques which allow the aggression to evaporate with one or both being able to salvage dignity and not looking afraid.
Back to the Interview. If the victim does not strike back and looks fearful, the attacker may determine that it is safe to launch an attack or may seek more assurance by pushing again -- this time harder! If he makes another more forceful push, he is probably getting close to making a real attack.
As you can guess, a punch is almost always next. Notice how the whole situation escalated from posturing, to yelling, to pushing, and ultimately to physical assault. While some people will walk up and strike you without notice or apparent reason, this Interview process is quite common. Even when attacks seem to come out of nowhere, the reality is that the predator was likely conducting the Interview non-verbally from a distance by observation.
In these cases, they may stalk their potential prey and learn their schedule, the times they are alone, and their awareness levels. When they are convinced they have enough information and the time is right, they attack. To the victim, this was out-of-nowhere, but in reality, it was quite planned.
Being aware of people who seem out of place or seem to take too much notice of you is the first step in failing the Interview.
Universal Response Technique (U.R.T.)
Due to the implications of Hick's Law, I developed a concept several years ago called Universal Response Technique, or U.R.T. for short.
This concept is about minimizing the decisions one has to make during a violent encounter. As we discussed previously, more decisions equals more reaction time.
Consider what often happens during an attack. The opponent makes a sudden threatening move and the defender has to decide which technique to use, which foot to step with, whether to use hands or feet, and a number of other decisions. And they have to do this operating behind the curve when the opponent simply has to take action (no reaction)!
Let me ask you this. How many techniques do you know to deal with a punch? Would you say you know 5? How about 10? More? How would you decide which to use when the time comes? Even if you have your favorite(s), it is still necessary to take some amount of time to decide unless you have pre-programmed your response.
Pre-programming is the act of deciding in advance and committing that to motor memory. This is the basis for Universal Response Technique.
Now, let's say your opponent pushes toward you. How many defenses to a push do you know? How about if he chokes you? You get the idea.
So when attacked, you have to analyze the attack and then choose a proper defense -- all while trying not to get killed! That is a lot to overcome in a real fight!
\If one could eliminate many of the choices and move toward generalizing a response to fit all situations then your survival rate goes up.
How do you do this? By pre-programming the initial movements. What if you eliminate the decision of whether to step with the right foot or the left? That is one less choice. In other words, what if you always stepped with your left foot forward regardless of the attack? Whether you are grabbed, punched, choked, or whatever, you would always step into the same stance.
Now, what if you always raise your arms into the same defensive position? No decision as to what to do with them initially. That would eliminate perhaps another choice.
Ultimately, you will have to vary the response depending on the attack. That is for certain, but the idea is to help you survive the critical first few moments of the attack by making you as fast as you possibly can be.
Now if you take your initial response and work with various attacks from a training partner, you will be surprised how often you can use the same U.R.T. You just have to spend some time experimenting.
In my DVD, Players to the Game Volume 1, I introduce my favorite U.R.T. Yours may end up looking a little different, but that is not what is important. Having a standard response is more of what it is all about.
Time to hit the mat...
This concept is about minimizing the decisions one has to make during a violent encounter. As we discussed previously, more decisions equals more reaction time.
Consider what often happens during an attack. The opponent makes a sudden threatening move and the defender has to decide which technique to use, which foot to step with, whether to use hands or feet, and a number of other decisions. And they have to do this operating behind the curve when the opponent simply has to take action (no reaction)!
Let me ask you this. How many techniques do you know to deal with a punch? Would you say you know 5? How about 10? More? How would you decide which to use when the time comes? Even if you have your favorite(s), it is still necessary to take some amount of time to decide unless you have pre-programmed your response.
Pre-programming is the act of deciding in advance and committing that to motor memory. This is the basis for Universal Response Technique.
Now, let's say your opponent pushes toward you. How many defenses to a push do you know? How about if he chokes you? You get the idea.
So when attacked, you have to analyze the attack and then choose a proper defense -- all while trying not to get killed! That is a lot to overcome in a real fight!
\If one could eliminate many of the choices and move toward generalizing a response to fit all situations then your survival rate goes up.
How do you do this? By pre-programming the initial movements. What if you eliminate the decision of whether to step with the right foot or the left? That is one less choice. In other words, what if you always stepped with your left foot forward regardless of the attack? Whether you are grabbed, punched, choked, or whatever, you would always step into the same stance.
Now, what if you always raise your arms into the same defensive position? No decision as to what to do with them initially. That would eliminate perhaps another choice.
Ultimately, you will have to vary the response depending on the attack. That is for certain, but the idea is to help you survive the critical first few moments of the attack by making you as fast as you possibly can be.
Now if you take your initial response and work with various attacks from a training partner, you will be surprised how often you can use the same U.R.T. You just have to spend some time experimenting.
In my DVD, Players to the Game Volume 1, I introduce my favorite U.R.T. Yours may end up looking a little different, but that is not what is important. Having a standard response is more of what it is all about.
Time to hit the mat...
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