Managing Avoidance and Awareness

As you are reading this I'm sure most of you have either attended a self defence seminar or taught one. We spend a lot of time on techniques and how to bash the bad guy and so forth. We mention awareness and avoidance but do we emphasize it as much as we should?

The fact is if you’re in a street fight you’ve probably missed at least 10 things that got you there. No matter how big the next Super Datu Ninja Commando Killer Fighting System it still isn't as effective as plain old awareness and avoidance. No matter what, the best way to survive any violent conflict is to never be in it.

However there are a lot of well meaning and inadvertent fear-mongers out there that make this seem unmanageable and overwhelming when they cover it. It can be very confusing to someone new. They can make it sound like you need to be afraid every time you leave the house. This of course is wrong. The changes you need to make are actually pretty small. I've put together a few exercises and tips in this article that I have picked up along the way that will help you get a reign on this subject in a proactive way. I didn't invent any of this and I'm not the first to write it down but I hope this will help you feel a little less overwhelmed. 

Let's look at an exercise. To my knowledge it doesn't have a name but that's ok you can make up your own name for it. If you sit down and actually think about it you don't really go to as many places as you probably think you do on a regular basis. I'm guessing you probably really only go about 7 or 8 places. Now in this we aren't talking about vacations or anything like that this is about your normal daily routine.

For me I go to the track, grocery store, the gas station, etc. Just normal places like that. I want you to get a piece of paper and write down all the normal places you go routinely. Once you've done that I want you to ask yourself some questions. Ask yourself in any one of these places - What, How, Who, Where, and When would I be attacked? Do it for every location you wrote down. You'll come up with things you never thought about and you'll already be finding solutions. Still a little confused? I'll do one with you as a sample and we'll use a grocery store. It's some place we all pretty much have to go.

Who would attack you?

This is a question only you can answer. It could be a random mugger sure. Does someone have a reason to be mad at you? For example do you owe someone money or going through a nasty divorce where child custody is involved. This can vary from person to person and depending on time and location. Take some time and think about it. Put some real thought into it.

How would they attack you?

Would they just bum rush you? It's possible but probably not. The large majority of these assaults or attacks start with some type of verbal exchange. In self defence circles it's often referred to as the interview phase of the attack where you are being sized up. Let me give you a few tips on how to tell if something doesn't fit. I'm sure others could add to this all day but these are some good ones.

1. Looking around as they approach - Someone says, Sir or Ma’am do you have a moment? Then they look around for no apparent reason as they approach you. This is very odd, they could be looking to make sure there are no witnesses; they could be looking to see if there is a security camera up that could identify them. Either way, this is out of the ordinary and you should be leery of it.

2. The arms don't move as they approach - In anthropology humans are what are known as diagonal walkers. That means when the right foot moves forward the left arm sways a little bit. It's normal for people's arms to move. In the animal kingdom when animals lumber around on all fours it's perceived as a sign of anger and aggression by other animals. It should be perceived that way by you as well. This should also be a trigger for you to look at the hands. Are they clenched? This could also be a tell that they are concealing a weapon in one hand or the other.

3. Watch for the weight shift - When a person shifts weight and begins to blade their stance an assault could very well be imminent. This isn't always noticeable and definitely isn't noticeable if you aren't paying attention. This could very well be a chance for a pre-emptive strike on your part to escape. They could also be using this to attempt to conceal a weapon draw from a pocket or waistband. A good idea in this case is to look at the elbow. Look in the mirror and try to take something from your waistband without bending your elbow outward. Probably can't do it can you? That's a good thing to know.

4. Protect your space - Of course the best thing to do in these circumstances, when possible, is to get the hell out of there. Barring that, if you see any of these triggers don't let them get near you if possible. Get loud and draw attention to yourself, curse if you have you. You don't have to let them into your space. If something doesn't feel right it probably isn't. Do not ignore your intuition. Intuition is a great tool and you should listen to it.

With what would they attack you?

So let’s say you blow all of that stuff. Are they going to be empty handed? Is it just a plain old assault? Would they have a gun? Would they have a knife? Do you have training to deal with these things? If not maybe you need to find some. Honestly it could be any of those things. As a general rule your money isn't worth your life. If that's what it's about just give it to them. Even if you have some training there's no guarantee that you won't be stabbed or shot. However if they are attempting to move you to another location you probably need to fight. They could very well be moving you somewhere else to kill you there or do something else to you.

The Where and the When.

These two may be separate but for this example of the exercise they are related. I picked the example of the grocery store. As far as the where it probably isn't going to be in the produce section. I just can't see someone flying up out of the lettuce bringing the Black Death. In a public place like this the usual culprit will strike when you are on your way into the business or on your way out of it headed back to the car. To deal with this only requires common sense.

This could also be true of a parking garage. Don't talk on the phone on the way to your car or text. If your car isn't a keyless entry then get your keys out before you walk outside. Be aware and confident; don't look like someone who isn't paying attention. Just simple things like this make a huge difference. The when of this situation is basically going to be when it's most opportune for the attacker.

I know there are grocery stores and super-markets that stay open all night. Some people like to shop there late at night because there is less of a crowd and it's more convenient for them. Remember safety in numbers? It's more convenient but also more dangerous. If you’re going to do this, try parking as close to the entrance as possible, where it's better lit. Take someone with you when you go shopping. If you’re not comfortable, ask someone in the store to walk you to your car and in most cases they will.

In closing, take a night when you aren't doing anything and sit down and write this out and do this exercise. Be proactive about awareness and avoidance. If you do this you'll be surprised at how much you teach yourself. A lot of the places you go the techniques will overlap. You’re going to find out this is easier and more manageable than you ever thought. You don't have to be afraid to go out and live your life. Just be smart and change simple things. Do this exercise and you'll be surprised at just how much more aware you become without really even being conscious of it. Most of all don't be afraid to do the things you do and don't let anyone tell you that you should be. Just simply be cautious and use good judgement. Be aware and be safe! 

How to stop a time bomb.....

I wanted to talk with you all today about something that's been rolling in my head for a little while. There's been a lot of anger and emotion floating around as of late and it seems to be getting worse. I see a lot more cop bashing than what I used to see. I also see a lot more cops losing it. Things seem to be building towards something ominous if we don't get a handle on it. We all seem to be losing a little perspective and with emotions at an all time high something is bound to explode.

First of all I want to talk about anger. Anger is a natural emotion and anyone that says otherwise is delusional, there is nothing wrong with being angry about something. It's very common to want to hurt someone badly. We all have those thoughts no matter if we admit them or not. We all have that tipping point in my experience, it usually seems to be caused in some form or other by a lack of respect or perceived lack of respect but that's another article. Sometimes it can get pretty deep and you'll shock yourself but I promise you that you aren't the only one who has had those thoughts; it’s just in our society we seem to be so repressed about everything and deny everything that doesn't conform to some social protocol.

Years ago I was struggling and decided to get a roommate so I could have cheap rent. It seemed like a pretty good idea at the time and the guy seemed easy to get along with so I didn't see a problem. Well after this dude moved in and I got to know this person better...there was a problem. He was one of these wannabe "hustlas" that thought he could bullshit his way out of anything and rip people off. He was incredibly immature and irresponsible for his age. My main beef is that the bills didn't get paid on time but he always had money to party and buy video games. There was always a bullshit excuse that was obviously crap and I was insulted that someone thought I'd believe it. I'd always paid my stuff on time I wasn't going to let this jerk mess up my credit simply because he was an idiot.

Over time I found myself getting angrier and angrier and I was always an even tempered person. Even when I worked in the strip clubs bouncing and had to toss a guy out I wasn't angry when I did it. It was just another fun part of the job. But I was pissed. I was tired of the excuses. At the same time I was starting a business and beating this guy senseless and putting him in ICU was a charge I didn't need especially if I was going to be training police I had to hold myself to a higher standard. I would sit around sometimes and just think about where and how I was going to take him out. I even picked out a spot in the hall where his body would fall. I thought often about would I just break a finger or his entire arm?

For a short time I even thought about after he was beaten so bad he couldn't move I'd cut off part of his tongue so I'd never have to hear him talk again. I even thought about taking pictures of his bruised and battered body and posting it on FaceBook so others could see him being humiliated.

Sounds pretty messed up doesn't it? It is but you've probably thought something similar. In the end I realized how crazy that was because this was a worthless insignificant person and I had a future. I always say, "Don't let someone who has nothing to lose take away everything you have to gain." What I decided to do was tell a mutual friend my plan to break his legs knowing he'd go blab it. I told several people actually. They told the guy and scared the hell outta him and he started paying everything on time until I broke the lease and had him kicked out on his ass. Sure it was manipulation but he deserved it and I didn't break a law.

The point is everyone gets pissed and thinks messed up stuff but there's a big difference between thinking about it and actually doing it. When you’re a police officer dealing with the public the first trick is you can't personalize anything. You represent a department and you wear a badge you are not the badge. People are going to provoke you all the time and they'll probably be ignorant when they do it. Screaming about a constitution they've never read. Yelling about how they pay your salary. How they know their rights when it's obvious they don't. There's a special place in hell for the ones that do know there rights but don't think anyone else has them.

You see some disgusting things that bother you and they should. If you go to a domestic violence call and see a woman beaten half to death by some jerk that doesn't care and you aren't upset about it then you need to take a vacation or find another line of work. At the same time you have to have control of your emotions because in the end it isn't about you.

When you've lost your humanity you've lost something far more than a job. Being an officer is a hard job very few will ever understand. We see the worst the world has to offer every day. It's hard to shake it when you clock out which is why police have a very high divorce and suicide rate. Sometimes it's like you’re a time bomb just waiting to explode. Some people just don't get it.

I was on a police site awhile back and was watching a video about an incident in Oakland where it appeared an officer shot a cameraman with a beanbag for the hell of it. Now from my understanding since then there may have been some editing done on that video similar to what was done in the UC Davis incident where protestors attempted to kidnap police and threaten them then edited a video to make it look like police were pepper spraying "peaceful" protestors for no reason. However you couldn't tell that from the Oakland video at the time. 

Some of the officers posting on the thread about it didn't sound much different than the protestors that were bashing them. They were saying things like," Those protestors are scumbags they deserve whatever they get kill them all." A friend of mine that retired from the FBI always used to tell me, " Be careful in your pursuit of the monsters lest you become one."

These officers posting on that board were well on their way, you could tell it was beyond thinking about. If you allow those dorks to provoke you into becoming just like them then they win. Remember you have to uphold a higher standard. But we all get angry and that isn't as easy as it sounds is it?

Remember you can't personalize or politicize things. When someone provokes you they aren't provoking you, they are trying to provoke an ideal or displace responsibility for something that they've done; maybe they are just really ignorant and immature. Do you really want to let a childish idiot beat you? Take your job and damage your department's credibility? That doesn't just hurt you it hurts all good cops because at that moment you are the face of police everywhere and how you behave affects them as well.

Being a cop may be who you are but it isn't all that you are, it isn't the sum of every part of you. You need to find unrelated things to do to keep perspective. If you’re on all the time it'll drive you nuts. I've already mentioned divorce and suicide rates. If the occupational stress becomes a problem get help don't let it mess up your family as well. Remember when a bomb goes off that bomb is also destroyed and a big enough bomb not only destroys its target but everything around it. I encourage you to find other things to focus on. 

Personally I write short stories as well as music. There are times when I'm calling departments  to try to get a course set up and it's like they are delusional or just don't give a damn about officer safety. Usually after about 3 calls I have to take a break and I pick up the guitar by the bed and play a few songs until I feel better then go back at it.

Remember these things I've said and remember you’re not the only one going through them. Continue to be a solution to the problems don't become a part of them

To find out more about Stonewall Tactical Defense Systems visit http://www.stonewalltactical.com/index.html

The Foundation and Structure of Learning

Years ago I sat in the audience at a brown belt test for a friend's dojo. It was towards the end and the guy going up for his brown belt had done all of his kata and one step sparring and all that stuff. Now it was time for the actual sparring. As they bowed and began to spar it became painfully clear this kid had no idea what he was doing. A much lower belt rank was just picking him off at will and he seemed to be just looking for a spinning backfist because he couldn't think of anything else. He had done all of his kata correctly and his one step spars and demonstrations went fine. So what happened?

This is something that is all too common that we will revisit later in the article. For those that haven't read my other articles I've been involved in martial arts since I was 4 years old back in 1977. For the last several years I've developed programs for Law Enforcement here in the United States. This gave me a greatly different perspective as a teacher and really changed the way I look at curriculums and structure.

You see with law enforcement I don't get the luxury of giving long term training. I have to teach in a way that they can learn and retain in a very short time span. If I can't break things down to a strong foundation within a couple days then I've honestly wasted their time. I think being forced into doing this made me a much better teacher and gave me so much more of an understanding of what I need to do.

As I’ve visited departments over the years and seen other programs out there I've noticed some striking similarities between defensive tactics training and martial arts that was both disturbing and enlightening at the same time. The problems I found in the short two day programs seemed to be a microcosm for the problems that plague martial arts programs everywhere. I was asked to develop a specific outline for a department that wanted to fully adopt our program and had difficulty doing it. It was at this time that I figured out the problem and I want to share with you all what I’ve learned.

You see, in these courses a lot of time there's a lot of material to get through. So the instructors come in with an outline and work straight down it like a checklist. If they get behind they may even speed up a little to make sure all the material gets covered.

This causes a very specific problem. The students memorize the techniques but they never learn them and that's a big difference. This is what happened to our brown belt at the beginning of the article. He got in a hurry and he memorized the belt requirements but never actually learned how to apply them under real conditions. This is a bad curriculum.

I'm not going to get into certain techniques being better or worse than others long term that isn't the point of the article.  The point is that the student lacked a proper foundation and the curriculum didn't have a structure that was conducive to learning. When the minimum time in grade came around the instructor was too worried about the student's feelings and wanted to give him a sense of accomplishment so he rushed the test. However it goes much deeper than that. This student had been let down by this instructor the whole time. These errors didn't just start with this belt test it had been ongoing since white belt and it was obvious. Now the type of martial art being practiced doesn't matter in this case because with a proper foundation and structure you can produce high quality students in any art form so it isn't really about tossing or bashing an art so let's look at some solutions to these problems.

The first thing is concepts over techniques. For the purpose of this article a concept is basically a general principle such as breaking balance that anyone can perform in one way or another. A technique is a specific task that must be performed a specific way. Now we all come in all shapes and sizes. The simple fact is that not every technique is going to work for everyone. When dealing with a beginner you should never force them to perform techniques that you know are going to be problematic. They often get frustrated and leave then never come back and it reflects badly on you and your dojo because now these people are going to go around and tell people your stuff doesn't work or even worse blame themselves and damage their own self confidence.

In the beginning concepts should be the part that matters most. Not everyone can do the exact same technique but they can execute the same concept. I'll give you an example. Let's say you want the student to begin learning how to break a person's balance. Now a big guy might be able to grab someone's head and control it breaking the balance that way. A smaller person may not be able to reach the head but they can attack the legs with knees, kicks, etc. Both break the balance by upsetting the person's structure. Both are correct in the big scheme of things. Later on in their development, because of this, the student will be able to adapt new techniques easier and make them work for themselves at a faster rate.

Now of course a technique is the execution of the concepts so of course there are techniques but the concepts must be fully understood before learning a bunch of techniques. There's a program here in the U.S. where police officers learn 165 techniques in 5 days. Under stress very few of them work and they can't even remember most of them when they leave. There will be plenty of time for teaching your student techniques but they will be understood much better when they are taught as an extension of a concept.

People retain things better when they can relate to them. Sure you may want them to try different techniques to find out which ones work for them and which ones don't. After that however don't force a technique on someone when it's useless to them it will only bog them down and confuse them as well as hurt their development.

I'm going to skip over the techniques in the middle for now and go to strategy. Strategy is a part of a good foundation and is what keeps you from basically being hung out on an island like our poor brown belt. Direction would be another way of saying it. There's nothing worse than being in the middle of something and having no idea what you’re supposed to be doing.

This goes right into learning instead of memorizing. It's about being goal focused. If you’re a judo guy your goal is to put that attacker on the ground. If someone is choking you then you don't just grab their thumbs and jerk their hands away and stop. You follow up and put them on the ground. This is an idea that needs to be established from the beginning. If your just memorizing techniques you will stop after you've gotten the hands pulled away and that is bad training and bad structure.

When you’re working on executing a strategy from the beginning it teaches the student how to think and adapt. It also teaches efficiency. It teaches you how to deal with problems instead of just symptoms and is a great metaphor for leadership in daily life. In the beginning you never want to teach a technique that isn't moving towards executing your ultimate goal. An example of this in law enforcement courses would be that the ultimate goal is to get the guy in cuffs and in the car. Well if you have to do a takedown and don't have some control over the guy beforehand then you lose contact. Now you have to get on the ground and fight with his hands to get control, but if you hand an arm control and maintained it then it would be much easier to get them in cuffs. When you’re dealing with your beginners they will appreciate this. It instils confidence in them because they are able to accomplish something that's real and substantial right away instead of something hollow.

When you do this it establishes a great foundation and your students are already learning something useful. Now you can plug in techniques. Since your students have a full understand of what they are ultimately trying to accomplish and good sound concepts to always fall back on they can now adapt and deal with random changes. They understand the purpose of the techniques they are learning and they learn them faster. You never have students that don't know what to do. I've seen students invent techniques out of nowhere and make them work because when something failed they understood the concept so they made something else work. It's a great thing to see. They can take techniques and modify them to their needs. At this point it starts to become a real art because they are now expressing themselves.

My only caution would be when teaching new techniques you must protect the foundation. People have a tendency when learning something new of tossing out the old and you can't let them crack the foundation. Even if they are going up for black belt make sure they focus on the core techniques that they learned in the beginning. Everyone likes the new cool thing just make sure their foundation doesn't crack while they are playing with it.

In developing these ideas about structure we also developed a new program for the public called KONBATTO (Stonewall Tactical Jujutsu). In this program you not only learn some very simple, direct, and vicious combatives you will also learn how to implement this structure into your curriculum at your school that we discussed in this article as part of that two day course. We are happily launching this program in England and Ireland this summer. If you like these ideas and find them useful I'd be more than happy to show each of you how to apply them to your martial art in person. I thank you for your time and remember. Learn don't memorize.

To find out more about Stonewall Tactical Defense Systems visit http://www.stonewalltactical.com/index.html

A lesson from the past...

I was thinking the other day about the importance of feedback and listening to it if nothing more. 


Sometimes feedback can be crap and sometimes it's legitimate and can help your programs. Sometimes we get tunnel vision on something and an outside eye can bring new light. A good program is always developing and adapting. Being humble and dropping the ego will help a lot too. This led to a lot of other things to think about as well. It got me thinking about incident years ago that I want to recount with you.

Several years ago I was the Special Projects Director for the International Combatives Self Defense Association. I worked with the board and mainly the Director of Operations. I was teaching at a conference in Chicago, I can't remember if it was Tinley Park or Oak Forest (yeah I'm having a senior moment). A lot of the board and State reps were there as well, a lot of them heavy hitters in their field. Hell we even had guys from Spain there. 

My friend, Fernan Vargas, who was the Director of Operations told me to hang around at lunch as there was this guy that wanted to test to be an instructor with the organization, he had this system he wanted to demonstrate. I'd actually met the guy the night before and he was really cocky but he seemed like he knew what he was talking about. We all sat down at lunch and watched him do his thing. He was so sure of himself he basically phoned it in and thought we would be dazzled.

When it came to the interview portion he found out otherwise. His program was basically someone attacks and you move in penetrating then cause injury. A lot of it depended on pressure points which he referred to as an electrical knockout. He was VERY arrogant and dismissive and disrespectful during the interview. He actually thought his ideas were innovative.

First of all, when asked to explain an electric knockout, it was obvious he didn't really know what he was talking about it. For those that don't completely understand a pressure point is where at least two nerves intersect in the body and striking them sends the stimulus to the brain along more than one nerve channel, hence it's more painful. How they are hit affects the outcome, it has to be a specific way. Some have to be at a certain time of day and if on drugs, some people never feel them and some never feel them regardless or only in certain areas. In other words a successful outcome is marginal at best and it takes a lot of training to pull it off therefore it isn't a good fit for combatives.

Second of all it was one of those systems that are overly simplistic. You move  and do something to a guy and he reacts in a specific way, the way that he's told to react to your attack so it works every time. Ummm. No…….

Different people react differently to different stimuli. You have to be able to adapt, this is why overly simplistic courses don't work. Just because you kicked a guy in the nuts doesn't mean he's always going to bend forward. I've seen people fall backwards. I've seen people fall down. I've even seen some become even more pissed off and fight harder. This guy saw a video of a silly system then went and trained in it and thought he could be an instructor and we were just a bunch of goobers. You need experience to do this - you need to know how to put together an adaptive system and to do that you need research.

Even experience, though you need to have it, isn't enough because you can't experience something for someone else. So this guy got brutalized by us and if he wasn't so arrogant I’d have felt bad about it. This guy wrote something later, acting as if we didn't get it. Oh we got it! Then he GOT it! 

My point is this guy's system will never improve it will always suck. He was too arrogant to think he could actually be wrong about something. If you’re training under someone and they don't listen to you, my advice is to get the hell out of there because if their system isn't outdated then it will be shortly. You've got to listen to your people and drop the ego or pay the price for it.

To find out more about Stonewall Tactical Defense Systems visit http://www.stonewalltactical.com/index.html

Beware of the fallout!

I want to tell you a true story today from my own personal life that happened 18 years ago. Generally, a lot of the things I've been through I keep to myself but I feel this may help someone else down the road so I'll tell it.

Now since this involves real people I'm going to give you the disclaimer now and tell you that I'm going to change names and use generic names for places because even though I'm ok with telling this story other people involved may want to keep their private incidents private so it's out of respect that I do so.

This happened at the ripe old age of 19, for me a couple years before I got into private security and even further down the road - personal protection work. I'd been doing martial arts since aged 4 but the physical training involved in that wasn't going to help me tonight...it was all mental.

I was with a cousin who was a couple years older and he had to sneak me into a bar. It was an old trick that I won't disclose because I don't want kids reading this and using it....because it would still totally work. We both had more dollars than sense and went right for the harder drinks - White Russians, screamin' blue mutha f$%kers; you get the picture. If I remember right we even broke out the bar book.

Well it got to be close to 1:30am and they were doing last call. We were feeling 10 feet tall and bulletproof and decided that we weren't done partying. We asked a couple of the guys around us and they told us about an all night place and how to get there. Since technically it was a club not a business it could stay open all night and all you had to do to be a member was sign in at the door. I'd never heard of the place but my cousin had and said it was pretty rough there. Well if you tell a tough 19 year old guy that, it’s just gonna make him want to go more and that's exactly what I did. So off we went as fast as we could get there.

When we got there it was just like those guys told us. It was a big place and they asked no questions, just had us sign in at the door. We got a couple drinks but didn't want to stick out too much because I was technically underage so we noticed a pool table in the back and went over there to play a few games. It was only 2 am and the bars were just closing so there were very few people in there, we'd beaten the crowd.

As we played our game of pool there was a commotion up towards the front. There were these two guys sitting at a high top table right in the middle of the place and apparently there was an argument and one guy punched the other. Well of course the staff jumped the guy that threw the punch and broke it up then threw him out and told him he needed to cool down. The other guy got up, sat back down and just kept on drinking. We kinda shrugged it off at the time because this was a lesson we had yet to learn.

By then the crowd was coming in and the place got packed. It was like every bar in town emptied into this bottleneck after hours. There was even a band that started at 3 am. Well we kept drinking, the band kept playing, the girls kept dancing, and the men kept chasing the girls that were dancing. In other words, everything was normal. We started to get to know the staff and talking about different drinks. Other than the two guys fighting earlier it was a pretty nice time.

About 4 am or maybe a little later we moved over to the other side of the bar by the door talking to some other bartender. I remember seeing him look at the door and get real serious. So I turned and looked and I recognized the guy. It was the guy from earlier that had been thrown out for punching that other guy. I heard him tell the doorman," Hey I was sittin' at home and got to thinkin'...I feel real bad about what happened earlier, I never should've punched him I should've let it ride. I'm not staying or anything I just wanted to apologize to him if he's still here."

Now a real doorman would've said I can't let you in, but this was the good ol' boy club in the Deep South where everyone thinks they know everyone. For the future, if you’re a newbie doorman reading this...that guy should never be allowed back in. I don't give a damn what he says.

Anyway back to the story. At the time everyone once again shrugged it off and I turned back around and took another drink. Then I heard the shot. All hell broke loose and the guy ran outside. The shot was right behind my head and it was loud....VERY LOUD! I was disoriented stumbling off the stool holding my ears. I looked to my left and saw a guy running for the door holding the side off his head with blood gushing down his arm screaming, “Call the cops!" I looked to my right and on the floor I saw it. It was his ear blown right from the side of his head just laying there between my cousin and me.

Some other guy ran up to the door and threw a chair outside and broke out running then I heard at least two more gunshots. Now bear in mind all of this was probably happening in less than 10 seconds. For some ungodly reason my cousin ran for the door too but he was going to run out right in the line of fire. I tried to tackle him but he fought it and we banged against the wall. I got his feet off the ground but another chair had been knocked over behind me so we fell over it and hit the back of my head on the floor but I couldn't feel anything.

I remember looking up and seeing the bartender come flying over the bar and over us as I tried to keep my cousin on the ground but I could see out the door. The original shooter either ran out of bullets or his gun jammed I can't remember but for whatever reason the gun wouldn't fire. He charged the bartender and the bartender popped him in the back of the head with the butt of his pistol and he went down. Some people grabbed him but I never saw where they went. I was talking to my cousin and making sure he wasn't running out there and getting up.

The bartender walked back up to the entrance and turned his back to us looking back into the parking lot. Then my genius of a cousin decides to dive for the gun. Well that went over like a turd in a punch bowl. To this day I don't know what got into him and when I ask him he doesn't remember. The bartender yanks his hand back then puts it towards my cousin. To this day I don't know why I did what I did but I’m glad if did it. I stepped in front of the gun. I looked at the bartender he was furious his hand was shaking.

I remember the conversation going something like this:

Me:”Dude, he's just drunk man we ain't gotta do this!”
Bartender: “What the hell is wrong with him I could kill you man?”
Me: “I know man, I know he's just drunk man, we don't even know them people!”
Me: “Come on man just let it ride let this one ride let's just chill. Let's all just chill”
Bartender: “That was really stupid!”
Me: “I know man it was just a mistake let's just calm down.”

I breathed a sigh of relief when he finally put the gun down. Actually, he bought us two drinks on the house. It's a good night when you have free alcohol and don't get shot to death.

Some woman came out and told the bartender the police were on their way and apparently he already had some type of warrant for something so he hauled ass out of there.

Then it hit me that once again, I was under age and she’d just said the cops were on their way. They quarantined the building and put us all on lockdown. They had a guy taking pictures of the ceiling. I was playing darts and trying to play it cool. They were investigating a shootout so they didn't ask for ID or anything like that. They finally let us go around 7 am. We were all dumb and lucky. We were lucky to be alive and had literally dodged a bullet.

A great lesson was learned on many notes that would help me in my profession for years to come and I still use this story to teach people. I alluded to this very same lesson in an article called Are You In A Sport Art And Don't Know It?

If you get in a fight win, lose, or draw, leave immediately, don't hang around. The fallout is usually worse than the fight. In this instance a guy got his ear blown off, another got pistol whipped, I got a knot on my head and a gun pointed towards it. In the years after this when I worked as a bouncer it was always a rule: if you have to fight a guy and put him out then you get your payout for the night and get sent home. He may come back looking for you with more people or better weapons.

These days they can use the wands to detect weapons that they didn't use back then but if the guy had left after he got hit before 2 am none of this would've happened. At least it wouldn't have happened in that bar and put those people in danger. We were all innocent bystanders; we shouldn't have been brought into some freaky redneck drama. This shooter went home, sat there and plotted this attempted murder. He came back and had every intention to do it. This could happen in any club on any given night when some idiot makes a bad decision.

There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from this story but this one is the main one to focus on: After a violent event no matter how small it seems don't hang around doing a victory dance or whatever the hell you do. This isn't UFC or some other sport. This isn't WWE this is real life and people get murdered over things like this every day. If you’re involved in some kind of bar fight or any other kind of fight do yourself a favour, for your safety and the safety of the people around you.....GO HOME!

To find out more about Stonewall Tactical Defense Systems visit http://www.stonewalltactical.com/index.html

Don't Look At The Floor or You'll Soon Be On It

I used to train in boxing quite bit years ago. Like everyone else I wasn't very good when I started, it took a lot of effort to get there. Sometimes you had to take a hit to give one. Sometimes you just had to let your hands go.

One of the lessons I learned early on was keep your head up don't stare at the floor coming in swinging. My coach would always say:"If you look at the floor you'll soon be on it." When you’re moving in to throw those blows you can't just do it blindly because you’re afraid. You gotta keep that head up so you'll see those counter punches coming or you'll probably get dropped with an uppercut.

I often think about boxing, as many have, as a great metaphor for life, especially the statement "Don't look down at the floor or you'll soon be on it." I think it has many true connotations. So often in life people go off half cocked. I have written several articles talking about this.

Very recently I did an article called As the World Implodes: When People Put Their Agendas Ahead of the Truth.  Basically a guy was running from Police Officers then shot at them. When they shot back he was hit and died. An entire neighborhood held protests accusing the police of shooting an unarmed man. They went in swinging without looking. They didn't have all the facts. Now, after the gun has been recovered it appears as though he actually shot himself to keep from going to jail. 

It happens all the time. Just because someone is boisterous and passionate about what they are saying doesn't mean they have a clue what they are talking about.  You can go after someone but your facts need to be straight.

I saw an interview on YouTube very recently. It was Bill O'Reilly interviewing Bill Mahar about religion. Bill Mahar is a famous comedian who also happens to be an atheist. He was basically trying to say that religion is bad and a lot of the stuff in the Bible isn't true.  Now, I'm a spiritual person myself, I believe in God but I'm not big on organized religion. To prove the Bible preached violence he quoted a saying from the Book of Deuteronomy. It was basically the part where it says you should kill your neighbor if you catch them working on a Sunday. Bill Mahar went in swinging with his head down.

As many of you know, in the Christian religion the Old Testament is basically used for parables only and life lessons, it isn't literal. The laws governing the religion are found in the New Testament only. If he had taken the time to research that and know the subject he was speaking on he wouldn't have made a bogus uneducated point. If you’re going to use aggressive speech you better know what you’re saying. It's like police kicking in a door before checking to make sure they are at the right house (trust me it happens).

Before you attack a problem you need to understand the problem. When guys try to modernize martial arts more often than not they go into it with preconceived notions of what will work and what will not. They believe their traditional art to be superior to others so they invent ingenious solutions to nonexistent problems. So they have great defenses against the wrong attacks. They never really understand the problem because they never make the attempt. You can't teach a person who already knows everything. They go in without having all the facts about real attacks then invent a crappy unrealistic system so they can sell it to you as the newest stuff when it is just someone swinging with their head down.

We've all heard sports metaphors before. We know there's a much bigger reason to keep your head up. As time goes on it seems the world becomes more and more violent and people care less and less. With so many things going on to make you feel bad, keeping your head up can be harder than it sounds. The fight we are in is both metaphorical and literal at the same time.

Sometimes I hear folks talk about the innate good in all people; the people who say that need to lift their heads because there is no such thing as innate good in all people. Some people are good and some aren't. Some have had their heads down for so long they are disgusting.

I'm gonna date this article by mentioning some current events. Recently there was a terrorist attack in Norway. It was a horrible tragedy and our hearts go out to them. The people there will pull together the same way we did during the 911 tragedy. They will be uplifted because of it. People will help because it is a big thing. We are there for the big things but it's the small things we falter.

In July singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London apartment. She had a long history with drugs and public aggression. The belief, true or not, was that she wasn't a very nice person. When the story was posted on the internet the replies varied. Most talked about it being such a waste which is true in the context it was said but better words could've been used. A lot however went out of their way to say she was a junkie and who cares and that they hoped Lindsay Lohan was next. These are the people that you have to worry about. They have their heads down and can't see the truth. These are the ones that will drag you down to their level and make you suck as bad as they do. They have their heads down so that is precisely why you need to keep yours up. Makes it easier to knock them out.

Now I know this is getting off subject a bit but its bothering me and I want to address it. I want to answer the question posted by a lot of these jerks today. The question of who cares? I would venture to say a lot of people care. I'll continue to use Amy Winehouse as an example. She had to have parents right? I know she was married at one point. She had family and friends who are devastated right now as I write this commentary.

You see I want to share a truth to all you people with your heads down. All death is tragic. Death is a lost opportunity for the dead as well as the world around them. For people who have had a bad life it means they have no more chances to make it better or improve. Personally I always pull for the underdogs. It's my way of saying f@#k you to the powers that be.

When someone dies like that their future actions can no longer inspire us. Good, bad, or indifferent we can't learn anything from them anymore. We only have that short span to inspire us in one way or another. They are gone and those opportunities are gone with them. What if she finally kicked drugs? She was very talented. Would she have inspired others to get off drugs? Would her newer music inspire someone else to be a singer? We'll never know that because she's gone. That's what I mean by lost opportunity. When someone dies we all lose a chance at something because none of us know the future. How many of you have lost someone you wish were here right now? I would venture to say all of you. That's the answer to the question, who cares? So lift your heads up for once and see it.

As I talked in other articles about Personal Empowerment and You and Do You Have Dreams To Remember? Self confidence is important especially when there are so many people who want to take it from you; it should show you the value of it. In this life it's full of people that want to tear you down. We must educate ourselves to these basic truths to defend against them. When the ignorant come in swinging to take us out you have to know your stuff and be confident. Do be like those people. Don't look at the floor or you'll soon be on it.

To find out more about Stonewall Tactical Defense Systems visit http://www.stonewalltactical.com/index.html

The Startle Reflex: In Defense of the Truth

A few years ago a friend and mentor of mine, W. Hock Hocheim, wrote an article called, A Startling Study In The Startle Reflex. Hocheim used nothing but facts in the article. There were no opinions just true scientific data. This was done to counteract lies that were being told to the public for marketing reasons. There was a lot of bogus information out there about the startle reflex and a lot of people lying about it on purpose to sell courses even though they knew that it wasn't true. To this day people are still lying about the startle reflex to try to get people to take their course and disparage instructors who tell them the truth about it. 


Now, Hock tries to have some diplomacy in his articles, he teaches the public and it's smart not to step on anyone's sensitive toes and burn bridges, I think anyone should be able to understand that. However I teach mainly police and don't care who I p**s off so I'm gonna tell you like it's gonna be and to those that don't like it you can just go in a corner and cry like the sissy’s that you have become.

I'm not going to regurgitate all the data that Hock has already published, you can read all about it in his post. I am however going to shed a little more light on it for you…

Back in the 1930's tests were done to activate the ‘startle reflex’ when the subject was spooked by an audible stimulus. Now, to put that in basic terms I'll give you an example. Let's say you have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. You know how in the winter furniture creeks sometimes due to the cold? So you’re walking down that hall half asleep and you hear that popping sound… It scares you and you drop down and your arms shoot out. We've all done that, me included.

All that this test proved in the 1930's was that you did what you were already going to do when you heard that noise. That was it. It had nothing to do with combat or seeing punches coming at you or anything of the sort.

Fast forward to the 80's: You’ve got some guy going around telling people that his system is better than that of others because he teaches defences from natural reflexes – the ones that you would do anyway. Yup! you’ve guessed it, shooting the arms straight out and diving for it. He did this knowing that data had been disproved in the 70's and that it had nothing to do with visual stimulus but he just lied and taught it anyway.

If someone starts bashing on you, you’re gonna stick your arms out anyway so let's go with it. Now today people claim he never said that and he tries to backtrack on it but he's said it many times and many people including myself have heard him say it.
Now I'm not saying that you won't stick your arms straight out and dive for it. You very well may do that. You may also squat and dump in your pants. You may clutch your chest. You may break out running. You may not do anything at all. You may cover in some way. I've even seen some stiffen up like a board and just fall down. If it's heading towards your head you may swat at it. If it's on the ground you may jump or lift a foot and stomp it.

The simple fact is, and the point of Hock's article, is that nobody and I mean nobody knows exactly what every single individual person will do when startled under every single random condition the almighty God could possibly invent. Nobody has that knowledge. Not me, you, or anyone else for that matter. So for any person to stand in front of a crowd and tell them all exactly what they will do when scared is a joke and a farce. If someone tries to tell you that then run because they are either a liar or they are ignorant.

It doesn't have to be the arm thing it can be any startle reflex. I don't want to just bash a certain group. If someone tries to tell you there's only one possible startle reflex, regardless of what they say that reflex is, they are wrong. If they tell you everyone will always jump....they don't. If they say everyone will punch...they won't. I could go on with this all day.

The fact is people; there is no perfect technique because attacks are so random. This is why concepts are more important than techniques because concepts can adapt to us. You have to conform to techniques and try to make them work and they may not be right for your size, shape, or whatever. However, a concept will conform to you and your needs.

In my 34 years in martial arts I've seen a lot. I've seen people demonstrate a kick to the groin and a follow up when the guy bent over forward from it. I've kicked a couple of people in the nuts and they never bent forward, they actually fell straight backward. I've seen people tell others - I can enter a certain way and slam a forearm to the brachial plexus and it'll knock them out. Then I've seen people take 5 or 6 hard shots to the brachial plexus and never even acknowledge it and fight harder.

People are different and they react differently. There is simply no way to predict it. All these techniques you see against a startle in martial arts classes are learned techniques built into muscle memory. They aren't necessarily natural for everyone, they may be natural for some and unnatural for others it just depends on the person.

My advice for instructors is to pick something simple that makes the most sense based upon the type of system you teach. You have to have a starting point to work from. In what I do we use a cover and level change because it sets up what we do on the entry very well. To some it feels very natural and to others it feels odd for whatever reason. We work it hard and they get it built in then they love it and it works incredibly well for what we do.

If I was you I'd stop worrying about what the big names do and just pressure test everything and find out what works best for what you do there is no magic technique that is going to work for everything, we all just do the best we can to the best of our ability to try and help people.

What works for me may not feel right for you and vice versa but at least that's honest. We didn't get into this to follow someone else's dogma we got into it to be leaders in our community. So put together something great and get it out there and help some people. As far as Hock's article is concerned, it's a great article with a lot of great data. Keep your eyes on the prize and don't take things out of context. Have a good day.

To find out more about Stonewall Tactical Defense Systems visit http://www.stonewalltactical.com/index.html