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By Bradley J. Steiner, American Combato
WHEN you are under violent attack the last thing that you can afford to do is try to employ some beautiful, intricate technique that you recall seeing demonstrated in class. Efficiency is the key when the balloon goes up for real!
This is why we recommend and will not budge from standing by the simple, destructive actions of wartime movements. You cannot beat them for efficiency. For example:
Thrust extended fingers suddenly into your attacker’s eyes;
With hand clawed, thrust a piston-like tiger’s claw blow directly into an opponent’s face;
Using your half-fist shoot a direct, straight thrust of your knuckles into the attacker’s throat;
Using the pincher-like throat-lock, suddenly seize the attacker’s windpipe – and crush;
Drive a knee blow – repeatedly – into the testicles of an attacker; Stomp down hard on an attacker’s knee;
Scrape-stomp down an opponent’s shin-done, and crush his foot arch; Box an opponent’s ears with cupped palms;
Whip a surprise front kick into the enemy’s testicles; Handaxe chop the neck or throat or general facial area;
Drive a straight vertical-fist punch into an aggressor’s sternum; Deliver an uppercut punch to an opponent’s solar plexus; Smash both palms into the enemy’s ear, seize them, and rip!;
Dig thumbs deep into inside corners of an attacker’s eyes and gouge outward;
Throw a handful of gravel or coins into an attacker’s face (a hat or a handkerchief will sometimes do) – step off to the side and break his knee with a stomping kick;
Growl and yell suddenly as you go after your attacker; just like a wild animal. The idea is to shock him into realizing that he is under attack by you;
Blend, combine, followup with another blow, then another, and another; and do not stop attacking until your enemy is no longer a threat. That’s efficiency. A 100% drive to the wall done by total surprise – explosive, relentless, fierce, vicious, merciless all-out attacking with not the slightest hint of mercy or forbearance. That’s efficiency.
Waste no time getting into any stances, except a nonchalant, innocent, non-aggressive-appearing relaxed-ready off-angled position with hands relaxed at sternum level and standing at a distance outside arm’s reach from the individual whom you do not know, but who has approached you. That’s efficiency.
Set your mind ahead of time. Live in yellow (relaxed ready), and know that you’ll shift instantly to orange or perhaps to red if necessary, without telegraphing your readiness to deal with anything. That’s efficiency. You let a stranger know nothing . . . but explode like a wild, murderous animal if that stranger initiates a violent attack against you. That’s efficiency.
You train in essentially only one type of “hold” for serious personal defense or wartime close combat: The stranglehold – which may also be a neck-breaker if or when needed and applicable to save your life.
That’s efficiency.
You abandon all of the fancy throws and zero in on a very few combat- worthy throws; and you use these throws judiciously, only when the opening is perfect and only if you’ve really mastered the throws. The throws of close combat are preceded by blows, and they are concluded by blows, and you NEVER, EVER go to the ground with an enemy by choice. That’s efficiency.
You strive to learn the very best techniques that suit YOU. You never see acquiring a vast repertoire of techniques as being even one tenth as valuable as acquiring a repertoire of quality, effective, destructive skills that suit you and your psychophysical idiosyncrasies. That’s efficiency.
You do not weigh yourself down with the idiocy of being aggressive and “never walking away from a fight”. Instead, as a responsible individual you make up your mind NEVER to fight – ever – with anyone; while remaining ready at all times to defend yourself when such defense is unavoidably necessary. And you decide firmly that in such a case ANYTHING GOES; you will waste not a quarter of a second on compassion, restraint, mercy, fairness, or human decency. You will do whatever it takes right then and there – with zero restraints, blocks, or inhibitions about doing anything – to defeat an adversary and save and protect innocent life and well-being: yours or that of someone about whom you care, and who depends upon you for protection. That’s efficiency.
In any dangerous emergency when you are forced to defend yourself or submit to being maimed or killed, you will use any weapon available or object-at-hand as a weapon, regardless of whether or not your attacker is obviously armed. Your purpose is self-defense and survival . . . not engaging in a “match” to see which of you is more expert in some set of agreed-upon rules or actions! WINNING is your only “rule”; and your permission to adhere to that rule has been granted you by the attacker who presumes to violate you. That’s efficiency.
Warfighting (which is what self-defense is, in microcosm) depends upon efficiency. Absorb that fact and use it when you train!