In Memoriam:
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved friend, Bradley J. Steiner. May his soul rest in peace.
In his legacy, we are fighting the “Brad Steiner fight” – the good fight. The fight for each person to be the person they want to be and to protect themselves when their lives are being viciously threatened by enemies of Freedom, Peace, and Justice.
Johnnie (one of my Black Belts and a former U.S. Marine and combat veteran of Vietnam) backed up to the wall behind him as three other of my students, playing the part of attackers, closed in on him. It was a practice session during one of our group classes. Johnnie’s face looked a little scared and doubtful like he wasn’t sure how the hell he was going to deal with this.
Very confidently, the three attackers (all half of Johnnie’s age; two of them larger) assumed they would be able to grab hold of him, deliver some blows, knocking him to the ground, and prevent the 60-something-year-old man from executing anything resembling an effective defense.
At the fraction of a second, before two of the attackers seized hold of him, Johnnie let out a blood-curdling yell. His face took on the appearance of an animal gone mad in the throes of a killing frenzy. All three of the attackers – very literally – froze in their tracks!
Each one of the three, momentarily shocked, mouthed an involuntary obscenity, and before that moment shifted into the next, Johnnie’s hands and feet became a blur, slamming, kicking, chopping, hacking, stomping (very carefully so as not to actually connect) into his three assailants.
Drill over, Johnnie laughed in a friendly way and patted one of his attackers on the shoulder. “You guys almost had me,” he joked.
“Uh, yeah, right, sure Johnnie,” the student – a little shaky – muttered.
“Excellent! Absolutely perfect!” I shouted as I stepped forward to discuss the drill that had taken place.
To the three who had played his assailants, I said, “Johnnie just showed you, in a very vivid way, the core elements of defending against multiple assailants, in particular, and any assailants, in general. Convey the opposite of your true intentions; attack by surprise; keep on attacking; don’t stop moving; turn yourself into an approximation of a wild, murderous animal; and… never forget… YELL AND GROWL LIKE AN INSANE SONOFABITCH!”
The lesson is one of solid gold:
If you are ever cornered or confronted by what is clearly the onset of a violent attack from which you cannot escape, and for which no avoidance by mere words will do, launch your own offensive like a wild beast, YELLING AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS as you go.
Why yell?
In the Asian martial arts, it is referred to as the “spirit shout.” You may have heard of it referred to in karate or Ju-Jutsu as “Kiai” (pronounced key’eye). In the Korean art of Taekwon-Do, we called it ki-yup, and, depending on the culture, it may bear yet another formal designation.
Practitioners of the Japanese sport of kendo seem almost to overdo the damn thing, as their yelling is all but constant and continual as they smash and batter their shinai (wooden bamboo swords) into each other’s armored bodies.
It’s not merely an Asian combative phenomenon. Not by a long shot. The U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army traditionally taught recruits to growl, grimace, and yell when attacking with their bayonetted rifles in hand-to-hand combat. Special Forces soldiers were taught to shout wildly when on the attack in close combat (as were the American Indian warriors, who were among the finest on earth). And remember the “old rebel yell” made famous by the Confederate soldiers of our Civil War? An obvious form of Kiai.
I have always taught my students to YELL suddenly whenever feasible when defending themselves. In fact, not merely “to yell” but to actually growl and contort their faces menacingly, so as to appear insane and possessed of an unstoppable killing fury.
When this occurs without warning and is accompanied by ferocious and destructive physical actions that knock out or maim (or worse), which are undertaken by complete surprise after appearing passive and scared, the result is so completely effective that – in a life-threatening crisis – you can stake your life on it – and should – rather than submit meekly to being victimized.
As you master the art of yelling, think of it as a “battle cry” of sorts. I have nothing but respect for all of the Asian martial arts, but what we’re dealing with here, and what we are taking advantage of, is not unique to the Asian arts. It is as common in Western combat forms as it is in Eastern combat forms. And we emphasize it in our modern art of American Combato. It is, very plainly, undramatically, and non-mysteriously, a battle cry. And it works!
Following are some tips for making the most of the battle cry when and if you ever find yourself in a dangerous situation… and realize that your only hope is to employ force in order to survive a violent onslaught and escape a horrible fate.
- When you practice any techniques of self-defense, remember to include the use of loud battle cry shouting with your counteroffensive against whoever may be attacking you. Think of it as part of every physical action. When you preempt, YELL!
- It is the use of extreme yelling and growling by surprise that optimizes its effect. So, don’t train by sparring (as they do, for one example, in karate) and square off with an opponent – betraying your intention to do battle with him and reducing any “shock value” not only of anything you may do, but of any yells or shouts you might emit.
- Use yelling – i.e. the battle cry – when employing any hand-held, close quarters weapon: firearm, knife, stick, tomahawk, or object-at-hand. It enhances the effectiveness of your attack.
- Sudden, surprise yelling combined with throwing gravel, dirt, sand, small change, a handkerchief, a cup of coffee, etc., into the attacker’s face is a marvelous combination tactic. USE IT when, where, and if you can in any emergency.
- Always, always, always try to set up any obvious troublemaker who is clearly intent on harming you. If you cannot get away, then pave the way for your surprise attack and victory. Speak softly and almost timidly. Be polite and give the impression of being a pacifistic choir boy, never of a combatant. Maybe comply with one or two initial demands, just to set him up. Feign great pain and submission at any minor force he may initiate.
For example, I once caused some POS to start laughing contemptuously at me when I winced and bent forward as he squeezed my hand. He couldn’t have turned himself into a better target! As I winced in mock pain, I bent forward and grabbed his wrist with my free hand, pleading with him not to hurt me. But, then, instantly, I sent a respectably powerful front kick into his testicles. Never so quickly have I heard laughter turn into an agonized scream of pain. He doubled over and went down like a felled oak!
- Never forget that yelling and growling infuse you with courage and increases your actual strength. When you yell, you exhale. Exhalation is what accompanies extreme muscular exertion and physical performance. The act of courageously emitting a battle cry shifts your physiological “fight or flight” response capacity to one of FIGHT; and when you must defend yourself, that is exactly what you need to do it well!
Ladies, no less than gentlemen, can and should avail themselves of the advantage that loud, sharp, sudden yelling can provide. Perhaps a number of gentlemen reading this can attest, as I can, that my physically diminutive wife of 45 years can when she wishes, deliver the most awful, blood-chilling explosions of verbal rage imaginable!
So, don’t think you don’t have it in you – you do.
by Bradley J. Steiner