Awareness

Defensive Concepts

Occasionally, when I teach, someone will ask me what the most powerful tool is for self

defense. Most of the time I answer a 12 gauge pump. If I'm feeling more charitable, I'll

start by telling them the truth. What is the truth? I'm glad you asked.

    The truth is this, it doesn't matter what skills you have, the weapons available to you,

your strength, size, speed or dashing good looks. If you don't know you are in a fight

you'll probably lose. What's that you say? How could you not know you're in a fight?

Ever talked to someone (or heard yourself say)  "I didn't know what hit me." Guess what,

they didn't know it but they were in a fight. Why didn't they? They weren't aware.

    Several years ago, I read an article in Combat Handguns magazine. The author had

done some research on gunfights and had come to an interesting conclusion. Before I go

on, for those of you who are grinding their teeth at the gun issue, get over it. Fighting is

fighting. Whether weapons are in play or not most of the important stuff like strategy,

tactics, etc. stay constant. Back to our topic. The author of the article said that,  based on

his research, if you take all factors into consideration; equipment, tactics, skill, terrain,

weather, multiple attackers, luck (let's not forget luck), if you are aware and the fight

breaks out, luck factors into about 5% of your chances of survival. If you are not aware

and the fight starts luck makes up 75% of your chances of survival. Everything else held a

constant 5-10% slot in the equation. 

    This is nothing new. Eric Hartmann, probably the greatest fighter pilot in history, was

of the opinion that 80% of the allied pilots he shot down in World War II never knew

they were in the same sky together. Face it folks, you can be 6'5" 250 pounds of solid

muscle able to bench press 400 pounds. You can have all the skills of an aikijutsu master

and a high speed low drag .45 pistol backed by one of Bill Bagwell's bowie knives.  But

if you're careless, or under the influence of something or just not paying attention, you're

just as easy a target to a sixteen year old punk with a baseball bat as a 75 year old

grandmother with a bad hip.

    Awareness is the cornerstone of proper mindset. The question is how do you develop

it? The best way I know is to have someone hunting you. When there is a specific

someone out there who is looking to do you great physical harm you pay attention to

everything. The bad news about this method is if you don't learn real fast you better have

good medical coverage and a funeral plan. (Spike's note no one is seriously suggesting

that you go out and plan to make enemies. If you walk into known gang territory

intentionally wearing the wrong colors or go to the bike garage where the 1% ers hang out

and pee on their machines, or mess with a jealous man's woman, you are on your own. I

am not responsible for anyone else's stupidity.) All right, since we've established that

having someone actually hunt you could have potentially damaging effects what is the

next best thing?

    First, you need a friend. If you don't have any you've got a whole 'nother set of

problems. It can be someone you work with, hang with, whatever. It helps if he's the

sneaky sort. The two of you take turns hunting each other. If you're the hunted and you

get touched, you lose. If you catch them sneaking up on you, or stop them from touching

you, you win. I was introduced to this method by my father. No, he's not a martial arts

master, just an old street fighter from a coal town. Living with him was kind of like

having Kato from the old Pink Panther movies in the house. You'd be doing your thing

and he'd jump you, slap you around and laugh like Renfield as he walked away while

telling you to pay more attention. In a very short amount of time, you'd grow eyes in the

back of your head. After a time this can actually be fun, especially when you catch them

sneaking up on you.

    A variation on this is a game played at a friend's school. It's called 'Groin Man'. My

friend will walk around during class and, you guessed it, lightly backhand some

unsuspecting student 'twixt the legs. It does tend to get folk's attention, and encourage

you to wear a cup. It also teaches his student's to be aware of what's going on around

them.

    There are other methods and tools to use to raise your awareness. I'm not going to

cover them here. You need to discover them for yourself. Find the ones that work best for

you.  One thing I will add is this. Develop all your senses. Most people tend to work on

sight and maybe hearing. Don't forget about smell and touch also. I remember a couple of

times a whiff of cigarettes, cologne or some nasty body odor gave me some much needed

warning. Also, don't forget about your 'gut'. That inner feeling that something is wrong

is part of the 'old' nervous system in each of us. Modern society tends to dismiss it as

superstition. Modern life tends to dull it, but it is real and you need to learn to listen to it.

Train hard, stay sharp.