What If?

Often I am asked, by other GUIDED CHAOS instructor’s or practitioners, “what are qualities I should develop? What should I be thinking about as an instructor and how do I develop my own skills to the higher levels?

As an instructor there are things you must understand because as a representative of any art of there are a number of expectations that people will have of you as well as challenges you will face.  One of the main challenges you will face will come from people who fall in the camp of the “WHAT IF? Scenarios.

You know who this character is he’s usually the person who may be a martial artist, may have a passing interest in the pugilist arts, but more often than not he’s the guy who thinks that all martial arts and the fighting arts in general are BS. I’m going to cover some of them here to aid you in your own understanding and development.

You Must Develop Your Mind For Combat

As stated in a document called the “Guided Chaos Talking Points for Warrior Mind Setting”, when thinking about the potential for violence of any kind. You must develop “Moral Certainty”. It must be clear in your mind that once you make the decision to fight it is an all or nothing proposition. It is not about being brave or being a hero but merely accepting what is before you for what it is and doing what must be done. If you’re an instructor you must develop this attitude because you must develop it in your students and become a living example of what you teach.

You WILL Be Challenged

"Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
                                                                            -- Mark Twain 

As a martial arts practitioner or instructor no matter what you do, no matter what system you train in there will always be those who will either challenge your knowledge or your skills. There is no way around this fact so accept it. In your school and in everyday occasions you must be aware of this especially if you are known throughout your local area.

As I tell some of the instructors I deal with on a regular basis you must be always be prepared to deal with anyone who enters your school because you never know who may walk through your door. Over the years Grand Master’s Perkins and Carron, other instructors and I have had more than our fair share of people who for various reasons have come into our school where on the surface they seem genuinely interested in the art, but in fact they are there to challenge us.

The point is regardless of whether it’s in a training environment or on the street if I think you’re trying to hurt me I’m going to protect myself. Your mindset must be the same or they will hurt you. Do not think for a “New York Minute” that there are not people out there that will not try to harm you just for an ego boost or to discredit your art or both.

Do Not Play Into The “What If” game

“If” as they say is a big word and “if” I had a penny for every person that plays the “what if game” with us I could buy an island maybe even a small country. If you play into the "What If Game?" After reading this I don't know what to tell you, you may burn in Hell. I'm serious because it's really ridiculous.

Okay maybe not Hell, but you may be subject to shopping for "all eternity" with your wife at "Pier 1 Imports". (Sigh... the things we must do for shalom in the home...)

There are a number of psychological reason people do this and it could be a whole area of study however for the purpose this blog entry what you need to understand is this, every guy at least in his own mind thinks he’s a “bad ass”. They’re always trying to prove themselves for various reasons or because they know you’re into the martial arts they may perceive you as a threat or challenge when in fact what you are is a threat to their immature egos.

We all have an ego to some degree because our egos protect us however a big part of maturity is learning how to keep the immature child inside in check.  However, the character that I’m speaking of here has the ego of an adolescent still trying to prove that they’re a man. Cubs want to run with the wolves, boys want to run with the men. This is why everything amongst men always devolves into a “dick-measuring contest”.

To be blunt every guy is trying to prove that their dick isn’t too small. For some of these characters the “What If?" game is less about discrediting your art or skill although that’s a part of it, and more about them “feeling” as if they have one up on you and can handle you if they really needed to because it scares them. It really isn’t any more complex than that.

You’ll have people even in the martial artist ask what would you do if someone grabbed you? I always ask “Why are you letting people grab you in the first place?” “What you just let people come up to you and put their hands on you? “Where the Hell is your awareness?”

Now, I’m not talking about people you know or some old lady asking a question in “Walmart” because context is important. I’m talking about situations where you “should” be aware and someone attempts to grab you or approach you out of nowhere. Game on!

I had a guy one time ask me that question and after I asked him how does that happen he said, "well okay maybe not you but say one of your students?" and I said,

"I don't think you understand, for us the fight is on the moment we perceive you as a threat, we're not waiting for someone to put their hands on us to then try some technique out. Don't misunderstand me I get it that anything could happen but I don't teach my students to do things that I wouldn't do. For us 99% percent of the time the answer is don't let that shit happen in the first place!" 

The other question you will always get and you can count on it is “well what if someone pulls a gun or a knife on you?” You know, it never ceases to amaze me how dumb some of these guys are to think that people have never heard these things before.

More importantly they assume that just because you do the martial arts that, a) you’ve never heard of a gun before and; b) who is to say you don’t have one and know how to use it.

Even worse they think that saying that to a guy (i.e., moi) who has been in the Marine Corps for nearly 30 years knows nothing of guns or knives.

Or they think that a person like Grandmaster Perkins who was a police officer, forensic expert and has been training people like myself like “forever” has never considered such things. Really?

I personally believe part of the reason they always resort to the gun question is they assume you have the same irrational or as Grandmaster Perkins calls it "mystical fear" of guns as they do. 

“Again how does that happen?”

I’m not saying this is an easy thing to deal with but there is a reason why many violent street attacks are ambush style attacks.

One thing I love about YouTube from an instructional stand point is you get to see how real attacks go down caught on security cameras and you not only get to evaluate real knife and gun assaults. If you pay close attention you not only get to see all of the body language of the perps “before” they present their weapons, but also the body language of the people being attack.

Even people with no training if you watch closely more often than not begin to move if they catch it even out of the corner of their eye. Humans have this ability of what is called “proximity”. We all have a natural sense of awareness the key is to not become distracted or deliberately “turn it off”.

Don’t entertain it it’s all about that one-upsmanship and nothing more. Life is short and you have better things to do.

While this may be true in some cases what you need to know is Guided Chaos is a “complete system” that not only takes into consideration the use of weapons but we train people in the use all sorts of weapons of especially commonly available weapons to include guns.

Have Gun Will Travel

When I was a kid I use to love westerns like "Have Gun Will Travel", "The Good The Bad The Ugly", and “Kung Fu Fridays” I was all about “The 36 Chambers of Shaolin” (aka The Master Killer) and of course Bruce Lee.

Generally speaking, these shows usually contained a story line where some young whipper snapper looking for a fight in order to make a name for himself or some so-called Master out to prove themselves. Would bark up the wrong tree by messing with someone who wasn’t interested in stupid contests and end up on the express elevator to eternal damnation.  

Unfortunately, even when dealing with other martial artist you find this nonsense because for the reasons mentioned above regarding the ego where there is a sort of “have gun will travel mentality”. Everyone is trying to prove their “Kung Fu” is better than yours etc…

The truth is if more people saw the true aftermath of what happens to people who have been murdered they would have a totally different understanding of a real fight and how they should train, and worry about “the real bad guys” and not  trying to "show up" disciplined law abiding citizens, whom the majority of people interested in the fighting arts tend to be.

What You Should Focus On

The point is there is nothing wrong with doing a mental exercise or training to deal with a variety of situations but they must be based in reality rooted in the true dynamics of how people move and interact with each other when they mean to kill each other. Anything else especially these bogus debates or "tests" are nothing more than an exercise in mental masturbation.

What you need to remember is that a real fight is not sport, is nothing like a sport, never will be a sport, but only about and always for and about life and death. You must constantly remind yourself of this because more often than not I have had instructors tell me of situations in which someone basically challenged them and by playing into the "What If?" game they almost got themselves in a pinch which brings me to my final point.

I Don’t Think So

"It seems all of Greece knows what, is the right thing to do but it is only the Spartans that do anything about it..."

                                                            --Anonymous Quote attributed to Plato

As Homey the Clown use to say on “In Living Color”, “I don’t think so!” Do not, do not, do not go along with bogus demonstrations or “tests” of your skills that rely on hypothetical situations not based in reality. Stick to your guns of what you know works and if someone says the old "well what would you do if someone did "this" or "that" to you? Tell them, you’re not going to let it happen in the first place!

If they attempt to grab you or insist on trying their “stuff” on you consider it an “attack” on your person and do what you must, sorry but your safety first their feelings second. I don’t care if they’re married to your sister. Do not let people put you in moves, locks or holds or whatever.

Me personally, I view any and all challenges as Brad Steiner, President and Founder of the ICMAF does, as criminal assaults and I will therefore spare no quarter if you attempt to apply some move on me especially after I told you I’m not playing that game.

Hope this was informative.

LtCol Al

Senior Master Instructor

Guided Chaos