Thinking in "Plan Bs"

I’ve looked at different postings on different forums and such. I’ve seen some great accolades from our students. The ones that catch me are those that mention how the instructors really seem to care and how they seem to have a passion for what they are doing. Well, let me tell you. You have no idea how much we care. What we do and what we are preparing you for is real. Let me tell you a story, unfortunately this one is also real.

Last week a 19 year old girl was raped. Sadly, not an uncommon headline but an almost unheard of occurance in this community. 10:00 pm, along a heavily traveled street, in a very safe community. This evening was not unlike any other in her life. She often took a walk in the evening. As she was walking she saw a man ahead of her. Nothing particular or strange about him but an overwhelming feeling inside her told her something was wrong. SIDE NOTE - REQUIRED READING: The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker. She crossed the street to avoid his approaching path of travel. She lost sight of him but still had an uneasy feeling so she decided to walk to the nearest public place. It was closed. So she continued on to the next public place that she knew was open. Moments later she was attacked from behind in a bar arm choke. He pulled her down into a deep drainage ditch that runs along the side walk. She struggled and escaped. He grabbed her in a bear hug and pulled her back. She tries to punch him. He punches her in the mouth. He drags her into some trees and sits on top of her and begins to strangle her. During the assault he whispers in her ear.

Now let me be the first to say that I will never judge someone by how they respond under this type of stress. But count the ways and opportunities there were for her to effectively defend herself and escape. 1. Bar arm choke. 2. Bear hug from behind/arms free. 3. Inside defense. 4. Combatives. 5. Choke from the front while in mount. 6.Guard escape. It makes me crazy mad to think that this assault could have possibly been stopped with any one of six ways.

We all must be thinking in “Plan Bs”. This young woman had a self defense text book “Plan A”. She was aware of her surroundings; she avoided a potentially dangerous encounter; she sought out safety in a public place.

She had no Plan B.

Please come to class. Please have fun. And please, in some part of your brain, remember the seriousness of what we are doing on that floor. We are fiercely and relentlessly preparing “Plan B”.

The physical manifestation of stress and nervousness

All I can say is "I called it!" When I saw Zazi live on the news saying he has no ties to terrorists, I said to my wife "He's lying!" Not because I'm racist, not because I think all muslims are terrorists, but because he could NOT keep his eyes looking forward when answering those tough questions!
I am no expert on lie detection, but Zasi is no expert on deception. I am, however, an expert on the physical manifestation of stress. In Krav Maga, we purposely and methodically formulate ways to create stress in training every single day of the week. In our own training, we constantly work on creating stress and then finding ways to overcome it or, better yet, train in ways that solve the problems DESPITE the stress.
Now, here's what YOU should know and how I think YOU can help. When you are at large public events, mass transit locations, chemical or ammunition wholesalers, or schools and churches; BE ALERT! More importantly though, you need to know what to look for, and if you're not in uniform or obviously someone who could cause them a problem, then they may not show your their hand. So how do you look for it? Look like you ARE someone who is in charge! Walk with a purpose, be alert of your surroundings, and make eye contact with everyone. Imagine seeing someone talking to a friend. Now imagine that same person talking to a friend, but looking around and making eye contact with everyone walking nearby at the same time, and standing tall and alert. What would you think of that person? Someone who is up to something will be worried about being caught. The will PHYSICALLY MANIFEST that stress and nervousness by way of avoiding eye (and any) contact with authority figures. They will seem overly prepared for casual questions or contact, but may have to think way too hard about questions that they should answer easily....Not questions like "why are you here" but questions like "Oh, I know everyone here, who are you visiting?" And just so you know, any sentance starting with "uhhhhhh" is universal language for "I'm about to lie to you..."

I'm certainly not advocating taking any action, but do report anything you feel out of place to authorities immediately. It's not a crime to be wrong, but what if you're right? Zazi and his cohorts planned on killing hundreds of people, and paralyzing an entire city and mass transit around the country. The FBI did a great job, and we need to thank them all for saving our lives. But they can't be everywhere. There are no less than 9 more known cells in Denver. Do your part by simply walking tall and being a force to reckon with.

Terror in Denver

Don't think it can't or won't happen in Denver. A New York connection, this guy was on the news last night denying any terrorist ties, and today the FBI finds boxes of bomb making materials in his apartment. I don't know about you, but if I'm a Japanese American living in Denver during WWII, among the list of things I WOULDN'T have in my home is bomb making materials.
But let's get down to it. It doesn't matter that THIS GUY was caught or even if THIS GUY ends up being guilty or not, there are more right here in Denver that are real and guilty. Be aware, be vigilant, be safe. If something doesn't look right, TRUST YOUR GUT! Report it and let the officials sort it out.
It doesn't matter how well trained you are at hand to hand combat, combat shooting, martial arts, knife fighting, stick fighting, MMA, or anything. You can't defend against a car bomb that you don't know is coming. The only way to defend against that is to not be there when it happens, and we can't give in to terrorists and live our lives that way. So how do we defend? Observe and report. Everything at any time and all the time. No one can operate in complete isolation. There are clues.
Educate yourself and get to know your neighbors. Make your block or your floor a group banded together in common interest of self defense and survival.
Enough bomb making material was found today in 2 locations to blow up several homes the news says, but COME ON PEOPLE, who the hell believes they would blow up houses? Schools, churches and malls. These bastards will go after our kids people. Any doubt about my analysis? Google "Beslan". B-E-S-L-A-N.
OK, here is where to go and what to do, thanks to a client of ours, Katherine OConnor:
For citizens who would like to get involved, see http://www.citizencorps.gov/ or contact your local emergency management office and ask about Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training and Creating Vigilant, Prepared Communities (CVPR) training. A few local contacts:Stephanie Hackett shackett@auroragov.org Office of Emergency Management. Carolyn Bluhm carolyn.bluhm@denvergov.org Denver Office of Emergency Management.

Two women successfully fight off knife attack

On Sunday morning while hiking west of Fort Collins, CO, 2 women were attacked by a man with a knife. The women were able to fight off the attacker using a walking stick. One of the women sustained some wounds on her hands and arms (defensive wounds, no doubt).
This story is awesome. Stories of successful defenses against a knife attack are hard to come by. Think about how it transpired and the situation and environment...in the wilderness, no witnesses, not hiding his identity, very willing to use the knife, 2 victims. This would almost certainly have ended badly for these girls had they not fought back! Using the stick was probably instinctive but a great choice nonetheless. The stick gives you reach, which can nullify the advantage of an edged weapon. The only way this could've ended even better than it did is if the 2nd girl had a gun, then the predator would not now likely be able to attack anyone again.
When using a stick to defend your self against an edged weapon, use both hands and strike for whatever is nearest to you to start. Don't 'over commit' in case you miss you don't want your back turned. keep moving laterally as you strike, making yourself a hard, moving target. If you are trained, use the stick in conjunction with your legs to keep distance and do extra damage.
Good guys 2, bad guy 0.

Random Attacks in Denver

At Colorado Krav Maga, most of our time spent in training drills are to mimic random attacks. Not because they are the most common, but because they are generally the most difficult to deal with.Now comes the really hard part, dealing with the pyschological reality of a truly random attack. Most people will first go through the denial process. It is, after all, difficult to believe that someone we don't know, whom we didn't provoke at all, would simply walk up to us and attack us! However, this has been happening in Denver for a few weeks now.How long will you be in denial and when will your reactions kick in if ever? After the first 'hit'? After you've been grabbed? Or will you wait until you are are actually hurt?We train defending random attacks so that you can react immediately to them, even if your emotions are still in denial. Getting punched before you 'wake up' to the attack is one thing, getting stabbed is another thing entirely.