On another thread, Mr. Mooney posted a copyrighted article by Mr. Redenback about martial arts and self-defense training. Mr. Redenbach brought up an anecdote (always dangerous but...can be informative) where an individual falsely assumed his training and knowledge about the knife would help him with some punk that "appeared" not to know what he was doing. The results apparently were disastrous. In another part of the article, Mr. Redenbach brings up a well-known exercise where someone attempts to mark an individual with a magic marker, and a trained fighter attempts to "disarm" and/or destroy the marker. The usual result is that even highly trained fighters end up with marks all over themselves.
Later on I did a bit of an analysis (for my own mental exercise) of the long article. On the knife part, I brought up two examples of individuals training with the knife a certain way, and alluded to this being a problem. Those that train in Filipino knife methods probably readily understood my point. But in this case I mentioned a style and
voila, some practitioner of that style appears to defend his people. Well what do you know? Nice to know people are paying attention!
After the usual "my way vs. your way" stuff, the exchange ended.
However I think the point should not be lost, and is worth bringing up in a separate thread. Mr. Redenbach's message may not have come across clearly, but there are vital points to be understood for anyone considering martial arts as a method of self-defense preparation.
We all know that there are "one shot kill" artists out there. This is neither good nor bad; it is one quite valid approach. Especially when one is empty handed, focusing on power and destroying your opponent quickly is a very good approach.
We all know that soldiers train with rifles, and we know they train with bayonets on the ends of those rifles. We all know that one good well-placed thrust with a bayonet will finish an opponent. Now...take the knife off the end of the rifle. What kind of weapon do you have, and how can it be used?
It's all well and good to have a one-shot-kill approach to your offense. It's all well and good to decide one will make knife offenses an extension of that empty hand philosophy.
We all know that aikido and karate practitioners spend a certain amount of time defending against knife attacks. The exercise usually goes like this:
* Tori advances with a step and either a knife thrust or strike.
* Uke blocks, grabs, opens up a can of whoopa$$, and dispenses with the attacker.
* As an embellishment, the uke often disarms the attacker and returns the knife.
Fine... Do that over and over again for about ten years. Got it down? Good.
Now we are in a bar in some Asian land. You just looked at some fine, lithe lass, and she is batting her eyes at you. You buy her a drink, and she is coming on strong. Next thing you know, you realize that the young lass was just using you to make her boyfriend jealous. Bruno whips out a small blade and is ready to take you on. Are you ready???
What of the magic marker exercise. Surely that can't mean anything, right? I mean after all, the guy just
touched you with the tip of a marker. What the heck does that mean?
Many moons ago when I was in high school (somewhere between the dark ages and the renaissance...) I remember our first dissection class. Colonel Dick gave us our first lesson on the use of a scalpel. Some of the girls in the class were quite squeamish at using this sharp thingy, and Colonel Dick knew it. So the first thing he does is have us take the scalpel, and push the blade on our finger.
Say what??? I kid you not. "Only a moving blade will do damage," he said. "As long as you hold it still, you are fine. Pressing the blade on your finger won't hurt, although I don't want you to make it a habit. You must move the blade to cut. But remember that a moving blade cuts!!"
Fast forward a few years (that's an understatement...). I have performed...oh...maybe a few thousand cannulations of major blood vessels. I have performed open-heart surgery a few hundred times. I have a pretty good idea where all the major body parts are. I spent a few days with Raffi Derderian and his Filipino knife methods. Suddenly my mental eyes saw something really
big! All those years of life experience suddenly make sense.
Ever heard of a concept called defanging the snake? One can consider the head, neck, and torso completely off limits, and still incapacitate an opponent very quickly with a decent blade. If you know where the blood vessels, tendons, nerves, and muscles are... You don't really need to be that accurate; these structures are very long and you are just going to cut across the grain. It doesn't take much,
as long as the blade is moving.
Consider that I need to be able to go a number of places, and it's nice to have a handy blade in my pocket. Consider that my favorite blade is less than 3 inches, and is curved. It won't even stab. Now how could that be a dangerous weapon??? But we all know I carry it because it is a useful tool.
And that is exactly what I will say if ever I am on a witness stand - period.
You can choose to have linear methods of attack with a blade. You can choose to have a handful of simple, "kill" techniques with the blade, and you will probably be better off than a person you will face without the blade.
Now lets go back to that bar scene. Bruno has the knife. It's such a
short little thing. You know...not like the kind Crocodile Dundee carries! You have trained kill techniques with a knife for years. You have done thousands of knife disarms against your fellow practitioners in class. Are you ready? Did Mr. Redenbach have a point, or is he blowing smoke?
Think about it...
- Bill
(Warning -- not an exercise for squeamish vegetarians!) Now, try with 3", 5" and 12" blades...
