TEOTWAWKIAIFF

It’s not Scottish.

TOR left a comment the other day on my Am I Hank Rearden? post where he called me out for saying MMA training is crap. I’ll quote his reply for reference:

MMA is crap? Not to be a jerk but that is completely and utterly wrong. I am not going to say some MMA gym’s don’t suck but the style itself is absolutely 100% the way to go. If we really want to be an animal the modern hybrid of boxing/ muy thai kickboxing/ wrestling and BJJ that is MMA is the answer. It is what the best real world practil fighters in the world use, as well as what our military and it’s elite SOF units pattern their training after.

The issue with BJJ is that it is very limited. BJJ guys are the best grapplers in the world, without a doubt. However that is only one necessary skill to be a complete fighter. Also BJJ’s take them down and submission plan is really only viable in an organized arena where you know you will only fight one guy. The best BJJ dude in the world can’t beat a redneck’s friend putting a 10W boot into his face while he is on the ground.

I did not support my statement, and he was right for giving me some friendly crap over it. The slew of MMA style training does have a few perks. They demand physical fitness from their practitioners. They train grappling very heavily, which is good because most fights end up on the ground. They are really, really good at applying and reversing joint locks.

Having said that there are quite a few flaws with MMA as a self defence system. Is it better than nothing? Hell yeah. Could someone use MMA as a foundation for a successful and well-rounded hand-to hand combat training? Yes, but the first step is to identify the flaws, and learn skills to mitigate them.

First, There is no philosophy in the training program. This leads to two problems. Practitioners are generally way, way to aggressive. Agression has its purpose, but sometimes it is better to let your opponent be the agressive one and make the first mistake. I am training for when the fight is over, there is a victor, hopefully me, and the vanquished. The vanquished doesn’t go on to train for the next fight.

The other problem with a lack of philosophy is the ubiquitous “chip on the shoulder”. I’ve met many MMA guys, and even a talented fighter you have watched on pay-per-view as a professional. Not everyone who trains in MMA has it — it’s not like they hand you one as you walk in foir your first lesson. Let’s just say there is a significantly higher percentage of  them that have this attitude problem. I’ve also seen this on a few of the dragon-ninja-american-kenpo-whatever guys. Not a huge problem, but worth paying attention to.

A major problem with most of the MMA arts is a lack of understanding of anatomy and physics. I see kicks above the waist, improper punching tecnique, and flashy moves that look awesome for the crowd but are ineffectual. As youkick higher, your center of mass shifts upwards, resulting in a significant lack of power because your base is weaker. This is why the original muay thai fighters’ kicks were low, to maximize their power. MMA arts teach you to punch people in the head, which is wrong. Your wrist did not evolve (or created by some higher power) to punch things. Your bone alignment while punching has to be perfect, or you break your wrist. Boxers and MMA guys tape their wrists to prevent injury because of this. If you get mugged while shopping for groceries, will you have your wrists taped? The human head is a bag of bones, the last thing you should do is punch it. Strikes using other means, or fists to different targets is safer, and usually more effective.

I laughed out loud at a Krav Maga demonstration because the demonstrator threw this four minute combo of punches and short kicks that was spectacular, but would leave 99% of the people in the world panting and out of breath, unable to defend themselves after an expenditure of energy of that ferocity. the Akido demonstration after the Krav Maga dude had five attackers trying to subdue a 50+ year old guy. He didn’t break a sweat. The five attackers never laid a hand on the guy, and were panting and exhausted after only a minute. So being in shape is a good thing, but having it as a cornerstone to your hand to hand defense might not be the best idea. Prepping is about conserving resources, a solid strategy – even in a fight.

There are a few more drawbacks, like the continual waste of energy in bouncing around and throwing feints, aka “shadowboxing.” Looks great before a bout, but telegraphs your moves to someone like me who looks for such things. There is minimal training in weapons. Most show you how to disarm an opponent, but are little help if you are the one with the knife. Breakfalls are sloppy, and not applicable to anything other than a practice mat. I breakfall onto pavement and concrete to make sure I take as little damage as possible if I fall or if I’m thrown.

Finally, there is the problem with rules. TOR pointed it out in his reply about BJJ, but the same flaw is found in other MMA styles. MMA fighters have a ref, a ring or octogon with padded turnbuckles and springy floor. If you are jumped outside a club, you have none of these things. MMA fighters don’t know what to do with joint locks that are “not allowed.” I had a friend who started taking BJJ after the rise of the UFC challenge me to a friendly sparring contest. It was over in less than five seconds. As he shot for my legs I simply stepped back and grabbed his fingers, bending them backwards. He tapped out as he hit the ground and started calling me a “cheater.” After pointing out the lack of referee, and on his front lawn, not an octogon, he laughed and told me not to do that. If he got a hold of me at all, or if my choke or joint lock wasn’t perfectly executed, he would have me. I had a few more problems with “the rules,” like throws (think Judo) are not really allowed. On the whole, I took seven out of ten sparring matches. Not bad when he was going for his brown belt soon, and I was still a white belt. Who is kidding who? I’m still a white belt. Rank is meaningless to me.

There is no “perfect” martial art, so the trick is to take an honest look at it and make sure that you are mitigating any flaws. I will probably take some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu soon, because their grappling skills are unmatched. After I improve that skill set to my satisfaction, I’ll take something else to fill in another weak point. Just like with any set of skills continual practice and refinement is the only way to go. Keep learning or give it up.

I’m re-reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, and I cannot help thinking that I identify with Hank Rearden the most out of any character. With my recent altercation with my brother, and the resulting callousness about it from my mother, the parallels between Hank’s family life and my own. I am not a “Captain of Industry” by any stretch of the imagination, but I want to be. I have changed since the incident. Some of these changes are negative, the majority of these changes are positive. I cannot help but thinking of a quote from one of my favorite books:

I’ll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.  — Duke Leto Atreides, Dune by Frank Herbert.

I’ve always been more cognizant of changes in my personality than your average person. I can feel my mind becoming more focused, more independent, and more aware of how I fit into other peoples lives. I am becoming more obsessed with the idea of having my own business, in order to free myself from the day to day grind of making other people money that I could retain for my own use. I feel that I should benefit the most from my labor. Does this make me selfish? Yes, but only to those who think like a looter.

On a philosophical level, I’m wrestling with the concept of mercy and compassion. My continual forgiveness of Bill’s faults led me to the fork in the road where I could have died. My threshold for writing off someone is a lot lower now that it was six days ago. Does this make me a monster? Only to those who force altruism with the barrel of a gun.

I was sliding a bit on my workout schedule, but no longer. I was taking shortcuts and not working out my abs, and slacking off on other core exercises. Not any longer. Bill landed a few good shots into my left side – not enough to slow me down during the tussle, but enough to remind me I need to reforge myself into a steel billet before I can forge myself into a weapon. Does this make me a killer? Only to those who would roll tits up in the face of tyranny.

I’m expanding my workout routine. In my off days (Tuesday and Thursday), I will do some cardio, hit the heavy bag, and work my abdomen and core. I might ride my bike or go for a walk at a fast pace. If I walk, I will have a rucksack on, and I’ll toss sandbags in it to add more and more weight. I use the cloth bags lead shot comes in, old pants legs, etc to make small sandbags for shooting.

I’m going to swallow my pride and find a martial arts class I can tolerate. I need to get used to people swinging at me again. I need to refresh my hand to hand combat skills. I need to get better at grappling, since that is where 90% of the fights wind up. It Seems all the dojos in my area are either “fad-based” or some derivative of  kung-fu dragon ninja kenpo bullshit. The current fads in Martial arts are MMA crap and Brazilian Jujitsu. BJJ is at least effective, where the MMA crap is just that – crap.

I have a few posts on different topics other than my family drama, and I hope to have them edited and posted soon.

This was a tough one, and weighed heavily with  strategic concerns.

The first question is fight or flight. There are merits to both. I’m leaning towards fight. These people are pretty close to your home base, and a half mile is well within range of cooking smells, lights, and noise to alert these people to your home base. If you made the call to withdraw and beef up security at home, and make doubly sure your light, noise, and smell discipline is rock solid, I cannot fault you for that path.

If you decided to draw a bead on the Enemy right there and use your better marksmanship skills to take care of the problem right then and there, well I’m going to call that a wrong answer. With them deep in the bushes you have no intel on what is really going on. What if there was a couple kids with their dad fleeing from some bad guys? Dad took a bullet to the belly and is passed out from the pain, and two scared kids mistook you for the bad guys who shot their dad? These are the decisions that I think will have to be made in the absence of the Rule of Law. Regardless of how bad it gets, it is our ability to stick to basic human rights and the respect for those rights is what separates us from the mutant ninja biker zombie hordes.

I agree that whomever is in the bushes should be considered hostile, but you have the luxury of training and presence of mind in combat. For example, I tipped my hand in the narrative when your squad did not immediately return fire. If the incoming fire was more accurate, then you need to break out of that kill zone ASAP and take out your ambushers. But since the fire is wildly inaccurate, you don’t have to return fire and tip them off to your strength and capabilities.

I’m planning on a 4-5 man squad for my group, so here is how I would handle the situation. I’d peel off two people, a sniper/designated marksman, and a spotter/CQB security specialist to fade back and circle left or right to a good hide to get “eyes on” the target, and to support the rest of the team. The remainder withdraw, then circle wide in a flanking maneuver. The idea is to get the jump on them, and try to end this without a gunfight.

As the second squad sneaks around the Enemy’s flank, they spread out in order to assault the Enemy on Two axises, making sure they are not in the line of fire of the sniper. The last member of the squad, your sneakiest, takes up a position where they can ambush the Enemy if they turn tail and run.

Now there is a temptation to rush in and assault them immediately. I’m of the mindset to let them lull themselves into a false sense of security, and hit them when they are weakest. You also might get lucky and have one of them step out to take a dump, when you can ambush him while at his most vulnerable. While you are waiting to spring your trap, you also can gain a lot of intellegence into who these people are, and what they are doing on your “turf.” There is an increasing chance of discovery, but I think the chances of an attack of opportunity, and additional intel outweigh the loss of surprise. Even if you are seen, there will be a 1-2 second (or more if the Enemy is untrained) where you can still spring your attack. I would only wait an hour or so, after that you and your squad will lose your edge as your muscles relax, and you “get comfortable” in whatever cover you are hiding in.

A maneuver that is this complex needs to be practiced. There is significant danger of fratricide, or “friendly fire,” along with a risk of the Enemy discovering your squad half in position and opening fire when your proverbial pants are down.  When the assault is made, any non-lethal equipment would prove invaluable. Those huge anti-bear pepper spray cans the size of fire-extinguishers might be a handy item to have a couple of in your preps.

When you assault, hit them hard, and make a hell of a lot of noise. Any “liberated” flashbangs or a homemade equivalent might be enough of a distraction to allow your squad the 1-2 seconds it needs to make the rush and take down the Enemy. Even a string of regular firecrackers might be enough to give you a significant edge. When dealing with the nitwits who were taking potshots at you, there is no need to be gentle. A boot to the head is quite effective in subduing someone. Be sure to yell a lot and use the “shock and awe” you see SWAT teams using to bewilder and confuse the Enemy. I’m looking into getting brass knuckles, or their modern equivalent – sap gloves, to give me that edge if things go to hand to hand combat. I need to do more research into the legality of that gear here in Mass before I will purchase it, though. It is these advantages that might make the difference between success and failure.

Secure the prisoners and separate them. Put bags over their heads and tie them up. Anyone of then talks, they get a swift punch to the ribs. Secure the area, provide any medical treatment for your team then the prisoners. Set up a defensive perimeter and begin your interrogations to figure out what is their story. Then deal with them along the guidelines in your group charter and conscious dictates.

My apologies for disappearing again.  I had to leave for Florida’s Treasure Coast to help Mum deal with her older brother. He is in a home, and my Mum is the only one who would be his guardian. His children and ex-wife want nothing to do with him. I don’t blame them for not wanting the burden — my Uncle was (and still is) and alcoholic asshole.

Surrounded by the geriatric masses I was freaked out when time and again I was the youngest person in the restaurant or store by 20+ years. No one had wireless, and the Panaera I got breakfast at chased me out because I got my food to go, and there was a pack of Q-tips who wanted the seats near me.

I did see some things that I thought were very interesting:

• I only saw 5-10 Blacks or Hispanic people while there.
• Older people are cheap. Epically so. Talking with a waitress I found out that her average tip was about 8%.
• At a giant flea market, 99% of the vendors were selling stuff you would find here in a strip mall in New England. Barber shops, pet stores, cell phone accessories, clothes, etc.
• The stores and restaurants were all closing down, as 50% of the population is comprised of snowbirds, who are about to migrate north.
• Packing up a condo is a LOT of work. I did it in four 16-hour days. Most was donated to charity.
• People buy the weirdest stuff at yard sales. One woman bought all the half-empty cleaners and such under the sink for $10, and another guy bought a broken digital alarm clock for $1.
• Gas is expensive. $4.26 for premium, $4.11 for the “cheap stuff”
• There is no reason to live in Florida. It’s too hot. Has too many old people. And fifteen miles from the coast I was only feet above sea level.

So I burned all my paid time off for an Uncle who tortured me as a child, because my unemployed brother was “too busy.”  At least I got a pound and a half of junk silver coins out of the deal. The Uncle is going onto medicaid, the condo is sold, and all of his assets will be seized. At least Mum won’t have to deal with this crap any longer.

A good friend has a unique perspective on family, as he was adopted. He feels you pick your family, and blood means nothing. He’s done a lot for his family over the years, and his parents won’t drive 20 miles to be part of their grand-children’s lives. He considers me more of his brother, then the brothers he grew up with. These days I tend to agree. My brother is a moocher, and he’s been cut off.

I never hear from my Father’s side of the family. He has been exiled, and therefore I have been too.  I guess the moral of this story is you can only count on a few people, and blood relations is not as strong indicator as most think.