[W9ZEB]

Yet another reasonably good article on mindset.

Develop a Combat Mindset to Survive

By Michael Wilson

Combat is 95 percent mental "mindset" and about 5 percent "physical" – simple tactics and techniques.

When a person is walking around, or working, he is in a neutral state. When he is training in martial arts, he is also in a neutral state. There is no life or death situation present. There is also a teacher or referee or policeman to stop things if they can't out of hand.

In combat, the body is overcome with inhuman stresses which shut down the neutral state of a human being. His sympathetic nervous system takes over. This is part of our physical makeup as human beings. We all experience it. Adrenaline pumps into the body/mind. Pulse rates take off through the roof. The body diverts blood from the extremities to the major organs to prepare for survival of the major organs after receiving damage to them. The brain no longer thinks rationally. The person experiences "terror." He is overcome usually with "fear." The body and mind "freezes."

All katas and fine body movements taught in the martial arts by so called Korean/Japanese masters goes out the window. The 250-pound crack cocaine freak who is focused on you only wants one thing and that is your death. The 97- pound North Vietnamese Regular with an AK47 wants one thing, your death. The Islamic terrorist flying a 747 into your building only wants one thing, your death.

The only thing that works to overcome the FEAR response of a life-threatening situation is becoming 'ANGRY.' Very angry! You must convince your mind and body to become ANGRY at the person trying to take your life no matter what. You must condition yourself to developing ANGER at the attacker/killer in your training.

When you have the ANGER Switch engaged, then your GROSS MUSCLE MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES can be implemented and they must be SIMPLE and ATTACK his vitals, e.g. eyes, throat, groin if you are talking about H2H Combatives. If you are talking about using rifles/handguns in combat then you must also use simple movements that do not engage the fine motor reflexes. That is why the Weaver Stance and other techniques frequently taught police/military nowadays do not work under the stress of combat for the average cop/soldier. You can't get into a comfortable Weaver Stance for firing your revolver when your heart rate is 180 beats per minute and you are trembling from head to toe and have lost 95 percent of your rationale mental functioning.

So all techniques must be SIMPLE and EFFECTIVE and not require a warm up. They must NOT be strength based. -They must work for the average person who is under attack from the 300-pound drunk weightlifter who wants to rip your head off.

But even simple techniques ill be useless if you don't develop a light switch in your brain that turns on the “Anger” switch and directs it against the adversary in a very destructive way.

Most of the time, this will also involve being "OFFENSIVE in tactics/techniques." You can not sit back and let a loud-mouthed Street Punk divert your attention by his talking. The moment you know you are coming under attack, you must go offensive on him. You must get angry. Your techniques must be simple and direct whether stand up or on the ground. If you are on the ground, bite him and gouge his eyes out. If you are standing up, hit his throat, rake his eyes, get both thumbs into his eyes, blind him, bite him. Let your anger control the encounter. Do not let anyone tell you to control your anger. Your survival in a life/death encounter whether from a street attack or a terrorist attack will depend on your getting your ANGER loose against the adversary.

This is the only way to survive a violent encounter in reality. It takes into consideration the massive bodily/mental reactions to high stress combat and the offensive ANGRY response needed to destroy an attacker, either with weapons or without weapons. Anything less than that mindset will get a person killed in a violent altercation against a determined attacker. I realize the above is not the Dojo mindset taught by most instructors in the martial arts. Also, it does not address the "legal aftermath" of a self-defense situation. But nobody has the right to take YOUR LIFE, not a mugger, robber, felon, terrorist, NOT ANYBODY.

Defend your life when need be with SIMPLE GROSS MOTOR movements either on the ground or standing up, make the attacks dirty and effective, engage your ANGER. Turn your ANGER on and don't let it go until your adversary is no longer a threat to you. Practice turning on this ANGER 95 percent of the time in your training, GO OFFENSIVE IMMEDIATELY, don't wait when you know you are under attack. Don't even bother using your training time on DEFENSIVE training, blocking, ducking, evading. You won't have time in a life death struggle.

If you are involved in using deadly force, e.g. firearms in your line of work, keep also to these principles by practicing the much maligned "point shooting method." It was what all of us Vietnam Veterans were taught in training when using a .45 or M16. Leave the Weaver Stance to the Navy SEALs who have all the time in the world to practice exotic techniques under high stress situations. For most of us, we don't have the training time or genetic makeup to do what the SEALs practice anyway.

Also keep your ground techniques simple. Most of us will never fight a Gracie on the street, nor would that ever likely be our attacker! As I learned in Basic Training more than 30 ears ago, KISS, which means Keep It Simple Stupid. Because you will be Stupid when the Adrenaline kicks in and all rationality goes out the window. Simple things, gross body movements, will be all you have, along with a very, very Angry mindset which only wants to destroy the prey. With this mindset, almost every technique you use will be effective.

I hope this helps. It is not for the squeamish or politically correct or lawyers, but it is for the survivors. Make your own survival the key to your training and let nobody take your life, or the lives of your loved ones, away from you.

Be Angry. Make them pay!

The author can be reached at cybermaster@usadatanet.net.