Rory Miller - Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected

While teaching a Kurdish lieutenant in Iraq close-combat handgun skills, he suddenly threw up his hands and said something. He sounded angry. I turned to my translator and raised an eyebrow.

My translator reported, He said, I am so angry. Everything they taught us was wrong.

It wasnt true. He had been well trained on an American modelthe same skills that a rookie officer in the states would have coming out of the academy. The skills werent wrong, but they were incomplete.

Learning to shoot safely is not the same as learning to shoot quickly. Target acquisition on clear firing lanes in good lighting standing upright in a stable stance is very different from target acquisition when holding your head up for a second could mean you eat a bullet. The Lieutenant needed all of the basic skills he had learned. He was just now ready to step out of kindergarten and learn how those skills applied in the world.

Most self-defense training, and especially martial arts adapted for self-defense, suffers from the same problem. Most of what is taught is not wrong , but it is incomplete.

There are seven elements that must be addressed to bring self-defense training to something approaching complete. Any training that dismisses any of these areas leaves the student vulnerable:

Legal and ethical implications. These are different but related factors. A student learning self-defense must learn force law. Otherwise it is possible to train to go to prison . A self-defense response where you wind up behind bars for years is not a very good win. Side by side with the legal rules, every student must explore his or her own ethical limitations. Some people simply cannot bring themselves to kill, maim or blind. A few cannot hurt another human being. Most do not really know where this ethical line is within themselves. Part of an instructors duty will be to find that line and either train with respect to it or help the student grow past it.

Violence dynamics. Self-defense must teach how attacks happen. Knife defense is worthless unless it centers on how knives are actually used by predators. Students must be able to recognize an attack before it happens and know what kind they are facing. The attitudes and words that might defuse a Monkey Dance will encourage a predator assault and
vice versa.

Avoidance. Students need to learn and practice not fighting: Escape and Evasion, verbal de-escalation and also, pure not-be-there avoidance.

Counter-ambush. If the student doesnt see the precursors or cant successfully avoid the encounter, he or she will need
a handful of actions trained to reflex level for the sudden violent attack.

Breaking the freeze. Freezing is almost universal in a sudden attack. Students must learn to recognize a freeze and break out of one.

The fight itself. Most martial arts and self-defense instructors concentrate their time right here. What is taught just needs to be in line with how violence happens in the world.

The aftermath. There are potential legal, psychological, and medical effects of engaging in violence no matter how justified. Advanced preparation is critical.