(original article)
This article is very long in the original, but well worth the read. There is one particular section I want to emphasize here which I pulled out in quote below after the introduction. I strongly urge everyone to print out and read the full article and to consider trying out some of Officer Wagner's suggestions.
Dana
Conflict Scenario Training
Lessons from the military, law enforcement & Hollywood
Officer Jim Wagner
Imagine having the ability to implant artificial memories into a fighter's brain that can be recalled instantly in a crisis situation giving the fighter needed tactical solutions. That's exactly what the United States military and law enforcement agencies have been doing for years to prepare their personnel for conflict. Unfortunately, civilian martial artists have had the same access to these "implants" for years, but have virtually ignored this growing trend.
Artificial experiences may sound futuristic, and in some cases how they are achieved are, but the basic techniques used by today's military and law enforcement to produce efficient fighters is anything but "high-tech." The key component to any realistic conflict based program is Conflict Scenario Training. In other words, role-playing; using actors to simulate a potential conflict likely to be encountered.
Examples of scenarios used by today's military include battlefield conditions, counter-terrorism, peacekeeping missions, and other military objectives. Law enforcement scenarios include crimes in progress, shoot-don't-shoot situations, and arrest and control (ATC) tactics. For the martial arts world the possibilities for realistic scenarios are endless: simulated carjackings, muggings, rape prevention, robberies, hate crimes, gang attacks, etc.
Learning Modality
The human brain is a pattern-seeking, pattern-detecting organ. Our behavior, including future behavior, is based upon our past experiences. We learn through three levels of modality: visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), and kinesthetic (touching). When you participate in scenario training you are actually stimulating all three levels of the learning modality. The more realistic the training is, the more powerful the experience.
Although scenario training is not "real" by the true definition, scenarios trigger the same psychophysiological responses that are experienced in an actual crisis. Thus, participation in scenarios creates artificial memories that have the same "feel" as the real thing, and are recalled just like real experiences.
{SNIP - DANA}
The obvious benefit to having "been there, done that" of scenario training is that they help reduce "reaction time" if confronted with the real event in the future. If you have experienced a similar past event, either real or in a scenario, and you have been trained to take the appropriate actions, you are less likely to succumb to mental paralysis or "freezing up syndrome" induced by shock or fear associated with the real thing. If you've seen it before, you know what follows.
{SNIP - by DANA}
A few years ago, when I taught a rape prevention course through a community services program, I had my female students wear jumpsuits. Over the jumpsuits they wore "tear away" clothes (clothes which were purposely weakened at the seams so they could be torn off the body easily). The male students, playing the roles of rapists, would try to rip the tear away clothes off the "victims" during the scenarios. The props (the tear away clothes) not only made the scenarios disturbingly realistic, but the students also learned when to strike when the rapists were busy trying to strip them.
Tear away clothes were only one of many props used in the rape prevention course. I'd also have my students fight from underneath blankets during "bed assaults," from inside an actual vehicle we'd rolled into the studio to simulate date rapes, and even outfit the male aggressors with costumes (personal accessory props) which would fit over the protective gear. The costumes included outfits for transients, businessmen, construction workers, etc. Yet, such creativity is not limited to rape prevention courses. Props can be incorporated into every type of conflict scenario.
{SNIP - DANA}