Conflict Scenario Training

[Dana Sheets]

http://www.jimwagnertraining.com/articl ... aining.htm
(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}

[Dana Sheets]

One of my constant tensions in training is that traditional martial arts help men fight other men. When I read a description of rape training like the one above, that includes tear away clothes and agressors dressed in different kinds of clothing, or even elsewhere in the article where he talked about rolling a car into the dojo so that women can practice date-rape escapes...I get more and more uncomfortable with the idea that traditional martial arts teaches women self-defense in any kind of way other than superficial.

Yes - incredible benefits are gained physically, mentally, and emotionally from kata, kumite, basics, conditioning, sparring, friends, regular physical activity, better balance, etc. But is that truly self-defense for women?

Whenever we have threads about what a self-defense class would be for women it rarely follows the format of a traditional karate class. What does this say? While training in the traditional arts is definitely beneficial to women I sometimes get very uncomfortable that it's also self-defense for women.

Read Jim's article again in full. See all the different and creative ways he approached scenario training for modern times, read about how the military trains with scenario training, read about brain-based learning and the need for pattern matching, and rehearsal, and repetition of like events in order to assure efficacy in actual situaions. And ask the question again - does traditional karate training teach women self-defense?

[Spike]

And ask the question again - does traditional karate training teach women self-defense?

That all depends on the five W's of what you are using in a "self-defense" situation. Who's attacking, What use of weapons are they attacking with, When will help arrive for them or you, Where did they come from, Why did this situation occur in the first place, and were you aware beforehand. How much have you trained for something similar to this. Variables, variables, variables. No two people are the same. So the question will become void when left so general.

As for what i say, it does not matter if your man or woman, i believe it matters on the individual and cannot be completely black and white due to the sex of an individual or how the male and female minds work.

[Dana Sheets]

Hi Spike,

How much have you trained for something similar to this. Variables, variables, variables.

Thanks for answering. I agree with everything you said. And I know my question is one that might make folks uncomfortable. What I'm worried about is that traditional white uniform, rank and file, toe to toe karate using only kata and kumite training doesn't encompass a quarter of what you say needs to be there.

Alot of self-defense situations for women are going happen when the woman is seated next to someone she thinks she already knows. Seated on a couch, in a car, on a bed, at a movie theatre, at a party, at a table. I'm talking about unwanted physical advances during social situations and the same thing escalated into date rape.

Also, women get grabbed from the side, from behind, while they're in bed, etc. From most of the stories related on this forum, most of the altercations men have been in happened when they were standing up and able to see or interact with their aggressors prior to anything physical happening.

Most of the stories related by women describe the event as being more "out of the blue" and often happening when they're sitting down.

It just seems to me that modern women's self-defense should involve couches, carseats, and beds if it's going to be called self-defense. The variables you mention above. If it's not going to involve variables like couches, carseats, and beds perhaps it should be called "traditional training" the self-defense shouldn't be attached to it.

Dana

[Deep Sea]

If at first you write:

Yes - incredible benefits are gained physically, mentally, and emotionally from kata, kumite, basics, conditioning, sparring, friends, regular physical activity, better balance, etc.

and then in the same paragraph you write:

But is that truly self-defense for women?

What do you want, assuming mindset training is a given? What are you looking for? I want to help you in your quest, but except to build bigger muscles or get into street-fights on a regular basis, to me the above is pretty much all-encompassing.

[Akil Todd Harvey]

While not all karate is the same and not all teachers teach alike......

Karate, in my understanding, is and always was about Not letting someone get their limbs around you (in a hold, choke, etc.) or about Not letting them successfully strike you with one of their limbs or some object (weapon).

judo, Jujitsu, etc, on the other hand, is at least in part, about what to do if someone uses their limbs to place you in some sort of a hold, choke, take down or throw.......

The types of scenario of interest to Dana and this thread, esp. women, to the extent that karate does not address the scenarios to which women may be more likely to face, karate may not be the most effective means of self defense for a woman.

Not all karate is taught the same, even in the same style and association. At some Uechi schools you will learn how to fall, do throws, rolls, ground fighting, and grappling practice all to different degrees depending on how much it is emphasized by the instructor.

It is somewhat useful to characterize the various arts as including striking, grappling, rolls & falls, throws & take downs.

Traditional Uechi karate, no knock against it, tends not to include important aspects of grappling, rolls and falls, throws & take downs as part of its traditional curriculum. There are a few take downs for sure in "traditional" Uechi and it contains more grappling than is found in many "traditional" karate styles.

Correct me if I am wrong on this (nicely, if you dont mind):

Traditionally, it had been advised to begin Uechi karate after the age of 18 years before beginnning a program that included significant physical conditioning (e.g. you don't do heavy conditioning with 8 year olds).

So traditionally they did no other martial practice before 18 years, right? Because there were no other martial arts in the world besides our venerable style right? More likely, the young kids would wrestle (read grapple) under soem sort of supervision (informal or formal) and probably also practice various weapons (I have heard it described that Uechi Kanbun went to China knowing how to use the bo quite proficiently even before studying martial arts in China).



Talking to some Jujitsu teachers and from what I have observed myself in their classes, Karate is included in some forms of Jujitsu (to a limited extent) and advanded Jujitsu contains even greater amounts of karate. Similarly, advancing through the ranks in "traditional" Uechi will bring you into contact with more and more of those skills which may be "lacking" in the "traditional" curriculum.




At some point it comes down to this question, "what works better for a woman in a ___________ situation, (you fill in the blank), Karate or Jujitsu.

IN OTHER WORDS, What works better for women, striking arts or grappling arts?

IMHO, What is better, both for men and women, although how they optimally get there may be different, is a combination of the two, striking arts combined with the grapppling arts.



Oh, and dont forget the weapon in your hand. I like that, too.



Dana, have you checked out the book I advised? 101 sucker punches. You can find it in a lot of martial arts stores and I recommend it highly for women to help them learn some of the potential "surprise" scenarios that they may encounter.

For example, the nice looking guy who comes up to you and asks politely what time it is and when you look at your watch he hits you over your head.

Do you even look at your watch? Depending how much personal space this stranger has allotted for you, you might step backwards half a step, so you can check your watch in relative safety.

Be aware of "Gotta Match", "Gotta cigarette", "Got any change", as all of these may be set ups to distract.



It would seem that while pre-established scenarios are worthwhile to practice, I would also encourage a part of the class where students are allowed to come up with their own fear scenarios and have the teacher describe useful means of getting out of such a situation.

[Spike]

101 Sucker punches, i'll remember that.

From what i'm reading it's coming back to the individuals, and i am a strong believer in needing a ferocious mindset before the techniques are used with any worth.

"More likely, the young kids would wrestle (read grapple) under soem sort of supervision (informal or formal) and probably also practice various weapons (I have heard it described that Uechi Kanbun went to China knowing how to use the bo quite proficiently even before studying martial arts in China). "

This i have not though of this before. Good and interesting point towards why they wouldn't train on much of the ground aspect.

Every post above believes that the variables are too great to be prepared for EVERY single situation that can be thought of.


"Whenever we have threads about what a self-defense class would be for women it rarely follows the format of a traditional karate class. What does this say? While training in the traditional arts is definitely beneficial to women I sometimes get very uncomfortable that it's also self-defense for women."

Perhaps it might be a good idea to begin your own ways of developing situation training for yourself and with perhaps a friend's help "invent" counters to these threat-situations. And keep in mind, if you give up you've already lost. Perhaps you can call it "modern women's defense" and speak with your instructor on a regular basis to develop ways to deal with situations. Also to get some good grapplers would prove to be useful. Well that's my rambling, all of it summed up I believe you have the drive and intelligence to make a way to deal with situations. All you need to do is find time and develop, then fine-tune.

Hope i'm of some useful input.