The Tactical Life

Off Topic
3839

Yes and no. You’re looking at bar violence with some flawed assumptions. There are no guarantees in a fight, and everyone should always remember that before choosing violence.

Being a bouncer is another way of saying that you’re a polite bar employee who waits to be assaulted. Not because you want to be, but because you will be.

Why? Because it is your job to confront people about bad behavior. There’s a certain percentage of people who won’t react well to that. Some may choose assault.

When they do, I can defend myself with reasonable force. Not because I’m a bouncer, but because I’m a human with rights. There are no special laws governing bouncers here. You’re an agent of the establishment, just like a bartender of a gas station clerk.

I rarely took more than one or two shifts per week, so I never got jaded or sick of the work, I might start picking up shifts again now that we’re opened back up. I chose the work because I enjoy it and the fringe perks that come with the job.

As far as training, BJJ as I’ve learned it isn’t sport grappling. It is core judo, core wrestling, basic footwork and striking and fight-oriented Jiu Jitsu. No berimbolos for me yet.

I’m graded as a three stripe white belt, which I earned at my first school. My present instructor teaches at home mats for free, and I’ve got roughly double the mat time there there that I did at my first school. I’ve been a three stripe white belt for 3 years now I think.

The only discussion I’ve had about my belt ranks with my present instructor was when he told me he’d give me a blue belt for a day if I wanted to compete. That was over two years ago.

I’m guessing if I went to a paid bjj school again I’d get promoted to blue fairly quickly. It has been a very long time since I’ve been tapped out by a white or blue belt, and you don’t see many white belts with the kind of mileage my gi has on it.

Belts only mean what the person giving them out mean. My instructor has been a four stripe brown belt for at least four years now. He’d have been a black belt for years at nearly any other school in the world. His instructor is a different breed, and I couldn’t imagine learning violence from a better source.

Standards vary wildly from school to school. Some have none at all aside from time in rank.

3840

I think some classes are both. My class in particular trains you to fight competitively if that’s what you wish to do but also implements “what if scenarios” involving striking, choking etc.

You say its core judo, does this mean you guys don’t roll? BJJ primarily takes place on the ground following an initial sweep/takedown, judo is more about the takedown/Throw and most of it takes place standing up.

BJJ takes a notoriously long time to graduate ranks. You could have a white belt with two stripes who has been training for 2-3 years. Getting a genuine blue belt generally takes around 2+ years to my knowledge depending on how often you take class/practice. A black belt takes 10+ years to acquire

I’d argue there’s a HUGE discrepancy regarding the skill level of a white belt just starting out and a white belt with 2 stripes who has been going at it for nearly a year. The white belt with two stripes will ragdoll that new white belt across the mat if they were to both go all out against one another.

Isn’t that to be expected? I’m not around bar violence. When I see it I walk as far away from the altercation as humanely possible. The only reason you’d ever be able to convince me to intervene in such a situation would be if my brother/a close family member were to be involved.

So I take it you’ve become proficient in the art (BJJ) without ever competing?

Also… As a bouncer… What are your statz (height, weight, bench, deadlift etc).

3841

No, it means we’re expected to know osoto gari, sasae, uchi mata and core techniques to put people on the ground. It is trained, drilled and practiced in a roll. Rolls always start from the feet.

Depends on the school. I know a guy who got blue in just over a year. I wouldn’t want him working next to me, but he’s a blue belt from an ibjjf certified black belt. You’d think a blue belt would know at least a little about how to not be thrown like a child, but you’d be wrong in this case.

It wasn’t a knock, but an observation.

I last competed about a year and a half ago.

At my strongest I was 6’00”, 270 lbs. Benching 350 ish, squatting 500ish and deadlifting 600 ish. Lifetime natty, btw.

I’m a little fatter and weaker now but a much better fighter. The white hairs are coming in fast now too.

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3842

@unreal24278 There are “black belts” and there are Black Belts. Here is how the Black Belts we learn from are made. I attended this test. All 3 hours of it.

3 Likes
3843

If regular tactics don’t work for a mental patient/someone dealing with a drug induced psychosis is the next step to defend yourself by any means necessary?

Would a taser work against

Or would that stop the individuals heart as they’re already a walking arrhythmia/heart attack at the point of such extensive bodily abuse as outlined above. Seriously, you’re RESTING heart rate would probably be approaching like 190bpm+.

Can police administer sedatives? Paramedics do that here, but the caveat is it can take like six guys to hold a mental patient/tweaker down. Sedatives = taking an agitated, psychotic individual back to normality.

3844

Perhaps this idea is too pragmatic to pass muster in LE field, not sure cause I am not/never was LE. However, it seems that there are tranq guns for escaped animals from the zoo…mayhaps too political to suggest it, but it would be something I’d certainly be ok with LE being trained for and using. To me, that is closer to “only necessary force,” versus military’s “overwhelming” force than having to let lead fly to stop someone as crazy out of hand as this postulates…
No way? Maybe? Crazy as hell? I dunno, just a thought. Pretty sure there are plenty who would object. I ain’t one of 'em :wink:

3845

Wow! That’s some serious test dude!!! 24, errr, 30 years ago, at age 21, I’d maybe have tried such. Now, it wears me out just watching…geeeez.
Have had some Tang Soo Do, TKD, tiny bit of Krav, but never high levels…def not like this bjj video. May be one reason I’ve always preferred a big stick rather than going to the ground.

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3846

Here’s the thing though. You wouldn’t have had any way to accumulate the training necessary to even qualify for the test at age 21. At best you’d be a high-level blue belt, maybe a purple if you trained through a good chunk of your childhood.

With the head instructor’s standards as I understand them, the soonest a person could reasonably be testing for black belt would be mid-late 20’s. There’s a 20-21 year-old purple belt training there who is on the path to becoming the youngest black belt there. He was the one murder-choking the test-taker during the shark tank. He’s a pro fighter who’s been training like it’s his job since he was just a kid.

What you saw was BJJ more or less as it was developed. Notice all of the stuff that happened on the feet? We train throws, clinches, wrestling takedowns, sprawls, footwork, etc. The great fallacy of people’s notions of BJJ is that it is all “ground work”. There are ample places calling themselves BJJ that only do “ground work”, but that’s sport grappling, not BJJ as it was developed.

BJJ was designed to address all phases of a violent bare-handed struggle. That doesn’t make it complete, which is why Muay Thai or some form of kickboxing is trained alongside by serious fighters. Even with the lack of high-level striking, (and even high-level judo and wrestling) BJJ under a legit instructor is the most complete system of any martial art in my opinion.

Any student of violence understands that fights begin standing and ending them on your feet is always preferable to committing to the ground. Anyone practiced in violence will understand that ending a fight without a lot of damage being done is almost always preferable to the alternative. Besides, if you need to kill someone with your bare hands, you’ll be able to. If you need to derange a joint, you’ll be able to. If you need to simply hold someone down and beat them into a pulp, you’ll be able to.

BJJ, real BJJ, gives you a comprehensive toolset for bare-handed violence in a way that no other system can match. But remember…

There are no guarantees in a fight.

3847

I so felt that last statement man!
There are not.

Thing for me personally, especially at 51, totally disabled, and a full pump of morphine in my abdomen is, someone would first have to defeat my 25’ radius awareness bubble to get close enough to lay a hand on, including let’s say, for example, like unexpectedly from behind in line at a cashier…my head stays “on a swivel” as they say, plus because I startle easily, I watch my six almost like it’s my job.
At any rate, any physical force put towards me is, by legal standards, an “imminent threat of severe bodily harm or death,” and therefore makes me appropriately defend myself with lethal force. THAT is the style I practice nowadays, draw+put rounds on target under stress, as quickly as I may. Presently I can clear concealment, put 9 rounds on a 5" bull at 7 yards in 7s, but those first two rounds are hitting at the third second, so that would be my quickest, and default response to any attack simply because a punch or fall can bust open a bunch of morphine into my system, I think 40ml at 3mg/ml, therefore a very fast dump of 120ml of frickin liquid morphine solution.

So, although I would dearly love to do BJJ or any sort of martial art, even doing katas for tang soo or Tae kwon risks me falling were I to throw a jumping kick or the like, and I refuse to risk it. If I am in a fight, it is for survival, not just winning. Best shot of survival is awareness/avoidance. I got way too many miles on to get out acting stupid, don’t drink in public and very little at home, or do any other social stuff outside of my parish activities with Church, Knights of Columbus etc.
I make every effort to remain a “gray man” and aware of everything within sight, including counting others in a building in case of emergency, assault by an active shooter, etc., always know the exits, and keep my draw/aim/fire practiced, daily even tho with ammo as it is, it is presently frequently dry fire.
Lastly, for that unexpected blind rear choke hold, I keep an AO knife clipped inside each front pocket in case of that, at which point forearms would get muscles that make hands work cut up. Also am OCD about such hardware to the point I clean, lube, and sterilize the blades nightly cause I also use 'em for eating when needed…yeh, my people are from the hills, we know guns and knives from a very young age. 44 years worth for me, including mlitary time.

Ok, ALL THAT said, sorry, I am not trying to submit a resume or compose a thesis here, just that I’m in a unique situation for which things as BJJ do not work for an attack response, lethal force quick is my only option really.

I find your posts about BJJ etc very informative and interesting sir, please do keep those up! I don’t have to be able to play to just learn about it more.

Wait! One last thing…as for martial arts techniques I CAN and will use, those would be blocks, and stepping quickly at 45 degrees any of four directions from my center while starting that draw/fire sequence, also known as “getting off the X”.

A question for ya that I could likely google but would like to ask - when did BJJ come to American dojos? Was it Gracie era or before? Thank you again for the very interesting posts!

Be safe & well,

3848

NEW QUESTION for anyone familiar with Damascus steel blades -
I recently read that they’re not to be stored in a leather sheath due to moisture concerns (makes sense), but also that vegetable oil, e.g. Wesson, is good to put on the steel for storage periods. Anyone ever heard of that? I’ve always used gun oil on my blades since it’s always handy…but Wesson oil is likely cheaper. Just really don’t know the details about this steel yet, thought I’d ask here before google. Sorry if it’s a pain in the butt to do this. Just figure since I’m here, may as well ask and share the answers that may come :slight_smile:
Later

3849

First off I think it is better to train what you can than not train at all, so please accept my compliments on training what is viable for YOU. Everyone has to contend with this and like the head instructor narrated in the video, what matters is how you put up with what you’ve got when it matters.

You can’t phone it in during those moments. You have to try with all you’ve got at your disposal.

Small pockets in the early 90’s. A few more pockets by the late 90’s. Explosion in this century.

This pursuit has just now reached the point where we’re going to see a significant number of children enter into adulthood who’ve been studying it seriously since they were very young children.

This won’t change the kind of jiu jitsu I’m focusing on at the moment. These kids are unlikely to sprout new limbs, so the conditions for responding to bare-handed violence won’t change very much.

Sport, however, may see a ton of development when the explosion of kids who learned jiu jitsu as their first language become competitive adults.

3850

In this current political climate? You will do basically anything but lethal force. The mental would have to have taken a service weapon and fired at the arresting officers. That is why the “football pile on tackle works” . As @zecarlo said, they outlawed the best technique possible, the chokehold.

Don’t trust tasers, seen them fail too many times, hell, they rarely work against drunks.

A big NO. and not ever in a million years would that happen. Can you imagine the shit storm if they gave a suspect an injection and suspect went into convulsions and died on the street? with a million I-Phones around?

3851

Yes, vegetable oil is ok, if you don’t have a better alternative. Damascus blades just need to be

treated with a little extra care. I only have one and was told by the maker to not store it long term in a leather sheath. But , I am no expert on Damascus steel.

Something you might want to check out:

3852

Same answer about the sedatives. Never, ever, never would that be allowed. Screw up the dosage and you kill the suspect. Riots, riots, and more riots.

3853

everyone should adopt this attitude.

Damn straight.

First, you are living with a severe health condition and I admire you training your skills for your survival. I don’t know what state you live in, but, I would do some serious research if a self defense situation shooting ever had the same conditions as yours. " Disabled man defends family from a street robbery" type of legal case. Plan your legal defense now and not after something happens.

3854

Why @idaho , that was nice AF bro. Appreciate it.

Always like your posts/replies sir.

The legal thing I have dealt with, good advice. Wat I do is, take an annual legal update class for CHL laws in my state from a range owned/operates by former LEO, where they also do police officer training. In addition, I have friends at federal LE level I ask lotsa questions when I catch the odd convo.
Lastly I’m a member of USCCA for backup bail/attorney costs…just cause I can readily show I’m legal don’t mean some ass hat
won’t arrest me, have his girlfriend DA prosecute me till Jesus comes back.

The very positive thing in my individual case is, I’m retired and believe in Honor…I’ve tge time to be certain my actions reflect it in a defense situation by knowing the law :slight_smile:

Anywho, thx again for that brother.

@twojarslave Thx v much for your info sir :slight_smile: Always a pleasure. Stay as strong and ready as u can!

Later ya all,

3855

I didn’t think about the prospect of lethal drug interaction/overdose. What about bringing paramedics on board who can administer sedatives?

Wondering as it does’t appear as if you have many options when dealing with people like this which is unfortunate. Requiring six cops to take on one person seems like a waste of resources that’d be better allocated elsewhere no?

I have a few questions for you regarding self defence tactics. Provided there is no way out of a dangerous situation and an attacker (let’s say one presumably much larger/intimidating attacker) lunges towards you or strikes, what ratio of striking/grappling training should one aim for to deal with situations like this (as in get out alive, even if that means running away). Is grappling experience (i.e BJJ, judo, wrestling) of equitable importance comparative to punches, kicks, elbows and sprinting? If not, how high should one prioritise grappling skill/experience as compared to striking?

Becoming proficient with firearms/weapons isn’t plausible. Its fully legal, but very expensive and time consuming in Aus. Given the low rate of firearm related violence/muggings and whatnot I’d rather learn how to disarm an attacker who is wielding a blunt object/bladed weapon (if doing so is even possible). It should be noted from six-seven years of living in America I do know HOW to shoot/reload most common firearms (pistols, revolvers, shotguns and a few assault rifles) but I’m not a very good shot and my confidence is low due to lack of experience… but knowing how to shoot a gun is still better than say 80% of Austrailan’s

There’s a decent joke about self defence
“what’s the best self defence move you can train for fighting?”
“the 100 meter dash”

3856

I asked a paramedic about this issue yesterday. In this state, they cannot administer any sedatives without being given permission by an emergency room doctor. Since they overwhelming response to trauma calls, this option is rarely ever used. Accordingly, an emergency room doctor is not going to approve any sedatives before examination at the trauma center.

If the suspect (mental) can be taken into custody without being injured or a LEO being injured, then this is a win. The majority of time, this will not result in a civil lawsuit, thus saving a lot of money and resources. It’s a massive catch 22 situation, you cannot injure them without legal cause, but, you cannot leave them wondering around on the street either.

First, I am a firm believer in realistic training, which means, first you need to train in a method that constantly has you working with a training partner. This, IMHO, is so important in preparing for that up close and violent encounter. You need to be comfortable in having someone “attack” you in training. Nothing shows up training deficiencies like working with a training partner, both in yourself and the martial art you are using.

The old adage of fights start standing and end on the ground is accurate. You should have basic striking skills always, but, I value grappling as the bedrock of coming out alive. Try find a system that teaches both, like Toney Blauer’s SPEAR system. IMHO, a soild foundation in non-sport BJJ will take you a long way. Reread @twojarslave’s posts on his training.

Agree 100%.

Here is example of training for close contact.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP5ewEmphdE/

3857

I’ve had people with striking backgrounds ask me what I would do if we fought and I couldn’t take them down without getting KOed. I respond with, "who says I need to take you down? We’re standing, maybe I just walk, or run, away. Maybe I pick up that chair and break it over your head. The point being that if I’m on my feet there’s a good chance I have options. And in situations where I don’t, like I’m confronting someone in my house and I can’t just run away and leave my family behind, it’s a confined space where grappling has an advantage. I can choke someone out in a phone booth but I can’t KO them with a punch. The question for them is, if you are on the ground, do you have any choice other than grappling? I don’t need to be the better striker to win/survive a confrontation on the feet but I do need to be the better grappler if I’m on the ground.

The best thing I had some coworker who did Kenpo say to me was, “BJJ is great if it’s one on one but Kenpo is better when you are outnumbered.” I asked him, “so you can’t be one guy who does BJJ but you can beat three guys who do BJJ?”

I had another ask me what I do against multiple opponents. I replied, in order, run away, look for a weapon if I don’t already have one, hope that all they want to do is give me a beating and not beat me to death. I used to take Kenpo and there were a lot of self-defense moves that were done with multiple opponents in mind. After taking BJJ, I looked back and thought how dumb I was to think they would work. Royce Gracie once said on the topic of multiple opponents, and having someone say they could defeat them, “let me pick the opponents.”

Anyway, I think a point I’m trying to make is, and it is something I got from the aforementioned Tony Blauer, never fight “fair” and never assume your attacker is either. On this thread there is a lot of emphasis on situational awareness and one part of that that can be overlooked is the potential weapons your environment might offer you (or your attacker). So yes, we enter a room or building and take note of where emergency exits are, for example, but also look to see what could possibly be used as a weapon because we won’t always be able to be armed (at least legally) in some situations. Blauer does a good job explaining these things.

3858

I’m not an expert at all. I assume @idaho can clarify, but a “sport” like Muay Thai involves elbows, knees, takedowns, throws and to an extent, grappling as well as punches and kicks.

A fighter proficient in this might be able to knock someone out in extremely close quarters. I’m not well versed on the validity of various moves but I’d assume one well placed kick from someone who can do this

Would stop a fight before it could even begin. Not stating any given practice is superior to another, it’s probably best to have a base in both striking and grappling. Grappling seems more adept at submitting opponents without seriously injuring/crippling your attacker, if I’m correct in this assumption it’d be the superior art to learn in a country like Aus wherein inflicting harm within a self defence related scenario easily results in jail time.

Judo is another interesting one, doesn’t cover the ground defence as much as BJJ but it seems to teach people how to get off the ground asap.