Attacked at the Convenience Store - Darrin Cook

[** Serge **]

http://bigstickcombat.com/posts/real-life-combat-attacked-at-the-convenience-store/

I’m here in the Philippines now, and the other night I was talking with an Englishman who lives here, whom I’ll call “George.” He told me a gripping story of real-life combat.



Just up the street there is a convenience store where they set out tables in the front, and people hang out there on the sidewalk to drink and chat. George has a beautiful young Filipina girlfriend, who was waiting for him there. As he sat down, she came up and kissed him on the cheek. What George didn’t know was that another foreign man sitting outside was smitten with his girlfriend. The foreigner had tried to win over the pretty young girl, but was rebuffed. When this guy, who undoubtedly is mentally unstable, saw the girl who had previously rejected him, now kissing George, he flew into a rage.



The unhinged guy spat into George’s face. Flush with outrage, George stood up from his chair. What he didn’t see was the bottle of San Miguel pilsen slam into the side of his head, catching him at the left temple and making him woozy.



George lunged at the guy and the two men went to the ground, knocking over the cart of a nearby egg vendor, who had built a pyramid of hard-boiled eggs and balut, the Filipino fertilized egg that is sold with the partially-developing chick in it.The entire cart overturned, spilling all her eggs over the sidewalk.



The two men engaged in a mad scramble on the ground.



What did the Filipino onlookers do? They tried to steal George’s wallet and the money out of his pockets! So while he was exchanging blows with the guy beneath him, he was also fighting off the Filipinos reaching into his pockets!



Fortunately, the police were close by and intervened. He was able to recover his money and cellphone, but lost his wallet. He has since filed a complaint against the disturbed foreigner, who spent two days in jail. When George got back to his apartment, he saw that he had taken a second shot with the beer bottle, this one to the crown of the head. Dried blood ran from the top of his head down over his face.



George concluded his story, “That was my worst day here in the Philippines.”




Lessons Learned :



1)  How Relevant Is the Dojo?

I don’t care if you’re doing the latest, hippest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, much of what is taught in the traditional martial arts is irrelevant. If you remember what I wrote earlier, it can all be seen in this real incident–there was no formal announcement of hostilities, nobody squaring off. You’re probably not used to sparring on opposite sides of a card table.  When it went to the ground, there was no one to break it up. Note that there was a weapon involved, a beer bottle, not a nunchaku or rattan stick.



2)  Beware the Provocation

The spitting in the face may have been an intentional set-up for an attack, because the assailant followed through immediately. This is the danger of the street fighter, who doesn’t know a whole lot of techniques, but has a simple, devious plan of attack. I remember my Kenju (Kenpo+judo) instructor Kirk Ellis Sensei telling the class years ago that one of the oldest tricks in the book during a judo competition was to yell right in the opponent’s face, which would cause him to tense up. Once he was tense, throwing him was easy. So judoka had to learn not to freeze up at the sudden kiai in the face.



3)  How Realistic Is Your Training?

This emphasizes the need to an instinctive response, like Tony Blauer’s SPEAR system.  Once again, we have an attack that came out of nowhere, in the midst of an environment that didn’t seem dangerous at all. You need to prepare for the person in your face, the guy who’s screaming obscenities, the psycho who spits in your face. You need to practice fighting from a seated position and getting up with cover.

George is lucky that shot to the temple didn’t knock him out, kill him, or cause brain damage. A San Miguel bottle is stubby and solid as a rock. You just can’t afford to get cold-cocked like this.



4)  Opponents Will Close

In the Filipino Martial Arts, there is the fantasy that every shot with a stick is a killing blow. Another fantasy is that you can consistently beat an opponent, who will cooperatively stay at mid range where he is getting  thrashed. Now George probably wouldn’t know a martial art from a Saint Bernard, but when he got clobbered with that bottle, he instinctively (we’re talking zero training) closed and took his attacker to the ground.



Now imagine this scenario: You are confronted by a guy with a knife. Can you hit him solidly enough with that beer bottle to drop him? Are you moving offline? Because if he takes you to the ground, you’re in very serious trouble.

 

5)  A Beer Bottle Is Real Weapon

I’ve been writing this blog for several years now, and I’ve seen all kinds of weapons, from guns, knives, logs, baseball bats, screwdrivers, hammers, carpenter’s levels, and so on. Real-life incidents involving genuine sticks are rare, very rare. Then there is this assumption in the FMA, one that I made for years, that skills with the 28 inch rattan stick were transferable to all sorts of improvised weapons. I contend that they are not, and even if those skills were transferable, they’re of little use when you get cold-cocked by a beer bottle across from a card table.



But if you look at the San Miguel pilsen bottle (See the photo at the top), it doesn’t have a neck you can grip. This is one of the reasons why I order long-neck bottles, and right now there are two empty long-neck bottles in my room next to the bed. If anyone comes through the door I will employ the Double Barrel method. I’m going to make up a training aid, a sort of padded beer bottle to be used in scenarios.



6)  Let the Money and Cellphone Go

You need to make up your mind in advance that you will let the wallet, money, cellphone, etc., go. What if George reaching to stop the Filipino thieves had provided an opening for an icepick thrust to the heart or lung? You’ve got to fight the violent threat whole-heartedly. And if you’re robbed, hand it over. My cellphone here is a used one, for which I paid just under 8 dollars. I have decided that I am not going to fight over it. I have a small change pocket –anybody who tries to rob me gets what’s in the pocket, unless I think I’ve got the chance to run. Don’t lose your life or health over something that can be replaced.

http://bigstickcombat.com/ - © - 2012 - Darrin Cook

[Rouri]

Merci Serge!

[Camaro]

Mwais, j'ai quand même un doute quand on suppose que George n'a aucune notion de combat ("George probably wouldn’t know a martial art from a Saint Bernard").

Mon sentiment est basé sur la combinaison de deux choses :
- s'aventurer dans ce genre d'endroit (bar philippin) avec son portefeuille et son téléphone apparemment visibles et faciles d'accès, c'est soit qu'on est sûr de soi, soit qu'on est inconscient. Mais le gars ayant une petite amie du crû, on peut supposer qu'il connaît la zone et donc ses dangers.
- Se jeter sur son assaillant quand on vient de se prendre un bon coup dans la tronche, ce n'est pas la réaction naturelle d'un mec qui n'a jamais été confronté à la castagne.

Qu'en pensez-vous ?

[Lycaon]

D'après Richard Dimitri, 5 réactions possibles:
- Créer de la distance
- casser la distance
- contre attaquer
- rester inconscient ou bien sonné
- Prendre le coup, ne pas broncher, et se foutre de ta gueule genre "c'est tout ce que t'as" ?

[Merlin06]

Dur comme situation, et encore le gars en avait après lui, pas après sa nana, et les locaux mal intentionnés non plus, on dirait des requins qui se partagent un bout d'espadon qui vient de se faire prendre à la ligne.
Naturellement je pense que j'aurais le reflexe de "coller" aussi, pas sûr que ce soit le bon. 

[Jacques]

@ Camaro :

J'en pense qu'on assiste plus souvent qu'on ne pourrait le croire à des choses qui défient la plausibilité. Je ne nourris donc pas spécialement de doutes sur l'anecdote. (et quand bien même, alors on pourrait rappeler avec profit la parabole du doigt et de la Lune).

Concernant le peu vraisemblable a priori : je ne vais pas me lancer dans la liste des choses invraisemblables que j'ai vues à mon modeste niveau. Burlesques ou dramatiques.
Pour reprendre un autre fil dans cette section : quelle était la probabilité pour qu'un c*nnard s'en prenne à Gros Calou, qui s'entraîne à la SD et qui avait ce jour-là un schlass habituellement remisé ?





Conserver le sens du plausible est intéressant. S'y enfermer est courir le risque d'être dépassé.




L'anecdote nous rappelle entre autres :
- la profonde instabilité psychologique de certaines personnes,
- l'inadaptation assez sévère de bien des entraînements, durant lesquels on n'a pas le truc à 200 euros qu'on vient d'acheter, on a bien dégagé le fauteuil encombrant dans la chambre du partenaire d'entraînement pour qu'il puisse nous montrer une zolie technique sans buter dedants, etc.
- l'intérêt d'avoir solidement ancrée une hiérarchie des valeurs, et c'est moins facile que je ne l'aurais cru ... : être vraiment prêt à laisser partir tel ou tel objet plutôt que de se retrouver avec une jolie boutonnière.
- l'intérêt à éviter de se promener avec des encombrants, des poches inutilement pleines, mal fermées
- etc.


S'il faut témoigner personnellement, il m'est arrivé plusieurs fois de me retrouver confronté à des saloperies avec des affaires importantes sur moi : dossier de tribunal, somme d'argent non apparente et d'un montant bien plus élevé que les 364 autres jours de l'année et que les 9 autres années de la décennie, objet fragile, plusieurs sacs. Le genre de circonstance où la rixe est encore plus que d'habitude l'option la moins adaptée. Pile au mauvais moment. Pile au mauvais endroit : celui qui n'est pourtant pas habituellement le mauvais endroit mais qui l'est devenu soudain du fait de la présence sur le coup de quelque c*nnard.
Il m'est arrivé trois fois d'être menacé de coups de bouteille / tesson et j'ai pris un grand coup de bouteille derrière le crâne par un individu pas net qui était encore très gentil 1/1000ème de seconde auparavant.
Il m'est arrivé de réagir avec un niveau technique et une agressivité qui ne me sont pas familières. Autant dans un sens que dans l'autre, hélas.
J'ai connu plusieurs circonstances où l'agresseur / l'escroc / la saloperie se déguisait en victime, jusque devant un tribunal.
Un copain a failli se faire tuer par une personne inconnue qu'il venait pourtant de secourir.
Etc ...


On dirait que la réalité a tendance à devenir la "foire du slip".


Des piqûres de rappel, c'est par définition répétitif, mais ça entretient l'immunité.


Alors, même pour la personne qui douterait de la véracité factuelle de l'anecdote citée au début de ce fil, elle peut avoir l'intérêt de sa pertinence didactique.

[** Serge **]

Superbe intervention, Jacques.