The Seven Strategies of Hand to Hand Combat by Ernest Emerson

Author:Ernest Emerson [Emerson, Ernest]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-04-06T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6.

The Strategy of Action

The Action/Reaction Turn Around

Becoming difficult to hit.

I think everyone would agree that it is much more difficult to hit a moving target than to hit a stationary target. Further I think we would all agree that it is even more difficult to hit a moving target that is trying to hit us back at the same time. I will then ask this question. For those of you who have been in the Corps, if you are ambushed what is your standard, pre-programmed response to the ambush? The Marine Corps answer is; you engage the enemy and counterattack with overwhelming firepower. If that strategy is good enough for the US Marines, then it's good enough for me.

So if we all agree that the above statements are true, then let's use these truths to construct a strategy that takes advantage of them and make them work for us and against the enemy. Although what I stated above sounds simple and easy on paper, when the sh!t hits the fan, it gets a little harder to execute. Honestly, I’m not going to B.S. you, no matter what, it will always be difficult and never easy, because you are dealing directly with the spontaneous unpredictability of another human being.

When it happens, a violent attack is almost always an ambush, a surprise attack, because it gives the attacker the best advantage and the opportunity to do the most damage. While you are initially reacting to him, he is basically controlling your actions. Now if you have read this far, you already know rule Number 2 of The Three Immutable Laws of Combat. The attacker must react to you and not you to him. But the cold truth is that no matter how well-trained or how prepared you are, unless you initiate the action, you will always be in the reactive mode during the initial moments of any attack. The key to your survival hinges on how much time you spend in that reactive mode. The less time there, the higher your probability of survival.

However, if you have a plan of action before you are attacked, you will spend less time in a reactive mode where the bad guy can do the most harm to you, simply because you don't have to think. You just have to act. But if, have said, all plans go awry when the fight starts, what do you do then? Well, you continue to apply the strategy, which determines and guides your further actions.

What is The Strategy of Action? If you reduce it to its simplest ingredient, it is movement. Movement changes everything. I do a drill on the morning of the first day in every one of my classes to illustrate this point. I get a student out of the class to help me demonstrate. I hold out my hand, palm facing him and tell him to throw 10 good jabs at my hand which I'm holding stationary in front of him at chest level. The student proceeds to hit me 10 times with good solid jabs, every one right on target.

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