Strategy determines doctrine. The actual implementation of that strategy to achieve the desired objectives is called tactics and that begins with physical contact. The methodologies are the various ways to inculcate the tactics of the system and allow you to operate at your maximum level; in other words, this is how you get good! The techniques are the particular ways to manipulate the body’s natural weapons in order to come up with a variety of ways to carry out the task at hand. At the point of contact, unpredictable equations could very easily start to become part of the scenario. This is where adaptation comes in to address those volatile engagements where we could end up on the ground, facing multiple attackers and/or having to deal with weapons. The best tactical school to test all of this is operational experience. It is here where we can absorb what is useful and reject what is useless. Through many years of “battlefield tested” operational experience, the doctrine of a system starts to take shape and in our metaphor, the system’s doctrine represents the trunk of the tree.
A sound doctrine would involve assessing the threat, delaying the threat, defending against the threat, neutralizing the threat, escaping the threat and finally above all other costs, surviving the threat. Within the scope of the aforementioned formula would include, in no particular order, disengaging from the threat. Comprising of strategy, tactical, situational and positional training, all training is more easily acclimated by organizing the material into bite size training modules. These training modules hold the key to unlocking the training methodologies which are responsible for learning the basics of executing the tactics, countering the tactics, skill development drills of the tactics and then pressure testing the tactics standing, kneeling and grounded with and/or against empty hand, knife, stick and/or gun. These training methodologies represent the branches of the tree. Cross training in various styles gives us a snapshot of how this works in relation to refining a tactic. Training methods from different systems can be employed to accelerate the learning process and transmute that into a pressure testing structure fairly rapidly.
Last and least important are the leaves of the tree. This illustrates what the techniques stand for. For some reason, so many martial artists hold on to bags full of leaves, carrying them around wherever they go like precious deities. We don’t need to know 142 ways to choke someone out, or a 56 deep counter for counter series for countering a wrist grab. The stability lays in the foundation of the tree- the attributes; continues with the importance of a sound doctrine; the methods for skill acquisition and a few variables of the body’s natural weapons. There are always a hundred ways to perform a technique; let’s just concentrate on a few of the best and most efficient ways for you to survive sudden violence. If you don’t believe me, the next time you are walking in the park and a big ol’gust of wind comes along, look to see what the first things are to go from the tree- that’s right, the leaves. So the next time you go to a seminar take a good look around you and don’t be surprised if you suddenly see most of the attendees carrying around trash bags full of leaves (techniques) like fool’s gold.
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