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Monday, January 31, 2011

Lone Nepali Soldier Defends Potential Rape Victim Against 40 Men

January 28, 20110 Comments

Whoa...holy cow! Every once in a while someone in the world comes along and reminds us what a true hero really looks like. A 35 year-old Gurkha soldier named Bishnu Shrestha was riding a train when he suddenly found himself in the middle of a massive robbery. 40 men armed with knives, swords and guns stormed the train and began robbing the passengers.

Bishnu kept his peace while the gang snatched cell phones, jewelry and cash from other riders. But then, the thugs grabbed the 18 year-old girl sitting next to him and forcefully stripped her naked. Before the bandits could rape the poor girl in front of her helpless parents, Bishnu decided he had enough.

“The girl cried for help, saying ´You are a soldier, please save a sister´,” Shrestha recalled. “I prevented her from being raped, thinking of her as my own sister.”

Here's the part of the story that makes you cheer. He pulls out a kukri (i.e. a knife) and proceeds to kill 3 of them, injure 8 of them, and causes the rest to flee. During the battle, he suffered a severe knife injury to his left hand, from which he's now recovered.

For those who don't know...this is a kukri. Maybe it's okay to bring a knife to a gunfight, after all.

Honestly, the article isn't revealing the whole story because clearly he was also armed with 2 GIANT F***ING BALLS OF STEEL which he clobbered the bandits with.

Bishnu, you're never going to see this post, but we got movie stars who can only play act what you did for real. I think quite a few men often daydream of a moment where we prove ourselves a hero. We salute you in our admiration.

MISSION POSSIBLE


Saturday we had an awesome class. We went to an office setting (day off so no one was working) and we worked with Reality Based Scenarios (RBS). Being on location made it that much more realistic. Physically, you have to deal with corners, furniture, small hallways or closets, etc. Mentally, you are dealing with a space where you might not normally encounter violence, where your mind might be on code white instead of being more alert.

Kasey came up with some different scenarios involving scenes that are likely to happen to civilians in their homes or office: house break-ins, fake delivery people, disgruntled customers, etc. This is so much better than training for fantasy scenarios that might be cool and fun but unrealistic, and might even train you for failure.

Kasey got suited up and played the bad guy the entire class. He is a very good actor and RBS player. He looked and sounded angry, mean and violent. In case I have never mentioned this before, I would not want to be on his bad side.

The goal of the exercise was to either prevent him from doing bad things or to take him out. If we failed, we got injured and/or died in the process… no fooling around with him. But of course no one ever fails and dies in our school. If we did something that did not work, that would have gotten us killed in real life, we will replay it and tweak a few things until we get it to work so we can leave with the confidence that what we do works and that we CAN be the victor in a violent encounter.

We have practiced drills in the past where we had to diffuse the entire situation with Conflict Communication. Today was about what happens when this fails, when the fecal matter hits the air matrix dispenser.

This was very eye opening and it’s a great way to show you where your strength and weaknesses were. Everyone looked really sharp. It was just as much fun to watch than to perform. The debriefing was a great learning experience for everyone involved. We discussed the moral ethics, the legal implications and the possibilities of other solutions. We explained what we did, why we did it. We asked questions about the things we felt had not gone the way they should. We had peer review and comments.

My weakness was in the office setting. I was a bit too slow at switching mode from professional and courteous to ass-kicking-to-save-my-life mode. And a bit too slow can mean life and death or serious injury. There is a fine line when you know communication has failed and gone out of the window, and when you know violence is about to happen.

From a woman’s perspective, when you are confronted with a dangerous, violent and /or threatening situation, it will usually come from a man (or men) that will most likely be larger and stronger than us (or armed). It is a scary thing. (I have never been seriously threatened by a 7 year old boy playing checkers). If I think of myself as a weak and helpless person, that will not only affect the way I act but that will come across to my attacker and this will give him fuel. I need to think of myself as a 300 lbs gorilla. But at the same time I have to remember that I am not physically a 300 lbs gorilla and to not try to fight strength on strength with him/them. That is why we work with things like getting out of the way; do not stand right in front of an attacker where he can do the most damage. While it’s a good thing to be able to take a hit and keep on going, it is a better thing to not take a hit at all. A hard punch to the jaw might just knock me out. We also work on basic simple responses that will work on most of the situations encountered (counter ambush).

Violence happens quicker, more suddenly and harder than you can imagine.

There is a fine line to be achieved and I feel a lot more confident in my skills now. Those are things that cannot be learned in a dojo. This type of training is invaluable.

All in all, mission accomplished!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

STAY SAFE


In self defense your purpose should be to effectively end an attack with minimal damage to yourself. (borrowed from Marc MacYoung)
If your purpose is anything else, it is not self defense anymore. Has it become revenge? Anger release? Trying to prove something? If you have issues you need to work them out yourself, not on someone else face or other body parts.
Effectively ending an attack can be anything from running away toward safety to calming yourself down to changing path so you can avoid a potentially difficult situation.
Whatever it takes, keep the goal in mind until you are safe and out of danger.
Stay safe!!!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Combat handgun

Totally awesome class. I highly recomend it to everyone.

Time for a reality check


Want to be safer?

Examine your personal circumstances:

· age

· gender

· size

· your emotional stability

· lifestyle

· your values

· employment

· your home

· your habits

· friends

· relatives

· pets

· possessions

· your sense of awareness or your lack of it

Be honest with yourself.

What are the possible threats that you honestly face:

· burglary/ robbery/ mugging

· car jacking

· rape

· kidnapping

· bar brawl

· being bullied

· physical or emotional abuse

· molestation

· date rape

Only after a good introspection can you make a good plan for preparation. You can implement strategies that will reduce the chances of anything bad happening

Prepare for what is most likely to happen to you but don’t forget the unlikely events that might be brought upon by Murphy

Also this “introspection” will give you clues on where you are, what improvements or changes you need to make in your life

“The only absolute control and power you have is over yourself and what you do. The best way to exercise that power is to not put yourself in high risks situations.”

-Marc MacYoung

Monday, January 24, 2011

Falling down


Learning to fall is a great self defense tool. If you get injured or knocked out during a fall, you have just become a much easier target.
Learn to fall properly and get back up quickly

Falling is the second leading cause of accidental death in this country. Maybe you should take a hint and prevent this from ever happening to you. This goes beyond self defense into self preservation.
Especially living through winter. Slipping on ice is an easy thing to happen. Be prepared.

Statistics for people over 70 that fall and break a hip are not great.
If you learn to fall at a younger age, the odds will be that when you get older, you will be able to take a proper fall and absorb the shock without breaking your hip.

Don't wait, learn today!!!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Responsibility or response ability


Now here’s a word that is either misused or unused nowadays. The “blame game” is unfortunately what is promoted in our society. Everyone seems to be very good at pointing fingers, at handing over the responsibility.

“If he had not done …(fill in the blanks)... I would have not reacted like……(fill in the blanks).....”….. “Did you hear what he called me? I had no choice, it was all his fault”…. “It’s not my fault if I am out of shape, they gave me such long hours at work, I have no time to workout”….. “I was attacked for no reason whatsoever, I have every right to get dressed like this and walk on Hennepin Ave at 2:00 am”….. “It’s not my fault if I eat all that junk food. All those commercials make me hungry for it I can’t resist.”

I am sure I have lost a few people already. Being accountable for one’s action is not always fun, it’s not always glamorous and it’s not always a feel good moment. But if you are looking for true empowerment, you can’t find anything better than accepting the responsibility for your decisions. This is really the only way to be in total control of your life. If someone else is responsible for everything happening to you, then that someone else is also controlling you. Take charge!!!

Let’s pull out our dictionary for a minute and check out a few definitions:
Responsibility or response ability
• Responsibility: to be able to make a moral or rational decision on one’s own and therefore answerable for one’s behavior.
• Response: reaction to a specific stimuli
• Reaction: the way in which things performs or functions
• Perform: to begin or carry through completion in accordance with the requirements
• Requirement: Something that is obligatory; a necessity
• Ability: natural or acquired skill or talent

So the definition of response ability would be: a natural or acquired skill or talent to react to specific stimuli and to be able to carry through completion in accordance with what is needed.
This means you are able to properly analyze the situation and to respond to the best of your abilities until the said situation is handled.
Does this mean that you will in anyway blame everyone else for the situation you find yourself into? Or does this mean that you will use whatever situation you find yourself into as an excuse for a poor choice in behavior?
NOPE!!!!!
Let’s get in charge of our lives. Quit passing the reigns over to others.