Last weekend there was an attack in broad daylight at a fair in Frederick, Maryland, just 25 miles north of me.  A group of teenage boys, at least four or five, surrounded a 59 year old man, and asked him for money.  

At some point he got distracted, and one of the kids stepped in and sucker punched him, which knocked the man unconscious.  He died the next day.  

A couple weeks ago, on Long Island, a 16 year old boy was lured to a fight where six or seven other boys were waiting for him.  This was apparently because the young man had walked a young lady home, who was the ex girlfriend of one of the gang.  

During the fight, the boy was stabbed, and he died from his wounds.  

We see stories like these in the news every week it seems.  But, the fact of the matter is, most of these tragedies can be avoided altogether.

As a self defense and combatives instructor, the first thing I teach any student is the need to learn to be more alert and aware of their environment, and create a daily game plan to avoid placing themselves in dangerous situations.  

Next, I teach them to learn to recognize when there is potential for an assault, and a skillset to avoid it.

After that, I teach them the skills needed to deal with a variety of assaults.  This is the last level of defense, and we try to avoid it if at all possible.

In the case of the Frederick attack, it appears the kids were harassing the victim over a dollar.  One thing we teach at The Self Defense Company is to simply be prepared for such a situation by having some throw away money in one pocket.  There is no point in dying over a little bit of money.

In the case of the Long Island incident, always avoid a situation where, one, you are being forced to prove your manhood, and two, situations where you know you will likely be outnumbered.

Unfortunately, it appears that we are living in a society where, for whatever reasons, a percentage of people no longer value human life.  

Therefore, I believe it’s incumbent upon anyone to learn to protect themselves, particularly if they have people who depend on them.  

Self Protection Starts With Awareness

In order to avoid becoming a target, it is quite useful to develop your skills of awareness.  In the Self Defense Company curriculum, we start with the AWARE model… Alert, Watch, Assess, React, Execute.

Learning to become more alert and aware of your surroundings takes a bit of practice, but it’s really not difficult.

When you leave your home, it’s simply good habit to start paying more attention to what’s going on around you.

When you leave your home, it’s simply good habit to start paying more attention to what’s going on around you.

If you park in the driveway or in the street, get in the habit of observing what’s going on up and down the street, and in your immediate surroundings before you even approach your vehicle.  You should do the same if you walk to work or walk to public transportation.

When something out of the ordinary catches your eye, observe.  If there is no threat, continue on your way.  If there is a possibility of a threat, then consider an alternative plan of action, such as walking in a different direction to avoid any contact with the threat.

If at all possible, we simply try to avoid putting ourselves in position to be assaulted.

The bottom line is that once you start learning to become more alert and aware of your surroundings, you’ll start becoming more like a predator.  When you start acting like a predator, you’ll be respected as such.

Other predators are not interested in dealing with a predator…they are searching for potential prey.  Act like a predator, and they’ll pick someone else.

This is the first step in building a plan for self preservation.

Personal Carry Items

In Maryland, we have to jump through a few hoops in order to be allowed to carry a concealed weapon.  However, this does not mean we can’t carry ANYTHING  that can be used for self protection.

A couple items I recommend for everyone are Pepper Spray and Personal Alarms.  Both are super cheap…you can pick up a pack of five or six of these items on Amazon for about $25.  

These items are a cheap way to add an extra layer of protection, and they should be part of any self protection plan.

Learn Combatives

As a last resort, we should learn combatives.  Combatives are different than martial arts, or even the stuff you may learn in a self defense class.

Combatives training is meant to close the significant gap between what is taught in the typical martial arts school, and real life street violence.  This type of training does the best job of simulating street violence, and teaching principle based strategies to deal with street violence.  

Combatives training is rooted in the type of training taught to the military, but then designed to deal with civilian violence. 

Check out this video posted by Urban Combatives on how these instructors train to deal with real life knife attacks.  I know from my martial arts training that this type of training in combatives is far more realistic than what you will learn in a typical martial arts school.

Final thoughts

We live in a dangerous world.  The incidents I mentioned earlier can happen anywhere and at anytime.  But, the reality is they can primarily be avoided altogether.  

However, it’s a good idea to prepare for the worst.  Therefore, start learning all you can now about self protection. 

I’ll be writing more on this topic down the road.