W. Hock Hochheim's April 2007 Web Log

HOCK'S Web Log

 

 

"Read by Thousands Round' the World!"

 

 

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

 

29 April 2007" See ya' all in May!

 

26 April 2007 The Difference Between Tactical Stick Fighting and Filipino Stick Fighting

On the eve of having our first, 2-day SDMS-only seminar in Chicago, Il. This weekend, I would like to clear up what I believe is the main difference between tactical, stick-combatives and Filipino-stick fighting.

In most countries of the world, it is statistically unlikely that two people will square off and fight with very similar, rattan sticks, or for that matter any impact weapons both similar in size and weight. Of course, it could happen, but we live in a mixed weapon world, where other combinations of weapons are way more likely. Even in the Philippines, the rattan stick often symbolizes the machett.

Tactical baton and/or stick fighting is about blocking and striking and grappling and ground fighting against a person:

- without a weapon, or

- with any kind of weapon, makeshift, or a chair, a pistol, a shotgun, a knife, a broken beer mug, or

- even another impact weapon such as a tire iron, a baseball bat or cricket bat.

Filipino stick fighting is largely about fighting against someone with another Filipino stick, both about 28 inches or so. Largely. Or the next FMA category, it becomes about stick fighting against a defined list of Filipino weapons. In this environment, doctrine is created and techniques rehearsed that works directly and purposefully against the stick fighter.

A tactical student is aware that a system of fighting strategies constructed for and working against the mirror fighter- one holding the same weapon, is just not a competent doctrine in today's mied weapons world. The moder, tactical doctrine must completely support the exact circumstance of the anticipated combat.

Stick vs. Stick Training Partners.

Will a football player perform well in a baseball game? Will an ice hockey star do well in a basketball game? To some extent yes they will as these performances all share some fundamental skills, like balance, strength and speed. But there can be no doubt that a football player needs to practice football to excel in a football game. A reality fighter, such as a soldier, police officer or citizen must do the same. Groups such as these will only glean abstract results when studying Filipino martial art stick fighting.

Now, in terms of training methodologies, it is not a complete fault to train at times with stick-versus-stick, work-out partners. It is sometimes energetic and enhancing to practice tactical, stick work against a stick-wielding partner. This develops footwork, body maneuvering and other skills. But, reality fighters must take care not to become accustomed to fighting only the stick fighter and only in this stand-off, showdown/duel situation! In tactical stick/baton training classes, it is also faster when exchanging trainer/trainee positions for workouts, when both parties hold sticks. fast switch of roles. But, a tactical practitioner cannot be confused about the many other tools the enemy may attack him with. these tools must also be brought into the practice.

It always good to parctice stick vs stick sparring as it develops many attributes, but a reality fighter cannot obsess about stick sparring.

The Myth of the Duel

Real world, tactical, baton fighting is about you holding the stick! You blocking, striking and grappling with your baton, against anyone with anything, not squaring off against another 28” stick fighter, or weapons as identified as Filipino training weapon.

As soon as FMA practitioner has to justify and explain away, “well, well…this stick is really like "that," or "this" is symbolic of "that:…” we start to lose our way.

Reality people don't have the time for abstracts or symbols. Why not train with the real “this” or “that” instead? But when you do this, you break the mold and tear the thin tissue of what Filipino martial arts is. Take a simple survey of your FMA training time. What do you do more of?

Stick versus stick training?

or

Stick versus knife training?

or

stick versus anything training?

 

Most likely the common answer is stick versus stick. And, this is a reality, training mistake. As I have said time and time again. I hope people have fun and exercise doing karate and FMA or submission fighting or whatever. Just understand where these things fit in the big picture, and that the skills acquired may well be abstract and even unsafe and distracting to reality fighting. It may take you five or more years of abstract work to accomplish what you really want and need to do, in just a year-and-half or so of using a doctrine of modern fighting.

 

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

 

//////\\\\\

 

 

22 April 2007: A Study in Counters to Takedowns...New 2-DVD Set

This session was a small, private class on the subject of counters to stand-up takedowns. It was filmed and I thought the material was very informative so I immediately went to work to turn this into a training film. This is an informal, small-group session and was very productive. Using the scientific method of organizing tactics in early-phase, mid-phase and late-phase options...

* Learn the basic theories of countering and reversals
* Learn the 9 basic concepts in counters
* Learn unique solutions to popular takedowns
* Hock will instruct and review the some 20 major “Jujitsu/Grappling”takedowns and then apply a host of particular and specific and concept counters to them.

http://www.hockscqc.com/shop/product266.html

 

 

 

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

 

//////\\\\\

 

 

20 April 2007: How Did This All Happen, Anyway?

Remember how the old Steve Martin movie, The Jerk started out? Steve says, “I was born a poor, black child.” A great opening line for a so-called biography. I have read many biographies as you all have too. We are always subjected in the beginning chapters, to the early history of the person.

 

"Billy was born on a farm…, "

"His mother was….,"

"His father did….,"

"In high school, Billy was a… ,"

And so on. These were always the sleeper parts of biographies for me. A necessary evil because - as the intellectual, beard-strokers would say, “how else can we understand thee…theeeee…introspective, motivations and inspirations of the person?”

I am asked with some frequency, “how did I become a police officer?” Or, “why did I become one?” At the risk of dipping into the standard, sleeper segment of such tales, I will tell you I was not born a poor, black child, but colors were involved. Blue. Sweaty blue. Rather, I was born the son of a blue-collared, New York City, factory worker. For decades, he made...metal cans for vegetables at a machine press. Decades.

I grew up on the Hudson River, right across from Manhattan, New York City. I can't think of a conscious moment that I wasn't planning on leaving there. Escape is a better word. I would pace the Palisades Cliffs of the Hudson looking at the spectacular view of Manhattan. This view, I can now say, is one of the wonders of the world. But, I was not drawn to these bright lights. I simply was not meant for that dense turf. I was more inspired by the old TV show Then Came Bronson.

http://www.mortystv.com/showcards/then_came_bronson.shtml

This Bronson show became very unsuccessful with the public, but very successful as a cult show. Parks himself is still around, in films like in Kill Bill. I watched Bronson, plotted and waited. I knew my only cut-rate, escape would be atop an affordable motorcycle with a sleeping bag, just like Jimbo Bronson. In the beginning of the show, Jim pulls up to a red light. A down-trodden business man, in a fedora, in a car next to him, looks over at him, and eyes the sleeping bag and camping gear.

“Taking a trip?”- driver

“Yup,” this cool som-a-bitch, Bronson says.

“Where to?” - driver

“Where ever I end up, I guess.” - Bronson

“Man, I wish I was you!” the driver concludes.

 

And MAN, did I wish I was Bronson too. Travel. Escape. Adventure. Back then, I was still too young for the draft at the time when Vietnam was in its fullest swing. The first years of eligibility, the USA had the national lottery and I pulled a high number, well above the expected draft picks of lower numbers. Today, the lotteries we see are about winning. Back then they were about losing. Others, older guys I grew up with, were already "over-there" and one of our neighborhood friends was even a Green Beret. What to do?

I mentioned once to my dad - himself a WW II vet that marched into Europe with Patton - that I might join the Army. He said and I quote, “are you fucking nuts?” He still had some nightmares about the whole WW II thing. That's about all he said on the subject. My interest faded, but my dream of escape hadn't. Two other guys with bikes felt the same way. A Gary Theil and a Bob "Swamp Fox" Boggio.

I could have gone to an art college. I had several award-winning art projects that toured the northeast and was and still am interested in...making stuff. Writing. Painting. Writing seems to have won out. But not back then. After graduating high school, myself and these two other characters, left on motorcycles. On July 4th, the Independence Day of my 18th year, we killed and hung a street rat by its tail on the metal handle of a street corner, telephone phone, and busted off. It was symbolic. Don't ask. It made sense at the time. We lived amongst city rats that sewer-hopped and hung out all the time. Best I can remember, our stupid little street gang was called the “Ratpack.” Killing a rat and displaying it for the neighborhood had something to do with that. Off….but to where? Where does a rebellious, thick-skulled, half-artist, half biker-dude go?

Where? We were bound for many places. Our plan was to rip about the USA and work here and there for food. Then, eventually get space on a freighter in California for Australia. You see, in the New York Daily News in the late 1960s, there were a series of fetching articles. The pages displayed a bevy of long-haired beauties in bikinis on the Australia beaches. They reported a severe shortage of men down there, down under, you see and these poor beauties were man-less! Man-less, I tell you!

So, like the sirens in the tale of Odysseus, I could hear them beckon to me. I was much more a lover than a fighter, and knew how to do neither! But I was certainly willing to learn! And what better way than by these poor, lonely beauties, trolling and pacing the beaches at the very edge of their country, all in skimpy bikinis and waiting for companionship. With the golden beaches and babes of Australia as the four-year plan, end goal, we strung the rat and left.

Well, okay…fast forward. Hey! This is not about biker-dude adventures, but about getting into police work. I will admit that Bronson would have been proud of us. After a two-year period on the road and a winter, stay-over in Texas, I wound up, somehow, ever-so-foolishly married in north Texas. First of several. Good God that was a foolish mistake. With such big plans for international adventure, what kind of life could I have in Dallas, TX? I wanted rites of passage! The suffering of mythical adventurer!

Bronson was a lover not a fighter, so I had to cover the fighting part. I had already started taking karate classes back then, thanks to:

The Billy Jack movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwCZt6jEnJg

(see this FAMOUS, cool clip!)

 

and

 

Carridine's Kung Fu TV show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_(TV_series))

So, I was in a karate class! That was cool. But, what's next, bubba? What's next for a shallow, kid looking to escape boredom. It was also the era of Serpico, Dirty Harry, Kojack, Ironsides, Mannix…I thought the only hope for my abnormal dreams of the exciting life was police work. Action!

But, I found myself, working in a factory to pay the bills of a small apartment. This time there were country rats here and there and country mice in cupboards, not bit city ones. But all greasy none the less. I was welding supermarket, shopping carts together. One day, I passed a mirror in the factory, bathroom and saw not me, but rather the image of my father and his sweaty, blue-collar. NO! Says I, "no!" He was making the food cans in New York and I was making the shopping carts to put the cans into, in Texas? NO! So, in that one day, thoughts of escape boiled my blood! I took steps...

I hung up my wielder's mask for a "uniform," cowboy hat. I enrolled in a college for Police Science and worked for several security companies as an armed guard. I did the usual grunt, guard gamut, transported money, worked country, western bars and dance halls. Walked the cold and dark parking lots, construction sites and factories. Oddly, when I once slaved away inside these factories I made about $2 an hour. As a guard simply watching the workers, I made $2.50 an hour! This was much easier, thought I. Still boring, but easier.

In the mornings I would report to college classes and work on that criminal justice degree. That's my ticket! (Some of my police instructors back then worked on the Kennedy Assassination. They were absolutely positive that Oswald worked alone.) With many of these courses under my skinny belt, I began to apply to Dallas area police departments. They would have nothing of this Yankee, biker dude. On a red hot, summer day, I walked out of the Garland, TX Police Department, rejected again, and took a good look around at the world from these municipal porch steps.

In the world around me, Vietnam was cooled on the surface, but was cooking off to a bigger fiasco than anyone imagined. Nixon-the republican had brought to a public end what democrats Eisenhower, Kennedy had started and Johnson brewed. What's a foolish, immature, displaced, rejected young, Yankee, biker-dude to do in this world? Well, one thing for sure, the Army wants me! Yeah! The Army always wanted me! Even more than those Australian women!

I joined the U.S. Army Military Police, with little personal purpose or mission, except to live a life of surprise and excitement. You know, like you see in all the John Wayne movies. It wasn't until a few years later, that I matured just enough to realize just how important the military and policing was. That, and the Duke mislead me just a bit, you know?

If anything interesting happened to me in these pre-Army days, they will fit into the other essays. I just want to dodge that whole “born on a farm” sleeper, bio part. But, this is how I wound up in the police business, and the martial arts really. I wasn't motivated to save the world, or help people, be patriotic, or be the good guy. Fact was -I was just bored.

I am often asked, “Would you do it all again?” If I had to do I all again? I would come back as a Mexican general. Man, those guys are powerful, as anyone knows who's worked the border, or who has had to chase fugitives, as I have, way down ol' Mexico way.

 

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

//////\\\\\

 

 

18 April 2007: In the Company of Heroes

There is an adage, a story where a son asks his dad if he - the dad- was a hero. The father replies, "no son, but I served in the company of heroes."

Thinking back, I have served with heroes, especially in the early 1970s in the Army, where so many people around me were both Korea War and Vietnam War vets. In subsequent police work? Welllllll, not so many heroes I think. Not like that anyway. I know that some nice folks will like to say that "any cop is a hero." But, we ain't.

I have served with military, vet cops like successful Vietnam, Marine sniper, Jim Tom Bush to name just one. I mean to say, there were many a war vet in the early police ranks. They are coming around again thanks to Afghanistan and Iraq! And we on the streets of the USA will be better for it. These folks are the most inspirational to me.

Real heroes never admit they are heroes. That is part of being a hero, isn't it? Aw shucks! But, I really like this "company of heroes" observation. I embrace it myself, however there is more to this story line than the young son has to grasp when he gets much older. He will learn that his dad also served in the company of dingbats, dipshits, losers and jerks and idiots, too. Worse, some of his dad's co-servers may consider his fabled father one of the aforementioned categories.

I have served with heroes, but I have served with lots of goats too. You see it is transitory. I have seen moments of heroism before my very eyes. My superiors have told me I myself have had heroic moments. Aw shucks! But, usually in life, people are both heroes and goats at any given time. I have been a hero and a goat. Plus, any number of people I knew may consider me a candidate for the aforementioned, "lessor" categories. I have also done time with the dingbats and daushbags - that's a yankee/street term for...well...ahhh daushbags!

When I tell these police and military tales here, it is important to note that they are really small tales. Perhaps merely at the level of mere, human interest stories. Just a travel log with occasional blood, kicks to the nuts, and gunshots. They are small tales of small events about the small people in everyday life. Small soldiers and small cops living day-to-day, responding as best they can at the moment. They may be about important, big issues, but not about me, as "I am just passing through, ma'am."

Me, not being the hero, begs to explain that my only true talent here maybe is that I tell a small story with a quirk or an odd bit of insight. And I try to pack each one with at least one educational tip, so I might trick future cadets into learning something, or trick vets into remembering something. In the end, I wouldn't dare be considered a hero of anything. The best I would hope for is that people I knew would consider me a very "diligent and dogged detective." Or, that all these martial courses I have cobbled together, were "competent and useful." Or, "Hock wrote material Ernest Hemingway would have enjoyed." Yeah, yeah, I'd like that. That would make me feel proud. Tombstone stuff. Odd huh? Not for me. But the word hero shall not be found. But, not the word goat either. So I guess that's a good thing.

Moot talk about tombstones really, because my ashes, along with my wife's will be mixed up and spread somewhere. Maybe in Hill Country of Texas. She'd fancy herself being part of the bluebonnets and the wildflowers. Me out there? Maybe my dust will cause a rattlesnake to cough, (damn things) or give a crack dealer fits of hay fever for as long as possible. Or, as the great Johnny Cash said, "...or I may come back as a single drop of rain." Small, huh? Small.

You might catch me here in some "aw shucks" moments, but I do value the line, "me a hero? No son, but I have served in the company of heroes." I certainly have and in their brightest, shiniest moments. These tales I tell here are about the heroes and, well...the dipshits and the dingbats too. The hero and goat moments of small, everyday people doing the best we can. I think we, unlike the young and curious son, are all old enough to understand both the heroics and the muddy goat pen, and like the very wisp of life itself, how all are quite fleeting. Me? I'm just passen' through.

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

//////\\\\\

 

16 April 2007: Back at Mid-South Command

At the risk of sounding like so many other people's blogs, I report here, ala travel log, that I am now back in the prestigious Captain James T. Kirk Chair at Mid-South Command in Tennessee, USA. Just In the last 30 days I have done seminars in:

 

- Nashville, TN

- Meridian Naval Base, Mississippi

- Two cities in Belgium

- Frankfurt Germany

- 5 days in the ol' homestead in FT Worth, TX (no seminar-just packed clean underwear and got a haircut)

- Back in the Nashville, TN. area late tonight.

 

All in four weeks. I swear I feel like it has been three months. I appreciate everyone who came to see me (187 American and European people). I appreciate your patience with me here on the blog page, in not being able to create great words, alarming, true action tales and introspective reflections of wisdom here daily, on the blog.

My heart belongs deep in Texas, as I am a Texan by choice, not by accident. And there I shall return ASAP. Meanwhile, thee Prestigious Kirk Chair, like Air Force One, is where-so-ever I sit, contemplate, and plan world domination. Right now? Mid-South Command in Tennessee!

"Navigator, third star to the right!"

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

//////\\\\\

 

 

14 April 2007: Square-eth in the Yonder Back

 

 

 

 

Oh ye' who do-eth all the frisking, pat downs and body searches. Hear Ye!

Hear Ye! Bewareth of the knife that is carried right down the spinaleth cordeth. For such is a place where the common hands do not travel. And instructors do noteth teach.

For I feareth we shall forget and it is good to cast eyes on yonder rig so as to implant the suggestion that the sonth-of-bitchth might be carrying there...eth.

Prepare ye for the sabereth gripeth!

 

 

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

//////\\\\\

 

12 April 2007: The Cheerleaders of the PR-24...Keep on, Cheering On...

 

My only passing chance at an upset stomach this last European trip was to see this photo in a weapons/law enforcement magazine of a couple of knuckleheads and the sub-standard weapon, the PR-24. Not to rehash the tonfa arguement, but take a good look at this photo.

1) Does he really thing he can spin that baby with enough momentum to stop a knife attack slash? Er...I mean a REAL attack, not a training-room one, or a photo-op one?

 

2) That knife attack arm will pass right through the stick, forcing it aside because of the guy's inheritently weak hand grip on a round handle, causing the shaft to turn. Then the arm and knife follows in.

Think how much he would be better off just grabbing the end of the stick. Think of the force of such a grip. Think about the protective power when holding the stick on its end, versus having the round stick handle spin in your hand. (you know it will!).

Have a PR-24? Find saw. Remove handle. Throw handle in the trash can. Now you have a simple, superior weapon for better striking, blocking and of course grappling, as the handle just gets in the way of numerous grappling tactics.

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

//////\\\\\

 

10 April 2007: The Head Shot - Notes by Ron Avery, Special Featured Author and Renowned Gun Expert

By Ron Avery, police and shooting vet and President, Director of Training of
http://www.practicalshootingacademy.com . Ron says-

 

"In any discussion of lethal force shooting, the subject of head shots is one that needs to be addressed thoroughly. I would like to offer some concepts and drills to share with officers and other personnel that are interested in this important topic.

 

We know that hits to the central nervous system (CNS) result in more or less instant incapacitation of subjects. The problem with a head shot is that it can be a fleeting, frustrating target There is a high probability of a miss when doing it under real world conditions. This problem is compounded by officers who only train head shots from static positions or moving slowly. This problem gets bigger with lenient scoring procedures or too big a target area. Then there is the matter of what to do if you keep missing the head and have to account for the rounds fired.

 

Other problems are not training to take the shot with the first double action pull for autos that are set up that way. This raises the question of whether we should be training folks to rapidly thumb cock the hammer if the need for a fast, precise head shot at distance is to be taken. Heavy trigger pulls and precision shots at speed do not go together well. This would be a good case for lightening the trigger pulls to allow proper isolation of the finger at speed.

 

Lastly, there is usually no time pressure when the shot has to be taken. I am glad to see that some individuals are shooting head shots in 1.5 seconds at 7 and 10 yards in training. My only question is: What is the start position for the drill? Weapon on target or a ready position?

 

First let's examine the situations that the officer will most likely have to take a head shot.

 

- Close quarter assaults - within 5-7 yards, perhaps as far as 10 yards. These may or may not be preceded by body shots.

 

- The only target available is the subject's head ; i.e.; he is shooting from some form of cover or is in a crowd situation.

 

- Where a rapid incapacitation is called for : i.e. hostage type situations or suicide bombers.

 

Now let's look at some dynamics in these situations.

 

- Lighting conditions - Great, Good, lower light? Twilight? Need for artificial illumination?

 

- Is the subject moving or still?

 

- How far away are they?

 

- How well do you have your gun sighted in?

 

- How fat is your front sight? Does it pretty much cover the head at 15 yards?

 

- What kind of position are you shooting from? Standing, Kneeling? Prone? Barricade? Awkward position leaning around a vehicle?

 

- What kind of time pressure is there to fire? Is the target going to disappear or does he only present a fleeting target as they are moving in and through cover or crowds?

 

- What kind of backstop is there in the event that you miss?

 

- Are you moving or stationary when you are taking the shot?

 

- There are other questions to be asked but these will suffice for now. The main point is, do you really train head shots under realistic conditions or just do "rubber stamp" training to satisfy the brass?

 

Understand, I am not picking on anyone here. Not ever. I want to help people make better choices by being well informed of the dynamics of lethal force situations that involve high speed, precision shooting so that the training can be realistic and meaningful and they can be prepared when their time comes."

 

For more on this subject and his great list of related, training drills, and just more on Ron Avery in general, please do check out: http://www.practicalshootingacademy.com/

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

//////\\\\\

 

 

9 April 2007: M16, the M4 to H&K 416

A funny thing happened on the way to the military weapons appropriations committees. They were ignored. With little to no fanfare and no taxpayer monies - zero - US Special Forces, so tired of waiting for a new, functional weapon to replace the M16 and M4, developed and customized one themselves.

 

If you have handled them, been in and around the U.S. Military you will learn that the M16 "family" rifles have had their problems. No weapon will ever be truly loved by all, but this one has had its large share of detractors. All weapons jam, but the M16 and M4 jam-under-fire list is a long and scary one, dating back to the early Vietnam war to last week in Irag.

The Pentagon spent more than several million developing the XM26. But, the 18 pound weapon proved to heavy and bulky for the battlefield. This process delayed better options. It did not however delay the elite Delta Force, long free to improvise and customize their own weaponry, into making some, tax fee,non-committe advances.

The answer is the Heckler and Koch 416 and It's dramatically better mechanics. The U.S. Army plans on buying 100,000 of them in fiscal year 2008 at a price of $1,300 a piece. But, the regular Army will still be using the M16 and M4 because the Pentagon states that replacing all of them would be too costly.

For more:

See the M16: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M16_rifle

See the M4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_Carbine

See the H&K 416: http://www.armytimes.com/projects/flash/2007_02_20_carbine/

Read the full story here: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/atCarbine070219/

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

//////\\\\\

 

 

6 April 2007: England Loses? Iran Loses? No, Mommy Wins!

The 15 British troops are released from Iran and are home. Looking back over their captivity, I have some interesting memories.

First off, Iran's president smoked the world with great PR. Smoked it. This smiling rat fink ran the strings of the violin and the world danced to his tune. Seeing this goofball, who by the way, denies the WWII holocaust occurred and wants to brew nuke material…seeing him smile, handshake and release the 15 is quite a staged show. The 14 men had nice, new, pastel suits on - no ties - just like the President! As Drudge said, “Look Ma? I got to go to Iran and all I got was this stinking suit.”

I recall the black-haired, Marine on Iranian television, standing before a map like a friendly weatherman, with the giant smile of a little boy, eyes wide open and so innocently saying, “we are sorry, we didn't mean to …we don't want to…” God, I hope he was acting. As many perform for food and medicine and for a host of other tricks. Outsiders do not know the physical and mental pressures.

“We're so sorry, Uncle Albert. We're so sorry if we've caused you any pain.

But the kettle's on the boil and we're so easily gone astray.”

The Iranians fiddled on the female of the group- the mother, “how could the British government let a mother leave for work like this?” They said, shaming the British people for allowing this, this feminist movement thing to happen.

The distinct thing I noticed while over here in Europe was the media covered the 15 families minute-by-minute, day-by-day of the captivity. There was a long speech from a mother about her baby boy, how nice he was and how she wanted to hold him in her arms again. The media eats this up. The Brits watching suffer along in emotional anguish. Mummy cries. Mummy.

Mum? Your kid is a friggen' soldier in a friggen' war.

War sucks. People die. People get maimed. Blood is shed. Etc.

Nations rise and fall.

Mummies and daddies can surely feel this way. But, media! This non-stop, Mommy coverage undermines the drive and spirit of a nation. It softens the motive. Weakens its resolve.

U.S. Marine Casey Sheehan went to Iraq twice. He died in action. A hero. His choice. His mommy Cindy went on a relentless peace campaign. Subsequent interviews with her revealed she has the intellect of a cue ball and the knowledge of world history and politics that rivals a dead, tree stump. (She said that even World War II should not have been fought.) But, you all listen to the Peace Mommy! Does anyone doubt that Marine hero Sheehan is twisting in his grave over his mother's actions?

And…all this was happening when I popped in the DVD, Bravo Two Zero to watch, with the great actor Sean Bean playing “Andy McNabb.” Now, the movie is a bit exaggerated, but their capture and torture by Iraqi specialists is a serious and scaring recreation. THAT is a capture. And McNabb's tough, SAS background, summary, tells the tale of a soldier, who dreams of his wife and kids, but wants no such sobbing from them or otherwise-parents. None. A professional soldier is different breed.

Stupid people will not see how Iran played this out to the max, especially when they see the mommies hugging their little boys when they landed, like a lost kindergarten class returning. When the Brits wipe the tears from their eyes, Blair and all will be wiping the pie from their faces. And the media is right there, filming every goopy second. And the greasy bastards - those being all of our enemies - sharpen their curved swords as they see yet another soft spot, another pale underbelly, to eat away our infidel resolve.

 

"Me mummy and me grandmummy are so happy that their little Navy boy is home from the nasty-man, field trip!"

Well, well now, this Rambo strikes fear in the hearts of the enemy doesn't he?

The reunions should be in private. Unfilmed. The SAS and other special forces return quietly, shunning fanfare, for all the reasons listed here in this essay. The government needs to get a handle on this crap. USA? Take heed! Hostage Recovery Management.

These kids picked up by the Iranians? They are just kids, not SAS. Caught in a small mess inside a giant mess. If they had been U.S. soldiers? Probably the exact same outcome (or way worse) would have happened. All I am saying is we need a little less Mommy-Talk and little more Kick-Ass talk, else we all may end in a Jihad Holocaust that some fanatic idiot will some day get to say,

“Oh? Oh, the holocaust of the Christian world? Oh, that never actually happened.”

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

//////\\\\\

 

3 April 2007: Last Days in Belgium...

 

Had a great time. Good crowd and Chris Snoeck and I are planning the annual returns. So much thanks to all.

(Will be back in early December for a 4-day CQC and PAC camp)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

//////\\\\\

 

2 April, 2007: The 300? Is 300% Darn Good

"I've seen it four times. I am ready to go again," one of my practitioners told me last weekend in a Nashville, Tennessee seminar. Many other friends have seen it three and four times...in the first week of release! They have all told me they would take me and see it again. These folks contributed to the whopping 170 million dollar opening weekend. The movie phenom that is The 300.

The Spartans. In the 1950s I saw a movie called the 300 Spartans with Richard Egan. I was young child and this left an unforgettable impression. Then Burt lancaster made a military movie, "Go Tell the Spartans." in the 1970s. I called my impact disarm module the "the Spartan Module" for 12 years now.

Fiction is the poetry of non-fiction. It tells a tale with special prose that attracts people often not attracted the raw facts. More fiction appeared on the Spartan scene. I recall 8 years ago? 6 years? The insider warrior talk was all about the hardcore book, Gates of Fire by historian Steven Pressfield. It was a hardcover book of very moderate, sales success at the time. I think some officers at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis first told me about it. It seems if you were in modern, progressive martial arts, or were a soldier, sailor, Marine or airmen smart enough to read, you devoured it. I read it and found it great historical fiction. It holds a ranking in the lower end of the top 25 best books I have ever read. Then came the Frank Miller graphic novel, which, the movie producers say, inspired the film almost frame by frame. (I never saw it).

Like the Alamo, The 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, holding off the Persians is a memorable event in history. While the actual Alamo history is not much like the John Wayne movie version, and more like the recent Billy Bob Thorton movie version. Alamo fable/Alamo fact or not, the vane Santa Anna wasted days fooling with the Alamo standoff while the Texican troops up north mustered and Army. Santa Anna could have simply marched right around the Alamo.

With a small group of Belgium and Netherlands students free for last Sunday night - this "Belgium 7" -we marched in to a Gent movie theater and watched The 300. It was in English with both French and Belgium subtitles because here in Belgium, both these languages exist. Part-Tarentino, part-Italian western, part-Sin City, it was a simplistic, artistic version. Fantasy. Art. Action. All in all an impeccable, tight story and it accomplishes exactly what it set out to do.

There were some great, emotional, patriotic speeches in the film, about defending democracy against tyranny and "mysticism" (Islam?). Iran is Persia and one cannot help but see parallels with modern global politics. You just can't help picking out the liberal "USA democrats," or the lack of "council" support. Now, granted the movie situation is more extreme, as/was the Spartan, Greek homeland about to be land-invaded. But, well...you just can't help making some of these comparisons. I am sure many liberal hypocrites will cheer the movie, tear up at the speeches and miss the real world comparisons and subtle message.

Historically, there was a whole lot going on that was not covered in this fantasy movie. For one example, 7,000 to as much as 11,000 other Greeks from other Greek states fought with the Spartans. But, near the end these others traveled north to regroup against another pending mid-country, invasion and the 300 Spartans made their Alamo stand.

I left the theater, enjoying the movie. I give it a thumbs up for mission accomplished. I found myself thinking about it the next day. Perhaps I will watch the old Richard Egan movie again. No doubt it will soon be in the DVD rental stores. If I were in charge of training the Marines, I'd make them watch this once a week.

More 300 stuff...

The 300 http://300themovie.warnerbros.com/home.html?dl=undefined

The 300 Spartans http://www.300spartanwarriors.com/battleofthermopylae.html

Gates of Fire http://www.stevenpressfield.com/

Go Tell the Spartans

http://www.amazon.com/Go-Tell-Spartans-Burt-Lancaster/dp/B0007TKNDI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4767904-5376762?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1175546990&sr=1-1

 

Probably the best history? The History Channel documentary!

http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=77211

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

 

//////\\\\\

 

1 April, 2007: CQC Group Rank, Instructorship or Just Train, 4 -Day Combat Camps-2007

Let's start the month off just right, with listing the first half of the 2007, 4-day camp, news. No matter what your current status is - rank Beginner? Basic? Advanced? Expert? We will cover material you need to move up and onward. Or simply train for knowledge and exercise to add-on or build your own self, your way.

 

 

 

Gent, Belgium, Dec. 7, 8, 9, 10

 

(all seminars build the ranks for the CQC Group AND

the SFC Hand, Stick, Knife, Un and PAC courses.)

 

 

 

Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum! http://www.hockscombatforum.com

Report back to Headquarters! http://www.hockscqc.com/

//////\\\\\