SFC 10 Year Anniversary
September 2006
HEADQUARTERS DOCTRINE
HOCK'S DAILY "BLOGGING"
(...or as daily as possible)
"Read by thousands round the world!"
McCann's Art of Boxing
5 DVD Series! Listed at:
30 September, 2006: Guam
I have landed in Guam and have my customery problems with my ancient laptop about connecting to the internet. Just going to have to get a new one. Probably we'll kick off October's blogs the next scribblings. But I am still alive and kicking!
New news meanwhile? We may be condensing the Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland seminars (they are but a short ferry boat road apart for a much bigger event) this November. Works under way. Like a big Euro PAC and CQC camp.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
25 September , 2006: Ego Deflated? Anger and Violence: or, " Why is President Clinton Wagging and Poking his Finger in Chris Wallace's Face?"
Last weekend, The former president practically climbed into Fox Sunday host Chris Wallace's chair over a few moderate interview questions. Deep down we all do instinctively know what triggered such a hyper-sensitive hotspot response, but this emotional display made me write a few notes here on related subjects.
Dr Roy Baumeister's recent book The Cultural Animal, Human Nature, Meaning and Social Life writes on the results of many social psychology studies on low-esteem, high esteem and interpersonal violence. Another book to read on this subject is Daniel Chirot's Modern Tyrants. One such issue ponders the question - do some (?) or most (?) people turn violent from too much self-hate, or too much self-love?
In synopsis, it was commonly considered once that depression and self-hate, the so-called - low esteem theory, was a major, root cause of aggression. Yet, while this may manifest at times in our world, there are many other factors at play, because not all people with low self esteem resort to violence compared to people with high self esteem. (Baumeister offers The Hitler Master Race sample) Psychopaths are exceptionally prone to aggressing behavior and criminal conduct and they always have favorable opinions of themselves.
So, the opposite end of this esteem spectrum is what he calls "threatened egotism." He suggests that we should be aware of people who regard themselves as superior, especially when those beliefs are inflated, weakly grounded in reality or heavily dependant on having others conform them frequently. Conceited, self-important individuals often turn nasty and suddenly) toward those who puncture their bubbles of self-esteem.
Why is a hothead such a hothead? Why do they twist off so easily? Violent criminals describe themselves to prison analysts as special, elite persons who deserve preferential treatment. But, you can find these insecure tirades and actions everywhere from all levels of people who are undeserving of a prison cell or even an official DSM (http://allpsych.com/disorders/dsm.html ) listing. This holier-than-thou syndrome can be found in everyday people and everyday life. A police officer reminded me yesterday that some of his biggest people-problems in traffic stops come from the wealthy, established people in his city.
In the end, I do think that we cannot take ourselves so seriously...too seriously. This is one fact I did learn in the Army. In Basic Training. For some reason, my drill instructors just did not recognize my special qualities like my mama did! Collin Powell warned in his autobiography that "we cannot be so attached to our ego that when its blown, it doesn't take us down with it."
Now, I don't think Clinton is a psycho-criminal! If you think Clinton is a pscho-criminal you need your head examined. Bubba sure has a few, tender hotsposts and he may have missed some sleep the night before and was a little testy! But, also some of aforementioned, high-esteem issues may well be at play. Maybe Bubba needs my ol' drill instructor, Sgt. Macaskill to intercede with one commanding, "shut up, dummy!" along with his patented, stone-cold, eye-killer expression.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
22 September, 2006: Skinny Sideways and Canting
A couple of quick observations on shooting a pistol with one hand, intermixed with some shared words of shooting expert Lt. Dave Spaulding (Ret.). The points here are how to position your body when shooting with one hand and how to position your pistol. So:
Point 1) Body position issues
Point 2) One-handed, pistol, hand and arm position issues
There are many reasons for having to shoot with one hand, least of which there seems to be an inert, reflexive response for many to do so when startled, even after much two-hand training. People shoot with two hands to:
- keep the weapon on target - better support
- reduce recoil
- handgun retention
and they typically stand:
- flat and frontal to you
- bladed
- completely sideways
Point 1) Some suggest you can shoot one-handed with a two-handed grip style body position. Strike a bladed pose as if you were using a two-handed grip anyway and then just use one hand. This does still leave your body in more of a frontal position and a larger target that turning your body a "skinny" sideways.
I have conducted hundreds and hundreds of sims training sessions through the years and observed this one-hand phenomena occur many times. Here's a classic situation I've seen many times. A veteran police officer and shooter stands before a teenager with no training. They draw. The teen instinctively turns his body sideways to avoid the pain of the sims. He gets real slinky too, as if he is actually dodging the barrel as he sees it on him. The officer drops into his two-handed, range, stance. More often than not the two-handed officer, bladed and more frontal takes quite a few more rounds than the sideways, slinky teen. You might say the uneducated folks have "won" a lot of these CQC training battles versus the range veteran. I have drawn many radical conclusions from watching these sims match-ups.
"Sideways" was a classic shooter's position when I started shooting in the 1960s. In the typical police qualification course, some 25 rounds or so were shot from the 50 yard line in this one-hand, sideways position. The thought today of having to shoot that far without binoculars gives me the willie nelsons. But, I qualified expert many times in those days, even with a snub-nose .38! YES! It can be done. Also, the duelers of yesterday always stood sideways to limit their body exposure to the opponent. We were told back then, that standing sideways made us less of a target. Nowadays, they say real slick, impressive terms like, smaller "shooter profile." Yet, no one today seems to be an advocate of "skinny sideways."
Point 2: To cant or not to cant. Recanting the cant!
There seems to be two schools of thought on the angle of the pistol in your one-handed grip. Many experts suggest that you cant the pistol at a near .45 degree angle. They say that this angle is the natural angle of the hand and really assists in the simplicity of execution. More than one expert I know has run tests on the angled grip and they say at greater distances your accuracy drops off. I myself have never tested this, but I have no reason to doubt it.
Then others, like Dave Spalding offer a more rigid opposite:
"Try this the next time you shoot at the range. Get into a solid shooting position with your shoulders above your toes. Extend your arms in your favorite shooting platform-Weaver, isosceles, who cares?-and then lock your support arm back against your upper torso. Make sure you lock the support arm back because this will help lock the extended arm, too. Note: It really doesn't feel all that different to shoot with one hand than with two. If you need a bit more recoil control, put a little more upper-body lean into the gun. If the gun seems to waver and move in front of the target, don't try to cant it inward. Rotate the shooting-arm elbow down toward the ground and straighten the shooting-hand thumb. You'll find this locks the arm all the way from the shoulder through the wrist. If you need to bring the gun back to the torso for a close retention shot, all you'll need to do is bend the elbow and draw the gun back. This is simple to execute, so don't over-complicate the process. With this method, you can fire the gun anywhere from just above the holster pouch to a full extension away from the body."
...says Dave in the latest Law Officer Magazine
Just some points to ponder. How to stand. How to hold that pistol when shooting with one hand. Meanwhile, my prayer is "may all your enemy be ignorant and untrained (but I hope they don't turn skinny sideways on you, especially while you are recanting the cant!)
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
19 September 2006: Its Aikido Season Again, Oops, I mean Football...
I usually get a a few snide remarks from hard-liners when I make the generalization that "fighting is a lot like football." FOOTBALL IS A GAME!" they declare and I know that. I just refer in general to collision energy of football and how it so often resembles the passion and drive of angry people in real fights. If you watch a football game you'll see many little energy, aikido-like battles afoot on the grid iron. Watch the energy!
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
16 September 2007: Neuronal Synchronization or Adrenaline Side-Effects
Hammer a nail. Turn a screw with a screw driver. Follow a tennis ball. Tie your shoe. Paint a door. Watch the last two minutes of a close football game. All the while your brain is setting priorities, filtering in and OUT things that distract and disrupt your concentration. Your brain is conducting what the experts call - Neuronal Synchronization.
So, if it shuts out distracting visuals and sounds when you simply concentrate on something? What about when you are fighting? When you are in a gunfight? A fist fight? Did you really have tunnel-vision and tunnel-hearing from an overdose of the buggy-man/ogre adrenaline? Or where you experiencing simple Neuronal Synchronization?
When you answer the adrenaline test questions and the survey asks, "did you experience tunnel vision." Your answer is probably..."ah, well... yes." (but the same sort of focus thing happened while you were watching the football game, just nobody asked.
A recent article in Scientific American Magazine by a team of doctors - Andreas K. Engel, Stefan Debener and Cornelia Kranczioch now report the major steps in research documenting the precise, neuron filtering process the brain uses to focus. They explain the numerous studies on the subject and the actual steps the brain uses in the process, qualifying and quantifying this attention/focus filtering.
For a quick summary-from the article itself:
" And do our intentions, needs and expectations influence what we perceive? Recent research offers some fascinating insights. Homing in on Attention. What happens in our brains when we deliberately concentrate on something? Does some mechanism inside our heads decide which information reaches our consciousness--and which does not? As cognitive neuroscientists, we would like to know what is behind such phenomena. Psychologists began seeking answers to such questions as long ago as 1890, when American philosopher and psychologist William James wrote about important characteristics of attention in The Principles of Psychology. James concluded that the capacity of consciousness is limited, which is why we cannot pay attention to everything at once. Attention is much more selective: it impels consciousness to concentrate on certain stimuli to process them especially effectively. James and others also distinguished between types of attention.
Some of them are "self-created": a penetrating odor, a loud siren, a woman in a bright red dress amid people clad in black. (Many researchers now call this process "bottom-up," because the stimuli battle their way into our consciousness automatically because they are so striking.) Alternatively, we can actively and deliberately control our focus (called "top-down," because higher brain regions are involved at the outset). For example, at a noisy party, we can tune out background noise to listen to the conversation at the next table.
Neuronal synchronization brings order to the chaotic mental world. In fact, cognitive deficits and disordered thoughts among schizophrenic patients appear to be connected to disturbed gamma-band coupling. The healthy brain is, however, anything but a passive receiver of news from the environment. It is an active system, one that controls itself via a complex internal dynamic. Our experiences, intentions, expectations and needs affect this dynamic and thus determine how we perceive and interpret our environment."
For more of these discovered details, please check out the SA magazine as well as conduct searches on the authors' names. Please do so before you find yourself teaching subjects related to adrenaline effects to better understand some of the so-called symptoms of adrenaline, in many cases, may not be from adrenaline at all, but rather from simple focus, attention and Neuronal Synchronization.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
14 September 2007: More Military Knife Fighting Situations
Some knife practitioners spend a disproportionate amount of time training in a range least likely to happen. Longer sword fencing techniques don't always relate to the shorter blade of a knife, and "reality" knife fighting also involves close-quarter grappling and ground combat situations. Military and criminal history shows us that the most common knife attacks are powerful lunges, slashes and stabs, usually accompanied by angry and desperate mad rushes. The dueling part can be over in a second with such a rushing charge and a tangle of hands, a fall, etc. Grappling!
Many knife fights start and finish in the grappling range, the weapons pulled in close-quarters and wrestled into action. Many start and end on the ground. Sometimes the knives are drawn during a ground fight. Sometimes knives are drawn in a close-quarter clinch or clutch, and the participants manage to push each other off, finding themselves in the "dueling" situation, so these showdowns can certainly happen. Sometimes, I wish that duelers could practice with small electric cattle prods. (now more possible!) Only then would they begin to respect the practice knives they are sparring with.
A knife fighter should study in all ranges of combat. Novices are often very frustrated to discover that blade-training goes well beyond stabbing, slashing and performing boxing ring footwork. They need to also practice what might be more commonly referred to as Jujitsu with a knife on an obstacle course....in the rain and snow
And to sum up the unusual factors surrounding "face-off' knife fights, consider this WW II confrontation after a WW II South Pacific battle and explosion:
"I floundered to the surface, the shock of the water cleared my head of some of the smoke and concussion ... sputtering water, I bellied onto the wooden spar on the beach. A bedraggled figure clinging to the other end of the spar cried out in alarm and threat. I reached cautiously for my sheath knife as the Japanese sailor and I eyed each other through the haze of night and battle. I figured he'd come for me. He must have thought I'd go for him. We remained frozen with indecision for a long moment. Then, I eased off the spar on my end. He eased off his end and swam away. Both of us had had all the fight we wanted."
Roy Boehm, Time Magazine, March 1999
There they were, belly-deep in waves, standing on wet mud and shifting sand. Fact is that real world, knife fighting, or any fighting for that matter always involves terrain and conditions. People who teach and depend solely on boxer's footwork to keep their distance, have never been in combat inside a living room or kitchen of a residence, a parking lot, or a small tunnel in Vietnam or Korea, or any rugged terrain on any real-world site. Many knife courses ignorantly teach knife fighting only in the range were a knife fight would be least likely to occur or remain! Boxing ring or fencing footwork alone doesn't prepare you for the geography of combat.
For more on the legendary Roy Boehm, see: http://www.firstseal.com/
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
13 September 2007: Counter-Crime School Registration Deadline
Dear Bubbas and Bubbettes...tonight at midnight (or 11: 59 pm) is the deadline to register for the CC School. http://www.hockscqc.com/shop/product10.html
Due to the materials there are no show-ups and walk-ins. Email me HockHoch@aol.com with questions.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
10 September 2007: Inspired by Applegate in this Way- 10 Year Anniversary Story I had promised myself that this year, this 10-year anniversary to write down some history stories. While I did so in January and February, there has been a gap in the stories. Here is another.
"How?" I thought in the 1980s and early 1990s..."how can one book really cover a subject in one volume?" Really, how can there a book on JKD, called..."JKD?" One book on Krav, one on Gracie BJJ. One on Filipino Martial Arts. Many where so bland and so thin on material compared to the whole course. Who are they fooling with these token books on token subjects. I knew that I wanted to write on subjects, but not tokenize them in one book. ENCYCLOPEDIA! That's it! the only way. If you are going to do it? Do it in an encyclopedia style set. Do it justice!
In 1997, I taught a SWAT team in Wisconsin on the the invite of a Lt. Dennis Davidson, someone who has been a student of mine for a while. I stayed at his house and had a chance to look over his video collection (DVDs in 1997?--ahhh--what's that?) and books. One of his books was Rex Applegate's Kill or Get Killed.
This a book I had read years ago but somehow lost in my many moves. I got a kick out of thumbing through it while at Dennis's place, and we talked about the book. Much of the material in it is good and much could be improved. Some is just plain silly, but it is 50 years old and overall, and the book was an important benchmark in the history of modern fighting systems. Applegate is an American pioneer of sorts.
On the drive to the airport, Dennis tossed me the book, "here," he said. "You talked about how you misplaced yours. So here is mine." I read the book again on the plane back to Dallas and stared out the window. How impossible was it to cover all that Applegate wanted to cover, or could cover, in just one book?
Right there on this plane I decided to try - but to make a series on the subjects rather than a book one could only do a bare, brush over. I decided to call them Training Missions. I knew it wasn't a sexy or flashy name. And in a way, I wanted that type of no-nonsense name. Probably was a financial mistake, but, there it was.
It absolutely needed to have gun material, since the true modern warrior is a hand, stick, knife and gun guy. I had already started teaching gun tactics in seminars. I had been disappointed in the direction gun training had taken in many ways. The books HAD to cover the big four categories of hand, stick, knife and gun. I already had ten-level courses outlined in each of the subjects. There had to be a film series to accompany the books.
So, it was on this plane with a copy of "Kill or Get Killed" on my lap, that the idea of the Training Mission Series was born. This really has become the work of my lifetime and I hope it will be as timeless as the very essence of combat is in itself.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
7 September 2007: Fred Flintstone
It is odd that some of the biggest proponents of the KISS method, are some of the most talented and skilled practitioners you'll find, despite their own staunch arguments for a lowest common denominator / Fred Flintstone level of training and bare requirements. Usually these vocal folks themselves are extremely cross-trained and consistently pushing their martial skills envelope. Exercising, working out and experimenting with several systems new to them. They themselves are not Fred Flintstone. Ironic isn't it? But they want you to be.
Next, there are those stone age advocates who do not push their envelope. They have bought the dumb line-in-the-sand drawn for them. These ARE Fred Flintstone, who do the most simple list of 8 or so combat techniques, and yes! They are often overweight, uncoordinated, and not very athletic. This deficit speaks directly to their abilities to problem-solve the chaos that will usually occur.
I would rather see some attributes and skill development behind those Fred Flintstones. This should be a system doctrine requirement, but getting the Flintstones to do what they call "dead drills," throws them into a philosophical tizzy.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
5 September 2007: KISSING Again!
By now, you all know my feeling about the infamous KISS method as a primary method of training. "Keeping It Simple Stupid," to me, means you're stupid, I'm stupid, the system is stupid and we will always remain stupid. I prefer Einstein's phrase - "keep it simple, but not too simple." And with that expression, he discovered the complexities of the Universe.
So much of solving the complexities of the fighting universe comes from the teacher's ability to "reach and teach." Simplify the complex with superior teaching methods. Reach into your student's brain and touch that unforgettable spot (see last month's, last blog on using the clock as a pattern base for an example).
To prove I am hardly alone in this idea, MANY top trainers find the KISS method just too stupid for its own good. Below, we have guest military and police trainer, U. S. Navy special warfare vet Ken Good of Stategos International in a short essay on this very subject :
"The KISS Principle as a Defense for Inadequate or Sub-Standard Training,
by Ken Good -
This is generally invoked when addressing a more complex system, yet it can be quite an obstacle to actual battlefield superiority. Let's take the principle to the Nth degree and see where it leads.
You are faced with having to dispatch an enemy at twilight. It is a one-on-one engagement to take place on relatively open ground. Both opponents are to start out at a distance separating them at 300 yards, and can initially barely see each other.
Each opponent has, on their respective tables, a few weapons to choose from. One combatant is constrained entirely by the KISS Principle; the other is free to choose his weapons based on the overall environmental considerations and the training he has invested in.
On the table are four weapons:
-a rock,
-a knife,
-a 9mm pistol,
-a 5.56mm M4 Carbine.
What would you choose? One set of tools requires an entire set of skill and knowledge to effectively employ and is exponentially more complicated, and the other is, well, simple....
Does anybody actually believe at this point in history that the United States of America is the dominant superpower because we followed the KISS Principle to the exclusion of all else? You see, in my opinion, the KISS principle is a strong consideration, but should never be the dominant consideration in the world of professional arms.
Skill at arms means exactly that...skill. Skill is the result of consistent, qualitative and meaningful training. There is no getting around that part of the equation. Just because one does not know how to leverage the extra capabilities of a more capable tool does not necessarily make that tool less useful to the more skilled wielder of that tool.
Don't get me wrong--at every turn we should look to simplify whenever and wherever possible. But let's not let the KISS Principle become an excuse to avoid the more complex tasks and training challenges we have to address.
Here is an example of a guy who took what I considered to be a fairly complex process and simplified it for me. Quite a few years ago, I learned to barefoot water-ski in less than 45 minutes from a guy who took a Bronze Medal in the X-Games. I could marginally slalom ski, but was getting pounded into submission trying to figure out how to barefoot. I had a several people try to show me how to barefoot previously, with dismal results....ouch.
A friend of mine set up the time and place to meet this X-Games star. I was uncomfortable, intimidated, if you will, to meet this guy. This was clearly out of my league. The guy recognized this and told me something I will not soon forget. He said, "Don't worry, you will be barefooting, in a few minutes...I am that good!"
I remember thinking, "Man, this guy is cocky!" Turns out, he was that good. During my lesson, he specifically stated that most people really do not understand the dynamics of what is going on with the skier and with the water.
He then gave me an incredibly simple pathway to achieve the biomechanics of what it took to barefoot. Like clockwork, one skill and exercise led and connected to the next. I went from the boom off the side of the boat to a deep water/rope start in less than 30 minutes. In 45 minutes I did some tumble turns and some pretty hard turns and wake crossings, in several cases, on one foot.
I was smiling from ear to ear...He was that good! He really was. It was not what I did, but what he knew and what he knew about how to train people in this particular process. He, no doubt, had taken years of experience, and hours and hours of practice, pain, and frustration and created an almost straight-line pathway to a higher skill level. He distilled it down to what needed to be done, no more, no less.
This is the essence of a good trainer. Skilled at what he or she does, skilled at taking highly complex tasks and making them as simple as possible, without compromising the integrity of the end result and required capability."
*** I agree 110% and Thanks Ken.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
2 September 2006: True Military Knife Fights! Prioritizing Kicking
This is the beginning of my reprinting of true military knife fights I had researched for an old military knife book I wrote. The book sold its run of 10,000 copies. It is out of print now and only a few "newer" people have read the stories. I have added commentary and observations to the story. Keep on eye on this blog for these frequent tales...
"When he holds the knife before you, kick it out of his hand with a big, round crescent kick." says the martial artist. Kicking and knife fighting is often a misunderstood relationship. Kick/punch systems that encourage their students to kick knives out of enemy hands as a primary strategy, and offer little-to-no other options, are making a serious mistake. A simple movement of his knife hand, or a missed kick and that incoming leg is cut.
But, I have learned not to completely count kicking out as a secondary or tertiary strategy versus a knife. As a judge of several knife vs. knife fighting "Killshot" tournaments, more than once I have been surprised to see a knife kicked clean out of the opponent's hand during the most fierce, serious battles. But, your attention please on this! These successful kicks are usually low front snap kicks, and they often accidentally catch the enemy's weapon bearing limb.
Kicking the body is another vital mission in a knife fight. Kicking the groin, knees and ankles of the attacker is a fine strategy. Maybe as high as the stomach! Read this true Marine combat story from WW II South Pacific theatre:
" ... hunkered down in a foxhole ... Huestis was suddenly set upon by a Japanese soldier holding a bayonet. The Japanese bayoneted Huestis in the right shoulder, right arm and neck. As his assailant drew back for another thrust, Huestis kicked him in the stomach, then leaped on him, grabbed the knife arm and clamped on the Japanese's neck in the crook of his arm and squeezed until the man finally died."
James Hallas, The Battle for Sugar Loaf, Preager
Key survival points in this case study:
1) Never give up
2) Grab the weapon bearing limb (unknown hand grab, arm wrap...or both?)
3) Stomach kick
4) Choke to a stangulation death
Kicked him in the stomach in the middle of real hard-core, knife combat?! Actually there are quite a few accounts of people kicking knife attackers, but the target of these kick have usually been to the body, not the blade or blade-hand. Don't discount kicking!
A panther or a tiger is not a creature who hunts and fights with a single claw. His sheer magnificence, his overall strength, speed, weight and teeth make him a mighty killer. When you stand before an opponent in a knife fight, whether you hold a knife or not, you do not have just one claw with which to fight. Your entire body is a weapon on the edge of a ravaging explosion. You must train to hand strike, elbow, knee, bite and kick the enemy when safe from his blade. Survive. Win. Like the panther, you bring more to the fight than a single claw.
Quick synopsis of our SFC Kicking Progression:
All done standing, sitting, kneeling and on the ground when physically possible. All kicks are practiced empty handed AND while holding a knife, a stick and a gun.
- Level 1 The Frontal Snap Kick Module
- Level 2 The Stomp Kick Module
- Level 3 The Knee Strike/Kick Module
- Level 4 The Rear Leg Round Kick Module
- Level 5 The Front Leg Hook Kick Module
- Level 6 The Mule Kick/Back Kick Module
- Level 7 The Side Kick Module
- Level 8 The Thrust Kick Module
- Level 9 The Counters to Kicks Module
- Level 10 The Combat Scenarios Modules involving kicks
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
1 September 2006: Big M.A. An Icky Feeling
I got the new issue today of the NAPMA group's magazine- the Martial Arts Professional. It is truly a business-oriented publication for those unfamiliar with it. I note of late that former 911, NYPD police commissioner - the controversial Bernie Kerik has popping up in partnership with some of these bigger classical martial arts business groups.
Bernie and I go back! Ahhhh - we "went to different schools together," as the old joke goes. But actually we were both military policemen in South Korea at the same time. I never met him! But we were both started off as slugs. Now, I often compare his skyrocket-success to my firecracker-success. I tell my wife, "look at him! Look at me!"
As I kid who grew up on the Hudson River across from Manhattan. I had relatives in NYPD and was well aware of the big, blue, machine/monster that is NYPD. How a man enters that agency and rises to it's top position in some 20 years is an absolutely incredible feat! Isn't it? In fact, to do this you have to also be a superhuman political animal to weave and work your way to the top of NYPD. ANY New Yorker knows what I am talking about.
To many of us locals, there has always been kind of a "Tony Soprano" feel about Kerik. A police version of it, if you know what I mean? Bernie had to drop out of the appointment for Homeland Security director and seemed to always be in the middle of some "small" ethical problem, be it affairs with women or hiring practices, whatever. That, well...political, Soprano-esque feel is present.
While in Korea, Bernie accomplished a huge chunk of a Korean, Black Belt program, as I recall. He eventually finished that off at some point?The magazine ad of this martial arts, rah-rah, business company is now plastering Kerik as some kind of mascot. The subliminal connection is homeland security, and with subtle association - gravitas.
You know when people want to complain about an industry, you hear the term, "Big." Like Big Oil. Big Pharm - as in pharmaceuticals. I guess it has a negative connotation. There is also a Big MA as in martial arts, too. These business groups that may get $1,000 a month from street level schools and so forth, make up the foundation of Big MA.
Few fighting systems are ever big enough to be called Big MA. The UFC is BIG MA! You bet! What a business. Gracies were, but each year the punchers and kickers put them further into their wrestling place. For awhile, Los Angeles Krav Maga might have been called Big MA, but there is so much "little," new, Krav systems Ka-poping up (get the pun?) that the Los Angeles group is splintering to pieces now.
I remember a few years back when BIG MA advertised that Tony Robbins was going to appear at a huge MA convention. They bought lots of ads on this. When you got there? They only showed Tony Robbins video tapes in a big room on a big screen. What an icky trick. Clean-cut, school owners sat through the presentations. Overall? Icky.
But if you want a look at Big MA and see what I mean? Get these MA business magazines. For some reason they make me feel icky. So many of smiley, clean-cut faces in perfect, wrinkle-free GIs or business suits...all looking so smarmy to me. How about that Korean guy in a suit making all those rah-rah poses holding a microphone with the Godzilla smile? As if he is the leading, dynamic, motivational speaker in the world. A year earlier he was billy-bad-ass TKD killer, now...he his smile is so broad it threatens to break his face open. Am I alone and weird on this? Do all these smiley, smarmy people look weird to you?
I guess they steer a lot of people toward making more income, which is a good thing. And now suddenly Bernie pops up with Big MA. I would guess that Bernie is nailing down a pretty penny for this handshake and "you-can-use-my-photo" deal with this MA group. Adding subliminal gravitas. Personally, I'd rather see a Green Beret Captain from Afghanistan make a speech.
Are they tricking us? Leading us on? Creating a homeland security feel with this failed candidate? This gives me that icky feeling. Frankly, this type of thing is just one of several of the icky feelings I get about...BIG MA.
Any comments? Continue the thread on the talk forum!
http://www.hockscombatforum.com
<<<>>>
