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Old 01-20-2008, 11:30 PM   #65
senshincenter
 
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Re: Is Aikido effective for police?

Quote:
Michael Hackett wrote: View Post
David,

Query, did you feel more comfortable when you circled to your right? It seemed as if you had considerable more time when you did, as opposed to moving left or reversing direction from right to left.

The irimi movement at the end of the demo looked pretty effective too.

Good stuff, thanks for sharing.
M,

I don't think I have a side I tend to go with. It is more a matter of what the attacker is providing, plus some environmental conditions that existed at the time - not to mentioned how smooth my draw may have been (for whatever reason - it's almost never the same). So, sometimes the attacker, let's say, looks to head me off, and should I continue, he won't be on the spiral. That might be one reason why I change direction. Or, let's say some of the kids are on the mat - noting there were two more on the mat than visible on camera. Hence, another change in direction. So, I have to adapt - not picking a favorite thing to do, etc. I can't say that's always the case for my attackers. They often have a strategy they go with and they attempt to play that over and over again - hence, why some of the things I end up doing look similar time and time again.

That said, the only other constant principle I have, other than the ones already mentioned, is that I want to be just out of the range of the attacker - or, I want to be as close as I can get to make my shots more sure of hitting their target, at the same time that I'm not exposing myself to all the other issues that come with having my weapon out and being close. This is more important when I'm having to shoot one-handed and while on the move. Shot percentages go way down when you have to do that - as you know. But, if I'm making a shot from about one or two feet away, aiming at the broadside of my attacker, I'm going to do pretty okay. :-) (A good thing when having to shoot a weapon in public - too.)

Additionally, another thing I do as a constant - but is more technical - is that if I go to my support side I shoot one-handed. If I go to my primary side, I shoot two-handed (at least a bit sooner). Another technical thing I try and maintain is that I don't move to the rear - only facing forward. This is to prevent tripping and to increase my ability to adjust my speed, to keep me in the proper range for this kind of high-stress shooting.

In terms of strategy, I never want to get too far away from the idea that a cop is a weapons-man - a gunfighter. I am not against empty-handed fighting, but I think cops should be gunfighters first and last. If I use my hands, it's only because I had too, and I only had to in order to get to my firearm: a gunfighter. So I don't like to stand there toe-to-toe and try some hand-to-hand technique in order to settle the situation, at least not in these life-or-death environments. Getting an arrest may be a different story - at least tactically (not strategically) - but this situation of experimenting with the 21 foot rule is not about affecting an arrest, they are about surviving and going home. They are self-defense, when weapons are involved. In these kinds of situations, my experience suggests that folks that stay and fight with empty hands - used differently than was demonstrated - folks that try techniques like you see time and time again in the video links I posted, well, these are folks that get ran over, overwhelmed, tied up, caught in retention issues, taken to ground (where their belt and vest - the gunfighter's tools - become more obstacle than benefit) BUT FOR WHEN they are not really in a life-or-death situation. Once you stick in more adversaries and more weapons - the point becomes obvious, for me at least. But, I feel it should be obvious already. okay - I'm rambling - and I got my next shift to get too. Talk more on Wednesday - will reply to all the comments then.

good night,
d

Last edited by senshincenter : 01-20-2008 at 11:34 PM.

David M. Valadez
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