US Grant On Following Rules
I’m Bart Axelrod, Krav Maga instructor at EP Martial Arts and Krav Maga Providence, in East Providence RI and a paramedic in the Boston area. I like inspirational quotes. Here’s one that made an impression on me;
“I don’t underrate the value of military knowledge but If men make war paying slavish obedience to rules they will lose.” US Grant
This quote is from the man who won the civil war. Grant was a innovator on the battlefield, he was described by James J. Schneider as “The father of the operational art”. Grant was a man of great vision who could take in all the variables of a military campaign and find innovative ways to win. According to Schneider, Grant wasn’t restricted by convention to fight battles in concentrations as generals had for 2000 years. Napoleon was the most famous general who fought the conventional way by concentrating all his forces in order to achieve the decisive victory. Grant the innovator distributed his forces and coordinated them in multi dimensional attacks including the first joint force operations between the army and navy.
Grant’s quote was meaningful to me because of his reference to following rules in combat. There is a fallacy in martial arts that if it’s not sports fighting, MMA for example, you’re involved in a street fight and that means there are no rules.
Some Krav Maga schools advertise “No Rules!!” on their promotional material but is that right, or is that meaningless hype like an Outback commercial that says “No Rules!”??
Sargent Rory Miller is a highly respected writer about all aspects of violence. He retired after a long career in maximum security corrections. Miller says that there ARE rules in EVERY type of conflict. It becomes extremely dangerous when you don’t know the rules or even worse are using the wrong rule book.
Fighting is a form of communication, (the same way that war is a form of politics). The schoolyard pushing match between 2 boys is repeated everywhere around the world by all men and it is a hardwired “monkey dance”. A ritualized male on male fight for dominance. It’s a predictable pattern designed not to hurt anyone seriously, for “monkeys “within their own group. In prehistoric times it was very bad for a small tribe of humans to lose one of their members. That is why it the monkey dance is designed to establish dominance but not seriously harm.
Miller explains that there are several types of violence which depend on the motivations of the aggressor.
There is social violence where dominance is the goal, this can be diffused easily by an apology or just walking away. (Rory says “nobody ever got in trouble for keeping their mouth shut”.
Asocial violence is violence where the victim is not considered a person. There are two types of asocial violence, resource and process.
The resource predator wants something and they are not going to take no for an answer. Rory uses the analogy that if you were trying to feed your starving children would you just accept a no or would you kill to feed them? This category of predator includes emotionally disturbed persons, (edp’s), and drug addicts, who need as much as several hundred dollars a day to feed their habit or they will suffer and may die. They’re not going to take chances and get hurt. They probably will not confront you, more likely they will use “overwhelming force and maximum surprise” to get what they want. There won’t be a fight.
A process predator doesn’t want something, they want YOU. To this predator you are not a person but a toy for them to have fun with. If you think you can talk these two asocial predator types down with posturing or logic or begging think again.
The last time you went fishing did you stress out about watching the fish flap around trying to breathe? Did you feel guilty when you cut it’s head off?
Now you know how the asocial predator feels and no words are going to make them stop. On the contrary, your apology or begging or social monkey dance response is predictable and very agreeable to them. They expect that pre-programmed response and they know they have you. It confirms their power over you.
So be aware of the type of conflict you may be in and act appropriately. Know the rules don’t play the wrong game.
