Dog Brothers Public Forum

Rambling Rumination:

So, You Want to Be a “Kali Tudo” ™ Fighter? © DBI 2014
by Guro Marc “Crafty Dog” Denny

ONE:


There is a country music song with this refrain ““I ain’t as young as I once was, but I’m as young once as I ever was”.   I like these words quite a bit; they serve me well as a credo, a battle cry if you will, for walking as a warrior for all my days.

In my humble opinion, as we get older when danger and challenge present themselves to have an inner place to go to  where we are “forever young” is key.  To my way of thinking this requires not only having developed peak performance (or, as my friend Chris Gizzi would call it  “going nitrous”) it when one was younger but also keeping it alive and well—which requires assessing one’s peak level from time to time.  This can mean including one hundred yard and/or quarter mile sprints in one’s training regime.  It can mean rolling BJJ vigorously.  It can also mean sparring real contact stick fighting or sparring MMA or doing Force on Force training.

Of course, the trick is to do so without getting seriously injured.  The theme here is closely related to our discussion in the Rambling Rumination titled “Odin’s Eye”http://dogbrothers.com/phpBB2/index.php?topic=2342.0

TWO:

In my case, there is an additional temptation due to my development of  the DBMA subsystem “Kali Tudo” ™.   As many/most of you already know, Kali Tudo is where we adrenalize weaponry idioms of movement for empty hand so that we can have “consistency across categories” when it comes to the “Die Less Often” reality of real world problems.  After all, we do not want to lose time identifying whether the threat is unarmed or armed and selecting an operating system accordingly; we want the faster reactions times and the more-likely-to-be-responsive responses of having one idiom of movement for weapons/anti-weapons, and empty hand.

Unlike my teaching real contact stick fighting being informed by my Dog Brothers fighting, I do not have any cage fights to back up my development of Kali Tudo because I began developing KT when I was already too old (52?) to actually cage fight.   Although I think my adrenal state experience in RCSFg informs my sense of reality rather well, naturally there is room for error were KT to lack flight time in the MMA context.  


THREE:

So where is the evidence for KT?  When I developed the Dos Triques subsystem for Real Contact Stick Fighting, I KNEW it would work and Porn Star Dog and others were there to provide the proof—but what and who do I have for Kali Tudo?   The DBMA credo is “If you see it taught, you see it fought”—the fact that “I” believe in it is not enough for the system to be accepted by most people.

There is some evidence for KT.
 
I have worked with various students such as Pete “C-Smiling Dog” Juska and am proud to report that Pete now holds an amateur MMA title in the Chicago area and that in his last fight used his KT to devastating effect—leaving his opponent badly knocked out an unsound response to Pete’s KT hand/arm game.
 
I have also worked with RFA Bantamweight Champion Pedro Munhoz.  Pedro has officially endorsed KT but as a 9-0 champion being spoken of as likely to be invited to the UFC.   However, with such an opportunity in the air understandably he has decided to stick with the training that brought him this far.


There is also a high level UFC fighter with whom I have been tantalizingly close to working, but either I am travelling or he is travelling or getting ready for a fight.
 
This is a start, but I want more, much more.  Most people want proof first, few are those who are willing to be the ones to provide that proof and unfortunately, at sixty one years of age, I cannot be one of those to “prove it” in the cage.  Yes, many people (I like to think most people, but perhaps some of them are being polite ) who have interacted with me personally are persuaded, but still if I want to produce fighters who fight successfully in the cage with KT—and to be the teacher/coach who can produce such fighters, I need to continuously research so I can continue to grow this system into its potential and leave it with established fighters before I am too old.

FOUR:

And so it was against this backdrop that recently I began sparring MMA using “Kali Tudo” once again for the first time in several years.  Essential to my willingness to do this was that I had built myself into the best shape I had been in for many years—witness the publicity photo currently up at www.dogbrothers.com

Also, essential to doing this was choosing the right context.  As John Machado would say “You have to respect Nature” and the nature of things is that giving away 25-40 years and going against the level of fitness and athleticism of today’s MMA fighters would be to pee into the wind were they to go full tilt boogie against me.

For me the right context has been to play both under the guiding eye of Pedro Munhoz and in the MMA fighter class at the UFC Gym in Torrance under the guiding eye of Kristoff Soszynkici  (6-3 in the UFC-- also you saw him the bad guy opponent for the finale fight in the movie “Here comes the Boom”)

In the case of Kristoff’s team, my function was to help young fighters get ready for a fight.  Thus I was one of three fighters tag teaming the man being readied—i.e. I would be in for only one minute of a three minute round.  This certainly helped compensate for the difference in our aerobic levels!

 FIVE:

I went in with the mission of testing certain techniques and tactics-- and the training methods I had used to install them.  Specifically, I went in with the idea of testing:

a)   The Zirconia Dracula;
b)   Dracula Fang;
c)   Bolo Game, (especially Bolo Loop #2 and bolo against the shoot)
d)   Kalimba Game;
e)   The blending of Bolo Game and Kalimba Game that we call “The Time Machine”.

Here is what I can report so far:

*  The Zirconia Dracula definitely requires “going nitrous”.  If one is husbanding aerobic fitness, which given my level of fitness compared to my sparring partners I was, then one is going to tend to not make it across the gap.  Indeed one may find oneself impaling oneself on a stiff jab and getting a cut over the eye!  Notes to self:
*  more Vaseline,
*  more aerobic fitness (including FARTLEKs);
*  more attention to setting up and choosing the moment to pull the trigger;
*  it was good to experience the Dracula in protecting the nose and the jaw—it works!
*  more research is needed on which is the best angle for that forward diagonal step.

b)   Dracula Fang:  DF tends to weird opponents out.  They tend to stay away.  This is what Pete Juska reports as well from his fights—indeed his dramatic KO came from Dracula Fang causing his opponent to try shooting from too far away.  When they don’t run away, it seems quite solid.

c)   Bolo Game:  Against the people with whom I was playing I can say that THIS WORKS!!!!  REALLY WELL!!!  First it seems to do well with both deterring and stopping the grappler’s shoot (see additional comments in Time Machine commentary).  Secondly, on opponents who do not skitter away, BL#2 to Sector 3 seems to be a rather high percentage combination.

d)   Like the Zirconia, the Kaliba Game requires a willingness to burn some oxygen.  As mentioned my fitness level required caution in this regard and so I did not get to test out KG to my satisfaction.

e)   Time Machine (the blending of Kalimba and Bolo games) WORKS!!!  The only drawback for me was just how much it makes people skitter away.  Yes there area solutions for this in KT, but they require greater parity of aerobic fitness than I had with my twenty six year old opponent.  That said, if the opponent is not skittering away or wants to shoot the floreti concept of the bolo hand means that we never need to overcome inertia and can let fly whenever our opponent seeks to drop and shoot.   I had one perfectly timed bolo where I had to really go soft lest I really stun my sparring partner—after all my job was to help him get ready, not rock him.

SIX:

Unfortunately in one session last month I was doing so well (lots of success with the bolos of Time Machine Game,  and I even got a “head and arm” throw from sprawl!) that my young opponent felt I was up to receiving a vigorous throw wherein my arms were tied up.  I had a pair of bad under hooks and he clasped his hands together and did a hip throw so that we landed on the top of my left shoulder, resulting in a Level 2 AC joint separation that will require several months of proper healing time.  

SEVEN:

Naturally I have gotten quite a bit of “Marc, you’re getting too old to be playing like this anymore” commentary, and just as naturally, I resist  Amongst the things we say at the beginning of a Dog Brothers Gathering is that “Only you are responsible for you” and I committed an error in not reminding my enthusiastic young sparring partner not to throw the old man too hard—so naturally I am tempted to say to myself that next time I will remember to give such cautions.

Really though, this is not the moment for deciding—the time for deciding will be when I have recovered (and the doc says I should have essentially 100% recovery).
It is such as awesome feeling to PLAY and to explore the ideas of Kali Tudo (a man can go a long way on the shouts of the young fighters watching and shouting “Go old man!”) but obviously sooner or later the day will come when I will become Odin gambling his one remaining eye in search of further knowledge and by so doing risking going blind.

That said, though it is INCREDIBLY frustrating to have built up to the level that I had and to have it taken away by the injury, I do not regret it--  for I have learned so very much.  I am incredibly jazzed!
 
EIGHT

As proud as I am of Pete, this is still not as much as I would like.  Behind closed doors I can show the footage of me training Pedro Munhoz, but I do not know that it would be appropriate to go public with that.  And I have my gym stories.  But this is not enough to leave a lasting legacy for this Kali Tudo system in which I believe so much and wish to have outlive me.

Frankly, I WANT  MORE

So let the word go forth—Guro Marc “Crafty Dog” Denny is looking for MMA fighters (amateur and pro) as well as martial arts practitioners to train in Kali Tudo.  Kali Tudo is not instead of what you already do (well, we may look to throw out a few things , , , ) it is IN ADDITION TO what your already do.

Kali Tudo’s strong points are:

1)   Its striking game at distance;
2)   Its striking game to maintain distance and to prevent clinch and takedowns;
3)   Its striking game to close to clinch

In all three of these there are specifics for tall fighters looking to take advantage of their reach and for short fighters looking to solve longer reached fighters.

4)   Its striking game in clinch with some interesting wrinkles when it comes to throws
5)   There are also some interesting wrinkles when it comes to guard and anti-guard games.

Although having a FMA weaponry background is helpful, it really is not necessary.  I now have things to where I can teach strong material right away to people with no weaponry background whatsoever.  I am at a point in Life where I am all about building the next generation, building those who will manifest what I have learned for themselves in their own way.
 
NINE:
 
Remember all of this is in the context of DBMA’s mission statement “Walk as a Warrior for all your Days”.  Towards this end, we seek to have one idiom of movement for weaponry, empty hand, and the blend of the two—what we call “Consistency across categories”.  Kali Tudo is where we adrenalize the movements for empty hand application, not only for the world of young male ritual hierarchical combat of MMA, but more importantly for the interface of gun, knife, and empty hand so that we “Die Less Often”.

The Adventure continues!
Guro Marc “Crafty Dog” Denny

 
California:  New Anti-Gun Laws Take Effect Today, January 1
 
 
Signed into law in 2011, but taking effect today are a number of laws surrounding long gun registration.
•   A person living in California will not need to register their currently owned firearms. However, starting today, whenever a long gun is transferred through a dealer it will automatically be registered to the receiving individual (PC 11106 and 28160).
•   For transactions that do not require a dealer, as of today, the recipient of the long gun will need to register the long gun with the California Department of Justice (see generally PC 27860-28000).
•   Individuals moving into California as of today will need to register their long guns (in addition to handguns) soon after moving into the state (PC 27560).
•   The exception for the dealer requirement for transfers of curio or relic long guns older than fifty years will end today unless the recipient has a California Certificate of Eligibility and a Federal Curio or Relics license; the recipient will still need to register the long gun with the California Department of Justice. (PC 27965 and 27966).
 
Signed into law in 2012 and taking effect today, one fee will be charged for any number of firearms in a single transaction (PC 28240).

As for laws taking effect today for bills that were signed into law this year:
•   Penal Code section 32310 and 32311:  In addition to the current restrictions on manufacturing, importing, selling, giving and lending large capacity magazines,  the law now prohibits buying and receiving to the list of prohibited activities.  Additionally, the law now prohibits a person from manufacturing, importing, selling, giving, lending, buying or receiving “large capacity magazine conversion kits.”  A “large capacity magazine conversion kit” is a device or combination of parts of a fully functioning large-capacity magazine, including, but not limited to, the body, spring, follower, and floor plate or end plate, capable of converting an ammunition feeding device into a large-capacity magazine.  Possession of large capacity magazines and large capacity magazine conversion kits are still not illegal.
•   Penal Code section 25100: With certain exceptions, if you keep a loaded firearm in your residence, and a person prohibited from possessing firearms gains access to the firearm and that person hurts him or herself, someone else or carries the firearm into a public place, you can be prosecuted.  In addition, you can commit “criminal storage in the third degree” if you keep a loaded firearm within any premises where you know or should know a child is likely to gain access to the firearm.
•   Penal Code section 25135: If you live with someone and you know or have reason to know the other person is prohibited from possessing, receiving, owning or purchasing a firearm, you must keep the firearm locked up (with a gun safety device or in a locked container) or keep it on your person or in close proximity.
•   Penal Code section 28220: If the California Department of Justice cannot determine whether a person is prohibited from owning or possessing firearms as a result of a criminal case, mental health commitment, or has attempted to purchase a handgun within the last thirty days, the DOJ can only delay the transaction for up to thirty days while it tries to figure out whether the person is prohibited from possessing or receiving firearms.  After thirty days the licensed dealer may release the firearm but is not required to do so.
•   Penal Code sections 28210 and 28215: A dealer is required to provide a copy of the Dealer’s Record of Sale (DROS) to the firearm purchaser.
•   Penal Code sections 29810, 29825, 29830, 33870: When a person is prohibited from owning and possessing firearms by a court order with a specified date of termination, that person has the option to store their firearms with a licensed firearm dealer.
•   Health and Safety Code sections 8100 and 8105: Those who communicate serious threats of physical violence against an identifiable victim to a psychotherapist are prohibited from owning and possessing firearms for five years.  The psychotherapist is required to report the threat to law enforcement within 24 hours.  A person prohibited this way may petition for the restoration of their firearm rights.
•   Welfare and Institutions Code section 8102: When firearms are seized at the scene of a mental health disturbance, a prohibited person can elect to have their firearms transferred or sold to a licensed firearm dealer.
•   Fish and Game Code section 4155:  It is unlawful to trap any bobcat, or attempt to do so, or to sell or export any bobcat or part of any bobcat taken in the area surrounding Joshua Tree National Park.
 
The NRA has numerous legal challenges currently pending, and more are planned, including potential challenges to some of these new laws.  If you would like to assist in our fight against this attack on gun owners’ rights in California, please donate to the NRA Legal Action Project here.  Rest assured that your donation will be used for the benefit of Californians.  For a summary of the many actions the NRA legal team has taken or is currently taking on behalf of California gun owners, click here.

If you need help deciphering California’s gun laws, you might find the
“California Gun Laws: A guide to state and federal firearm regulations” by C.D. Michel helpful.  While the vast majority of information in this book is timely and is currently applicable, and although the majority of California’s firearms laws do not change year to year, we are aware that to some degree California firearms law changes annually, and that federal firearms law changes occasionally.   To address these changes, and to cover other more specialized firearms law topics that are not covered in this book due to narrow public interest and space limitations, the author makes legal updates and supplemental legal memoranda available to address forthcoming or applicable changes in the law on the website that supplements this book:www.CalGunLaws.com.
 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/191938913/DBMA-PTTA-Seminar-Jan-11-12-2014

Date changed to April 12-13.

We begin to offer downloads!!!

https://gumroad.com/l/TrlO

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

Woof All:

We are beginning to plan for the next DBMA Training Camp and would like some feedback as to what months/dates work best for people.

The previous camp was DLO Gun with Frankie McRae and the one before that was DLO Knife/Anti-Knife with GM Art Gonzaltes and the one before that was Kali Tudo with Kenny Johnson.

With this one the cycle comes back around to Real Contact Stickfighting and the guest instructor will be DBMA Guro Matt "Boo Dog" Booe.

Off the top of my head, amongst the areas to be covered:

*Close Guard: I will be sharing my close guard game (something previously unshared)

Long Guard: Guro Boo will be showing his long guard/getting up from guard game-- they are now part of DBMA curriculum

Anti-Guard: Also now part of DBMA curriculum is Guro Boo's anti-guard we call "Dog Leg Game";

*Agility Drills: a few things I picked up from Chris Gizzi here, but mostly this will be Boo;

*The Time Machine; including its subsets of The Kalimba Game and the Bolo Game; A recent development of mine about which I am quite excited.

* Fight analysis, tactics and strategies for different kinds of opponents;

Of course all of this material interfaces with Kali Tudo and DLO--after all in DBMA we seek "Consistency across categories".

Anyway, for the moment we are looking to see when makes most sense to hold the Camp. January? February? March? etc. Any particular weekends to avoid (e.g. during the DB Canadian Gathering of the Pack in February, Superbowl weekend, etc)

WAAWFAYD!
Marc/Guro Crafty

Woof All:

For the record, I am a Level 3 instructor Army MACP (I was a subject matter expert for some of the material) and so follow these issues with more than a little interest:

The profound foolishness of this change is staggering:

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20130915/NEWS01/309120049/Controversy-over-combatives-tamped-down-Army-wide?nclick_check=1

TAC
CD

A Rambling Rumination:
The Moth and the Flame
By Crafty Dog
© DBI
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Woof All:

As I sit down to write this, I realize is has been 25 years since a vision came into being over three days in Ramblas Park in San Clemente, CA.  It is from this perspective that I would like to share some thoughts as a prelude to the invitation to this year’s “Euro Dog Brothers Gathering of the Pack” in Bern and the  “DB Open Gathering of the Pack” in Los Angeles

There is a reason the stick fights with no protective gear in the Philippines were called “death matches”—death and very serious and lasting damage were very real possibilities.  We the Dog Brothers are for Life and not for death and destruction, we are for “Higher consciousness through harder contact” ©DBI.  As such, “Our goal is that no one spends the night in the hospital.  Our goal is that everyone goes home with the IQ with which he came.  We fight to prepare each other to stand together to defend our land, women, and children.” ©

Thus we seek a ritual space version of reality, a space which unavoidably has a “moth and the flame” quality to it.  Too little reality from too much protective gear and too many rules and we degenerate into martial arts and crafts with delusions of functional competence.  Too much reality and we damage each other (or worse).  As a result the Clans and Tribes from which we come would have too few people willing to forge themselves into something more and too few left undamaged to step forward when necessary outside the ritual space.

With all this in mind I’d like to discuss the gear and the tools we use.  

When the Dog Brothers began, we knew of no one else doing what we were doing.  We had only legends and myths handed down through many mouths from the homeland of the Art to guide us.  Unlike those who fight today, to a considerable extent we were leaping into a great void, not quite sure of what awaited us.

Naturally as we and those who have joined us have accumulated experience over the twenty five years since then, the fighting and the gear evolved.

HAND PROTECTION:  When I began my studies in Kali in 1982 the idea of the hand being a target was a revelation: “Defang the snake and the snake is harmless”.   Even a moderate tap on the hand was enough to persuade us that a stick could break a hand a wrist, or even an arm without much ado.  Understandably, as we began to spar and then to fight, our choice of hand protection was informed by this understanding; a hockey glove at the lighter end of the spectrum was quite typical.

Naturally this diminished wrist and stick mobility --leading to the hand getting hit more!-- and so began the search for lighter and more agile alternatives that still offered some protection.   Foremost amongst these have been various models of street hockey gloves—and to this day these are the standard.  

Bolder yet, a goodly number of people have evolved to what can fairly be said to be no protection at all from impact.  Indeed the only reason for these gloves is to protect the hand from being “cheese gratered” by the fencing masks.

In summary, the current situation is exemplary.

STICKS:  When we began, the typical stick in an FMA class was something about which the kindest thing could be said was that it was “a demo stick” i.e. light and fast and often quite short too (some were as short as 24-27”).  However as revealed by our sparring in the pre-Dog Brothers phase at the Inosanto Academy that we call “the After Midnight Group” it was immediately apparent that when it came to stopping power, these things were a joke.

And so the evolution to something longer, heavier, and more substantial began.  Of course before finding a happy medium it was necessary to go too far   I remember one day in Santa Fe where Eric and Arlan each had a small log.  Nothing happened, as each, wisely respecting the power of the other and its potential consequences, warily circled the other until the round was over.  I suggested to them that maybe it was time to return to sticks of a size where people were willing to actually engage and they readily agreed.

I would add that there is no fixed standard in this.  I remember one day where I was banging sticks with Grand Tuhon Gaje in a drill designed to test and promote power.  I was surprised at how slender and light his stick was in comparison to mine as stepped together to begin the drill.  I was even more surprised as the contact began and I could barely hold on to mine!  He certainly gave me something to think about!

HEADGEAR:  This brings us to the matter of headgear.  When we first began the After Midnight Group we were using some helmets that Eric had forged.  Eric had previous experience using fencing masks, but after an absence of willing play mates he made these helmets.  They were very heavy-- indeed they were a challenge to neck strength—and they offered complete protection from the impact of a stick , , , and danger  of lasting damage to the neck during grappling which we had just begun to allow.

One night one man was using repeatedly the protective quality of his helmet to crash entry head first like a tackling linebacker, not caring that he was taking major shots to the head that would have dropped him but for the helmet.  Eric was getting irked and I spotted some old “pre-Ralph Nader” fencing masks on the shelf and pulled them down. Eric put one on and we put one on the would-be linebacker, who instantly lost his desire to be a linebacker—mission accomplished!   Also, there was the added benefit of much greater safety for the neck in the stick-grapple.

These Pre-Ralph Nader masks are what we now call “first generation masks”.  FGMs were not much more than a screen door shaped around the head.  They served to protect the eyes, nose, and teeth (usually!) but did very little to diminish impact.  All of us Original Dog Brothers fought in them and no one was willing to “take one” in the head wearing one in order to close to stick-grappling range.  Combined with the stick skills that most of us had from our traditional training, much stick skill was shown.

My own experience with the FGMs is there for all to see.  I do not like discussing this but I feel I owe my honesty to all of you.  In return I ask that you not bring it up in conversation with me.

In the Power tape of the first series there is a fight where Eric drops me with a tremendous power backhand to my right temple.  As I rise from the ground to one elbow, you can literally see my left eye spinning.

Here’s the thing:  It still is.  It was subtle for the first few years but over time it gradually has gotten worse.  Most of the time now it no longer is in alignment with the right eye; instead it looks up and to the left—sometimes more and sometimes less, but now it is always there.

This is no small thing.

Not only does it mean that I sometimes get tired and sleepy easily when reading or driving, it also means I don’t pick up incoming as well as I should.  Not a good thing for a stick fighter or when I spar MMA!  When played lacrosse catch with my son, I sometimes would miss balls in embarrassing fashion.  I hate it when I see it in photos and now when I have to pose for a photo (which is often in my line of work) I often squint my left eye so it shows less or I wear sunglasses.

For many years I did not connect the blow to my head and my wandering eye.  The only reason I am aware of it now is that I went to an eye doctor about my eyesight and the possibility of eye glasses.  The tests drew his attention to just how much my eye wandered and he asked me if I had ever been hit hard in the head.

The next time I saw him I showed him the footage and he had no doubt about that power backhand being the cause.  He warned me of increased risk of a stroke due to it.  As should ANY warrior, regardless of his health, I have my will in order.  Tomorrow is promised to no one.

Since the era of the FGMs, there have been two important changes:

First, the fencing masks have become heavier and more protective to the point where we can speak of Second Generation Masks (SGMs) and Third Generation masks (TGMs).

Second, scientific medical awareness of the consequences has evolved as well see e.g. http://dogbrothers.com/phpBB2/index.php?topic=1315.0  The NFL is undertaking changes in response.  So too is our military in response to the tragic consequences of the percussive effects of IEDs and other blasts that our troops receive in our defense.  Considerable effort is being put into improving helmets that our soldiers wear, and those that football and other heavy contact sports wear.

One the one hand, it is a good thing that we can swing with full power.  It is a good thing we protect the brain more now that we better appreciate the lasting consequences of a good shot to the head.  Even with the greater protection of the SGMs and the TGMs people still get dropped (a.k.a. concussions) and lasting consequences still happen.  At the “Dog Brothers Tribal Gathering of the Pack” this year we had one man in a TGM dropped with diminished hearing in one ear for a number of weeks after.  This is no small thing.

OTOH we have some people, especially in the Third Generation Masks, now willing to take shots on the way in that they would not be willing to take in a FGM. As a result at the Open Gatherings we now sometimes see two fighters relatively unskilled with sticks swat their sticks a bit.  Out of the natural fear of a stick fight one then opts for the relatively safety of clinch and ground fighting.  He takes one or three to the head, and the two fighters then engage in MMA (often rather badly) all the while thinking “I’m a stick fighter in a Dog Brothers Gathering!”

This sort of fight gives unrealistic feedback to both fighters and to those witnessing the fight.  It encourages heavier sticks than a fighter can handle with skill and it discourages the development of stick skills relative to MMA skills.  

WHAT TO DO?

First:  we need to really work on developing our anti-closing skills.  This most certainly includes developing our stick skills!!!  In this regard count me amongst those who believe that some of us have thrown out the baby with the bath water with the traditional training that has been abandoned.  Watch Eric’s carenza at the beginning of the Power tape and you will see what I mean.

Second: those who take a tap to the face or shot to the head should acknowledge it to themselves, their opponents, and all present that without a mask the fight might have gone differently.

Third: if you are the one who was closed upon despite your delivering stick shots to your opponent as he did so, just say to yourself “In a real fight what a man can take can be quite surprising.  Maybe it would not have stopped him even without the mask.  I need to work on my power and my anti-closing game more, and my clinch and ground game too.  After all, this is why we have no judges and no trophies in the Dog Brothers experience.  The whole point is to learn and grow, not to keep score.”

Fourth:  Take advantage of events such as one developed and guided by Growling Dog and Dirty Dog of the Toro Clan: “Beat The Crap Out Of Cancer”.  These events allowing for a wide range of understandings and intensities and in addition to raising money for good works also allow all concerned to explore and grow under conditions of lesser risk.

Fifth:  As most of you have noticed, over the past several years I have been guiding the Open and Tribal Gatherings towards the greater use of knives.  One of the main reasons I have done this is to compensate for the TGMs and restore proper balance towards stick skill.  Clinch and ground fighting are quite a bit different when knives are in play!!!

With this in mind, some words about the knives themselves.

In the beginning, we used rattan dowels for some “sport knife dueling” as a warm up for the real purpose to the day: Stick fighting.  There was a code of “treating it like a rational person would treat a knife” but admittedly there was a bit of cognitive dissonance with this formulation—a rational person in a rational state of mind avoids knife duels!  In the real world a bad and/or crazy person may say, in the memorable words of someone with whom I once had a conversation, “I pump him until he’s dead, then I bind my wounds”.  

However in our sport knife dueling this tends to lead to a meaningless experience.  Both fighters “die”.  This has not stopped many people from doing exactly that however!

Thus the search has been on for something more painful sport dueling knives.  For a time we tried the Shocknives.  Though they remain a valuable tool for anti-knife training they weren’t quite up to the rigors of a Dog Brothers Gathering.  

Over time what we came up with was aluminum trainer knives.  They have the advantage of really hurting , , , a lot!  Hands, wrists, and even arms can be broken.  A thrust to the torso or head can be a fight ender.  However, there is the risk of penetration, particularly with some of the pointier ones out there.  We posted on youtube a penetration that did occur at the DB 2012 Tribal Gathering, but youtube took it down for being too bloody.  My explanation that it was to show our people the risks involved went unanswered.  Regardless, KNOW THIS, the consequences of penetration could be really severe.

 Thus we now offer some “DBMA Sport Dueling Knives”.  

http://dogbrothersgear.com/Tools-of-the-Trade/  

As always, “This is dangerous.  Don’t do it unless you agree to no suing no one for no reason, for nothing no how no way.”   These knives have round tips and are thicker—with both qualities having the purpose lessening penetration, but remember “Only you are responsible for you”!

Sixth:  As your skills and those of your opponents improve, consider going to an Original Dog Brother and asking to borrow his FGM or find one of your own via one of the websites.

Seventh:  Some have suggested going to no head gear at all.  

I disagree.

Here is why:

I must begin by admitting that when the UFC came to us to be a special event Eric, Arlan, and I were all willing to go without headgear.  The why of this is another conversation for another day, but for now it suffices to say that to stick fight without head gear is not “Friends at the end of the day” fight.

I am aware of three occasions where stickfights were done without headgear.

In two of them, to my eye there was no intention to take full power shots to the head—properly so!!!.  The third one (which occurred before the other two) was a tournament in the interior of Negros that I witnessed in 1997.  The fighters were all doing real contact stick fighting for the first time and were inspired by their teacher to do it without headgear.  One of them took a nasty shot to the cheekbone, quite close to the eye.  It swelled up mightily and can be seen in the closing footage of one of my DVDs (Staff was it?)

For me, the message of no head gear is both confusing and unsatisfactory.

If there is no intention to really hit the head, then the truth of what is going on is at variance with what it is taken by others to be.  If there IS intention to truly hit the head, then it is not a matter of “Friends at the end of the day.”  It is not Dog Brothers.  It is Icarus, falling to his death in the sea as the wax on his wings melts from flying too close to the sun.  

“The greater the dichotomy, the profounder the transformation.  Higher consciousness through harder contact!” © DBI
Crafty Dog
Guiding Force of the Dog Brothers

Woof All:

Just a quick yip to remind folks of the items at http://dogbrothersgear.com/Survival-Gear/

If you or someone you wish to help is shot or stabbed, you will be glad you have that trauma kit in your glove box. (DLO-4 Trauma Care featuring Frankie McRae is still in the pipeline btw).

If you live in a cold climate and your, your wife's car (perhaps with your children in it) breaks down on a cold winter night and it will be a while before help comes, you will be real glad for the emergency blankets (a number of options available here); indeed it is a simple fact that under some conditions this can be the difference between life and freezing to death.   I know right now it is August LOL, but why not take care of getting some of these for you and your family's car(s)?

Especially if you get off the beaten path, having a handy little water filter can make the difference between drinking water with who-knows-what in it and water that has been well-filtered.  There's two options here in this regard.

And having a multi-tool can make the difference in whether you are able to adapt and improvise in a wide range of situations.

Our mission statement of "Walk as a warrior for all your days" is not just a matter of
protecting your family and you from violence, it is a matter of protecting you and your family PERIOD-- and all these items are about that!

The Adventure continues!
Crafty Dog

Obviously this thread is closely related to the one for Self Defense Law, but I'm thinking that it will help organization around here to have a separate thread specifically for case studies:

Kicking things off with a 2011 FL case in what appears to be a matter of great stupidity:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/witnesses-dispute-trevor-dooleys-stand-your-ground-claim-in-valrico/1206308

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/jury-finds-trevor-dooley-guilty-in-manslaughter-case/1262347

Woof All:

C-Smiling Dog is on a tear and has asked me to find him an amateur MMA or MT fight on Friday September 20th here in LA. Why the 20th you may ask? So he has a day to rest before the DB Open Gg of the Pack on Sunday the 22d!

He is a heavyweight and currently is 2-0. We anticipate that being 3-0 shortly

TAC!
Crafty Dog

Woof All:

I am very pleased with the synergy of the DBMA Training Groups in the Midwest.

Here are some fotos of their most recent fight day:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/midwesttribe/sets/72157634117815194/

HCTHC!
Guro Crafty

20-25 Zombies needed this Sunday in Beverly for a movie being produced by Oliver Stone's son.  I am told skinny is better, but not mandatory.  Starting time is 10:00AM but be prepared for a long day.  Apparently we get to be killed by Rigan Machado.

Please email me at craftydog@dogbrothers.com.   Include a head shot/resume if you have one. Include height and weight.   Preference given to members of the Dog Brothers Tribe and DBMA.

Buenos Aires, Argentina:  May 25-27:  Argentinian Federal Police May 28-30 Hernan Seivane

Rio de J., Brazil:  June 1-2  Diego Marroni

Lorelei, Germany June 8-10  Lonely Dog

Paris, France June 15-16  Pascal Gilles

See flyer on front page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erQOoXbKzsE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Woof All:

I am embarassed to admit that I forget the words of the Lameco salutation  

A little help please?

Yip!
CD

http://www.youtube.com/embed/2h-WhhqFjv4?feature=player_detailpage

The Fog Of War - A Lack Of Certainty
By Gabe Suarez
 
Clausewitz wrote about it as "The Fog Of War". SunTzu wrote about it as "not knowing yourself or the enemy". It is a lack of certainty. It comes from a lack of information about what is actually at hand. Without information, accurate decisions are very difficult to make. What happens is you get a bunch of educated guesses and then a tentative decision based on those guesses.
 
That is why military planners spend more on gathering intell than on the weapons to exploit that intell. How does that play out for the individual operator?
 
I wrote an email to a friend recently about this topic and how it plays out in events like what happened in Aurora. Quite simply, if one is denied the suitable intell to make a decision, no decision will tend to be made. And at such a time, unless there is an ingrained, and trained default response, the subject will likely freeze in place...as if he is on pause waiting for more information.
 
Put aside the 4S issues of a midnight movie is a questionable hood and follow. Think of the circumstances there. Sitting in the dark, focused on the screen. Loud movie sounds all around.
 
Then you hear shooting. Information! Is it the movie? You think it is. People now screaming...what scared them from the movie...you weren't scared by the scene. Smoke in the theatre. What is this? Gun shots but not from the movie. Where are they coming from? People screaming and running.
 
Can you tell what is going on? Can you see the gunman through the smoke? How close is he? Too far to reach? Or is he close enough to touch? Unlikely as the gunshots were not close to you otherwise you would have noticed them sooner. The exit is clogged with people, the smoke makes visibility impossible, and you cannot tell where the shots are coming from yet.
 
Do you understand the lack of certainty affecting actions? So your work now involves two things.
 
One is making sure that you have as much intell as possible, of an actionable sort, given the circumstances. You won't get alot, but the art of determining what is happening from bits and pieces of information is an essential one. The same event as Aurora, but in a well lit theater where someone is giving a speech makes for a different set of information and certainty of decision does it not? Darkness and the intentional self-removal from reality called for in a movie contributed to the situation.
 
Two is to have a default response in the event that you have no actionable intell. What that default response should be I cannot say...but to have neither actionable intell nor default response will lead to confusion and probably inaction, which could be a fatal thing.
 
One of our members at Warrior Talk called it "Efficiency in Ambiguity". Excellent phrase! So how do we obtain efficiency in ambiguity? I think a number of things need to be in place for that.
 
Moral Certainty - "What I am about to do is the right thing and I need to do it right now". That comes from clarity of mission and pure focus brought on by a clear decision based on what has been observed. And that impending action is executed without getting clearance or permission from anyone.
 
That is a rare thing indeed today in police, military, and civilian worlds. I suspect that had the theatre been filled with "average gun guys", or "average (Unarmed) off duty police", the outcome would not have been much different. And lets not forget the events of Fort Hood. Thirteen died there, and they were soldiers.
 
The factor of "being taken by surprise" is of course an important consideration, but I think there is more going on. Very few people, in any walk of life, see themselves as fighters any more...and I suspect that includes cops and soldiers. You guys in the service correct me if I am wrong,
 
but not everyone has the mindset of a Ranger or a Force Recon dude do they? And I can tell you from quite personal, and distasteful, experience that fighters are quite rare in police work.
 
As well, since all three groups today get beaten over brow and genitals with the fear of liability, the desire to close with and destroy anything, especially if there is any ambiguity over the events, or one has not received official sanction to go and do that directly by a superior, is rare as well.
 
Actual Capability - What do we need? To be able to run up to another man, like Holmes, and shoot him in the face without any deleterious emotions interrupting us. Unless we have personal experience, or train in killing regularly, we will not succeed in these events. And by that I mean meaningful training as is seen in strenuous force on force, hunting large game, or prior personal experience in combat of some sort where one has killed an enemy close enough to know that it was his bullet or his blade that did it. Even the ambiguous gun-pop phrases of "self defense", "shooting to stop", etc., while fine for court, will lead to an incorrect mindset.
 
From Sun Tzu - "If officers are unaccustomed to rigorous [training] they will be worried and hesitant in battle; if generals are not thoroughly trained they will be inwardly quail when they face the enemy."

A mournful howl:

After a long and valiant struggle with cancer,  Dog Howie passed away this morning.  He walked as a warrior for all his days.

"The wood is consumed, but the fire burns on."

The Adventure continues,
Crafty Dog

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/marc_goodman_a_vision_of_crimes_in_the_future.html

 
Friday March 8-Sunday March 10 DBMA Training Camp with Frankie McRae and Guro Crafty: This is the camp that was cancelled last summer due to my double adductor tear. Frankie and I have decided to hold it at his facility so as to enable all the fun and games that his facility offers-- the facility is regularly used by Special Forces and other units from nearby Ft. Bragg, where Frankie used to teach. Cost is $300 for all three days for the general public, and $250 for military, LEO, and DBMAA members. In order to help the budget conscious, those so inclined can bring a bedroll and sleep at the range (you will be sleeping indoors) or if you would rather there is a pleasant and reasonably priced motel nearby.
 
More details to follow.
 
The Adventure continues!

My son has an interest in archery and it has begun to rub off on me:

Kicking this thread off is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zGnxeSbb3g

Woof All:

Back in the Hermosa Beach era, traditionally we had a "DB Gg of the Pack"  the Sunday of May closest to May 5th and one on the Sunday closest to the Autumnal Equinox.  Then with the advent of the "Euro DB Gg of the Pack" in August we moved the fall Gg to the Sunday before Thanksgiving.   The November date did not do well and so for the last few years we have gone to the format of the two day "Dog Brothers Tribal Gathering of the Pack" in may and a "DB Open Gathering of the Pack" on the Sunday closest to the Equinox.

The last two years the Open Ggs have gotten quite big (well over 60 fighters both times).  This has meant a long time between fights for the fighters and I find myself wondering if we want to go back to two "DB Open Ggs of the Pack" a year as was done years ago (May and September) with the "DB Tribal Gg of the Pack" becoming the day before the May Open Gg so Tribal members who want to get in two consecutive days of fighting can do so?

Your thoughts? 

Crafty Dog
Guiding Force