Now You See It.  Now You Don’t – Distractions.

 

I was watching Casino Royale, a recent James Bond flick.  Bond was in a life-or-death stalemate with the knife-wielding villain.  Each had equal strength and it was going to come down to who could find the strength to sink the gleaming blade into his foe.  Suddenly. Bond jerked his face up and to his right – as if seeing something awesome or terrible – and, oila, the bad guy involuntarily looked in that direction. Taking his mind off the struggle for a millisecond.  End of story.  Bond swaggers off with a saucy brunette with a wheelbarrow full of cleavage and the villain—Well, you get the picture.

 

Point is and will always be, your mind is your most powerful weapon.  Never forget that.  Please.  Also, never forget that the mind, if not used well, can be your most awesome enemy.  To use your brain well, train it to be and then continuously allow it to be a crucial connection or nexus with your body.  The body can only be powerful when you need it most when it works harmoniously with the mind!

 

As I have pointed out in past posts, the bad guy will almost always attack you after a distraction technique.  He knows instinctively that you are weakest when you are the most distracted!  Which is why he will ask you questions to influence you to look away or down and to sink into your own mind (for answers to the questions) before he will attack. 

 

I say, then, that we must Reverse the Distraction to separate his body from his mind.  If you recall, I have often proposed that the attacker of women almost always has his own Fantasy Script and that the further he is allowed to carry out that script the more confident and dangerous he will become.  Well, I say let’s shatter that script right away!

 

When I train law enforcement officers I always include Distraction Techniques, or Distraction Reversals.  Always get the Bad Guy’s mind spinning to weaken any thoughts or actions toward resistance.  For instance, here are a few great distraction reversals that we have used with great success:

ORAL DISTRACTIONS

“Artie, lookie, man, you just pissed your pants!”  (Used versus very bad people who we knew were armed.  He had just given a urine sample, so when the officer made the statement, Artie did look down at his groin area, and we arrested him without him ever thinking of pulling the gun.)

 

“Wiggle your fingers, sir!”  (I teach this during prone handcuffing.  I have the Bad Guy look away from me and look at his hand.  When he wiggles his fingers he takes his mind off resistance, and he is cuffed without resistance).

 

“Sir, what’s your birth date?”  (I train officers to say this just before they cuff the first hand.  Same effect.  The Bad Guy tries to answer, but before he can, he is cuffed.)

 

 

DISTRACTION REVERSALS

 

You can come up with your own Distraction Reversals, but here are a few that teachers, security, men and women and young students have used with success and one or two you might think about using:

 

• “Hey!  Don’t I know your mother?”  A woman used this on a bad guy who “had that attack look in his eyes.”  Stopped him in his tracks.
• “Hey!  911!  Almost anything coherent you shout spontaneously can reverse the distraction.  Bad Guys do not choose victims who not only see them coming, but are bold enough to shout at them!
• Object Distraction.  Throw a hat, a pencil, a book, at their face when they get close.  It should induce a nice little startle response.  Trick is, you’d better be ready to attack, or, if safe, disengage.
• Surprise is a great distraction.  Lull the Bad Guy into thinking he has you where he wants you and then attack suddenly.

Ø      He grabs your hand and expects you to pull away.  Okay.  Pull away, but, just as he relaxes and starts pulling you in to him with his superior strength, spring in to his center-line targets using his momentum, and attack him!

Ø      He has entered your personal space.  Do what he expects by putting both hands up, palms out, and beg him not to hurt you.  When he smiles and takes that step in, Bam Baby!

 

Can you think of some Distraction Reversals?

Until Next Time.  Stay Safe.

Hammer

 

 

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