#6 – SEPT, 2015 – Page 2 – Conflict Manager

From the streets to the Ivory Towers and back – the other side of conflict research – James Hall

Part 1

The Conflict Research Group International describes itself on its homepage as “an alliance of individuals”. Through this publication and their own books, blogs etc., these individuals share many lifetimes’ worth of first-hand experience of all aspects of conflict and violence, usually gained the hard way. This collective individual experience is not the only mode of research in this subject area, however. Many Universities and other institutions actively conduct research which seeks to identify and reveal truths about conflict and violence not through direct experience, but through detailed social studies, experimentation and other means. The purpose of this article is to raise awareness of this academic research activity, suggest some ways in which it is relevant to the world of practical self-protection and offer guidance on how the output of this research can be accessed.

Institutional research into conflict and violence crosses the boundaries of many traditional academic disciplines, including criminology, psychology, sociology, politics, history, geography and medicine. While some research is conducted within these traditional disciplines, a number of inter-disciplinary research centres have also been formed, drawing together researchers from diverse academic backgrounds to focus specifically on the subject of conflict and violence. A very small selection of these institutions includes:

UK: Violence Research Centre, University of Cambridge

USA: Interdisciplinary Center for Research on Violence, University of Illinois at Chicago

Canada: Center for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence, University of Guelph

New Zealand: Te Awatea Violence Research Centre, University of Canterbury

Germany: Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, Bielefeld University

Some of these research units have an interesting history. For example, the Violence Research Group at the University of Cardiff (UK) originated in that University’s School of Dentistry, when a professor of reconstructive dental surgery noticed that many of his patients who had suffered dental trauma as a result of violence had very similar injuries, and set out to explore how these common patterns arose. The research interests of this group have now diversified far beyond dentistry, some examples of which will be presented later in this article.

Research by Universities and other institutions looks at conflict and violence on a number of different levels:

Interpersonal violence: As individuals with an interest in self-protection, whether as instructors, students, both or other, we are primarily interested in interpersonal violence, which as the name suggests is violence inflicted by one person upon another. This is also a highly active area of research for Universities, focussing on specific types of interpersonal violence such as intimate partner violence (a.k.a. domestic violence), violence in teen dating relationships, child abuse, bullying etc.

Inter-group conflict: How groups in conflict perceive and behave towards one another, ranging from the different ways in which group members refer to ‘in-group’ and ‘out-group’ individuals to extremes such as acts of terrorism, or the Rwandan inter-tribal conflict which culminated in the genocide of 1994

Intra-state violence: For example, how oppressive regimes use violence as a means to control the population and quell opposition within their borders

Inter-state conflict: How conflict occurs between nations and how such conflict can be managed or can escalate, ranging from diplomatic strategies to the conduct and management of military operations

Some institutions or research centres specialise in one of the categories above, or in even more precise areas within those categories, e.g. in the UK, the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at the University of Bristol focusses on gender-based violence, and the Handa Centre at the University of St. Andrews on terrorism and political violence.

The direct and indirect benefits to society resulting from this research can be roughly categorised as follows:

Raise awareness

Research has exposed ‘hidden’ forms of violence which were previously believed not to exist. For example, researchers at the University of Rhode Island published a study in 1982 which identified the problem of child-on-parent violence (CPV), or parental abuse (PA), finding that 9% of parents of adolescents had experienced violence at the hands of their children at least once in the preceding year. A summary of the article can be viewed at http://goo.gl/HD3o2s This research attracted little attention however, until Barbara Cottrell’s book ‘When Teens Abuse Their Parents’ was published in 2004 (https://goo.gl/mbCOl6). CPV is now a highly active area of research, one example being the Adolescent to Parent Violence Project at the University of Oxford (http://goo.gl/fx8LrD), a three-year Government-funded study which is the first large-scale investigation of CPV in the UK.

Elder abuse, female on male domestic violence and violence within teen dating relationships are all further examples of ‘hidden’ violence which have been exposed through research, with numerous institutions now working to understand these patterns of violence in greater depth.

Training and education

University research into violence and abuse has formed the basis of numerous education and training initiatives, from short films to graduate level courses. For example, the Institute for Applied Social Research at the University of Bedfordshire recently produced a series of short films on gang-associated sexual exploitation and violence, based on an extensive and detailed study of the issue, which have been used to raise awareness of the issue in schools and colleges as well as among professionals and policy makers (http://goo.gl/Yau2Wj). Numerous other such initiatives are in operation around the world. Masters-level courses in violence prevention, aimed primarily at professionals in the field of social work, are starting to become available, such as London Metropolitan University’s MSc in Crime, Violence and Prevention (http://goo.gl/rJuOhV)

Prediction and prevention

In the field of interpersonal violence, much research activity is devoted to predictors of violence, i.e. behavioural, emotional, environmental and other characteristics which may help to predict the risk of an individual exhibiting violent behaviour. This knowledge can then be used to design interventions aimed at reducing the risk of and individual becoming violent, or the severity of their violence when it occurs. Other research seeks to predict and prevent violence in the wider, social sense. For example, researchers at Cardiff University have developed computer software which can analyse the patterns of movements in crowds, and identify patterns which have been found to precede violent incidents. The system can be used to alert authorities to a potential incident before it occurs, enabling police and other resources to be pre-emptively deployed to maintain order rather than reactively after an incident has occurred. BBC News reported on this software in February 2015 – the report can be viewed at http://goo.gl/MjnAjC

Research has also enabled authorities and other bodies to take a more effective strategic approach to violence prevention. A further product of research by Cardiff University is the ‘Cardiff model’, a protocol for information sharing between hospitals, police and local authorities in the city of Cardiff regarding victims and patterns of violent crime. By using this information to support joined-up violence prevention strategies, authorities have been able to reduce hospitalisations resulting from violent crime by half between 2002 and 2013, saving an estimated £5 million per year in policing, medical and court costs. The Cardiff Model is now being rolled out across the whole of the UK, and to date has been adopted by two-thirds of hospital emergency units and community safety partnerships. The Cardiff Model specification can be freely downloaded at http://goo.gl/4HtjUo

Violence prevention strategies extent all the way to global level. The World Health Organisation (WHO) operates the Global Campaign for Violence Prevention, which treats violence as a public health issue. This campaign has produced ”The World Report on Violence and Health’, the first comprehensive review of violence on a global scale, which can be used as a common point of reference for any country developing its own violence prevention strategy. The full report can be freely downloaded from http://goo.gl/aAgi3U

Next month, we will look at how this extensive body of academic and other institutional research can be accessed. If you would like to discuss any of the matters covered in this article please find me on Facebook (/james.hall.902819) or e-mail me at hall.jp@gmail.com.

Fishing for Witnesses – Clint Overland

Ok so you have got yourself into a situation that you either had to use your skillset and toolbox to put someone down hard. You have done what you were taught, and followed your training to a very hard ending for someone. You can even articulate the five W’s of your actions. Who you did it to. What you did. Why you did what you did. When you knew that you had no other option. (what you did) and where you find yourself now. You are going to court and actually have a lawyer that knows how to defend a legal self-defense case (and good luck on finding one of them, not as easy as it would seem).

Do you have anyone to corroborate your statements and if you don’t why not? This is one of the main points that people miss in preparing their court case. You need to have as many people to back up your story as possible. This is where priming the witness pool is an extremely important skill set to add into your toolbox. Now I cannot tell you how to how to do this exactly because each situation is completely unique in how the laws are written in the area and how that they are enforced. So what I am going to do is show you a scenario that I have experienced more times than I would ever care to remember to show you how to do this type of thing and let you research your local laws to fit it to your needs.

On a Saturday night I was working a gentleman decided that he would volunteer for me to get involved in his life. He would sit and drink and then go outside to “cool off” which is code for he went out to do a line of either coke or meth. He would come back in and get louder and louder, more amped up every time. I told him that he was cut off and started to escort him to the door. The waitress approached and handed him his debit card. He tried to head butt her as she handed the card to him. I grabbed him by the collar and jerked him back. Then proceeded to walk him out.

As we approached the door, the gentleman then jerked away and tried to punch the manager that had walked up to assist me. I tripped him into the door frame and he fell to the ground pulling me on top of him. He must have fallen very hard because his head bounced off the floor at least three times, poor man, all the time I was shouting “Please Stop! Don’t do this, you can just leave and no one will hurt you!” I picked him up and walked him out of the door. He then twisted away from me and tried to punch me and fell once again into the concrete post just outside the door, put there to stop people from running their cars into the building.

By this time several people had gathered as I escorted him off the property. He walked across the street to the apartments where he lived and fell onto the curb breaking several ribs in the process. I then proceeded back over the crowd and apologized for what went on. Several people standing there asked me what happened and I explained to them that the gentleman I escorted off the property was a former convict and we had had trouble with him before. He was high on either coke or meth and had tried to head-butt the waitress and punch the manager.

Several of the people standing there talking about the incident admitted to seeing the individual do these things. I again apologized for all the ruckus and I hated that they had to see everything that went on. One of the people that witnessed the events was a retired police officer and he agreed that I handled the situation correctly and he had seen worse things happen like the ones that occurred for 20 something years. I continued to talk to as many people as stayed around and still profusely apologized for them having to see this. As we all walked in I motioned to the head waitress to take several tables some free drinks and tell them again that we were sorry. I also told her to get ready to get those people back outside if the individual called the police. I went back outside to wait.

Sure enough 10 to 15 minutes later the police cars pulled up and a officer hollered at me to get over to the car and place my hands on the hood. I raised my hands and walked over placing my hands on the hood and calmly asked him what this was all about. He told me “Because we received a call about you stomping the shit out of a guy from next door!” I said no sir I did not, I made an individual leave because he was getting to rowdy and disturbing the other patrons. I then went on to tell him what happened and what had all occurred. I also offered to get him the witnesses and have him talk to them.

By this time the manager and the head waitress had walked out and I sent her in to gather up the ones I pointed out. The manager came over to talk to the officer and told him what he saw and the majority of the people came out to tell basically the same story. After everyone had went back into the bar I told the officer that it was not our policy to “tune up” anyone and that we tried to run a quiet and respectable bar. He looked at me and said that he thought something was funny because he had received no call to the place for a long time and figured I was the reason. He left and I finished my shift. As always I snuck out at the end of the night and walked around in the shadows looking for payback but that night there was none. That came later.

If you come back next month I will explain all the things that happened and how you can do the same type of thing. This gives you a bit of time to think about what you read and see what you think about next month’s article.

Pride and Self-Exploration -Tony Peston

Maybe it could be a good idea to teach the intricacies of pride as part of a self exploration module during our formative years, what I mean is helping young people to cope with peer pressure that screams fight back, or don’t allow an insult to go unpunished. Maybe then as adults we would be more equipped to deal with the overt confrontations that are waiting to explode all around us like I.E.D’s placed in our path. It is always these hidden unexpected explosions that catch me out, ignoring any cognitive resonance my logic being completely pushed to one side and any rationality over ridden, forcing me to go to my DNA blueprint for the primal response which is either run or inflict violence. Of course having such a hard wired response, the type of reaction that comes forth without consideration or care for consequences or the aftermath it’s actions leave in it’s wake is either a curse or a blessing.

The old saying it is better to be judged by 12 than carried by six comes to mind here, such thinking helping us to deal with the fact that we could be charged with serious criminal offences even though we believe that our primal instinct to strike is in actual fact self defence. In the hard light of day can we justify our actions and can we deal with the ecology of extreme violence? For most people who practice martial arts and self defence I believe that question will remain unanswered but for some my self included, they will tell you that if those violent actions came through self preservation then they can deal with what comes after and meet the aftermath head on with a righteous justification that it was him/her/ them or me. Setting the auto responder aside, the dark passenger, the one who we have little control over, especially when the brown stuff hits the fan, what of the man himself the thinker the one who is given the luxury of a considered response?

I say luxury of a considered response, but consideration invites the adrenalin rush that has to be managed correctly otherwise we can lose the considered thinking and revert back to the old blue print, striking out and asking questions later. Most combat orientated arts are trained from either a defensive stance or a combat stance, both physically and importantly psychologically, I think it is a rare thing to find a club or an instructor that addresses the issue of the aftermath, the possible life changing consequences of that single punch or that sustained violent action to neutralize the person who is your opponent. Teaching the physical is easy enough but helping people understand that taking the physical forward with total conviction will require a mental attitude that is certain and accepting, there is no room for anything else in a life or death situation. So striking someone causing a knockout or for them to become seriously injured is a life or death situation for them too. The question is was it necessary?

There are too many people serving long prison sentences that will tell you that what they did was not necessary and that they allowed themselves to be controlled by pride. As a self defence and Krav Maga instructor it is my duty to be honest in my teaching of the subject, I have to be honest and tell my students this is fact based upon my own experience and that is theory because it is a technique I have never used in a conflict situation. The truth of the matter is that there are very few things I can teach as actual fact, but when I teach them I teach with 100% certainty.

Working on the door can help people develop many basic skills, such as knocking people out and so forth and of course the door has been a breeding ground for men looking to do just that, thankfully there will always be complete gentlemen who can work the doors without the need to use violence as the backbone of their skill set. These doormen are the ones who have honed their communication skills and only use violence as a last resort. As I mentioned before I could teach 100% fact in physical terms but in honesty I could only teach as a theory the communication skills required to avoid a violent situation. Of course this is a major problem if teaching self defence because unless one has really used the art of de- escalation and distance management or can really be clear in the explanation of the fence, well I believe we are just teaching people to fight or at best fight off an attacker.

I would like to think that I am not alone in saying that I am no stranger to violence as a youth and younger man, I was using a lot of primal thinking which was flawed in many ways, of course as a result I have devoted a life time of study to my own thinking in an effort to work out why I do what I do, one of the weaknesses I had identified was the need to react with an equal or greater response to being threatened with violence. Working the door was a great opportunity to face this situation and immerse myself in it to explore the theory on a practical level. When I decided to work the doors I had a clear vision to avoid violence and use the soft skills to navigate through each night, ans by actually treating people with respect even though lots of people where abusive angry and drunk, I found that I was able to work my first year with very few incidents where violence was needed. That year was like a master class in the use of the fence. Look out for my book which is presently being edited and will be ready for release in the near future, it’s called, “1 year on God’s door”.

Going Forward to the Past – Garry Smith

A couple of weeks ago I started to learn how to ride a motorbike. I passed my full UK car driving licence 39 years ago when I was 17 years old and have driven regularly for almost all that time. I have driven a car in 16 different countries too so I am a fairly experienced driver and I once hired and rode a scooter for 3 days in the South of France many, many years ago. That 3 days on a scooter is my only riding experience apart from the fact that I do cycle quite a bit. Riding a bicycle on our roads requires a very different skill set to driving a car and here was I stepping up to a bicycle with an engine…..

So the adventure began as I started training with a company called Bikesafe, a little research led me to them and after an initial assessment and familiarisation session one Sunday morning I signed on as a learner.

Let me tell you now, stepping out of my car and onto that motorbike was stepping right out of my comfort zone, literally. No comfy seat with music playing and a metal protective shell around me and a seat belt and air bag to boot, now it was me sat up on my 125cc beast with some fairly protective clothing and a helmet, and after a couple of days on a car park, stopping, starting, slow control, weaving in and out of cones and doing the figure of eight, u-turns and how to negotiate different types of junctions safely, all great fun if quite difficult I might add, it was a 2 hour assessment out on the road.

Yes the road, full of cars, lorries and buses that would be trying to kill me…. Well it was OK I obviously survived and I passed my Compulsory Basic Test, the following Thursday I say and passed my Motorcycle Riding Theory Test, after quite a few hours working right through the official manual and practising the hazard recognition tests. So now I am ready to go out on the road with my instructor and put the hours in training.

I struggled like mad at the beginning and found the transition from car to bike very difficult, on the first day whilst most of the class went out on the road after just a morning doing the above car park stuff, I was kept back, my instructor told me she thought I was not quite ready, I told her she was damn right and I happily stayed behind to practice more on the car park, those cones would be mastered. The next training day I cracked it on the car park and really enjoyed it out on the road, after our two hours out, I had certainly put into practise everything learned to date on the training and my road experience certainly kicked in. It felt good, I love learning new things, I was on a roll.

I love learning, the phrase lifelong learner certainly applies to me, I remember applying to go to college on an access course to university, I had no formal qualifications, when I was 29 years old with a partner, daughter and our own house, I was a window cleaner, self employed but a job with low status. Filling in the application form I described myself as an autodidact, big word that for a window cleaner, but calling myself an extensive reader across many subjects was something of an understatement, I devoured books, was thirsty for knowledge and that is why many friends pushed me to go on a full time access course.

Well no need for the details, I successfully completed that course and did so well I was admitted straight onto the second year of my degree course, I got a 2:1 honours degree in 2 years. I am not bragging, I left school with nothing, worked damn hard labouring and window cleaning but self educated. The formal courses were fantastic and attending the Northern College and Warwick University gave me experiences I could not have got elsewhere.

My personal tutor at Warwick was president of the British Sociological Association and I made very good friends with the head of the International Sociological Association, we used to like to have a fag and a cuppa in her office. At both institutions I was exposed to some incredibly intelligent, knowledgeable and skilled teachers, I learned from them in so many ways, especially how to teach.

I went on to teach myself in further and higher education, including teaching post graduate students and gained post graduate qualification too, not bad for a former window cleaner. The thing is it was not easy but it was not hard either, because I had the bug, the desire to learn, my brain was spongelike in soaking up information but the formal education honed my critical ability. It was 4 years of self indulgence and I kept on cleaning windows right through my ‘education’.

I will not even try to list the range of subjects that I am interested in, I also train in Ju Jitsu as you know, and I teach Ju Jitsu to others. I just love learning and cannot see a point when I will stop short of death. Worryingly that brings me back to the motorbike. I am not in any rush to buy a motorbike, I may not buy one although I have been checking out a few, I will do the full test though and it is not a mid life crisis, I am past that in more ways than one. What drives me, excuse the pun, to learn to ride a motorbike is a desire to learn something new, about myself.

I have just read a nice book by Sebastian Faulks, ‘Human Traces’, set at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries it revolves around 2 main characters both involved in the very early developments in psychiatry. Much of the discourse revolves around discussing what it is that makes us human, as seen from the perspective of the 2 main characters and their studies and experiences, it contains some profound thoughts for their day that now are pretty much commonly known and accepted facts. We all experience reading differently even when we read the same printed text, because we all approach it from our own particular perspectives, so we will all take our own view.

What touched me most was how the novel dealt with our evolution as a species and the development of the brain, remember this was in the context of what was known at the time the novel was set. Woven into the novel is a great deal of educational information and the story is beautifully constructed. The triune brain is not referred to as such but this was when the first discussions on architecture and function were taking place with the debate around evolution vs creationism still raging in the background. What is it that makes us human? Well my take on this is very simple, that we are learners. Trace our roots back as far as the archaeological and socio-anthropological evidence can go and it is clear our early ancestors adapted to their environments and eventually not only managed them but changed the almost beyond recognition.

We are a species of learners, we are by definition, and should strive to be Homo Sapiens (Wise Man). Other hominids existed, our ancestors outlived them, may well have exterminated some of them, but certainly out-competed them. Our brain is the most oxygen thirsty organ in the body, it is also thirsty for knowledge, its capacity is huge. I remember reading ‘The Wisdom of Bones: In Search of Human Origins’ a few years ago, it was an incredible read of an incredible piece of exploration, it led me to read quite a few books on similar subjects, see how it happens.

One new discovery, to me that is, and off I go, the brain rules. Learning appears to be my addiction and it appears I inherited it through my physical and cultural evolution. In many ways I have come full circle for a while as I am enrolled on the motorcycle training course but I remain, stubbornly remain, an autodidact, I celebrate the fact that I am in charge of my own education and here is an example of why. Becoming a learner again in the role of student motorcyclist has already helped me to learn how to be a better instructor. I have gone back to school and alongside learning to balance my throttle, clutch and rear break for slow manoeuvring I am learning to learn again, and because I found the just described procedure difficult I was lucky enough to have 2 different instructors teach me how to do it. As I did before I am learning how they teach not just what they teach and reflecting on how I teach too. It is a really nice experience, sit back, listen, try, evaluate and progress, that is how I do things.

We are all learners, we just need to be conscious learners to be more effective learners. We sometimes need to step out of our comfort zone to find new ways of doing things, just like our ancestors, right back through time. Learning is part of our species being, it is what makes us human.

Every Day Carry (EDC) Foundation Concepts – Toby Cowern

We all routinely carry certain items with us, either out of necessity and/or habit. Even the shortest journey out of home or work place triggers an instinctive check of pockets and bags: do I have my phone? keys? wallet? By logical extension, those of us who analyze and assess external influences on our lifestyle, normally have additional items in our routine carry checklist, and it is these objects that tend to be classified as EDC items. The concept is far from new and should not be intimidating, although some zealots of particular EDC items can come across a little strong in their discussions and guidance.

An identifiable generalized trend in Urban Preparedness, Wilderness Survival and even EDC, is the obsession with and reliance on ‘lists’. I get the distinct impression that for most people purchasing items from a recommended list of “things to carry”, is far easier and less time consuming and gives a quick ‘sense of peace’. With this in mind, why would I have a concern over the ‘list trend’? My issue is this: if we look to the founding concepts of EDC, we realize that arbitrarily following a list does not necessarily give us the protection and peace of mind we desire, in fact, in some circumstances, it may put us at more risk depending on what and how we carry.

The aim of this article is to run through what I regard as the foundation concepts and therefore key considerations on items we carry. This fits exceptionally well with the theme of violence dynamics and conflict management due to the fact that many of us are relying on ‘tools’ to prevent or solve problems we may encounter. Where, why and how we carry these tools should be given exceptional consideration.

I’ve identified three key category headers to consider:

Stowage – Where/How are we carrying

What items are we carrying
What should be the demands and expectation of our equipment

Let’s expand on these:

Stowage – Whatever we decide to carry, must be carried in a manner that does not excessively confine or restrict our movement, ensures the items are held securely, but allows them to be accessed as needed (and this may be exceptionally time sensitive, especially in regard to any defensive items).

Most militaries will define individual equipment scales (also known as ‘loadouts’) right from basic training. The concept is simple; there are 4 scale/load levels:

Level 1 – Items carried on your person AT ALL times. In the military these would be items carried in your pockets, affixed to your belt or worn on your person e.g morphine syrettes worn on a neck chain. This translates directly to civilian standards. Our level 1 items would be keys, phone, wallet, personal defensive items etc.

Level 2 – These are items that are always within arm’s reach, but maybe removed from the body. In military terms, this would be your weapons system and ‘fighting order’, (Body Armour, Assault Vest or equivalent). Fighting orders revolve around the necessity to carry ammunition, water, emergency medical equipment and some key survival items.

This again can be easily translated for civilian application with the exception being the method for carrying items, since a military style webbing system may not be an appropriate choice in most cases. More likely, essential items are going to be stowed in a fanny pack, small shoulder bag (e.g laptop bag) or purse/manbag. Consideration also needs to be given to the type of clothes we are wearing and what stowage options are afforded to us by these.

Level 3 – These are items needed for extended operations (>12hrs), but maybe stowed during attack/assault phases of operations. Normally this larger pack (Ruck or Bergen) will contain additional supplies (ammunition, batteries), food, sleeping system, field equipment (shelter, wash kit, stove, additional clothing items etc).

For those who have given consideration to larger scale preparedness, level 3 is the equivalent of a ‘Bug Out’ bag. The intention here is to carry the essential items to sustain the individual for a period of up to 72hrs. This bag is normally stowed in a vehicle or at home/in the office, as opposed to being constantly carried.

There is a lot written about what constitutes the ‘ultimate’ Bug Out Bag, but often, in my mind, there is WAY too much equipment advised to be carried at this level, and this is where the dangers of ‘the list’ really begin to manifest themselves. That doesn’t mean there aren’t advocates of burdensome carry at level 1 and 2 also! We will look to avoid the ‘over burden’ problem in the next section.

Level 4 – These are typically ‘on base’ level items, which can be kept in a trunk, locker, in barracks or equivalent.

In EDC terms, level 4 will be items we potentially have stored at home for replacement or supplementation of regular EDC items if needed.

What Items are We Carrying:

Remember we are addressing at a conceptual level here, so what must be considered with regard to our item choices? I believe there are 4 essential considerations:

Individual – Who are you, what do you do, what’s your build, what’s your fitness level, are you carrying long term injuries or mobility problems, are you carrying for you individually or also on behalf of other family members? Answers to all these questions are going to significantly influence what you carry and how.
Competencies – What is your skill set, what is your level of training (especially in regard to any defensive items you are carrying), what is your experience in dealing with unexpected situations? The adage ‘the more you know the less you carry’ is often quite true. The greater your training, skill and experience level, the less likely you are going to carry equipment to ‘substitute’ your knowledge.
Concerns – This is one of the most critical, but also, in my mind, one of the most overlooked. What are you actually concerned in terms of personal safety? Or more pointedly, what are you preparing for? If we can’t specify our goal it is incredibly difficult to work back from that point to identify our equipment needs. Equally if we can clearly identify our goal(s) it is far easier to select our EDC items.
Environment – How is your physical environment (hot, cold, urban, rural), what potential threats or hazards are contained in your environment? Again clear assessment and identification of which hazards we want to avoid and/or mitigate is going to be influential on EDC selection.

The final part of our Foundation Concepts is to address what demands we have from our equipment. I have identified 5 key considerations in this regard. Before I begin I just want to clarify, it is very rare you will find an item that fulfills all 5 of these considerations. Think of it as ‘ticking the boxes’, an item that scores 4 out of 5 of these points will have a greater chance of making it on to my EDC than carrying an item that scores say 2 out of 5:

Fulfills an Essential Function – It is VERY easy to get loaded down with superfluous or overly specialized gear. In the first instance, EDC is about carrying small items that make a BIG difference. Investigate every piece of equipment and make sure you are carrying it because it’s essential.
Difficult to Replicate In Your Environment – This is coming from my ‘wilderness rules’. Being in a town or city means, in theory, everything is available to us if we are willing to purchase it, but that is not always a financially viable or stable approach. What I mean here is be careful not to load yourself down with items that can easily be scavenged if you needed to.

I expand on this more in the video here.

Multifunctional – Some items may clearly have more than one use (e.g. Multitool), however with some creative thinking, we may come up with multiple uses for even the most banal items we carry. This is a great mental exercise and also a good way of really pairing down your gear if you feel you are currently carrying too much.
Legal – Given the increasing level of ‘stop and search’ powers afforded to the police throughout western nations, as well as enhanced security screening in many public locations, the chances of being ‘caught’ and prosecuted for carrying illegal items, plus the fact it’s erm, y’know illegal, means we should not be so foolish as to carry anything that is not legally allowed. Ignorance of the law is no excuse here. Get informed. Also understand, there are many, many, legal alternatives to items that maybe banned. This takes us back to our ‘training and competence’ development.
Discreet – I am a firm believer in the ‘Grey Man’ theory. You may want to walk around primed for imminent apocalyptic action, just don’t look like you are. Blending with your environment is something you want to and should be able to do. EDC item selection and carry methods can greatly help or hinder this process.

With a clear understanding and grasp of these foundation concepts, it should be easier to carry EDC items more suited to us and our situation, rather than carrying generic items from a different individual´s list. This makes us not only more prepared, but more informed and therefore confident in the equipment we are carrying.

In subsequent articles I will be going through some of my personal carry items and going into more detail on how these foundation concepts relate. All of this said, the final note is to know and understand EDC needs to be fluid and dynamic, making it easy for us to change, amend, add or remove items as we see necessary in changing circumstances. This will also be covered in more detail soon.

Tony Somers Interview – Josha Matthewman

Tony Somers, 5th Dan with the British Combat Association, ex-firefighter, author, renowned counsellor and pioneer of self-empowerment, was kind enough to impart some of his knowledge regarding conflict management and its surrounding areas.

Tony, you have been involved in martial arts for many years and have studied many disciplines, such as Shotokan Karate, Combat Ju-Jitsu, and Western Boxing to name a few. Now you are moving towards scenario training at the Somers Self Defence Academy. How relevant are the techniques you learnt in those styles in what you are teaching now?

Those techniques are very relevant on so many different levels. Basic skills are vital. My friend Glenn Smith is a professional boxing coach and he spends hour after hour teaching people basic footwork.

Going back to my early Shotokan days, the first few grades, which took a couple of years to complete, were all about stance and posture and good techniques. I still emphasise this in my teaching today, get your stances footwork and posture right. I’ve noticed that these things are the first things to disappear when people are put under pressure and the reason for this is that they are not practiced enough, they need to become second nature and everything else will follow from these basic principles. Even in a real life situation these things are vital, you can’t get your strikes off if your stance and posture are not right.

You need to learn the rules to break the rules but spend a lot of time learning the basics first, everyone wants to hit pads and do the more interesting things and sadly the basics are often overlooked and it shows. Even in the grappling arts it’s much easier to get a throw or complete a technique if you can break the others persons posture and maintain your own. Every style has something to offer and we are all teachers and students, I try to learn something from everyone I meet, even if it’s not to be like them. Those early days were the foundation for so many things in my life.

The Somers Self Defence Academy is striving towards simulating real combat. In September, Gary Anderson, a very experienced bullet man will feature in your seminar. Could you briefly explain what a bullet man is, and how he will feature in your training?

I’ve never used the bullet man before but I’ve always been interested in what it has to offer. I set up a training session with Gary who is a good friend and a really nice guy. He took me through some of the scenarios he does with the bullet man suit and to be honest I was surprised at how good it was.

It’s hard to explain what the bullet man actually is, I guess it’s like a padded suit that can be used to recreate realistic scenarios, and you can hit him in any area without doing too much damage.

When I was in the fire service the training officers used to set up fire houses which were specially designed buildings that represented real fires. They could set up kitchen fires or bedroom fires to different levels of intensity. Although nothing is like the reality of adrenalin fuelled real fire these scenarios did get the heart pumping and were good ways of practicing for reality. Unlike a real fire there were safety procedures in place such as people standing by to step in if needed and the fires could only be set to specific temperatures (unlike a real fire). The bullet man is similar to this in that the scenarios we use will get your heart pumping but we have safety measures in place for both the bullet man and the participants. I am really looking forward to working with Gary and his suit.

Will your seminar focus on non-physical aspects of confrontation, such as verbally de-escalating a situation, the fence, or spotting when an opponent is about to attack? Are these concepts more important than physical training in conflict management?

The seminar we are doing will be more about the physical aspects of self defence and also fear control and mindset. However for me conflict management is really where it is at. How can I diffuse a situation? What are my communications skills like? Do I understand body language and attack rituals and the importance of awareness? Do I understand my own triggers as well as other people’s triggers?

Geoff Thompson developed the fence as a way of controlling the final few seconds before a fight starts and he is right, it’s a critical time in any confrontation. But I would argue that often we can go way back before that time to what actually triggered the altercation and quite often it could have been avoided with a lack of ego and the appropriate skills. I teach conflict management to NHS staff and it’s all about communication skills, building rapport and making people feel valued and respected and by doing this you drastically reduce the chances of conflict.

How do you practice these non-physical elements in a dojo?

I talk people through different scenarios and communication models. I have a saying that it’s nice to be nice and nice people don’t tend to have conflict. Nice doesn’t mean non assertive or a push over it means quietly confident, respectful and empathic towards others. I hope I demonstrate this in the Dojo. I’ve noticed over the years that confident people don’t get bullied.

Before MMA and the UFC there was Animal Day with Geoff Thompson. Do you feel this enhanced your training and do you consider it necessary to go to those fringes of reality in order to become truly competent in self-defence?

The animal days definitely enhanced my training in that they helped me to overcome my fear of confrontation. They were very physical days and I was always scared but then again I was scared in lots of areas of my life. Scared that I couldn’t defend my kids, scared that my wife might leave me, scared that I would lose my job or my house, scared to speak out and say what I really believed for fear of being laughed at.

The animal days helped me to face my fears head on and learn to live with them and to a large extent to control them. I still have them from time to time but to a much lesser extent. Animal days were a very physical medium in which to face and overcome my fears but I don’t think that everyone has to choose this way of doing things, it worked for me but it might not work for everyone. Self defence is a massive area which covers conflict management and much more I truly believe that if we could raise the levels of peoples self confidence we would have a far better society. Insecure people often get bullied or become bullies so by working on our self worth we could go a long way towards eliminating a lot of the problems in our society.

During your 17 years as a firefighter, what was your experience of controlling adrenal response? Was it similar to that of confrontation, and do the two cross over?

Being a fire fighter is slightly different because you have a role or a job to do and you are expected to do that role, for example running into a burning building while everyone else is running out.

The adrenalin is still there but the fact that you are in a role helps you to go forward, the training is also vital there were times especially early on in my career (I have mentioned this in my book Fighter Rescuer Healer) that because I was so scared I operated on auto pilot but because the training was so good my auto pilot was good enough. It’s the same with self defence, some people call it muscle memory but you will react in the same way that you have trained under pressure.

So good training is vital as well as exposure to pressure situations, which also goes back to my answer to your first question, master the basics.

What first led you to pursue fear control and what elements of controlling fear transcend into your normal life?

Fear has been with me for as long as I care to remember and it’s held me back in so many ways but like I have already said I got so sick of it that I decided to fight back. I still experience fear but I refuse to let it hold me back anymore in fact I now like the challenges that fear brings and if I feel scared I know I am on the right track. Fear will keep you small in its attempts to keep you safe. I realized that most of my fears came from my parents so that meant that they didn’t belong to me and I refuse to have other people’s fears, I’ve got enough of my own. I love helping people to overcome their fears and reach their full potential, it’s very rewarding.

You founded the Self Empowerment Academy and have been heavily involved in counselling in a diverse number of areas. How important do you consider mastering your own ego and temperament in avoiding conflict?

I would say controlling our own ego is the biggest part of self defence. When I was younger if someone looked at me I assumed that they thought they were better than me and so then I wanted to fight them. When I realized it was me who thought I was an idiot or a twat and not them I realized that I had to work on myself. The ego will try and protect you but if you learn to like and even love yourself then there is very little to protect.

You have worked closely with the NHS and firefighting services teaching conflict resolution. With your experiences of real fear and real conflict, do you believe people can utilise the techniques learned in such classes while under adrenal stress?

Again it’s down to practice and training. Of course it’s harder under stress but I believe it’s better to have some type of a plan rather than no plan. I know in the NHS where they have introduced improved levels of communication amongst staff, incidents of conflict have been reduced.

The Liverpool Echo recently reported that a paramedic was sacked for pre-emptively attacking an aggressive drunk male, who was behaving threateningly towards his elderly patient. Do you think that NHS staff should be taught to pre-emptively strike if under threat?

Every human being has the right to defend themselves and that includes using a pre emptive strike. The law states that if the attacker is aggressive and moving forward and you fear for your safety you can pre-emptively strike the first blow in self defence. Your defence must be necessary and proportionate to make it reasonable but you are allowed to defend yourself in any walk of life.

The European Human Rights Act Article 3 talks about a right to life.

I don’t know what happened with the paramedic you mentioned but it sounds strange to me that he got sacked because you are allowed to defend yourself and others but maybe there was more to the story, I’m always a bit dubious about our media coverage.

Tony’s new seminar takes place on 27th September. Find out more at http://www.realcombatsystem.co.uk