News Item: : Real Fights: The Fog Of War
(Category: Sparring and Fighting)
Posted by Administrator
Tuesday 11 October 2005 - 09:48:19 PM

The "Fog Of War" is where one side tries to guess an enemy's strength and intentions, which introduces many unknowns. Incomplete, erroneous, or no information leads commanders to make "best guesses" to fight a battle. The "Fog Of War" is in my opinion also very relevant to the street as well.

Another analogy that I found, to explain the Fog Of War, is as follows:

"Most of us know how the game of chess is played. Each side has the same number of pieces, we know the movement and power of each piece and we can see the location of each one on the board. Introduce a simple concept to illustrate the fog of war by playing chess while being able to see only the squares that are occupied by the opponent. We can keep track of the chessmen on our side and where an opponent piece may occupy a square, but we do not know if that piece is a pawn or bishop. It places a different perspective on playing the game."

Since I have always said that personal combat, street fighting, or self-protection is a war in microcosm, how can we as teachers, coaches, instructors, and students learn from the concept of the "Fog Of War", thus accounting for the unexpected? Simple answer; we can't, but we can "MINIMIZE" its effects!!! This is why as readers of situations that have happened, (Case Studies), we can usually see some simple answers, but at the same time the person who found themselves in the middle of the street situation at hand could not see the situation in the same light. So we learn through case study analysis about what not to do if we find ourselves in a similar situation, thus minimizing danger to us.

Flexibility also reduces the threat of the unexpected. Personal combat is fluid and malleable. Physical techniques taught in self protection MUST also be fluid and malleable. We must teach based upon tactically sound "principals" and "functionality", rather than "rote" and "perfect technique" As Clint Eastwood said in Heart Break Ridge; "One must be able to improvise, adapt, and overcome in time of battle"

Redundancy can also reduce the threat of the unexpected. We know that most plans do not survive first contact. As a result, for every plan "A" strategy, we better train for plan "B" and plan "C". Students must seek to "synergize" and "integrate" their combative attributes and tools, and be able to deploy them at the most decisive moment. It has been said that a finger alone is a poke, a clenched fist, where fingers fit together (flexibility, integration and redundancy), can be deadly.

Realistic scenario based replication training is also a must. This best replicates the "Fog Of War" on a personal level, which then builds and compounds Flexibility, Redundancy, Synergy, and Integration. If video taped, it also allows one to "Case Study" through analysis.

Courtesy of Darren Laur

He Was Kung Fu Fighting (WMV, 3.6MB)

Darren Laur is a full time police officer with the Victoria Police Department and the head instructor of Personal Protection Systems Inc. He has trained extensively in a variety of combat forms and specializes in reality based application and instruction.

This news item is from MartialClub.com
( http://www.martialclub.com/_cms/comment.php?comment.news.comment.126 )