Earlier I posted a piece by Lee Aldridge on the "Default Position". Following it up with Craig Douglas' (aka SouthNarc) thoughts.
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Some thoughts on the "Default Position"
By SouthNarc (aka Craig Douglas)
Doctrinally, let me add some things about this concept since the term "default position" was chosen when there were some semantic issues abounding over the old "flinch" terminology.
This concept is nothing new. It's been around in some shape or fashion for a long time and neither I nor Lee invented anything.
To utilize any default position you've got to have an inkling that there's trouble. If I am standing on the street corner engrossed in a cell phone conversation with my eyes downcast and a guy walks up from behind and smokes me in the head with a socket wrench, there's no response that's going to solve that problem.
Alot of the conversion from "flinch" to "default" is contingent upon time. I think if you walk around a corner and a bee zips into your eye, you're going to jerk your face back and step away, which usually will bow the pelvis forward. OTOH, if you're standing around with a buddy horseplaying and he swats at your crotch, you'll probably bow the pelvis to the rear and scoot back a stutter step or two which cranes the neck forward generally.
So awareness and good threat management are key issues to making this work.
A default position (as I teach it) is not preferred simply because it's reactive. The preferred option is to take initiative on your adversary and run ahead of him in the OODA loop.
With that being said, it's really hard to get average folks to hit a guy first. It's preferred to hit first, but most good, honest, law-abiding people who've not been exposed to alot of violence are hesitant to do that.
When someone takes initiative on you in a close quarter, spontaneous assault you're generally going to be able to pick up one thing and that's the adversary coming at you fast.
You're not going to read the specific attack as a wide haymaker, a downward looping overhand right that runs straight down the middle, a bulldogging headlock, or a swipe with a boxcutter.
If in that split second of failure to take initiative anyone thinks they can "read" the assault and make a decision to parry on the outside, take the inside line and clinch, or check and pass, then good for you. Most can't. If you're honest in your training I think everyone will see this.
So another key element of a default position (as I teach it), is that it's not diagnostic. It's a singular, generalized response that in that moment protects you as best as any single one thing can do.
So what are we trying to accomplish? My two goals are simple.
- Not getting knocked unconscious.
- Not getting knocked off my feet.
Two objectives. Protect my brain casing, and keep my mobility.
If I'm knocked out then the bad guy can kill me at his leisure.
If I'm knocked down, I can't escape.
Pretty simple.
It is not a best case scenario by any means. It's an "Oh sh!t!" moment.
Think of a default position like a seatbelt.
If you are alert and watching the roadway you can see the drunk a quarter mile away veer into your lane and take appropriate measures, like steering onto to the shoulder and letting him go by, i;e you have read the problem early and taken initiative.
If you're arguing with your wife and don't see him coming at all until she screams "Look out!", then the seatbelt locks you down when he smokes your ass head on and keeps you from going through the windshield. The seatbelt doesn't diagnose in the moment whether it's a front, side, or rear impact.
The seatbelt does one thing to improve your chance of survival as does a default position. You may get killed anyway but your odds have improved.
Of course it's far better to see it coming early and be preemptive. Whether it's an assault or an accident, nobody wants to be in either. You've got to have a plan however when you screw up and get caught with your head in your ass.
That's what it's all about.
Default position, seatbelt, fire extinguisher....they're all the same.
You can contact Southnarc via his site: http://shivworks.com/
In case you missed my other Southnarc/Craig Douglas entries I've posted, please check out:
- SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - A "Systems" Approach to Building a Profile
- SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - Battle Glad and Strife Eager
- SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - The Myth of Proportional Armament
- SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - Training Structure & the Criminal Assault Paradigm
- SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - The Conditioning Corollary and Victim Selection
- SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - Managing Unknown Contacts
- SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - Competition and Conversion
- Inktober Day #31: Craig Douglas' Pikal: Some points and stance
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