Hard Reality:
How One Barroom Encounter Changed One Cop's Views
On Fighting
By Robin Martin
(Editor's Note: This article discusses the pivotal
encounter that forever changed the author's views
on how to handle fights. Articles to follow will discuss
the techniques he now teaches based on what he learned
that day.)
Thirty years of martial arts training and instruction
along with 18 years of police work have brought me
to the profound conclusion that I just ain't the baddest
dude around. I venture to say there are a few of you
out there who have come to the same conclusion. In
our twenties and thirties our skill level may have
been phenomenal, but time eventually takes its toll.
Old injuries, a thickening waist, slower reflexes
and a mellowing of attitude all work against us until
eventually we have to admit we just can't do what
we did twenty thirty or maybe even ten years ago.
A golfer factors this in to keep his game at par.
A runner compensates by slowing the pace. A martial
artist is no different and usually makes the transition
from "GO" (hard) to "JU" (soft).
I started my transition twenty years ago, in order
to beat the crowd and keep myself alive. So far it's
worked and hopefully by sharing it with you it'll
work for you, too.
The soft arts, judo, jujutsu, aikijujutsu, aikido,
hapkido and t'ai chi chuan, use a theory of redirection
of an attacker's force to deal with an assault instead
of the harder arts, which meet force with greater
force. It was once explained to me that my Karate
was like a game of "Chicken," because I
would rush head long at an opponent. Unless he swerved,
I crashed into him. In my youth I believed my skill,
stamina and pain threshold were greater than anyone's,
so I would always be the winner. Reality bites!
When you have a life-changing event you want it to
be in a suitably dramatic setting, and I wish it had
been a more exciting night, something dark and stormy,
when I learned my lesson. Instead, it was a typical
Louisiana hot, humid summer night. In the Deep South,
in the 1970's, air conditioning was still considered
a luxury in many homes and businesses. So when a man
wanted to cool off after a long hot day of back breaking
manual labor, he did so in the "refrigerated
air" of one of our local saloons. There, cool
air or not, when you mixed alcohol with men, tired
of life's struggles, you ended up with short tempers,
busted knuckles and occasionally death. As a police
officer it was my job to keep the peace. Generally,
this meant breaking up the fights and arresting the
survivors.
In those days I was 6 foot 3 inches and 220 pounds
of over-confidence. Eight years of shotokan karate
and two of a combat judo made me absolutely certain
I was up to handling anything the world could throw
at me. Ah, but those were the days! So it was no surprise
that late one summer night, when a local waterhole
called in a fight, cocksure of myself I sauntered
into this den of inequity, primed to settle anyone's
hash.
The fight had been one of those epic barroom brawls
right out of a John Wayne movie. Broken glass, furniture
and people lay about, testimony that no one had been
spared the chance to participate. In the middle of
it all stood a giant fighting with three other only
slightly smaller behemoths. Toss in some spandex tights
and it would have looked like a TV wrestling match.
As the last of his three opponents found a place
to lay his unconscious head, the giant, a Samoan sailor,
turned a pair of the widest and meanest eyes on me
I had seen this side of a Brahma bull. All that confidence
I'd felt walking in almost ran down my thigh when
he charged me at a clip fast enough to make a bull
jealous. For perhaps five seconds I stood toe to toe
with this monster. As he repeatedly punched me, I
tried to fend him off by using my hickory baton against
his head. He punched me silly. That thankfully brief
trouncing led me to think two thoughts. First, "there
has got to be an easier way to make a living,"
and second, "how do I survive long enough to
find a cushy job?"
The bartender saved me by hitting the big sailor
with a baseball bat. Momentarily distracted, the Samoan
left me to ponder my future while he beat the stuffing
out of the bartender. Whether it was a renewed confidence
in my fighting ability (because I'd survived his initial
assault), a flash of amnesia or a streak of HERO,
simply way too wide, I jumped between sailor and bartender.
This time when he started throwing punches, remembering
how much they hurt, I ducked and slipped to one side
grabbing his shirtsleeve. With a quick pull I spun
him away from me and jumped on his back. Wrapping
an arm around a neck only slightly smaller than a
tree trunk I slid my forearm around his throat. Then
with my legs wrapped around his waist I applied Judo's
"Sleeper Hold" (a vascular restraint that
is sometimes called a "choke hold") with
everything I had. After perhaps the longest thirty
seconds of choking someone in my life the giant sailor
slowly dropped to his knees then fell over on his
side. It took the bartender and two police officers
to pull the guy off me. At booking he weighed in at
350 pounds and was 6 feet 8 inches tall. Like many
drunks and druggies after a choke out he was relaxed
and non-combative. So much so that he slapped me on
the back and congratulated me on winning the tussle.
This event, the fight not his backslapping, changed
my view of fighting. I had spent eight years learning
to go through my opponents and now had discovered
that this didn't work in every scenario. Unhappily,
I had discovered that bigger men, perhaps even those
of equal skill and stamina could hold me off or even
worse beat me. So like some guy in a bad Hong Kong
movie I went in search of a martial art that would
give me the "edge". That wasn't easy because
Louisiana just isn't a Mecca for martial artists.
For many years I was forced to confine myself to judo
and jujitsu. Later I would work with Bruce Siddell's
PPCT, aikido, t'ai chi chuan, savate, jeet kune do
and ninpo. Each of these systems would give me yet
another piece of the puzzle and ultimately bring me
back to the beginning, jujutsu.
Jujutsu, like judo and aikido, rely heavily on robbing
an opponent's "Kazushi" (balance). Digging
through the system I knew best, kodenkan or danzan
ryu jujutsu, I took several basic and effective techniques
of un-balancing an opponent and modified them for
my police work. Eventually, I taught these techniques
to several hundred private security and police officers
who became my "Testers." An obliging criminal
element supplied an endless number of subjects for
the research. I will share a few of the most effective
and useful in following articles. I found them easy
for martial artists, police and private security of
any level to learn. And even with limited practice
they remain effective, something to keep in mind if
you train for public safety.
Let
Us Know Your Comments & Opinions On This Article
About The Author:
Robin Martin is a former Police Officer with 18 years
of service. Currently he maintains a Deputy Sheriffís
Commission and is the Executive Director of E-911
for Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. During his law enforcement
career Martin taught hundreds of law enforcement and
private security personnel self-defense and survival
skills. As the former owner of Defense Technologies
he trained in excess of 2,000 men, women and children
in self-defense and rape prevention.
A student of the martial arts since 1969 Martin holds
a 5th degree black belt in both shotokan karate and
Hoshin Roshi Ryu Jutaijutsu (Jujustsu). He is also
a certified instructor in Hoshin Tao Chi Kung and
Tai Chi Chuan as well as a coach of Savate. After
a decade of research Shihan Martin has founded his
own Aikjujutsu system, "Goshin-Do" that
combines elements of Shotokan Karate, Danzan Ryu Jujutsu
and Chi Kung.
Related Story: The
Study of Kuzushi
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