Spyderco Forums

Good question! I'll respond here, under the actual topic title, rather than the original post.

Awareness is the easiest to practice, as you can keep a lookout constantly. Anytime I find myself seeing someone walk past me or up to me without being aware, I review the cues that I normally watch out for, such as sounds (shoe noises, breathing, etc), sights (shadows, changes in light, people in front of me looking at something behind me, etc). If I find I missed something, I remind myelf to keep a sharper lookout. If I didn't miss anything - not much I can do.

De-escalation, etc, gee. I guess I try to practice these in my daily life anyway. Don't look for a fight when one isn't necessary, practise settling issues down rather than insisting on my rights. Overlooking faults readily (forgiveness is another word) in those I love. Practise a sense of humour daily, but I try to make positive humour rather than poking fun at people. I figure if you can get someone thinking that you are laughing with them rather than at them, the battle is halfway avoided. Next!!

Regards, Neophyte.

Awareness is worth it's weight in gold (or blood). :-)

Over the years of dealing with criminals, I've practiced deescalation a lot, usually at least a few times per day, as a matter of self-preservation.

Simply, if my deescalation skills suck, I get into fights, which is painful.

From what I can gather, the most useful thing I've learned about deescalation is to give the opponent an honorable exit. If you badger him or insult him, he might feel forced to fight you to protect his honor.

Be firm and don't let the opponent see your fear if you have any. Convey to him/them that you have no problem fighting to the death if that's what is necessary. Tell yourself that you can/will, because if you don't, street thugs are going to know you're full of it.

Be reasonable, try to stay calm, keep your voice steady. Make eye contact, but don't get into a staring match (easier said than done).

I've practiced all of the above with convicted criminals, and it works nearly all the time. Once in a blue moon you're going to get an idiot who simply wants to fight no matter what. But for the vast majority,you'll be able to avoid violence.

Sniper -- One Shot, One Kill Email: ST8PEN01@aol.com

" . . .the most useful thing I've learned about deescalation is to give the opponent an honorable exit."

Excellent Point!

Dear Justin:

One of the hardest things to integrate into a physical self-defense program is the verbal de-escalation portion. Once people get amped, they have a very hard time articulating anything meaningful. I've found that practicing the phrases you want to say in front of a mirror and during partner training is a great way of ingraining them and developing the ability to use them under stress. You need to focus on telling a potential attacker what TO do, not what NOT TO do. In other words, don't say "Don't hurt me." It sounds negative and makes you appear a victim. Instead, say "Back off" -- an affirmative command. Practice this while displaying a posture and demeanor that exudes confidence and preparedness.

The same goes for strategies for "talking someone down." Think in advance of the ways in which you can offer someone an honorable way out while keeping yourself safe. Develop plans and practice articulating them so you'll have them when you need them.

We just completed the production of a video with Bill Kipp, founder of FAST Defense and long-time instructor for the Model Mugging program. The video, called "The Missing Link," specifically addresses this often overlooked aspect of self-defense training. It will be available from Paladin in March 2004. Both it, and Bill's hands-on training courses are excellent and should be part of every serious student's self-defense training

I hope this helps.

Stay safe,


mike j

Mike J, I'm familiar with Bill Kipp, he's a real great guy. We used to post back and forth on a message board created by Peyton Quinn, who is another pioneer in adrenal stress training (www.RMCAT.com). Check it out, excellent website, great training program.

As for my deescalation, here is an incident that occurred today:
Today I had a run-in with the "Slasher" in the prison. He's the raving psycho that roams around one of our cell blocks, cussing out and threatening everyone in sight all day long. He's got serious mental issues, and is, at the very least, paranoid schizophrenic, quite sociopathic, and landed himself in prison by stalking the streets of Philadelphia, killing and hacking up homeless people.

Today, he was cussing out and threatening another officer. I stepped in and ordered him to go back to the cell block. With that, he turned to me and said, "I don't even like you, Kruschev." He put his hands in my face, nearly gouging me in the eye. I responded by smacking his hand away, and he whipped his arm around, shoving my arm away.

At this poing, we squared off in the corridor, and I told him, "You want some, old man, let's do it now! I'm going to break your old*****in half." We had our hands up and I was ready to rumble. The other inmates cleared out, giving us room.

Instead, the Slasher stormed onto the cell block, hurling a torrent of cussing at me, stating, "I'm gonna stick my dick in your*****and break it off. I'll stick you, Kruschev. And I'm gonna kill Wonder Woman, too!"

The man is seriously deranged, out of touch with reality. Where the Wonder Woman comment came from baffles me to no end. And why he thinks I'm a Russian leader I'll never know.

I contacted the unit manager, told him what was up. He notified the psych department, and got a nurse up to the block. From there, I filled out papers for a Section 302 (In PA, this is an involuntary committment to memtal health treatment). I believe I'm going to get the man some dearly-needed help.

What a day. I went from zero to sixty just like that. Well, I guess it breaks up the monotony. The odd part is that I'm not really very fazed by the whole thing, which is possibly a bit scary; either I've become more desensitized than I'd imagined, or I'm just a plain sicko. I dunno, guess I gotta flip a coin to decide. :-)

The real adrenaline came from knowing that this man has killed several people in cold blood, and he wouldn't hesitate to do the same to me. Plus, he's been found carrying shanks in the prison on at least one other occasion.

I know this: had I been forced to, my reaction would have been very swift, violent, and decisive.


Sniper -- One Shot, One Kill Email: ST8PEN01@aol.com