J commented on Fighting Back Against Mob Violence, Mar-13-2017, 9:37 PM UTC
"I'd like to learn more about the notions of ambush and counter-hunting, as opposed to fighting."
J, this is an excellent question and my experience of it comes from boxing, which I have applied to street survival and blade and stick combat.
The classic ambush is focused on a location where one passively waits for the intruder or maybe leads them into. Even if the foe is led there the ambush is still dependent on a fixed location.
In boxing these are called traps or countering and other then general positioning, like on the ropes or in the corner there is no need for a certain location to be accessed.
A simple one is to drop your hand like Ali, so that the foe will punch and then pop him with a sneaky jab or up jab.
Walking a man into a punch and using his weight to KO him is a common one I like.
On the street an ambush is often based on predictable behavior, such as Mister Wilson leaving the store every night at 10:15 and walking to his car under the billboard. This is an intelligence-based ambush rather than a baited one.
A more sophisticated type of ambush is like the boxing trap. If I notice someone is following me I will head towards a narrow alley between two row houses, so that I can turn on him there. On one occasion I led a man to a location where I had stashed a weapon. As soon as my hand was filled he turned around and fled. This was a defensive counter ambush. If it were offensive I would have feigned a coughing fit and kneeled over the weapon allowing him to close so I could hit him with the brick.
Tactics for cultivating an opportunity to ambush an opportunistic criminal are used to deter crime against less able neighbors, family and friends. These could include:
1. Feigning poor health or sickness on a main street stalked by thugs so that one or more will follow you up a side street where they might be turned on or ambushed in a classic sense, by partners.
2. Carrying a cane and using it as if you cannot walk without it, although you are healthy, to draw an attack. This accidentally happened to me last week and is described in the following article: Negro Bait
3. Develop a lazy zigzag pattern in your walk which enables you to look at your feet and see a hunter on your trail through your lower peripheral vision. A variation is to cross streets in a diagonal pattern to determine if you are being followed and give you a reason to look over your shoulder in the direction of the threat. I no longer do this as I’m barely fit to defend myself. When I was super fit I made bait of myself and turned on my hunters before it was too late, just to shake men that hunted the main approaches to my neighborhood of the habit of stalking people.
In cities like Baltimore the Dindus live in apartment complexes that serve as rallying points where there is often a nearby choke point where they might be turned on. This is real dicey though, asking for trouble within close range of their resupply and reinforcement options. Te other place they commonly live is in rented apartments in broken up street facing houses on the main drag.
I like drawing attackers up a side street. This is how most people get attacked in Baltimore. They get off the bus on the main street and get tracked up the side street. These are very serious methods that sometimes result in abduction and rape as an unaware target might be caught entering their residence. This is one of the few crimes committed by lone strong men, as they pick an older smaller or female target and hit them from behind while they have their hands busy. This guy has hung his ass out there and rarely uses a gun. He is the initializing thug for a deeper crime matrix. You want to break his fingers and a foot—leave him a foot to limp with. I have warded off numerous such attackers simply by turning with a weapon in my hand. One time it was an old, painted iron that my roommate used for a doorstop.
If you turn on this guy on the main street people of his race will pile on you just out of hate and you will be filmed attacking him, as so your defense will be characterized.
One way to bait a moving ambush is used by Paul Kersey, the vigilante played by Charles Bronson in Death Wish, in which he shows a wallet heavy with money to some likely thugs and then walks to a secluded location. I have done this, but I do not advise it. Especially after I considered that I did not look witless or afraid and had they come it would only have been with a knife or gun. You never want to set up a moving ambush that is likely to draw out a stickup man and the kinds of guys that stake out retail outlets—other than low down purse snatchers—are stickup men who come with a gun and a partner or two. You want the guy that is interested but tentative, which most likely means he’s a strong arm robber, the entry level asshole, the point man for turning your neighborhood into hell.
J, counter-fighting is as big as your venue and skill set and ambushing is limitless—a huge subject.
Counter-fighting is more immediate and requires skill training on your part, like knowing a guy is going to shoot for the single-leg so you can sprawl on him and run his head into a wall, or knowing that when the guy that asked you for the time looks up from looking down at his right heel he is going to hit you with a right and timing a lead left down the middle as you step off.
For developing your ambushing and counter-fighting awareness and behavioral skill set I can recommend three of my books:
Thriving in Bad Places for your tool kit
When You’re Food for real scenarios
Waking Up in Indian Country for integrating the two.
Thriving in Bad Places
link jameslafond.blogspot.com
When You're Food: Raw:
A Fighter’s View of Predatory Aggression: The Forever Autumn Press Edition
Waking Up in Indian Country: Harm City: 2015
Thanks, good advice.
Thanks for the article! Very instructive, and I look forward to learning more.