Defending someone else

[stump]

Most self defence covers one to one situations and multiple attackers against one person.

What are the strategies when you are attacked while with a person who cannot either helo you or defend themselves. Imagine you're out with your child/mother/grandmother or some other person who you need to defend when you are attacked. How does what you would normally do change because of their presence? Are their strategies for protecting these people while defending yourself?

If this has been done before I apologise.

[Trinity]

Good Question: I myself would try and talk them out of it first if thid did not work the only approch i would take would be finish them quick. I would not tell the person with me to run because then some of my attackers could go after them. Soooo i would try and finish quick.

[gimgamgommetje]

It's good to talk about this with your loved ones, or even train with them if they are interested.

Occasionally I even made plans to make sure everybody in the group I went out with knew what to do.
for example we went out and my friends job was to bring the girl home safe while i would stay and at least buy them time to get away, call the police + more friends etc.

Or if something happens to another friend of mine,, i'd join in to help while they took the girl(s) home, call help etc.

This is not a foolproof system though. It's an example.

There are things you have to consider and you could even try training on them.

Who or what is the attack aimed at? If you are in town with your mom,, is the violence aimed at you or your mom?

If the attack is aimed at your mom some bodyguarding techniques can work,, basically shielding while counterattacking and trying to escape to a safer place.

If the attack is aimed at you, you better hope your mom knows what to do.
Get away and call the police for example. Or get in the car and run them over, get the shotgun out of the trunk., whatever nice things you can think of.

However, Often the person you're trying to protect will also behave in an unexpected way. Your mom could try to protect you and shield you off or she could attack the attacker.
She could grab you to drag you away so you can't move so good etc. etc. etc.

It's good to practise with 3d party protection scenario's including all kinds of odd (panic) behaviour of the protectee.
This can also make a lesson or seminar fun to do. It's totally different than normal classes and you can see how your techniques work under different circumstances. Also include communication in the training.

It gets tricky when it comes to little children. The best thing is to let them run away to a safe place while dealing with the problem.
However, what kind of parent would let their child go in a dangerous situation?
A parent is likely to instictively keep the child close so you'll have to work with that. If you have a couple of little children with you running away will become more difficult (understatement).

Also basic techniques to break up fights can be very helpfull if your a lil late to prevent your loved one from being attacked.

I do think third party protection should be a big part of self defense.

If you have the time and money, a bodyguard course could be very beneficial for a lot of tactical and technique training.
You should also learn great things like defense/ offensive driving etc .

If this is not an option you might get some great ideas from books/dvd's etc about bodyguarding. I wouldn't know whitch one to recommend though.

[TheCount]

Most self defence covers one to one situations and multiple attackers against one person.

What are the strategies when you are attacked while with a person who cannot either helo you or defend themselves. Imagine you're out with your child/mother/grandmother or some other person who you need to defend when you are attacked. How does what you would normally do change because of their presence? Are their strategies for protecting these people while defending yourself?

If this has been done before I apologise.


I would personally say use maximum force on your attacker(s) without doing anything to horrific (ie. hammer them as quickly and effectively as you can so they will stay down) and then help the other person.

If they can't defend themselves then you need to finish your confrontation ASAP and take the brunt of it presuming you are more able to defend yourself.

Just my opinion

[Paul Genge]

Learning to defend someone else is taught within Systema and is considered to be at the proffessional end of things. When learning to work against a threat to another it is essential to move in a relaxed calm manner. Sharp jerky movements will only alert the opponent to your threat and take their attention away from the person you are trying to protect.

At the very low end of things you have to learn to move between the subject and the victim. A good drill for this is to have attackers walk at their victim from different actions. Your job is simply to move in between them or to move the victim out of the path of the attacker.

At a more advanced level it is important to practice stopping or redirecting the subject. This can be done by simply apllying presure at the right spot on your attackers body and later when you know where to push by applying strikes.

Another area of work we practice is freeing a victim from the threat of a hold or weapon. This is done in a situation where you discover the victim pinned or being threatened with the weapon. The important thing to remember is that you movements must make the victim safe. It is no good if your technique that flattens the attakcer also rips the victims arm from it's socket or causes him to be shot. Alot of this kind of work comes down to experience. Practice slowly and learn to see the opportunities that the way the victim and attacker stand present you. Often when you first start out the victim or the attacker can give you ideas about what will work because they can feel where they are weak or unbalanced.

In the future I intend putting some video clips of this kind of work on my site. When I get it done I will post it here. Until then I have plenty of articles and video clips on other areas of Systema.

Paul Genge
Russian Martial Arts Northwest (UK) (http://www.russianmartialart.org.uk)

[Crimson_Stone]

It's good to talk about this with your loved ones, or even train with them if they are interested.

Occasionally I even made plans to make sure everybody in the group I went out with knew what to do. for example we went out and my friends job was to bring the girl home safe while i would stay and at least buy them time to get away, call the police + more friends etc.



You hit the nail on the head with that.

Self defence begins before you ever leave home. Where are you going? Who's going with you? Communication? Help / Rescue? Daylight? Nightime? All things that need to be considered before leaving home.

My suggestion:
1. Read Sun Tzu a few times, and focus on the macro- and micro-applications to his writings. How does it apply to the mall, in a restaruant, on the street, indoors, etc... If you look for conflict youi can see where it is and make the changes to avoid it.

2. Carry Mace. Have your compadre carry mace (if old enough). I said MACE, not pepper spray. It may sound like a soft way out, but after working at a rape crisis center, assisting in women's self defence classes, working with police, fire dept, and paramedic organizations you see and hear alot of things.

The best way to protect those you love is to avoid conflict all together. Any further research you can do will help put the odds in your favor.