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Monthly
Lecture: 04-2005
“SMOOTH MOVES”
By: Skip Gochenour
Smooth,
balanced, efficient movement has always been the key to “traveling” with
deployed weapons systems. In this
context, “traveling” means moving with the weapons system prepared for
immediate engagement or while in actual engagement.
From
Renaissance sword carriers, to Practitioners of today who operate with firearms
or impact weapons the same principles of engaged movement apply.
Principle
parts of engaged movement are balance, line of force, visual focus and distance
judgment.
BALANCE
While
traveling with deployed weapons and in anticipation of or while actually
engaging hostiles, balance is crucial to effective employment.
Balance
means the Practitioner is able to move either leg in any direction without
first having to shift his weight or relax major muscle groups before
moving. The ability to instantly move
the entire body several feet in any direction is crucial to the ability to
generating an effective blow or move out of the way of an incoming blow.
A
balanced position begins with the feet flat on the deck, about shoulders width
apart, with the knees flexed. Flexing
the knees lowers the center of gravity and unlocks the major muscle groups of
the legs, permitting instant movement.
Exaggerated steps can then be made that will move the entire body
several feet in one step.
When
stepping, it is important that the trailing foot rotate on the ball of the
foot, keeping the heel very close to the deck.
Otherwise, the heel of the trailing foot will come off the deck in a
fashion that places the entire weight on the leading foot resulting in the head
inclined forward and downward. When
this happens it is not possible to instantly make another step in any direction
without first shifting the weight of the body onto both feet. The Practitioner is then not only in an
awkward position, but he looses valuable time that will be needed to deliver a
blow or avoid a blow.
Maintaining
balance is essential at Immediate Danger Distance encounters if the body is to
be used as an impact weapon to knock the hostile off balance and gain time to
deliver additional blows and/or disengage while executing an escape strategy.
Balance
is also essential to moving quickly and efficiently, while prepared to
instantly engage hostiles, over uneven ground or ground that is littered with
tangle foot debris.
LINE
OF FORCE
Line
of force is the vector on which the blow of the Practitioner or the hostile
travels. Whether a projectile or a
contact weapon, it travels along a straight line, intending to make contact
with the target.
Line
of force and balance are interconnected in that the Practitioner must be at
balance in order to deliver an effective blow to his intended target. The Practitioner must also be at balance in
order to instantly and effectively move himself off the hostile generated line
of force.
VISUAL
FOCUS
The
human eye is designed to work with either generalized focus or specific point
focus. With certain exceptions,
specific point focus conflicts with the needs of the Practitioner in hostile
engagements.
Specific
point focus degrades peripheral vision.
By way of example, read a book and while focusing on the print, examine
the limits of your peripheral vision.
Now raise your head and assume a generalized focus of the room and again
examine your peripheral vision. In
generalized focus you are obtaining much more information about your
environment.
Specific
point focus occurs in what is referred to as “weapons focus”. In hostile engagements, “weapons focus”
degrades the Practitioners ability to respond to global threats presented by
the environment. Generalized focus
enhances the Practitioners ability to perceive and respond to multiple threats
as well as determine the location of hostiles in the total environment. Generalized focus is enhanced by keeping
the head erect, and when not engaged in a specific and immediate hostile
encounter, rotating the head from side to side.
Generalized
focus also aids the Practitioner in navigating debris littered ground while
searching for hostile contacts.
Peripheral vision identifies items that serve as tangle foot as well as
items that can create noise, giving hostiles notice of the Practitioners
location.
DISTANCE
JUDGMENT
Particularly
as it relates to Immediate Danger Distance encounters where contact weapons are
employed, the Practitioners ability to judge when the hostile is within one
step distance is important. Effective
delivery of a blow with a contact weapon is dependant on the ability of the
Practitioner to know when the hostile is within distance or out of distance of
one balanced step.
TRAVELING
WITH A DEPLOYED FIREARM
All of
the above principles come into play when negotiating a hostile environment with
a deployed firearm prepared for instant engagement.
Balance
permits the Practitioner to instantly move in ay direction to get off the line
of force of an attack, take advantage of available cover and employ the
firearm.
Balance
also permits the efficient negotiation of portals in two steps from a position
of cover provided by the side of the portal on the approach to the cover of the
same side of the portal on the inside of the room just breached. This move can be executed while moving
forward and rearward. Distance judgment
is crucial to this maneuver.
Balance
can be maintained while leaning forward by extending one foot slightly to the
rear of the other. Leaning forward may
be necessary to see around obstacles or in anticipation of breaching
portals. Moving one foot the rear while
leaning forward permits the Practitioner to move instantly in any direction in
response to circumstances he encounters.
It is important that the Practitioner keep the head erect during this
maneuver.
Balance
is also essential to instant and effective employment of the firearm against a
hostile discovered in the environment.
TRAVELING
WITH A CONTACT WEAPON
Employing
contact weapons effectively employs all of the principles mentioned above. Effective employment of contact weapons
requires “traveling” with them as the blow is delivered.
Balance
allows the Practitioner to instantly move in any direction as the blow is
delivered along the available line of force.
Generalized focus allows the Practitioner to perceive and respond to
actions by the hostiles. Distance
judgment allows the Practitioner to know when the hostile is within striking
distance.
To
maximize the impact of the blow, it is important the leading foot make contact
with the deck at the same time the weapon makes contact.
REQUIREMENTS
OF EFFECTIVE TRAVELING WITH DEPLOYED WEAPONS
Effective
employment of deployed weapons while traveling requires balance, line of force,
generalized focuses and distance judgment.