Mood:
on fireNow Playing: Abney Park live from convergence 13
Topic: the art of war
It has been awhile. With training, other things have shown themselves to be less important and this is one of them. Sorry if that created a problem for you.
12. Consequently, the art of using troops is this: When ten to the enemy's one, surround him. - When you are in a superior position, there is no need to continue. Maintain your range and let the enemy realize his situation. This does not mean punch and run away or stay out of reach. This means that you put the opponent in a position where any move they make opens them to your attacks.
This concept is most clear when being grappled. While many submission holds are in fact stalemates; being in a better position means trapping your opponent. The attacker is on the ground and any attempt to move not only allows the defender to attack, but allows the attacker to know that he is allowing the defender to attack. You do not surround and attack, you just surround and let the opponent hurt himself through his own poor decisions.
13. When Five times his strength, attack him. - Five to one seams like a big deal but that one can still be pretty dangerous if your attention wavers or your force becomes divided. It would be foolish to allow the opponent time to grow.
In a personal combat situation, this concept is used (in its most basic level of understanding) in joint breaks and dislocations. You find one limb on its own and you throw all of your attacks against it until it breaks. An arm bar is Two to one odds. Holding the limb against your body, twisting it, and then using the knee strike to cause the break is closer to what this concept preaches. Also remember that I am not speaking of tournament fights, sports, or tough guy competitions. I am speaking of combat where one, or both combatants is focused on the death of the opponent. I include accidental death. This is not a game and damage to the organs and brain will kill regardless of the intent or ability of the opponents.
14. If double his strength, Divide him. - Two to one odds are too easily nullified by skill. To make such a battle more than blood bath it is important to divide the forces of the enemy whether by dividing their command staff, actual forces, removing weapon capacity, or removing food.
In personal combat, this is usually the ambush. Telling a joke and then striking during the laughter, "Hey, Dead bird!" while pointing upward, and the punch to the nose are all attempts to divide the opponents attention and dis-harmonize his physical movements so as to make the attack that much easier and the win that much faster. They also used to pull the opponents pants down to their ankles before the attack. It makes the low slung thug pants that much funnier. In movies, this is also why the bad guy kidnaps the hero's wife and children; so his thoughts are divided.
15. If equally matched you may engage him. - Engaging does not mean combat it means to draw the opponents attention. Combat with equal forces is difficult to predict and all of the commanders skill is focused on positioning and maneuvers. The training of the individual troops and reaction time will have a huge impact on the out come.
In personal combat this concept is often illustrated by the angry out burst, the insults, and the dancing around of the opponents. They test each other's emotions, willingness to fight, reaction time, look for any group members who might be setting up an ambush and possible other options to fighting. The Chinese saying is this. "When two tigers fight, one dies and the other is crippled."
16. If weaker numerically, be capable of withdrawing. - Quite frankly, the easiest way for the weak to control a fight is to run away. Survival is a win.
17. And if in all respects unequal, be capable of eluding him, for a small force is but booty for one more powerful. - It is ignorant to fight a losing battle. It is also ignorant to draw the attention of an opponent you cannot defeat. Hide and grow, for time and distance are your friends when weapons would fail.
In the American military, all military assets have a threat level. Different weapons and skills are threat multipliers. They do this to make the computations go easier. Fanaticism, hatred, rage, and fear are also threat multipliers. While the T-shirt says "it is not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog", in real life it is both the size of the dog and the size of the fight in that dog which are important. There will never be an action movie with an angry Steven Hawking kicking a drug cartel's ass. Although, If you are looking to kick a drug cartel's ass; Steven Hawking would be a definite asset in the planning stages.
