The full sentence is actually - By way of deception, thou shall do war. It is the motto of the Israeli intelligence service - the Mossad.  The Israeli service is small in size compared to its cousins in the intelligence war, and so has to be able to hit fast and hard by using deceptive tactics over its larger adversaries.

This is something that is a core concept for those who study the strategies and techniques of self and personal protection.

Now I'm sure that we'd all like our fights to be against comparatively weaker or at the least a similar sized attacker.  Same build, same height, same skills level.

Keep dreaming!!

I've had to deal with a few that I've had the greater strength over - but not many.  The majority of violent confrontations are bigger people against smaller people.  Criminals and street attackers don't pick on people who they think will be able to "take them."  Hell no!  They're smart, they'll go for the smaller, weaker target.  In short, easy pickings!

When we have to deal with a violent situation we have to ensure that we have every possible advantage at our disposal - both physical and mental.  Can we get inside the bad guy's guard?  Can we offer a modicum of distraction to buy us those vital seconds with which to turn the tables on him?

So what we utilise are the tricks and ruses of tactical deception.  This usually involves a verbal or body language distraction in order to lower the aforementioned guard or place him at a physical disadvantage.

Nothing new in this, the "Sucker-Punch" and its variants have been around since the dawn of time, and many a bar-room brawl has been ended by the use of a duplicitous sentence and a judicious uppercut!!!

Now some people have this knack instinctively, while some may have to learn the tricks of the trade the hard way, whilst some are NEVER ever able to pull it off under any circumstances.  Unless it is something that you are talented at (and subsequently train for), nine times out of ten the person involved will give off a "tell" or "signature" about their intended movements.  This can be anything from glancing at your striking hand to "blading" your body, to shuffling from one foot to another.  Everyone is guilty of it to some degree, but its how you adapt and hide the "tell" that really comes with experience.  Although I've seen footage of well known RBSD instructors giving off such blatant "tells" that even a blind man could spot them, let alone an experienced street attacker!!

A deceiver has to be an improviser to the situation at hand, have the confidence and street smarts to be able to pull off the deception, and have a bit of the actor about them.  Some guys naturally have this ability.  The best exponent of this that I have witnessed at first hand was a former soldier, boxer and combat instructor.  He was of slight build, looked like a friendly garden gnome and was able to reel you in with a bumbling demeanour - prior to slamming you into a wall, shin kicking you and jabbing a "shank" into your stomach!  He was a master of the feint and being able to use situational control to his advantage.

I even knew one crazy guy that would speak gibberish ("Fuzzywuzzy-wat!") before throwing in a hook to knock the troublemaker out.  He reasoned, correctly, that the words when said quickly sounded enough like a real sentence to be able to engage the brain and try to figure out just what he had actually said.  It was long enough to administer a calcium based sleeping tablet.  Go figure!

Now I'm sure we've all seen the DVD's and video footage of guys "talking down" and using "artifice" (quaint word) to trick a violent attacker.  At times it is passed off in an almost blasé "street kata" way???

"I have put up my fence" - CHECK

" I will keep a reactionary gap" - CHECK

"I have him lined up" - CHECK

"I will now use a piece of deception and knock his block off with a pre-emptive strike"..........Errrrrrr

Unfortunately its not as simple as "Oh I'll do a bit of amateur dramatics, line him up and knock him out."  Maybe 10 years ago and in certain situations (i.e. police stop and search, door supervisor situation, etc), but bad guys like to learn too and have more than likely adapted to concepts that back in the day were seen as groundbreaking.  These days the attack will come out of the blue in a crash, smash or slash attack with no chance of any contrived banter between assailant and victim

Added to the fact is that "good" bad guys (a subjective term, I know) are masters of their craft.  They practise distraction and deception everyday of their working lives in order to steal, rob and maim.  That's how they make a living!  So unless you are REALLY practised at these street tricks anything that you may try will fall short of the mark against Charlie the Crackhead.

I've been on and ran courses and seminars where the participants during the pre-fight verbal judo phase are going on almost as long as one of Hamlet's soliloquies, trying to trick their opponent into "buying" into their ruse.

NO!!

Our instructors have to pull them up and tell them "If he's that close and still coming - its time to change tack and start blasting him with everything you can!"  It's no longer talking range - its STRIKING range!!

 

The shock news is that we must adapt too.  This is one of the ethos of Modern Combatives, we strive to adapt to a constantly updated environment.  Our deceptive practices must adapt by being fluid, kept in context and plausible.  It doesn't matter if they're not 100% accurate, what matters most is that it "plays" in the situation you are in.  We have to put ourselves into the mindset of an attacker - how he would operate, how he would plan out his attack, and what verbal tactics, if any, he would use?

Only by creating this profile can we hope to have an advantage to destroy a switched on opponent.

The use of tactical deception is usually used in conjunction with a variety of "ready" stances for self protection purposes.  The most relevant and widely used are;

* THE BODYGUARD - Hands crossed over the groin or mid-line.

* JACK BENNY - Hand cupping chin and resting on a horizontal forearm

* ARMS FOLDED - Arms laying one on top of another horizontally

* HANDS UP - a submissive open palms facing out gesture

These are excellent default start points.  They provide the individual with a series of options for pre-emptive striking.  From here you can launch off into a series of punches, open hand strikes and elbows.  They also give you the option to cover up and fend if YOU are pre-empted.  Don't worry about blocking or all types of trendy cover positions with exotic sounding names, just throw those hands and forearms up to protect the head and neck area ASAP!

To take the concept of tactical deception one step further, say the introduction of a weapon - either an edged weapon or firearm - into the mix then the tactics of deception are even more relevant.  In order to access the weapon we sometimes need that reactionary gap, even of only a few seconds, in order to draw our weapon whilst under lethal attack.  Difficult yes, but not impossible.  The deception will take the form of one of several procedures;

* RUSES - which offer a clever lie to deceive the opponents thought process ("Didn't I go to your wedding??")

* DISTRACTIONS - which divert the opponents concentration and awareness          (" There’s a Police car pulling up behind you")

* MANIPULATION - which can interrupt the opponents physical application (Covering up his eyes/face)

There are of course MANY more subtle variations on these principles and concepts, but from a base standard these are fine examples which to work from for street survival.

Of course there are numerous precedents of this from instructors and combatants from the past.  W.E. Fairbairn was known to have practised and studied the use of sleight of hand tricks from stage magicians specifically for his knife fighting techniques, the street style of Savate practises the art of "Malice" using deception tactics and dirty fighting, and there was reputedly an extreme form of violence that emanated from Denmark called Maso, in which practitioners would willingly put themselves in harm's way in order to win over a bigger tactical advantage against an opponent.  Not for everyone I'm sure, but in extremis it may work for some people!

From these deception tools we can create enough of a time lag to either fend off or use the weapon that we have at our disposal.  And use the weapon we must.  If we've taken the time to judge that the situation warrants the use of extreme force, then any hesitation could have serious consequences for our own survival of the situation.

Use that OFF hand to disrupt and distract, whilst letting the WEAPON hand destroy.  That's the reality of weapon based deception.  It's sneaky, underhanded and dirty play.  Yep.  And boy does it take the fight to the enemy on YOUR terms.

When all things are equal (and whenever is it when violence is involved) deception is one small tool in a larger tool box.  Used in the correct context it can pay untold dividends and help stop a violent assault, either by allowing you to escape from the situation or by giving you the opportunity to hit hard, fast and first!

And as we get older we SHOULD use every tactical advantage against a possibly younger, stronger or armed opponent, and take heed of the saying "Age, experience and CUNNING will beat youth and enthusiasm often enough to win."

 

I started this article with a quote and I will leave you with a quote that expresses perfectly the use of deception tactics for military conflict, business negotiation, or for self protection.  It is by Lord Ismay in his foreword to the1953 book about the allied deception plan codenamed Operation Mincemeat "The Man Who Never Was.”

"To mystify and mislead the enemy has always been one of the cardinal principles of war.  Consequently, ruses de guerre of one kind or another have played a part in almost every campaign ever since the episode of the Trojan horse, or perhaps, even earlier.  The game has been played for so long that it is not easy to think out new methods of disguising one's strengths or one's intentions.  Moreover, meticulous care must be exercised in the planning and executions of the schemes.  Otherwise, far from deceiving the enemy, they merely give the show away."

 

Copyright – Modern Combatives Group – 2009