w.i.d.t.H.6 Chapter 5: H...
H is for Head/neck.
If you control the head, you control the body. If you destroy the central nervous system, you shut down the body. The brain is a light switch. Attacking it correctly will shut down a bad guy’s ability to harm you. This also varies by the tool a self-defender is using. If unarmed, attacking the head should be done using the previous principle: Torque. Put very simply, if you have no martial arts skills, you can just grab a person by the head with both hands and twist, this will interrupt their vision and balance. If you cover their eyes with your fingers while you do it, even better because you can also cause Damage. The human body will throw itself into amazing contortions to protect the Head/neck, which means it’s very easy to make a bad guy move the way you want them to if you manipulate their Head/neck. This is incredibly effective and can actually be lethal if you do it with enough violence, which is why it is not allowed in MMA competitions or in law enforcement agencies: because it works. Once you get them on the ground, stomping on their Head/neck with all your body weight is an incredibly effective way of rendering a bad guy “non-functional,” so is kicking them in the temple. Which leads to blunt-force tools like hammers.
With a blunt-force tool like a baton or a baseball bat, how to attack the Head/neck is pretty obvious. Swing for a homerun. It’s almost impossible to do it wrong. Move forward as you do it, and throw your body weight into the attack.
Edged weapons: From the front, attack the neck (easier target) or the eyes (difficult targets). From the rear, attack the brain stem. Remember with a knife (or a flat-head screwdriver/icepick/corkscrew), you have two hands, you can do everything we talked about above to grapple/Torque the Head, using your non-dominant hand, to maneuver the Head to a position for a knife to be most effective. Remember, if you can get behind somebody with a knife, there are several excellent targets to end a self-protection situation instantly, the most effective of which is the brain stem. But it’s not the only one: either side of the neck, under the chin, the eyes, behind the earlobe, or even the spinal chord (if you have a sturdy enough knife), are all excellent targets that will cause significant Damage to the bad guy.
Firearms: I don’t train people to take head shots unless they are either 1) shooting at a supine assailant who is still a threat (meaning still attempting to shoot/stab/hurt you), or 2) rescuing a hostage/saving somebody with a gun pointed at them and head shot is critical to sever the communication between the bad guy’s brain and his fingers, or 3) making a contact shot (putting your gun against the bad guy’s head). Why? Because the Head is one of the most motile parts of the human body, and it is therefore much easier to miss than the human torso. So, unless the circumstances demand a head shot, or you have eliminated the chances of missing (shooting a grounded opponent where the earth is your backstop, or shooting a contact shot directly into the bad guy’s skull), head shots are not recommended for firearms, not because they’re not effective, but because the danger of missing and hitting a bystander is increased dramatically by aiming at such a small, highly motile target. Put simply, I am not in the hostage rescue business, and neither are the vast majority of the people I train. Handguns are not the best tools in the world for doing that type of work, and a handgun is most likely what you are going to have on you if you are a gun carrier and you find yourself in a self-protection situation. There are situations, like the West Freeway Church shooting in Texas, where head shots may be necessary to save others, but you have to be fully aware of your own skill and limitations. Jack Wilson shot the active shooter once in the head at 55 feet. Can you do that? Can you do that 100% of the time? You can’t afford a miss in an active shooter/defense of others situation, so know the distance from which you are perfect, and never try to exceed that distance lest you hit a bystander. Important note, here, that is NOT self-defense, by the way, it was “defense of others,” which becomes a much more complicated set of challenges than self-defense situations. Basically, only take head shots when you can absolutely guarantee no bystanders will get hit. But, understand that hitting the head with a bullet is flipping a switch in the bad guy’s head, and it is sometimes necessary.
In conclusion, the Head/neck are the most critical targets you can attack on a bad guy’s body. Remember, the brain is the real Weapon, so my goal should be to eliminate the bad guy’s true Weapon in a self-protection situation. Taking out somebody’s central nervous system causes paralysis or death, like a light switch, instantly ending a fight. It’s not easy to get to, depending on the tools you are using, the mammalian body has evolved to protect the brain and spine from trauma, but they are reachable. Remember in the post about Damage, targeting varies by what you have to hurt the bad guy. That being said, if you are close enough, skilled enough or mean enough to attack the Head/neck, it is the best method of flipping off the bad guy’s light switch and surviving the self-protection situation. Next up, the last and most important self-defense principle.
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Soule
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