SEAL Survival Guide (38 page)

1. PROTECT YOUR FACE

On the human body, the greatest number of vulnerable points are located upward from the clavicles, or collarbones. This will be discussed more thoroughly, but it is important to remember that you must protect these vulnerabilities on your own body before you attack.

• Make fists by curling the fingers tight to the palm with thumbs outside of the index fingers, gripping in.

• Bring arms up so that elbows are against your chest and fists are close to your face, with thumbs a few inches forward from the outer eye sockets.

• This is the ideal position to protect much of your upper torso while creating a barrier around your neck, face, and head. This will also allow you to strike and immediately return to this defensive and protective position.

2. STAY ON YOUR FEET AND KEEP MOVING

Unless you are very good at wrestling or jujitsu, the best place to be in a fight is upright and on your feet. This is especially important if you are fighting more than one attacker, because it will give you the ability to move around during the attack. A moving target is much harder to hit than a static one, so stay mobile. Circle often and keep your attacker(s) in front of you. Don’t allow them to surround you.

• Keep your feet shoulder-width apart.

• Lower your center of gravity by crouching slightly.

• Shuffle your feet; never cross them.

If you should fall to the ground, curl up on your side and cover your head while delivering kicks to your attacker’s legs and knees. As soon as possible, get back to your feet.

3. HIT HARD

Again, back to violence of action: Make every blow count, and you could walk away; otherwise you may be carried away. Punch, kick, elbow, gouge, bite, stab, rip, crush—you name it, you should do it, because this person is trying to take your life. The only rule in fighting is to live.

Vulnerable points
exist all over the body, but remember that the greatest number of them exist from the collarbones up. Within this relatively small area of the neck, you have:

• Two carotid arteries that feed blood to the brain.

• The windpipe, which is the airway for breathing.

• The spinal cord, which controls all motor skills for the body.

Your attacker may be three times your size, but if you take away even one of these functions, the fight is
over
. Even a 250-pound man made of solid muscle will stop fighting if he can’t breathe, which is why you must concentrate the full force of your attack on the face and neck area.

Punches

Make a fist as described and deliver a punch so you are ideally striking with the knuckles of the index and middle fingers and punching
through
your target, as if you were trying to reach a place a few inches behind where you’re aiming. Then immediately return the hand to the defensive position by your face. You will increase the power of a punch by twisting your midsection in conjunction with the blow.

• 
Jab:
This is a punch thrown straight out, using your fist on your lead-leg side; it’s not the most powerful, but is great for maintaining distance.

• 
Cross:
A punch straight in from opposite the lead leg—very powerful.

• 
Hook:
An outward-arcing punch delivered by either fist—great for targeting the ear or jaw.

• 
Uppercut:
An upward-arcing punch delivered by either fist—great for targeting the chin, and the best for lights-out!

Palm strike

In addition to the above punches, your hands can also be very effective when clawing or jabbing with fingers, and an open-palm strike can be devastating. The palm of the hand contains one of the densest bones in the body.

1. Open your palm; cock your arm back, just as you would for a jab punch.

2. Strike directly at the front of the nose and aim upward.

A nose broken this way is much more painful than one that’s been hit from the side, and will take the fight out of nearly anyone.

Feet

Feet can be used in a variety of ways during a fight. There are numerous kicking techniques that can stop a fight before it even starts, but for the purposes of teaching you fighting survival methods, I would strongly recommend that you use your feet to stay upright and move. If on the ground, kick to keep the assailant way until you are back on your feet. In general, save the spinning-back roundhouse kick to the temple for the professionals.

Elbows

Elbows are very effective and can be used when tight against your attacker. If you perform this properly, not only will you strike when slashing in, but you can deliver a second and equally devastating blow by back slashing (returning the elbow to original position).

Knees

As with the elbows, knees are hard body parts that can inflict great damage while you’re tight against an attacker. The best way to employ
knee strikes is to grab the back of your attacker’s neck with both hands, drawing them toward you each time you are delivering a knee strike. Be aware that using this technique may cause you to sacrifice some stability because you will have only one foot planted on the ground during each strike.

Chokeholds

The
rear chokehold
method (a.k.a. the sleeper) is a compression grip applied to the throat to disrupt circulation (carotid arteries) and breathing (windpipe), which ultimately causes the person to lose consciousness.

1. It is best applied from behind the attacker by wrapping your left arm around the person’s throat, with his windpipe in the crook of your arm and your bicep and forearm on each side of his neck. The positioning of your arm is the key to this technique, so remember, the deeper you can get his throat between your bicep and forearm, the better.

2. Keep your right arm behind his neck and grab your left shoulder.

3. Then with your left arm, reach to grab your right arm’s bicep, squeezing tightly, making a full lock, or chokehold.

An alternate method is called the
front chokehold,
which works when you are facing your attacker.

1. With your right hand, reach across and literally grab the opposite corner of his shirt collar—not the person. You will have greater control over your adversary this way.

2. With your left hand, reach and grip the attacker’s collar on the opposite side. This will make your crossed arms an X in front of his throat.

3. Grip as tight as you can while rotating your hands forcefully inward to achieve the chokehold. You are twisting the opposite shirt collars as if you were squeezing and wringing out a rag.