Coffee With David

Due to the high number of spammers striking at this blog, I am moving this blog to a new site. It has been created and I will have it updated on my website by the end of tomorrow (Central Time USA).

I hope that those who have been following me on here, and are not spammers, will follow me on my new site. Please visit www.DavidAlanLucas.com for more information after 12/19/2011

How do the trained military fight? Like Law Enforcement, the fighting styles of the military vary with time and nationality. If you have a character that you are writing about that is in a particular branch of the military, or in a certain nation, or in a different time period than modern day, I would highly recommend that you conduct careful research into the martial art style that was or is used. For the purposes of this entry, I am going to exam the United States military of modern day. Again, before I start, I remind my readers that I am "painting" with a broad brush. Individuals may vary from what I describe below.

The military personal of the United States is (one of--to avoid arguments) the best trained standing forces of the modern world. With that said, most hand to hand combat training that the average soldier or sailor is given is limited. Depending on the Military Occupation the soldier or sailor, they may have had only a few days of hand-to-hand combat training. As I described in "Writing the Fight Scene-Part 2 (Understanding How Untrained Fighters Think)", this amount of training still limits the level of strategy that they will use in a fight.

Please do not misunderstand me. They are better trained than the untrained fighter, but their overall training is not focused, nor extensive, in hand-to-hand combat. In my post "Writing the Fight Scene-Part 2 (Understanding How Untrained Fighters Think)",I discuss how fighters think and strategize the fight. In that posting, I described the untrained fighter's level of strategy is that of a game of tic-tac-toe and that of a highly trained fighter to be the equivalent of a chess player. In the case of the level of training that the average military personal has would fall somewhere between the two--maybe closer to checkers.

With this stated, each branch of the US armed forces has a different philosophy of martial arts. Before World War II, the armed forces main focus on hand-to-hand combat was a mixture of boxing, wrestling, and - - -well, barroom brawling. After World War II, the five main branches (most think of only four, but for the purpose here and understanding the role of the US Coast Guard, I have broken it out into a separate branch) of the military went down different roads:

* The US Army and US Air Force hand-to-hand training is based mostly on Judo and Aikido;
* The US Navy Force hand-to-hand training is based mostly on Boxing;
* The US Coast Guard hand-to-hand training is based mostly on Boxing and Aikido;
* The US Marine Corps hand-to-hand training is based mostly on Kenpo.

I used the qualifier of "mostly" on purpose. The reason for this is that the military do work on and improve their fighting methods. Some of this improvement comes from conflicts with other forces--in other words, war-- and from the exchange of styles between these five branches and their personnel seeking training outside of their basic training.

In my next posting in this series, I will discuss the "gym trained" fighter. This will include any fighter trained in a gym, studio, club, or dojo.

Also, remember there is a contest for a book giveaway going on for this month. Please read the blog titled "December’s Book Give Away Contest" for information.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for more information on my writing.
Writing stories of Paranormal , Mystery, Horror, and Science Fiction that explore the human condition one story at a time.

The first trained fighter we are going to examine is the police officer. Police officers, including federal agents, undergo a level of training in a preferred martial art. The martial art changes from country to country, or even police precinct to precinct. This can also change in time as well. For the purposes of this blog I am going to address the modern United States police system and I am going to use a large paintbrush to describe it. It does not take into account individual training.

Despite being trained, the police officer doesn’t have the extensive training that most gym fighters would have. They have only a short amount of training and it is usually in Aikido or Judo. These two styles of martial arts are focused on arm locks and tying up the opponents body, which is appropriate for bring a suspect into custody. This also defines the strategy that the police officer uses in any fight they are in.

The rest of the training that a police officer undergoes in regards to fighting is with firearms, pepper spray, and police nightsticks. (Again, there are some other weapons they may learn to use, including “street weapons” like a baseball bat.) The nightsticks can take the form of their mag-lite, a baton, side handle batons (that look like and are used the same as the ton-fa), the expandable baton, and the stun baton. Each of these types of batons have strengths, weaknesses, and move differently. To the common person you might not see too much of a difference, but if you get the opportunity you might want to talk to a police instructor to get a better understanding.

One of the things that all these weapons have in common is the target areas the police officer is allowed to strike. I will talk about target areas in another blog entry, but let me give you a quick list for now. While accidents can happen, because usually a suspect that has a baton taken to them is resisting and moving and otherwise being less than cooperative and thus might get hit where they shouldn’t, the police officer is not allowed to hit the skull, sternum, spine, or groin. Most of these targets would take out a suspect immediately—sometimes with deadly effects, thus why they are not allowed. What they are allowed to strike are large muscles and nerve areas.

My next entry will look at the training and preferred martial art styles of the Armed Forces.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com

Welcome to the second contest on my website. For this month, I am going to give you a chance to win Meet Me: Writers in St. Louis, Interviews by Catherine Rankovic.

In case you didn't know, St. Louis, Missouri is a blossoming hub for writers.

From Amazon.com about this book:

"In Meet Me: Writers in St. Louis, author Catherine Rankovic invites us into the intimate space of the personal interview with thirteen well-known writers who were living and working in St. Louis or visiting the city in the service of their art. Included in this collection are interviews with Carl Phillips, Kathleen Finneran, Gerald Early, Don Finkel, and Ntozake Shange, to name a few. Rankovic conducted most of the interviews during the 1990s while working as a journalist. The interviews, thus, form a record of the development of these creative personalities, a snapshot of a moment in their lives against which to measure current and future achievements. Recently Rankovic added interviews with three more acclaimed St. Louis writers, making the book a must-have resource for anyone interested in contemporary American literature. A photograph of each writer, a sample of the writer's work, and a biographical introduction precede each interview."

"Charlie Reilly, Professor of English, Montgomery County Community College, PA, Editor, Conversations with Amiri Baraka: Right from that eye-catching title, you can tell this book is special. Not only does Meet Me: Writers in St. Louis serve up that electricity which has always been part of the St. Louis literary scene, but its broad canvas and incisive comments provide insight after insight about the way literature is written and the way authors worry their materials into print. Want to know why Josephine Baker's adopted and not-quite-adoptedsons said their mother was afraid of love? Why Ntozake Shange, author of the Broadway hit For Colored Girls Who Have Committed Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf insists "I still say I'm from St. Louis and I'm very glad to be claimed by St. Louis"? Why Chinese poet and novelist Qiu Xiaolong worries about being arrested if he everv returns home? Why Jane O. Wayne's poetry has been influenced by her obsession "with not being able to find doors"? It's all here in a rich literary context, framed and focued by Catherine Rankovic's precise questions and enriched by her unfailing background materials. A worthy book and a fine job of it! Don Marsh, Host, "St. Louis on the Air," KWMU, St. Louis Public Radio: I found Meet Me: Writers in St. Louis to be an interesting insight into many writers who are not household names to the general public. Of special interest is the peek we get into the creative processes during their most productive years. Of course, it was a pleasure to learn that St. Louis was such a positive cultural nurturing ground. It was also enlightening to learn of the people who shaped the writers' lives. Lisa Ampleman, Associate Editor, River Styx Literary Journal: In Meet Me: Writers in St. Louis, Catherine Rankovic introduces us to thirteen writers whose work and lives intersect with the Gateway City. These lively conversations and profiles show us the active minds behind the poems, stories, and memoirs, and many explore the question: why write in a particular place? The picture of St. Louis that emerges is that of a city struggling, among other things, with its racial inheritance but feeding the creative energy of these writers who often work in more than one genre. A special gem: the interview of the late, reticent John N. Morris, who recognizes writing as a way of "drawing attention to yourself." The attentions Rankovic pays to him and to her other interviewees enlarge our understanding of the literary life in St. Louis.

"About the Author
Catherine Rankovic has a B.A. from Marquette University and an M.F.A. from Washington University. She is the author of Island Universe: Essays and Entertainments (2007), and Fierce Consent and Other Poems (2005). Her work appears in several anthologies including Are We Feeling Better Yet? Women Speak About Health Care in America (2008). Her prizewinning poetry and essays have been published in The Iowa Review, The Missouri Review, River Styx, 13th Moon, Margie, Boulevard, Natural Bridge, and many other journals. She has taught creative writing at several universities and in community workshops."

Personally, I have had the honor of know Catherine and the privilege of learning from her. She is a fierce personality and a fantastic writer.

How do you win? To enter the contest, simply leave a comment or question on the Coffee with David blog between December 1st, and midnight (Central Time) December 31st, 2011. Please include your email so I can reach you if you win. The more comments you leave, the greater your chance of winning the contest. If you refer others to Coffee with David who mention your name in their comments, we'll enter your name again in our random number generator along with theirs, also increasing your chances at winning! The winner will be chosen after midnight on December 31st and the announcement made by January 7th.

As always, I thank you for reading and good luck!

If you wish to learn more about me, please visit www.davidalanlucas.com.

The winner of ELEANORE GRAY is Jaclyn Elsey (LadyDamonayde). Congratulations.

Thank you all for commenting. There will be a new post tonight announcing the December book give away.