tallgeese

Great, and also delicate, question. Personally, I can indeed see situations where that's the only "honorable" recourse for a modern warrior. Now, let's be clear, the social structure is different now, and we're not in Japan. We're looking at serious extrapolation here and any act based on 200 year old customs. As a first step in this, I think the concept of ritual suicide has evolved. No professional warrior carries a blade as a primary instrument of his calling any longer. As such, belly cutting is pretty much out. No longer are we talking about regaining honor, or redressing being wronged. There are legal resources now for such things (even among warriors). Now, I can see it being about sparing your organization further and on-going embarrassment. And in today's culture, there are few, very few reasons for taking this step. Again, we're extrapolating here. I can think of one incident, in my 20 plus years of MA experience and nearly decade of carrying a gun to work, that would warrant such a step. And then the step wouldn't have aided the victims of the incident or "regain" the offenders honor. It would have simply spared the organization the on-going mess. That is, to me at least, the modern expression of that ancient ritual.

Welcome to KF!

12/23 90 min free roll.

Power double. It closes the distance gap and avoids trading strikes with strikers. Gives you top game against grapplers. Can sometimes be useful vs. weapons. It sets you up to punch down if you really need to hurt your guy or hold for control without damage. Lastly, against multiple attackers it lets you own one fast and possibly break out of any encircling maneuvers.

12/21 Several hours worth of everything from sparring, to grappling, to combatives at my original school with the Bujin clan. GS, MP, great training! Had a blast!

12/19 60 min focused long gun work.

Welcome aboard!

12/18 Drilled elevator sweep from guard. Moved on to single side weave sweep and then choke for weave set up. 10 min round drilling tonight's material. 40 min free roll.

Nice work!

We've all heard it several times that ma's are supposed to develop character. Right? In fact, it's often cited as a major goal for ma participation. I've usually been the one to throw the flag at this statement and argue for technical proficiency in combat. That said, something caught me while re-reading "Secrets of the Samurai" by Ratti and Westbrook recently (this is one of those books I go back to every few years for at least a review). While discussing the foundational elements of the inner factors of bujutsu, the authors make the statement that the weapon (either crafted or the human body) was useless without the inner factors that go into it's use. For instance, they cited an understanding of when to use force, the will to deploy for, and the ability to make decisions under the fog of conflict; all attributes that combatants of any sort strive for today. The authors argue that this is the "character" building that goes into the arts. The development of one's character has to do with learning in such a way that he is able to deploy the weapon of his choice in a masterful fashion. It is not, to their thinking, what we in the west would (and often do) cite as "character" but the intrinsic factors that make a warrior effective. This, I can wrap my head around as "character development" thru the martial arts. Thoughts anyone?

Welcome to the forums.

Welcome aboard KF!

12/17 Drilled De la Riva position. Leg trip from De la Riva followed by guard pass. Then roll over sweep from same position and guard pass. 10 min rounds of hip bump sweeps, scissors sweeps, and elevator sweeps. 40 min free roll.

I agree, I've known one or two (fortunately very few in relation to how many places I've trained at) who were amazing martial artist, but had issues being human beings. That said, I still trained with those people because they had a skill I wanted. It's the cost benefit thing that you have to figure in.

No doubt all will be accomplished. On number 3- I think that every cop in America should be qualified and train regularly on the rifle. It's the weapon of the day for good reason. Increased range, accuracy, capacity, speed of reloads, and optical enhancement capability, and the ability to penetrate armor and makeshift barriers with proper ammo selection make it THE go to weapon in high risk situations. Of course, this is all for nothing if a department does not support regular training. That's pre-qual training, regular qual, AND additional training thru the year. In-house and outside training, especially for instructors and tac units. There, I'm off my soap box now. I am glad you're full on about getting up and running with a department long gun. Nor am I surprised.

Nice work!

Please do keep us posted! Great work and good luck the rest of the season!

12/15 Drilled choke series from mount. 60 min free roll.

12/13 Drilled no gi choke sequence from mount. Moved into setting up guillotine from side mount. 40 min free roll. No gi

Great question! I think I'd take my three months to devote to something I haven't done before. Get a full on, every night total immersion in something I haven't explored before. Something with minimal real combat application at any level that I could just experience as an art. Iaido probably.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Thanks for another great year, Patrick!

12/10 Drilled arm triangle from mount. Followed by mounted triangle and arm bar variant. 40 min free roll. Hit some ankle locks and tried new material. 15 min free roll v. strikes.

Nice work!

12/8 Drilled guard pass work. Moved to side. Side to knee in. Same side arm bar and then far side arm bar to finish up. 30 min free roll.

After some contemplation, here we go: 1) Maintain a 3x/week training schedule on the mats on average. 2) Compete in 2-3 tournaments this year 2a) One being the Pans 2b) Medal in any one of the tournaments I compete in 3) Compete a good training camp in prep for the Pans in March. 4) Work on stand up at least once/ month outside of my 5 week block of control tactics block mid-year. Preferably sparring or situational training. This is something I've been negligent on since my immersion in BJJ. 5) Attend 2 JKD/Kali seminars. I've got more of an opportunity to do this now and I need to follow up with it. 6) 1-2 stripes on the brown belt. I'm just gonna put it on here 'cause I'm still really interested. We'll see how the timing works. 6) Take up iaido. I think this is a longshot based on my time commitments. But it's still a goal.