My dear friend, the late Bill Hall, was an inspiration to me and all those that knew him. He always fought for the underdog and believed in responsible citizens’ right and need to be trained in the very best of self-defence.
Bill was a grey-power member and assisted many other senior citizens with difficulties in their life, especially with financial difficulties with Bill being a management accountant all his working life. Bill served in one of the first regular forces being the New Zealand Army Independent company and during World War II served in bomber command. And as retirement Bill and I worked together with the revision of self-defence training to responsible citizens.
Bill was involved with wide ranging Todd Group training, including being the protectee for close protection training exercises as pictured with this piece. He was genuinely concerned with all forms of increased risks to the elderly as well as to young people and the vulnerable. Changes in society concerned him in relation to a lack of respect for one another and how this left the vulnerable including the young and elderly exposed to increased danger.
He was well aware that the elderly could not expect their family to be there to protect them all the time and I can remember on the close protection course, with Bill as pictured as the protectee, he commented how safe you felt being body guarded by such fine young lads.
The reality is the majority do not have bodyguards at their disposal and need to be aware of risks and dangers and implement methods to reduce risk to their personal safety. There are many considerations with writing and developing programs to be used by citizens that may fall victim to aggressors that are considerably stronger and more physically capable. This especially applies to Senior citizens.
This is why many techniques of traditional and competitive styles and codes simply are not practical or effective for those that are physically inferior to their attacker. This attributes to there being gender categories and age and weight divisions. Unfortunately with age and ailments people’s capabilities to protect themselves are seriously affected.
Responsible professional training providers with the expertise and experience in developing specialist programs must be well aware of the effects of old age and ailments attributed to aging and must develop tactics and skills that provide the highest levels of safety. This must begin with anti-encounter preventative tactics. Arming senior citizens with knowledge of home and urban and travel security is very important. Making sure they are aware of potential threats and trends not only in violence toward senior citizens, but also how to recognise potential scams in order to protect their assets and savings are very important considerations. Instructing them on how to do a personal security survey of their home and personal movements when going about their everyday life is a first step. Realistically compiling a threat assessment in relation to the individual’s life and specifics will identify security weaknesses. Once these weaknesses have been identified measures can be taken to harden their security to reduce the likelihood of them being targeted.
With age and ailments comes not only a slowdown in physical capability but also one’s senses capabilities can be affected reducing capabilities to identify threats early. Degeneration of senses can considerably affect an individual’s capability to detect threats decide on the best course of action to reduce risk and initiate the decided avoidance or countermeasure.
Hard target tactics are very important for senior citizens to keep them out of and away from danger. Tactics of avoidance through prior planning and other measures to ensure a senior citizen does not end up in a physical altercation are a primary measure to maximise their safety. Anyone that has to defend themselves runs the risk of being injured or wounded and this is increased by considerable when the targeted victim is a senior citizen. Injuries from contact impact including ground falls and hard flat and edged surface impact can be life-threatening. Such injuries can affect their quality of life and cause considerable pain and long-term treatment requirements with very slow recovery if they recover fully at all. So it is very important that senior citizens are instructed on how to assess and decide on threats and the safest and best means of neutralising the threat.
If they must defend themselves against assault, the instructed skills must provide maximum safety and a means to put an end to the encounter as quickly as possible and with the least physicality requirements.
Being aware of their surroundings and how to use their surroundings to hard target themselves avoiding anything that could increase the likelihood of injury are very important considerations. Any physical skills must take into account age health conditions and limited physical capabilities and importantly maximum safety. They must provide protection of not only the brain and other vital internal organs but also the arms and legs to reduce the risk of serious fractures breaks and dislocations. Reducing target mass hardcover guarding and trying to maintain stability are important considerations under assault, especially with a lack of mobility and as such reduced evasive capabilities. Reduced physical capabilities through age and medical conditions dramatically decrease safe and practical means of self-protection countermeasures options. From standing or when decentralised generally stamp kicking skills with the arch of the sole of the shoe provide increased safety and counter action output capability.
Unfortunately, without armed self-protection capabilities being an option, safe effective means of threat neutralisation against criminal assault for senior citizens facing a younger much more physically capable aggressor are minimal. Lacking in speed to attack the eyes or the airway or power of striking really does reduce counter options that are practical for senior citizens self-protection. Military unarmed combat skills that are employed for those that are wounded including prisoners of war provide last dire resort capabilities when facing extreme adversity. Specific developed variations of such skills are often the safest means of self- protection under assault for senior citizens.
Combined with natural mechanisms of self-preservation adjusted to increase safety in training are most important practices under assault. A fitting example is safe forced or self-decentralisation under assault to a side falling ground foetal position with the shoe soles closest to the attacker and torso and head further most away from danger. This may be the difference under serious assault between bruising and sustaining serious fractures and life-threatening injuries.
I will write an article on the above subject for CQC times in the near future and plan to write a senior citizens manual for security and safety in the future when time off courses is available.
