Strategy and Tactics:
Published: 7-10-2015
By Spencer Sensei
Karate training is like a diamond. It has many sides. One facet of the diamond is strategy and tactics. When I first begin training, it was all about technique, but as I have progress to a higher level of understanding I see the necessity for strategy. Strategy and tactics are an important part of the martial arts. Strategy and tactics are not just for the battlefield. All life’s decisions contain them. Without them we blindly stumble through life. However… the focus of this article will be on self-defense with a little life strategy thrown in to season the broth. Both strategy and tactics are found in single combat as-well-as combat involving a trained unit of men/women. In this article we discuss simple planning steps and also briefly touch on OODA loop to give the karateka some skills to begin their sojourn into strategy and tactics. One can never become a master of the martial arts until they fully understand strategy and tactics.
Strategy is the point where the karateka stops fighting with his/her fists and use their intelligence. Developing strategy and tactics is learning to fight smarter. Without strategy you’re fighting reactively, and this means you’re letting your fists think for you, or you’re letting the adversary dictate your next move. There is both long term and short-term strategies. Strategy could not only make you victorious in a confrontation it might stop the conflagration before it starts. This is fighting smarter.
For discussion purposes, in this text, we will segregate strategy from tactics and then bring them back together. What is strategy? Strategy is planning what to do before it happens and preparing for the battle long before it begins.
What do we mean by tactics? Tactics is the method in which you’ll respond. You cannot fully segregate strategy and tactics because at some point they merge or cross boundaries, but for this discussion I will separate them as much as possible. Tactics is what you’re going to do when the battle begins. A martial artist’s kata contains a treasure trove of these tactical responses. To begin fighting smarter a karate student must delve into the kata’s bunkai and practice it with a partner to bring it to life. Bunkai is a prearranged tactical response to an assault found in martial arts forms. Mental and physical preparation can give you the tools to fight smarter, but without practice this exercise is worthless. Tactical responses must also evolve. As new trends in fighting are developed tactical responses must be modified. A tactical response is done without thought based upon the adversary’s advance.
OODA Loop is and excellent tool to use in a situation where you do not have the time for long range planning. Still any discussion about strategy and tactics is not complete without mentioning this philosophy. It is a proven battlefield technique. It can also be used for long range strategy, but for this discussion my plan is to keep it simple and give the student a few logical steps to building a strategy while making a few OODA loop references.
OODA loop process was developed by Colonel John R. Boyd. It is sometimes called Boyd’s law. The acronym OODA loop stands for Observation, Orientation, Decision, and Action. I’m not going into great detail on OODA loop, in this article, because there is an abundant amount of research information available on this topic. Later, in this article, I will discuss IOFB (Inside, Outside, Front Side, Backside) techniques for training using long range planning and OODA loop principles. If OODA loop is the philosophy, IOFB is the training ground.
So… what is OODA loop you might ask? Here is a very simply explanation of the OODA loop process. When the fray begins you must observe yourself, your environment, and adversary. Talking to the adversary can give you the time needed to observe what’s around you. It takes time to pull in all the information that must be factored into your response. How many attackers? Where are the bottle necks? What is the terrain? Next orient yourself and build your tactical response to the situation. This also takes time, so you must stall. What are you going to do to whom? Visualize the situation and pull from your training. Keep talking and buy time. Remember your adversary has already formulated his/her plan, so they have the high ground. Next you need to decide to act or not to respond. This can sometimes be a reactive decision, because the adversary takes the decision away by initiating the attack. Once you’ve decided to respond it must be immediate. Stop talking and move. Don’t wait for the bad guy’s response. The bad guy, consciously or not, is also running through the OODA loop process, so when you act bring it ferociously and decisively. There is no looking back. You cannot have paralysis by analysis or you’re doomed to failure. OODA loop can be used for long range planning as-well-as short range. This is only a cursory discussion of OODA loop, and I hope it helps in understanding the remainder of this text. All martial artists should read more on this topic.
Strategy and tactics are like the two sides of the same coin. They are different, yet the coin is not complete if one or the other is missing, so what is good example of strategy? Many years ago I was watching an interview with, the now deceased, karate legend Masutasu (Mas) Oyama sensei founder of Kyokushin karate, and I believe he unwittingly he gave a good example of strategy. He was asked, in the interview, what he would do if attacked by one hundred opponents. He smiled sheepishly and said, “I would run away and find a narrow passageway, so only one or two attackers would be able to get at me at one time.” This in essence is strategy. In advance of the unlikely possibility of being attacked by a mob he had a plan. How he would defend himself once wedged into that narrow space is tactics. We have no way knowing if his answer was done through long term planning or was just an off the cuff remark, but it does give us a working scenario to better examine this two-sided coin.
The intent of this article is to deal with strategy from a self-defense perspective, but please allow me to chase this one rabbit because I firmly believe that strategy does not stop in the dojo. Strategy should be practiced by the martial artist in their everyday life as-well-as in a confrontation. Life goals like college, public service, and job promotion are also opportunities that utilize strategy. What is your life plan? Know your life goal and begin to build your life strategy. Ask life questions. Is college right for you? Do you want a small business? Do you want to be CEO of a large company? Do you want to go into public service? Know your goal and build a strategy to achieve it. Don’t just let it life happen. Have a life strategy as-well-as a self-defense strategy. Martial arts should train you to handle the ups and downs of life as-well-as enabling you to defend yourself against an attacker. A life strategy is more important than a strategy to win a trophy at a local tournament, yet they are not unrelated. Preparation and planning for your tournament victory gives the martial artist tools to meet their future goals. Plan your life inside and outside the dojo.
Let’s continue this conversation by discussing the strategic steps. These simple steps are necessary to map your course. First every plan must begin with a goal. Strategy is used to meet that goal. Without a goal strategy is useless. Second gather intelligence. Know what you’re facing before charging into a situation blindly. Third after you’ve built a strategy, then build contingencies because nothing goes exactly as planned. In the OODA loop model this would be the observation portion. Lastly have and exit plan. Do not get boxed in with no way out.
In the OODA loop philosophy, there is presumed preexisting goal. That goal is always the same, and that goal is survival. In life the goals can vary, but any combat situation must have a goal that brings you home safely. Getting a good grade in math is different that facing multiple attackers. Still every strategy, even life strategy, starts with a goal.
Once the plan is in place follow the designed strategy because it is too late for second guessing when fists are flying. Changing your mind in the middle of the process is like having no plan at all. Let the process fail, and then seamlessly switch to your next contingency. Next place the plan in action. Too many great projects fail because they’re never acted upon.
Part of the planning and building contingency steps depend upon intelligence. Gather intelligence on terrain, alliances, strengths and most importantly the enemy’s weakness. Before planning any conflagration or project, note all the potential pitfalls and know your enemy. Failure to know your enemy can cause you to underestimate the challenge to your plan. Build your plan based upon relevant information not on rumors or a gut feeling. Look for patterns. Knowing that the fighter moves in close before launching their assault gives you an advantage and a decision point, or a signal that you should attack while they’re moving into position. I knew a man that, when challenged to a fistfight, would ask to move the fight outside, so not to damage anything. He would purposely walk out first and as his opponent stepped through the door he would suddenly turn and slam a fist into his adversary’s chin. This strategy and tactical response work in most cases. He seldom lost a fight. In personal combat the adversary’s eyes wild widen and their nostrils will flair before attacking. Look for these tale-tale signs of attack.
Decide on your tactical response before bullets begin to fly. When you see “X”, know to respond with “Y”. When a plan fails, and you’re forced move to a contingency know your tactical response for that contingency too. Know it before you need it.
The last step is to always have an exit strategy. This is not a contingency. Your exit strategy is used only when the wheels fall off and retreat is your only option. It is also necessary when the operation is successful, and your mission is accomplished. What do you do if you win? What do you do if you fail? If you beat-up the playground bully, what then? Don’t try and figure it out after the battle ends, know it before it starts. This is the last piece of the puzzle. If your business fails, how do you protect your assets? In combat if your plan is going sideways how do you get your team extracted safely. If you’re out numbered, while being robbed, is it better to give them your wallet or send a few of them to the hospital? How do you get out safely? This is many times overlooked not only in personal combat, but in conflagrations of major proportions. Once the bullets stop flying what do you do then? An exit strategy is more than how do I get out. It is also, knowing what to do afterwards. There can be consequences for sending bad guys to the emergency room, and consequences after winning a war. Your exit strategy must be in place before you begin an operation. Failure to have an exit strategy can create long term chaos.
Planning is one thing, and preparedness is another. All parties involved must know the strategy and all contingencies before setting a plan in motion. The plan, the contingencies, and the exit strategy must be practiced until they flow without thought. Know the strategic steps and follow the plan. You or your team should not be guessing about the next step. No one can read your mind. Every good football coach goes into a game with a plan, and every player needs to know their part in that plan, and they must be prepared to move to any number of preset contingencies. The game plan is set into place at practice and not in the middle of the game. A fighter should never enter the ring without knowing his opponent and building a plan to defeat him/her, but it would be even worse to step into the ring without training. Planning is ineffective without practice.
Strategy is not rigid. Life like a battle is fluid. To develop a sound strategy, you must listen to other’s input, experience, and fears. Observation, in the OODA loop model, when applied to long term planning, does not mean only listening to your own thoughts. Input is how you build your initial strategy and contingencies. Mas Oyama’s goal was to survive the encounter with the one hundred attackers. His strategy was to run and find a narrow place to begin his counterattack, but what if he could not find a suitable narrowing. His immediate strategy would have to be revised, yet he had no contingency to fall back on. At this point he would be planning on the fly and hoping for a little luck. Luck will not always save you or you or your team. Always have a secondary or fall-back strategy because rarely will things go as planned. Mas Oyama’s fall back plan possibly could have been to run to a friend’s house and build a barricade, or possibly run and locate a police officer. I personally don’t think he had either a contingency or an exit strategy. In my opinion, he believed that failure was not an option. His exit strategy could have been to incapacitate the attackers one-by-one until the bodies piled up so high that no attacker could get close to him, or maybe after hurting the first few attackers he hoped that the remainder would not approach out of fear. In any event he should have already formulated his fall-back plan before the encounter. Bad or no strategy ends with Oyama sensei beaten to a pulp by the mob, and this certainly was not his goal. Strategy should be part of the marital artist’s life and not some abstract set of ideals taught at a military school. Fighting is fluid, so the karateka must be able to shift into their contingency seamlessly. If one set of techniques, in a fight, are not effective what is your contingency? Don’t be trying to build a new plan of attack while the opponent pummels you.
The second side of this two-sided coin is tactics. Tactics is knowing what to do when someone attacks you in a certain way. Strategy places you where you need to be, and tactics are the response to the situation. Learning a kata’s bunkai is the beginning of developing a tactical response for the karateka. You cannot try and figure out what to do in the middle of the battle. It is too late then. You should have already had your strategy and tactical response in place before the battle begun.
Having a tactical response alone is not enough. Before the tactics will work, they must be practiced and thoroughly vetted. Let’s say Oyama sensei found his narrow place to fight. What then? Should he go to the ground and begin grappling? Tactics dictate a more mobile approach. Punching adversaries in the face and kicking them in the groin is a little more appropriate. How you kick and punch is your tactical response based upon how your opponents’ advance. A jumping spinning aerial kick is probably a tactic you want to leave in your bag-of-tricks. Heel thrust kicks to the adversaries’ knees, or finger strikes to the adversary’s eyes might be a better solution. Another thing if you’ve never practiced an aerial kick trying it during an assault might not be the best time to develop the technique. Use techniques that you’ve practiced. The strategy of squeezing into a narrow space limits your attacker’s accessibility but it also limits your tactical response, Still… the strategy is sound as long as Oyama sensei stays on his feet.
Where can the karate student find these tactical responses? Kata (forms) are filled with situational self-defense but knowing what the bunkai means alone is not enough. As mentioned earlier, bunkai is a series of moves found in kata based upon a response to a given attack. Once you’ve uncovered a viable bit of applicable bunkai for a situational-self defense scenario, you must practice it with a partner over and over until you can do it without thought. Partner practice allows you to develop timing and cues. Cues like shoulder rotation, eyes widening, nostrils flaring, and weight transfer gives the karateka advanced warning of an impending attack. Practicing with a partner plants those cues in your brain, so recognition becomes immediate thus your reaction is faster. Most karate systems have a set of kata, and some even explain the bunkai, but very few practice the application that makes it truly useful. You would not send a soldier into combat after having them read a pamphlet on how to fire their weapon. You would have him/her practice firing the weapon in a simulated combat situation to prepare them for that moment of sheer terror. Some instructors believe that kumite (fighting) is a good method to teach tactics, but if the student has not mentally and physically prepared, before the fight begins, it will be a painful and futile learning experience. The time to test tactics is not when the bullets are flying. They should have been vetted long before the gun was even loaded. Kata is a concatenated series of situational self-defense, and when practiced with a tactical response in mind day after day, the karateka should be prepared for the moment when an adversary makes an aggressive move towards them. The tactical response must be immediate and automatic. Explore tactics on the dojo floor and not in combat, and remember kata is the martial artist’s largest repository of tactical responses.
Kata does have limitations. Times and situations have changed since the forms were created, so you must also build strategy for real life situations. For example: How would you respond to a car jacking? There are not many katas for that situation, but just because it is not in kata does not mean you should not plan for such a potential threat. Modern life is no less dangerous today than it was when the forms were created, so have a plan. Not every tactic for every situation is found in kata, so think outside the box, and know what you’re going to do in these modern dangerous situations. Crazy people, terrorists, and criminals have always threatened society, so you need to think about the modern what-if scenarios and have your strategy and tactical response in place before they’re encountered. With luck your strategy will never be more that a simple martial arts exercise.
In my karate school we have an exercise called “Inside, Outside, Front-side, Backside (IOFB).” This is all about strategy and tactics. It is about the examination of every facet of a situation from the what-if response to the application of each technique. Most of kata’s bunkai are based upon what to do when situations, but this is a myopic view of self-defense. To fully prepare a strategy, you need to examine the problem from every angle. Always ask yourself, “What could go wrong?” Another part of this IOFB exercise is to mentally put yourself in the bad guy’s shoes. Try to imagine how they would attack. Ask yourself what are they afraid of, or are they afraid? If you can get into their mind set you can build your strategic and tactical response. Does your strategy change if there are two assailants (contingency)? Where are the attackers located (contingency)? Are they in front and behind or on either side of you (contingency)? Are they more courageous in numbers? If so, how do you decrease the number of assailants? What can you do to swing control of the situation back in your favor? Can anything around you be used as a weapon? Know your first response at bare minimum because when you start thinking your reaction slows down, and the attacker gains control of the situation.
IOFB thought exercises are tools to build strategy. Place the student in a what-if scenario. These exercises should be from the everyday threats and not from unreal situations or the student will not take the exercise seriously. We will rarely be threatened by mutated zombies, so keep it serious. The student needs to learn that strategy can be simple. Example: You’re a young lady walking down an abandoned sidewalk at night. A man wearing a trench coat and brandishing a knife is walking towards you. What do you do? The simplest strategy is to not be on that sidewalk alone. Women especially should travel in packs. Another solution could be to walk across the street or run back to where there are people. If possible, duck into an open store. You also need a back up plan because he may follow you across the street. Had you built a strategy and contingency for this situation, you would have placed a can of mace, a knife, or a gun in your purse. The sight of a gun will alter many a nefarious plan, but not always. If they continue to approach, after you brandish a weapon be prepared to respond with deadly force. It is hard to get into the head of a crazy, but you can prepare for the unexpected.
Part of IOFB is to teach the student to examine the terrain. Look for weapons. Everyone needs to know how to use man’s first weapon… the rock. Lean to throw a rock if you’ve never train with any other weapon. Practice with a ball until you develop speed and accuracy. David was a small shepherd boy, but he took out a giant with a smooth flat stone. Remember, crazy is not a problem if crazy is unconscious and bleeding. Note whether the ground is wet, or snow covered. Can this be used to your advantage or is it a hindrance. What kind on shoes are you wearing? Can your shoes be used as a weapon? Are you mobile? Can you become mobile? Can your cries for help be heard? Are your escape routes narrow or wide? If you’re in a building, do the doors open in or out? Can the doors be used to your advantage? Is it dark or well lit? Is the surface you’re standing on smooth or uneven? Knowing your terrain develops your tactical response and can save your life. When you build the test scenario include these bits of information, and then have the student explain their response to a given attack.
Visualization is a great tool to help you build strategy and a tactical response. IOFB uses visualization to examine every possible twist in a potential life-threatening situation. Visualize the location where the attack might occur. Visualize your response. See your attacker or attackers. Mentally feel your fist smack the underside of the bad guys jaw. In your minds eye see the second attacker’s response. Live the attack and examine all realistic possibilities in your mind. See the battle from both sides. You must get inside the head of your enemy to be fully prepared. Don’t focus only on what you’ll do or you may get surprised. Surprise can kill you. Instructors tell students to live their kata. This is a form of visualization. Visualizing the attack, while performing kata gives the student the ability to react in a real situation without thinking. If you’ve done kata a thousand times you’ve practiced your response a thousand times. Moving through kata without this visualization minimizes its original purpose. When you build the test scenario have the student explain how they visualize the attack.
Karateka have a greater responsibility than those that are untrained. Always try to talk you way out of a conflagration. This too is strategy. Talking gives the student time to implement OODA loop. Talking serves many purposes. It gives you time to whip up a plan because some strategy is better than no strategy. Bate the attacker into the position you wish him/her to occupy. If the aggressor is not fully committed to the fight, you may be able to talk your way out of the confrontation. Walking away is winning. Maneuver the fight to your advantage through talking if possible. Get them to stand on uneven ground or back them up against a curb. Always watch for the sucker punch. The adversary may let you talk until you drop your guard, so he may attack. When the adversary moves in your direction, bring down the wrath with total commitment because it is time for a tactical response. In the OODA loop this would be the Action portion. The karateka has the responsibility to walk away from a fight, if possible, but when that is not possible you should attack.
An important aspect of IOFB strategy and tactics is to teach the student how to recognize the potential hazard before they walk into it. Having all the preparation in the world does you no good if you’re caught by surprise. Trust me I’ve been there and done that. Part of IOFB is walking the student through what-if scenarios, so that they may begin to develop the ability to build their own strategies. Example: You walk into a biker bar to use the phone. First formulate your goal. Your goal is to walk out unharmed. The better strategy is to not to walk into a biker bar, but we may not always get what we desire. A student might say, “Hey if I walk in and tell them I’m a black-belt they will leave me alone.” Explain, as their instructor, that the bar’s patrons might see this as a challenge to their power structure, and that they need to find a better strategy. Review with the student the possible downside to their solution, and prompt them to make a better choice. Help the student build an entry and an exit strategy at minimum. Work with them to see the situation from the adversary’s perspective. Tactics is knowing what you’re going to do when they start swinging. A good strategy would be to enter a biker-bar, and tactically blend into the scenery. If you are attacked let the bad guys find out after the fray begins that you’re trained. Surprise should never be your strategy of choice. Remind the student that a master of karate prepares both strategy and tactics for all potential confrontations.
We tend to be nearsighted in a confrontation and respond based upon the attacker’s action. This is fighting a reactive battle which means there is no plan. In a reactive situation the aggressor always has the advantage. There’s an old martial art saying that is appropriate for these situations. It goes: “When faced with overwhelming odds… attack.” In modern times we say: A good offense can sometimes be the best defense. Sadly, when you’re surprised you must count on luck instead of planning and a practiced response. Attack and you may get lucky. By turning the tables, on the adversary, you can sometimes create the opening you need to escape. This is the worst-case scenario, but even this is a plan. A strong offense can sometimes get you out of a tight situation. No plan and you will be like an insect caught in a spider’s snare. Still… relying on luck is no substitute for strategy and tactics, so look ahead and prepare.