In law enforcement your job is to take complete control over the situation so you can make an arrest or whatever. The job of the military during war is to basically kill the opposition. In both cases you are actively putting yourself into dangerous situations and you don't have the option to leave. Me, I will leave if I can. I will try to prevent the fight if I can. Aggression feeds aggression.
If I am walking down the street and some thug with a knife approaches me and wants my wallet, I give it to him. If he gets in my face I try to look for avenues of escape. If I try to stare down this guy with the "eye of the tiger" I am sure to have more problems than I want.
Try this drill out. Have your partner take an aggressive stance against you. You, just stand there perhaps with your hands raised to about chest level saying something like, "hey man, we don't have to do this." Let you partner feel what's going on. Then have your partner do the same thing only this time stare him right in the eyes & take a more of an aggresive stance back. Then see how your partner reacts.
If you wish to raise the level of aggression that will be used against you, stare them right in the eyes. Maybe you can stare them down, but if you don't, you better be able to hold your own. I agree that if someone wishes to attack they will attack. How hard do you want them to attack? How much of your skills do you wish to present to the attacker before they attack? Why not just say something like, "you don't want to mess with me, I hold 3 different black belts and have been training since the age of 2."
Final word for me is this: Civilians are much different than cops and military. We have the option of doing everything we can to avoid the fight. This is why police call for backup and the military sends out platoons instead of individuals. They try to avoid the conflict if they can with a superior presence. I don't wish to p|ss off my attacker and give him anymore reasons to shoot me, stab me or just beat the crap out of me. Plus, I don't carry any weapons with me so avoidance is a much better option.
Nice talking with you Shihan! Please call me John!
