Commentary from Instructor Dave Hebler:

Physical combat: Your goal in any confrontation is to get away unharmed and you must exhaust all of your options to do so before the confrontation turns into a physical assault. Physical combat should be your last resort and only for the right reasons. You must know when to fight and when not to fight. For example; if someone verbally insults you and you react by slamming your fingernails into his eyes, you have over-reacted just a tad (to put it mildly). If, on the other hand, someone attacks you with a weapon, then not only are you justified to use physical force to defend yourself, but you better do something a whole lot more violent and effective than saying “hey, leave me alone”.

Once you have decided that you have no option but to defend yourself physically, you must do so with total commitment and as aggressively as possible. Your goal remains exactly the same, which is to get away. However, in order for you to get sufficient time to make your escape (literally a matter of seconds), you must inflict either overwhelming pain or overwhelming fear (preferably both) on the assailant. What is meant by overwhelming pain and/or fear is this: If you can cause the assailant not to be able to breathe or not to be able to see, he is immediately going to stop assaulting you; at least long enough to get away. In this technique, if you disable his knee, you can walk away secure in the knowledge that he won’t be able to escalate the violence against you because he’ll be on the ground and you’ll be gone.

Important Concept: Attack the attack, always! When you are grabbed (in any fashion), immediate action is required. You must not hesitate and wait around for the attacker to lock you up. Go ballistic in a heartbeat and don’t let up. Total commitment and total aggression are vital components in your mission and extremely effective deterrents.