Conflict Profiling™

Every combative situation is different and changes from moment to moment as you experience it. This requires, under great stress with no time, to accurately identify your situation and take correct action unique to the circumstances. If your actions are to be correct (just), they must serve a fundamentally correct (just) objective.

Combat demands a momentary state of mind permitting little room for inward reflection or developing strategies. Amoks develop personal strategies by pre-examining their will under ideal decision-making conditions (no stress, plenty of time, many resources) to draw their individualized boundaries of tactics and actions, so if presented with a similar circumstance, some relative guidelines to correct action have been previously thought out to their logical end (remember that "common sense" means to think it through).

So how does one develop correct strategies? By pre-examining your will. Pre-examining your will does not seek to answer the open-ended scenario question: "What would you do if…", because it's vagueness compels a blind decision without taking into account critical decision-making factors upon which to base a correct course of action.

Instead, Amoks pre-examining their will in the form of a closed statement: "Under such-and-such circumstances, I will…", because this first establishes the critical factors taken into account when making that decision, and it infuses the action plan with willpower!

And so the question arises, what are the criteria that should be taken into account when developing strategies?

Conflict Profiling™ outlines fundamental criteria that effect correct strategic decision-making.

Criteria of Conflict Profiling™:

Relationship

• Known: relative, spouse, friend, acquaintance, rival/bully
• Unknown: stranger, predator, enemy

Acting capacity

• Non-legal: wanted, prisoner, fugitive, parolee
• Citizenship: citizen, perm res, visa, visitor, illegal
• Civilian: at home/work/travel
• Professional: law enforcement, military
• Assassin
• Terrorist: religious, political

Means of Engagement (disciplines) , existing singly and in combination:

• Firearms – all types
• Projectiles - thrown or mechanically projected objects
• Impact instruments – long and short (staff, stick, bat, rock, improvised, etc.)
• Pointed/Edged instruments – long and short (sword, knife, screwdriver, pen, improvised, etc.)
• Flexible - varied degree of flexible lengths/materials (whip, nunchucks, chain, rope, T-shirt, etc.)
• Devices – various tools and toys (kobuton, zappers, chem/gas, etc.)
• Empty Hands – any and all empty-handed fighting

Number of Adversaries

• One vs one
• One vs Multiple
• Multiple vs Multiple

Participants' Characteristics

• Age - child, adult, senior
• Gender - M, F, Transsexual, Can't tell
• Height - short, avg, tall
• Frame - thin, avg, muscular, heavy, Giant
• Clothing - 0 layer, 1 layer, 2+ layers, armor (light-heavy)
• Impairments - vision, hearing, speaking, motion/mobility, intelligence
• State - normal, abnormal, Drug Affected, Emotionally Disturbed, etc.
• Diminishment - injured, illness

Participants' Degree of Readiness

• No Training
• Empty Hands Training
• Weapons Training
• Fighting Experience
• Killing Experience

Culpability / Intention / Mental State / Motivation

• Defense of self or other(s)
• Mutual Aggression
• Justified/Unjustified attack

Degree of Exposure

• No witnesses
• Friendly witness(es)
• Non-friendly witness(es)
• Evidence / Cameras / Forensics

Multiple variations in Relationship, Capacity, Means, Numbers, Characteristics, Readiness, Culpability, and Exposure provide for a wide spectrum of strategic (and thus tactical and mechanical) interactions. Indeed, the way of survival in conflict is to gain and exploit inherent advantage(s), so humans develop and adapt strategies based on their available and creative means to that end.

OK amoks, let's put this idea through the amok wringer. Let's hear what you think about Combative Profiling and how we can improve it.