3.1 Psychological Warfare, Psychological Effects
The psychological effects that will be introduced are relevant for any kind of fighting (total war and contact fighting). It is all about principles and ideas. We should research deeply and understand what is relevant for what realm of fighting and how it is expressed.
There are several extremely important psychological effects in fighting. Fear, terror, complacence, opacity, equanimity, panic. We want to make the enemy enter into an inferior ground and annihilation zones, same as we want the enemy go into a state of mind, a psychological condition that is good for us (submissive and controlled). Of course, we should not go into those states of mind and grounds ourselves.
Those psychological effects can be used on single and mass opponents. The influence is different, with mass mentality there are also herd effects. This is a book of martial arts, thus I will not talk about mass effects.
3.1.1 Psychological Warfare
Psychological warfare is taken in order to hit the enemy's fighting spirit, the morale, and not physically hurting the troops. This can be achieved in several ways.
Way one, is using the media in order to spread propaganda and cause demoralization at the front and home. Harming the morale at home can cause to lose the war, despite of success at the front (Vietnam is a good example for that).
Way two, is abrasion of the soldiers at the front by attrition fights, such as non-stop artillery bombardment, or even worth, artillery fire with random quite. Sniper fire. Stopping the supply thus causing a siege. IEDs. Suicide bombers. Many casualties caused in horrible ways. Total quiet and entering into a state of complacence and then, a sudden blow. Taking the time until the front enters into harsh weather conditions. Using nature conditions such as insects and non-stop showers. Mass destruction weapons (just the threat of it causes the soldiers to wear uncomfortably). The most abrasive psychological effect is opacity.
What is must not be done? In is forbidden to make the enemy get cornered without any way of escape, while still possessing fighting capability. In such a situation the fighting spirit of the cornered enemy will rise to maximum. It is allowed to corner an enemy only if he lost his fighting capability and spirit.
In a matter of fact, the whole purpose of war is bringing the enemy to his breaking point, to the point where he acknowledges that he cannot fight anymore and surrender. Same is with interrogation. The purpose is to diminish the capability of the interrogated person to resist, until he gets to his breaking point. This is done by physical attrition such as uncomfortable stances (mabu) and mental attrition such as being blindfolded and keeping total opacity (and extreme violence and pain, of course).
Psychological warfare in martial arts
In a sportive fight there is a point in speaking of psychological warfare. There are rounds, every round is time limited and it is possible to plan psychological warfare strategy. There is a point in conducting an attrition fight.
In friendly training fights there is no real psychological warfare. The goal is to learn together, there are no losers. Everybody wins by study and experiencing.
Real fight is quick, the psychological warfare is rapid and unplanned. A surprise shout, spitting in the face, etc. are the means to get the enemy out of mental balance. In a multi-enemies combat, neutralize the leader can be the most effective psychological weapon. Miyamoto Musashi clams that one should chase his enemies in random pattern at all directions, thus cause confusion within the group and harming their fighting spirit.
3.1.2 Fear, Terror and Panic
Fear, fear acts like poison, it starts with a single drop, an idea that slowly get into every dark corner of the system, until it causes total paralysis. At firs level, fear causes adrenaline rush as a preparation of the body for action. The adrenaline causes faster response, sharper senses and better strength, it prevents some degree of pain and allows overcome psychological blocks and phobias such as height, darkness, close places, etc. fear helps us not to do dangerous actions that can shorten our life span, however it prevent us from taking risks that make life more interesting, or actions that can save our life in extreme situations. From time to time, we should stop and ask ourselves "what is the source of my fear, is it logical, does it contribute to me and how can I overcome it" (in case it is unnecessary fear). It is possible to overcome its negative influence by using logical explanations that there is nothing to fear from. This is a subject for personal research, since it is a personal phenomenon.
In a real combat situation, there is a high chance to feel fear. We should float this feeling away from us, overcome it in a blink of an eye, since the combat is quick and lethal. There is no place for hesitation. Determination is one of the ways to overcome fear, make a decision and go with it to the end.
Terror, terror is when the fear have completely took over the spirit, the mind, at this state the person is paralyzed (on a larger scale – the society is paralyzed). Nowadays, there are no longer large scale cold weapon battles and the state of terror is improbable to be caused in a street fight. Even though, it is important to know this state for any aspect in life, such as military service and terror acts' times. In my point of view, the way to overcome terror is by being active. Instead of freezing one must fight back, by civilian defiance or by active fighting.
Panic, panic is the continuation of fear and terror. At this state the person is not paralyzed, but taking wrong actions, doing mistakes, making wrong decisions that are based on misjudged consideration that is fed from fear and terror. Unlike terror, panic is probable in our life in a contact fighting. The greatest damage caused by panic is by panic at the high decision making ranks. We should maintain equanimity by any mean, even when the situation becomes dire, we should clean up the head and make ourselves calm down.
3.1.3 Principle of Void and Opacity
Void, in the world of martial arts there is a concept called "The Void", this concept relates to the unknown, the unpredicted, the unexciting, the uninterrupted, planning, lack of planning, flexibility and fixation.
A good example is the correct cliché that the best defense is not be were the hit is, another example is doing the unpredictable, such as, you are being attacked high and you going extremely low. Unlike opacity, the void principle is not one-sided (one must keep the enemy as much as possible under a cloak of opacity, and try not to be under a same cloak), but includes ideas such as hiding information from the enemy, but also ideas such as free the mind from plans and let the body response quick according the natural rhythm of the movement.
Opacity, is one of the most stressing factors. Opacity (being in a state that there is lack of information about the events) lets our fears to float up and fill the voids of information, thus the fear actually get a hold of us. Opacity is a form of psychological warfare, where preventing correct information from the enemy thus cause the enemy to make mistakes out of stress. Periods of void and opacity can be related, for example, to the period of time between two wars (after a past war that has been accrued and a future sure-to-happen war), such as a future violent eruption in north of Israel, the probability is high, the date is unknown.
Those periods of time of Void must be used for practicing, building the force and arming. It is a period of time which its end is unknown, it is continue as long as there is no change in status quo. The end of the void period usually comes suddenly, surprisingly, in an unsuitable timing, this is caused by leaving the initiative with the enemy (at least partially or pretending doing this), sometimes it is necessary in order to gain a diplomatic winning. Those periods of opacity require being on a constant alert, in order to success in reacting quickly to the unbeneficial changes.
Falling asleep on guard (literally and metaphorically), complacence, are the devastating results of opacity, of the void periods. In order to prevent complacence, soldiers must always spice their routine, not letting the enemy to hit at a weak point, thus making the void period come to end. The soldiers are at maximum alert only close to event, never before (that is why there is an event). The other side is usually not stupid and must not be underestimated, that is why the soldiers must always be alert and the commanders must be responsible for this.
It is very easy to be tense during an event, the hard thing is to be tense during the boring, eventless routine and preventing ourselves of becoming complacent.
Training, planning, intelligence and routine breaking are very important tools in our solution for opacity and void periods of time.
3.1.4 Complacence and Sleeping on the Guard
Complacence is malignant disease in a military organization. It starts with a routine, boring and eventless. A void period of time. Nothing is happening, the local population (if it is hostile) is acting friendly, the visible enemy's movements are routine, the warnings are routine, however nothing happens, the atmosphere is even pastoral. The level of alert and tension that was at the entering into the sector is severely diminished. This is a major opening for weak points, the repeatable patterns. Those patterns are learned by the enemy. The enemy gathers intelligence, analyze it, takes the initiative (in a fact, the initiative is given to the enemy for free). The enemy strikes. The complacence is ended. The circle restarts.
Complacence and falling asleep on the guard have a heavy price. We must fight complacence and make the enemy diseased with it. Complacence is a powerful weapon in attrition warfare and the jump point for a surprise attack.
In martial arts complacence is expressed in stopping the practice, stopping the wheels of thinking and with enhanced hubris that we know all and prepared for all.
3.1.5 Equanimity (Restraint)
Equanimity is a state of mind that we want to be at during an event. Remaining restrained allows having better judgment, sharper and relevant, better then panicking, for exaggeration. Equanimity does not mean lack of fear, just that the fear is controlled and we are under total control of the mind. Every action, every decision are considered, rapidly, but not in a haste. If you must kill somebody, this decision must by consciously taken and driven by expanse and benefits considerations of leaving your enemy alive and not driven by momentary revenge, which can be very high pricy later.
The most important time to maintain equanimity is when others are depended on you (friends, family, your soldiers and brothers in arms).
3.2 Deception and Surprise
Deception, misleading and stratagems are using the principle of the void, using the enemy's lack of information, providing the enemy with false information and acting in an unpredictable way. Since humans have the need to know what is happening around us (being in clearness and not in opacity), there is also a tendency to believe misleading and half-trues.
In any form of battle, at any scale, our interest is to route the enemy into annihilation zones, into uncomfortable positions, makes the enemy to expose a weak point and loose balance. After the trap is activated and the enemy begins to understand that he is in an inferior position, the common reaction would be shock and fear. In case the enemy is inexperienced, he could find himself in a state of panic, thus digging himself a deeper hole. This is exactly the situation we need to plan for. Our goal is to press the enemy harder same time the enemy is confused and surprised, to use the advantage and try to bring the enemy to his breaking point, thus make him surrender.
3.3 The Source of Power
The source of power is divided into two layers, the physical layer and the psychological – mental.
The physical layer addressed to sources such as supply lines, ammunition lines, ammunition factories, training facilities. In empty hands combat, it can address to weapons, large numbers, physical structure, technical knowledge, reputation etc.
The psychological layer addressed to all those factors that allow the enemy to fight, the factors that are strengthening the spirit. Public opinion, religious fundamentality, being in the corner and self-confidence are all examples for those factors.
The source of power and the link between the source of power and the enemy should be targeted by us, in order to weaken the enemy. Let's take for example, an extreme Muslim terror and guerilla organization. Its source of power is the population, they are its source of money, source of recruits, provide cover and hideouts and a fertile land for ideology. There are several ways to hurt the link between the organizations and the population. One is to annihilate the population (not very nice… putting in mildly), second is counter operations inside the population, trying to divert the public opinion against the organization to our side (this is a very important mission of the green berets of the US army), another thing can be done is to cause the population hard times, thus making the, turn against the organization. This is a solution need to be taken in case the diversion does not work or impossible, because of the suffering caused to the population and taking the population as hostages (this implied in several regions in the world).
Of course, there is always need to try and suffocate those organization economically.
In martial arts the source of power can be the need to protect (of course it is relevant also in case of large war scale), in such a case, hurting the protected factor would cause a harder react from the protector.
3.4 Kozushi (崩し) - Getting Out Of Balance
In Ninjutsu (Budo-Taijutsu) and Judo there is an important concept called Kozushi. Kozushi is getting out of balance. There are several types of kozushi (physical, mental, spiritual).
Physical Kozushi, is the simplest type, it is actual act of getting the enemy of balance, as a preparation for throwing or take downs. Another type of physical kozushi is distracting the enemy\opponent (his sight, his mind) thus preventing the stability of operation of the enemy. This little act, the kozushi, is critical for wide variety of operations in martial arts. In nowadays warfare distractions can be thought as physical kozushi. There are, of course, methods to avoid, counter and take changes in balance and it takes years of studying and practice in order to control all types and fields of physical kozushi.
Mental Kozushi, during a fight, we would like to get the enemy out of concentration get him distracted, scare him and surprise him. It is not only about actions such as spitting in the enemy's face, making noise and etc. in hand to hand combat, but also in nowadays warfare. This is the basis of applying of the principle of stratagem and conducting acts such as artillery rain. The idea is to harm the mental state and the concentration on the battle.
Spiritual kozushi, this is the most difficult kozushi to cause and the most significant. The idea is to cause shock to the enemy's fighting spirit. Some examples are: cause the public to doubt the causes for war, cause the warrior to doubt his ability to win or survive.
This subject applies many principles already been discussed in this book. I hate to be sound like Miyamoto Musashi (in his book "The Book of Five Rings" almost every paragraph is ended with "you must study it deeply" or any other version of the same), but we must study this subject deeply, the principles, thus practice our analytical abilities at this field.
3.5 Freeze, Flee, Fight
This subject is known as "the three F-s". During an event, the instinctive response can be classified into three possible categories.
Freeze, during an event, freezing is the worst response possible. One just freezes as he is, paralyzed with fear, unable to move, exposed and vulnerable. In order to prevent this reaction, we must practice a lot. The practice is constructed out of physical and mental factors. The mental practice includes simulations in the mind, events and responses. We must train the brain for quick thinking and quick response for surprise (the freeze phenomenon caused by difference in data transmission speed in different parts of the brain that take parts in response and by communication between those parts, the amygdala and the front lobe – different impendences if you like).
The physical practice includes repetitions of moves and physical responses, this is done in order to improve the speed, to create more neuron-connections in the brain towards those actions and together with the mental training we get desired response instead of freezing. This is not conditioning training we do to ourselves, but in short explanation, it is training of the brain for data transmission between the amygdala and the front lobe, the lack of data speed synchronization in and between those two parts of the brain is the very reason for freezing.
In military training there is always some basic drills for "take cover and return fire!" this is not conditioning, but the basic drills for breaking of the freezing effect.
Flee, this is a response of hysterical fleeing. This is not a positive response because that hysterical fleeing could get us closer to the danger source, incautious escape can cause fall and injuries. In hysteria mode, people might forget those who supposed to be under their protection, such as children or even harm them during the protection attempt. The hysterical fleeing, is in fact gives the initiative to the enemy and put the hysterical one in a full defensive mode, a situation that has been already explained as negative (in the principle of war discussion). Escape is a legitimate action just like avoiding, but this must be an action chosen to be taken, fully consciousness and with a full awareness and responsibility, not under hysterical mode. Escaping that is not hysterical fleeing is a protective sort of offensive and not defensive, it is a protective variation of the third reaction, fight.
Fight, fighting is actually taking a logical, desired action in order to deal with the threat. The response can take the form of escape same as the form of avoiding situations or even choosing combat. The main features of this reaction are equanimity and considerations that are sourced in training.
Usually, the entering into Fight mode is less quick then the drill-instinct gained by training. This is the desired situation. Creating an instinct that will prevent us from getting into one of the other undesired states will provide us a positive reaction and let us have the time needed to enter Fight mode.
Finally, it is hard to know for certain how we will react in a real situation until we have encountered a situation, this is why we should practice a lot, in order to diminish the doubts and the chances for undesired response, in martial arts and military training alike.
3.6 Deterrence
This is a situation in which the enemy is considering and understands that fighting is not worthwhile. In order for having an effective deterrence, the enemy should understand that he does not have the initiative, and no way to achieve his goals. Deterrence is built in the test of results; the enemy will not feel deterrent if he has not suffered great deal of damage. In fact, deterrence is earned by submitting the enemy or by such a big advantage that causes diminishing in the enemy's morale or causes fear even before the fight. A large physics can be a deterrence factor in hand to hand fight as much as ballistic missiles are with international region. Of course, a factor can use for deterrence only as the use of it is realistic.
In case you have a card you don’t want to expose, deterrence will be able to be based only upon past situations and time to time power tests the enemy conducts.
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