How Do You Gain True Independence? Five Examples.

You are being attacked. Who are you relying on to end this? Who do YOU rely on when trouble strikes?

The police?

Have they been notified? Do they know where you are? How far away are they? This may take a while.

Your friends or family?

Are they with you? Do they have any better abilities of resolving this than you?

Bystanders?

Those who avoid conflict and who may react to calls of "fire" but not calls of "help?" And if they do engage, what are their abilities for eliminating danger?

A handgun?

The one in the glove box or another part of the house, in its holster, with the safety on? The one that takes longer to retrieve than an attacker takes to control you? The one that the attacker can use against you? The one you haven't trained with at the range in forever?

Maybe you are waiting for the attacker to end this?

He is the only person in control after all. Waiting for him to take what he wants and leave? If he wants your watch, jewelry, a wallet you may be lucky. And if he wants something more?

Dependence = powerlessness

Being dependent on others for your safety means you are powerless to affect positive outcomes yourself. It is an awful feeling to feel real powerlessness like this. For people who have gone through it, most describe their powerlessness as the worst feeling they have ever experienced.

What if you were the answer?

What if you didn't have to wait solely for police to be notified and wait further for them to arrive to resolve this confrontation? What if family and friends could depend on you? What if you were the bystander who could save someone from an awful outcome?

What if it was you in control, not the person attacking you?

It is possible for normal, everyday people.

How do everyday people eliminate threats?

It is possible for real people to learn how to eliminate real threats. And you don't need to be Bruce Lee, train for your whole life and possess a one inch punch.

Even if the attacker is larger and stronger. Or if there are multiple attackers. Or if they have an edged weapon like a knife or they have a firearm.

There are learn-able 'equalizers' to even the playing field -- or even control the playing field -- when attacked. Not silver bullets. There are no "get out of this confrontation free" cards. But there are proven -- proven to work for law enforcement, corrections and martial arts -- that can tilt the balance of control to your favor.

Five examples for real people

Below are five scenarios illustrating how five different people with this kind of training

being there when no one else is to help you:

1. Stacy B - College Student

An actual event: Stacy left a local restaurant alone around 10 at night. As she approach her car another pulls up and a man quickly gets out and grabbed her shirt and pulled her toward his car.

While many people in similar situations would let the emotions and the adrenaline control them, flailing around ineffectively or possibly try to use the "keys between the fist" trick -- neither of these things work.

Instead, Stacy took effective control. Her emotions were in hyper-drive, how could they not? BUT she could think clearly. She knew what she had to do.

As a C.O.B.R.A.™ Self-Defense graduate Stacy knew a few things even before she recognized the threat: A) The possibility of a threat. The time, place, and method of attack was not in her favor right now and B) how to make everyday items that you have on you at most times into effective, equalizing weapons. She spun her diamond ring into her palm side before she left the restaurant.

And during the attack she knew what to do. She grabbed the attacker's hair and raked diamond/palm side down across his face. A large and relatively deep surface area can be affected very quickly with this method and it can be easily performed at close range.

Stacy would most likely have lost this battle if it was solely a battle of strength. Instead, her training allowed her to assess, stay level-headed, fight smart and most importantly rely on her own skills to get out of a very bad situation.

2. Jackie J - Parent

A bully has picked your child to make an example of today. After exhausting all steps of avoiding, ignoring, informing others your son or daughter now has to take action. As a trained Cobra student you employ the Verbal techniques learned in our assertive confrontation drills and if the bully insist on getting any closer your hands are in the best position for several palm heel strikes.

3. John W - Police Officer

An actual event: ..... Your'e a police officer and after arresting a subject he gets violent with paramedics on scene. You'r e Cobra defense training kicks in and you employ a goose neck and shoulder lock to quickly subdue him.

Actual Event- John Walser -Clearwater Police dept.-Cobra Graduate

4. Patrick S - Night Club Bouncer

Conducting Security for a local beach night club you attempt to remove an intoxicated person from the establishment. They turn around and charge at you at which point you employ a Vertical punch to quickly stop the situation and keep it from escalating.

Actual event- Patrick Shelton- Cobra Graduate- US Army Ranger 2nd Lt.

5. Real Estate Agent

As a real estate agent you can be called to an empty house by a criminal who is posing as a buyer. You are an attractive female now meeting at a specific time and place in an empty property with a person wit no interest in buying this home.

Understanding you may well be a soft target in this situation Cobra training would help you profile the situation and gain an immediate psychological and tactical advantage.

* Have the person stand next to your License plate for a picture and state " My Boss makes us do this on every showing so they know what we are doing and where we are at. i have to send him this along with the address before we start"

*Always keep the person in front of you . This way you don't walk in to show the property and they now lock the door behind you

These 2 pro active situation awareness techniques can make someone think twice as you just created a witness " the bosses pic" and you always keen the person in front of you preventing a l"lock and assault" situation.

You and your level of Training will BE THE ANSWER to ending a conflict.