How Tactics Work In Chongdo

Strategy within Chongdo can be broken down further into Tactics. Tactics are the discrete steps by which a strategy is achieved.

Every tactic within the System can be broken into four elements:

IPDE

Identification: The process by which a tactical need is recognized. Put more simply, this is the step in which you recognize that something is occurring that requires your attention. For example, as you approach a corner of a building, you see two individuals glance at you and quickly step around that corner, out of sight.
Prediction: The ability to assess the logical outcome of the situation. In other words, you figure out whether what you saw could impact you in anyway. In our example, you predict the possibility that the two are waiting for you around that corner.
Decision: The selection of an appropriate technique to counter the most likely dangerous outcome. Basically, you decide the on the proper course of action for what you see. Following with our corner example, you decide to swing a wide turn around the corner to buy yourself more reaction time and give yourself room to escape.
Execution: The actual technique. It is vital to note that tactics do not equal techniques: the technique you carry out is merely the last step in the process. Concluding our example, you walk carefully around the corner, far from the wall. You see that the two individuals have continued on there way, and while you may have been in no danger this time, you acted appropriately for either outcome.

This knowledge seems academic, and at this stage, it probably is. However, each of these steps can be broken down into additional aspects based on the situation...which means that there is a method to adapting this model to individual situations rather than theories: inherently, this becomes a useful study.

Effectively, if we take the Execution phase, we can modify it as the situation requires. In the case of someone attacking you, we can break apart that phase into four options:

Evade Escape Control Neutralize

You can Evade the attack, if you have sufficient warning.
You can Escape his hold, if he has grabbed onto you.
You can Control his attack, if you need to avoid permanently injuring him.
You can Neutralize his attack, if you feel your safety is in real danger of injury or death, by striking, kicking, or otherwise counterattacking.

Now, you have practical options that narrow your range of choices. If he’s already grabbed you in a choke, you need to Escape this immediately before he throws you to the ground. If he’s already swinging a fist at your head, it’s probably too late to Evade this: you need to Control or Neutralize, and so on. If this is your sister’s husband who’s had too much to drink at a party and is reacting to your opinions of next season’s starting lineup, you probably want to Control him, rather than seriously injure him. Therefore, a Chongdo student can select techniques from our Control module.

But which ones? Again, the process for Control can be broken down into four elements.

Clear Secure Engage Follow Up

Clear. The student must find a way to clear the attack; in the case of a swinging fist, this is likely a jamming or intercepting block; it could be a duck, a pivot, a step back, or whatever allows that fist to miss without an easy second attempt. Against an attacker not swinging a fist, this could be a check, a clinch, or distracting strike to the nose, throat, or eyes (depending on the severity).
Secure. The student now needs to secure the attacker, in order to prevent or at least mitigate the attacker from counterattacking. This can be a powerful grab, a choke, a lock, or other momentarily disabling motion.
Engage. It is insufficient to apply a hold or a choke: these can be escaped. Therefore, the student must immediately apply some sort of disrupting technique: a leg reap, a shove, a takedown, a redirection into a wall or furniture, or something to take the fight out of the attacker without severely injuring him.
Follow Up. With the initial technique underway, the student must re-assess the situation. Has the attacker been disabled? Is the situation escalating? Is he escaping or countering? The student must follow up on the attack, either by breaking contact and getting away (this leads back to Escape), or by executing another Control technique, or Neutralizing the opponent if the escalation is severe enough to warrant this.

Similar flow patterns exist for the other Execution options described above: there are also structures for Identification, Prediction, and Decision as well. The point of this is not to provide our students with some over-reaching algorithm (such as “follow our paradigm and you’ll always be victorious”) destined to fail spectacularly, but to provide the students a clear roadmap, showing them that dealing with terrible situations is a process: know where you are in the process, and you can prioritize your needs, focus on the next steps, and keep moving. Military personnel familiar with the OODA loop (a similar but unrelated decision-making process) understand why this tactical approach works—for teaching, as well as learning.