Like this:

Wow.

Here’s an email Bill Kipp and I received this week for a FAST Defense graduate and friend, Bill Frankzac

Now it’s really easy to play Monday morning quarterback on the ‘shoulda, coulda, woulda‘ things, but I really just look beyond that.  To what the end result was.

The end-result of this was that our friend went home safely.  No real-life situation is ever going to be perfect.  You can’t predict when, where and how it’ll happen.  You can’t truly know how you’ll react.  You can just train for it in the best way you can, and then deal with the cards that are dealt.

I’m truly thankful to be teaching this stuff.  It really does change people’s lives.

“Dear Bill

FAST Defense may have saved my life this past weekend.

At the very least, I am convinced that it kept me from being robbed ! My wife and I went to Atlantic City. I found out after-the-fact, we were in the part of town with the worst crime index, in a town with a high crime rate so’s it is ! I couldn’t sleep, in part due to the constant sound of sirens ( and we were on the 28th floor ) I ventured out, by myself, at 5:30 AM. Around 6:30 AM I went out on the boardwalk, leaving one casino to go to another. The Boardwalk was totally empty, 18 degrees fahrenheit, and it was still dark out. As I was walking to another casino, two shady looking guys were coming toward me, from the opposite direction. They were on the “far side” of the boardwalk, and they were looking straight at me.

I looked away, thinking to myself that they were probably not tourist/gamblers, due to how filthy dirty their winter jackets were. I looked back at them again. Now they were walking straight toward me. They were BOTH looking me “straight in the eyes.” This put me into a “code orange.” They were still about 20 feet away from me, so I looked away for about 2 seconds, just to see if that stopped the cold stare I was getting. The third time I looked, they were about 8 feet away, directly in my path, with a look of death in their eyes.

The one just started yelling something, which put me into “code red.” I quickly got into an assertive stance. I used my forward hand as a “fence.” In my most commanding voice, I barked out, “WHAT DO YOU WANT ! ” At the same time, I put my rear hand into my winter coat pocket, and moved it around, giving the impression that the pocket wasn’t empty, and maybe I was gripping a gun. Due to the adrenaline rush, my memory is a bit “spotty.”, but I remember thinking, ” I’m probably giving these guys the impression that I am an off-duty or retired cop, carrying a concealed weapon.”

The “predator look” in their eyes disappeared immediately , and they both made jesters that everything was “cool.”

It was just like another FAST “woofing” exercise, only this time it was “for real.” It reminds me of that old martial arts saying:

“We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training.”

FAST Defense taught me the ABC’s. I feel I properly handled “A” (Awareness) and “B” (Boundaries) , so I feel confident that if they had gotten any closer, they would have found out the “C” stands for Combat !

Thank you Bill, Dik, Anthony,Rick, Nancy, and everyone else at FAST, you may have saved my life !

Bill Franczak”

Advertisement