Time Perception

written by Steve Chrusciel

Sayoc Kali Transition Drills
Distortion of Time Perception during Tactical Encounters

“By operating inside of our adversary’s Observation-Orientation-Decision-Action Loop, we enmesh him in a world of uncertainty, doubt, mistrust, confusion, disorder, fear panic, and chaos…we fold our adversary back inside himself so that he cannot cope with events as they unfold…”
Col. John Boyd, USAF (ret.)
A Discourse on Winning and Losing

Edged weapon dynamics are an integral part of modern combat systems, from the military to law enforcement to civilians seeking the ability to protect themselves and their families. Most martial arts systems claim to offer effective methods for dealing with bladed opponents, and one of the systems gaining in popularity since it was made available to the general public is Sayoc Kali. Under the direction of Tuhon Christopher Sayoc, the release of the Sayoc Kali material has generated widespread re-evaluation of knife fighting techniques throughout the martial arts and tactical combat communities as the relative effectiveness of existing counter-blade methodologies was examined. One of the elements of Sayoc Kali which sets it apart from not only most martial arts systems, but also from most Filipino systems which as a group are renowned for their bladefighting applications, is the means by which the art is taught. Sayoc Kali utilizes a series of partnered technique exchanges called transition drills which are intended to provide the practitioner with an elementary understanding of edged weapons from both armed and unarmed perspectives. One of the more popular criticisms leveled at similar combat training drills is that there is a tendency for practitioners to get bogged down in the drills themselves, resulting in a misapplied emphasis on perfecting a drill rather than the skills the drill was meant to develop. This article will explore the use of Sayoc Kali transition drills for the purpose of acquiring close-quarter combat tactical skills using a reference model developed and used in the United States military and adopted by law enforcement agencies and training centers throughout the country.

The transition drills of Sayoc Kali have evolved to serve many purposes within the larger curriculum. Originally designed to help new students to develop the basic knife skills and blade awareness that would allow them to progress on to the older, more comprehensive knife drills, the transition drills themselves have evolved into a type of systemic movement index. The drills are performed in pairs, with one person assuming the role of “feeder” and the other of the “receiver”, and consist of a series of attacks and counter-attacks on a one-for-one basis. The conventional set-up is a feeder with one blade versus an empty-handed receiver, but this can vary according to the specific goals of the exchange up to the level of both practitioners holding multiple blades in either hand with several more weapons secured on their body for subsequent usage. The transition drills also incorporate various empty-handed strikes, joint locks, throws, projectiles, and other components of close-quarter combat within a knifefighting-specific paradigm in order to expose the student to as wide a range of potential situations as possible within the controlled parameters of the drill. The logical progression of the drills once the basic format has been learned is to begin to vary the components (i.e., same techniques but out of sequence, additional techniques from other drills, different applications within the drill, etc.) until the drill is simply a free flow exercise with minimal restrictions performed in real time.

In order to gain new perspective on any existing system or method, it can be valuable to analyze the existing system using a related reference model whose efficacy has been proven under similar conditions. The model that will be used to analyze the transition drills of Sayoc Kali was developed in the late 1970’s by Col. John Boyd, USAF (ret.), and is referred to as either Boyd’s Cycle or by its acronymic title as the OODA (Observation-Orientation-Decision-Action) Loop. Col. Boyd was one of the premiere fighter pilots of his era, and an avid student of tactical operations. He observed over the course of hundreds of altercations that an overwhelming number were decided by means of one side presenting the other with a series of unexpected, threatening situations against which they were unable to keep pace, and were eventually defeated. The victors were able to cycle through what Boyd termed their OODA Loop faster than their opponents, constantly manipulating the situation and their opponent as a result of their latest actions, and then cycling through again and again, developing an increasing advantage as their opponents fell further and further behind, futilely attempting to react with defenses which were rendered ineffective by the relative lateness of their application. This concept was chosen for this comparison based on a conversation with Tuhon Chris Sayoc where this author was commenting on how time seemed to accelerate while attempting to defend against Tuhon Sayoc’s repeated knife attacks, which then evolved into an impromptu lecture on the distortion of time perception during tactical encounters, and how this can be manipulated to our advantage.

The first phase in the OODA Loop for a combatant is the Observation of themselves, their opponent(s), and the environment in which the conflict is taking place. It is considered paramount during this process to be evaluating all available information, both near and far, in order to ascertain the order of magnitude of the perceived threat. For example, in the early stages of a possible confrontation there are many factors which must be considered for an optimal chance of success, including number of opponents, relative positioning, weapon availability, and so on. The predominant source of information during this process in close-quarter combat is visual, and it is important that the vulnerabilities of this system such as blind spots, target fixation, and the like be addressed in training. Sayoc Kali seeks to address these issues in the transition drill training by using a variety of unorthodox attacks and counters, multiple opponents, bringing additional weapons to bear in the midst of an exchange, and utilizing environmental factors such as terrain or fixed “weapons of opportunity” to enable the student to develop an accurate overall picture of the conflict and what options he has available to him.

Orientation is the second phase in the OODA Loop, and this refers to the establishment of proper perspective based on the combination of real-time input (Observation phase) with previous experience, and any assumptions necessary to fill the gaps and complete the conflict picture. The key point in this phase is that given the requisite Observations, the larger the pool of relevant experience to draw from, the fewer assumptions are necessary and the quicker the response time. This is evident in Sayoc Kali transition drills as described by a new student, who is typically overwhelmed by the exchange and has trouble recalling any specific details, as opposed to more experienced students who have had more exposure to more attacks from more people, and as such are able to expend less of their conscious attention on the attacks and are often able to remember the finer details on both sides of the exchange. This capability is often demonstrated by elite athletes, whose recollections of their past performances are rivaled only by archived videotape footage. Cognition experts tell us the ability to process new information, recall previous experience, and generate appropriate assumptions to fill in the blanks is done most efficiently in the subconscious mind, where the processing can be done in parallel, as opposed to the conscious mind, which can only process in series and is prone to overload during the information flood generated by a violent confrontation. The transition drills of Sayoc Kali seek to enhance this ability by exposing the student to as much different input as possible, in a logical and productive manner, so that the student can begin to assemble appropriate frames of reference in his mind in order to facilitate an efficient evaluation and decision process when under the stress of combat.

The third phase in the OODA Loop is Decision-making. This is where the efficiency of process is critical because of the role time plays in the interaction. Tactical training expert Ken Good of the Sure-Fire Institute refers to tactical situations as taking place in a “compressed time frame”, because a correct response to a situation delivered at the wrong time (typically late due to an overextended decision-making process) will now be ineffective because the situation has changed while the initial decision was being reached. A simple analogy is a distance shooter continually missing a moving target because he is aiming right at it without allowing for its motion by leading it. The question becomes “How do we install the decision-making process on the subconscious level to take advantage of the resulting increase in processing speed?” The answer is again in the training. Regular, rigorous exposure to the decision-making process under the stress of realistic training, where there are immediate ramifications for bad choices, gives the student a consistent progression by which he is able to internalize this process. Too much time spent training “in the fire” can be just as ineffective as no time at all; it is the application of the correct ratio of technical and tactical training on a subjective basis that produces the best practitioners. Tuhon Sayoc describes the transition drills as follows -- “when you have learned the drills, you have learned basic appropriate responses; I just need to help you discover them, and that is the point of the training.” It is at this point that the modification of the transition drills to emphasize specific tactical skills for a particular student is most effective.

This brings us to the final phase - Action. This is the phase where it seems that most people spend most of their time training, whether its target shooting at the range, or demonstrating the rote memorization of combat techniques against stationary or willing partners. Based on the OODA Loop analysis, action comprises only a quarter of each cycle, and if the previous elements of the cycle were deficient the effectiveness of the action is dependent on sheer luck. The ability to deliver powerful attacks on-target with correct timing is imperative to tactical success, without question -- what elevates the superior combatant from the rest is the effective implementation of the first three phases in the OODA Loop, which give his attack the greatest chance to succeed. It is the difference between hoping for a lucky shot that takes out your opponent, and having the ability to rapidly analyze a situation and use that analysis to manipulate your opponent so that his responses fall further and further behind, with his resulting disorientation making your attacks seem easier and easier.

Some practitioners have been critical of this approach, claiming that it “takes too long to implement” and that “in combat you only have time to react.” Anyone with practical experience in combat or tactical operations would probably react with vehement disbelief if they were being sent into a situation being told to “just react”, and this problem is multiplied in a team setting. Sayoc Kali is referred to as a feeder-based system, meaning on an elementary level that the basic drills and tactics are designed with the feeder (i.e., aggressor) in mind. Perhaps the deeper meaning of this description lies within the overall Sayoc approach to conflict - it is feeder-based because regardless of whether we are in the specific role of feeder or receiver, whether we are armed or unarmed, we take a proactive direction during conflict which seeks to manipulate and exploit our opponents own feedback loop, enabling us to establish a reactionary gap for them which widens as the conflict progresses until they suffer complete and utter tactical failure at our hands.

The name of a tool or where it came from is not as important as what it does - Sayoc transition drills, OODA Loops, feedback cycles, whatever -- the ability to assess incoming and stored data in a dynamic environment and use it to make accurate forecasts of future events in a violent situation is a powerful asset to bring to a tactical environment. Tuhon Christopher Sayoc is offering training in this field and others as part of the curriculum of Sayoc Kali, and in doing so is positioning his students at the epicenter of commercially available edged weapon dynamics.

“The domination a soldier seeks over his enemy is as total as the domination a master has over a slave, aiming for fear to so completely grip the enemy that he flees in panic, surrenders, or is too terrified to even move, let alone resist. When such domination is complete, the battle is a walkover.”
Dr. Jonathan Shay
Achilles in Vietnam