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What Would You Do in a Life-or-Death Struggle?

MendotoManteo

MendotoManteo

Esteemed Member
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Kind of died out now but the 100 men v. 1 gorilla online thing got me to thinking (more about the gorilla later): what would I do if I'm ever in the unlikely event of being surrounded by multiple men who legitimately mean me or others true harm? And from which no one intended to be harmed can escape? I'm not talking about a common robbery. I mean legit harm.

And this is assuming no one involved is armed.

Our natural instinct is to stand up and fight. Throw punches and kicks. Try to choke someone or break a limb. I know a little about that but not enough to be confident. And I also theorize that the rest of the crew would not just stand around watching. They would attack.

So, here's my theory: fight like a baboon. We're all primates. But, whereas a gorilla is so overwhelmingly strong and can literally rip limbs and heads off, we don't have that capability. A baboon is more our size. We have similar agility.

I say run around like a baboon and jump on one of the attackers. Yes, all fours. As the others watch you rip into the face or throat of their companion (yes, I know there's a medical risk with blood and what-not but, remember, your alternative is to immediately die or be potentially medically incapacitated with permanent injuries or bills), they will likely run away because freaked out.

It's a psychological thing. And similar to a Kung Fu film. People will never attack something they don't understand at one time.

So, that's my case. What say you? And I know this is a very weird thread but it's a legitimate question.
 
MendotoManteo said:
Kind of died out now but the 100 men v. 1 gorilla online thing got me to thinking (more about the gorilla later): what would I do if I'm ever in the unlikely event of being surrounded by multiple men who legitimately mean me or others true harm? And from which no one intended to be harmed can escape? I'm not talking about a common robbery. I mean legit harm.

And this is assuming no one involved is armed.

Our natural instinct is to stand up and fight. Throw punches and kicks. Try to choke someone or break a limb. I know a little about that but not enough to be confident. And I also theorize that the rest of the crew would not just stand around watching. They would attack.

So, here's my theory: fight like a baboon. We're all primates. But, whereas a gorilla is so overwhelmingly strong and can literally rip limbs and heads off, we don't have that capability. A baboon is more our size. We have similar agility.

I say run around like a baboon and jump on one of the attackers. Yes, all fours. As the others watch you rip into the face or throat of their companion (yes, I know there's a medical risk with blood and what-not but, remember, your alternative is to immediately die or be potentially medically incapacitated with permanent injuries or bills), they will likely run away because freaked out.

It's a psychological thing. And similar to a Kung Fu film. People will never attack something they don't understand at one time.

So, that's my case. What say you? And I know this is a very weird thread but it's a legitimate question.
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Rethink your whole opinion. A human is not nearly as strong or agile as a baboon.

I'd be fighting like a human, looking for every hard object I can find to swing or throw, using every knife on me (currently three) and doing my best to make them have to kill me fast.
 
finesse said:
Rethink your whole opinion. A human is not nearly as strong or agile as a baboon.

I'd be fighting like a human, looking for every hard object I can find to swing or throw, using every knife on me (currently three) and doing my best to make them have to kill me fast.
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Thank you for your thoughtful response. Yes, I understand even a baboon is beyond us in strength and agility. But somewhat similar. At least far more than a gorilla.

Your scenario, however, is not what I'm asking. Yes, it would be great to have knives (I have them and guns too), but assume it's not the case. (And, as my ex once told me, no one wins in a knife fight.) But no one is armed here. And there are no hard objects to be found. If there were, your assailants would already have them.

I know it's a highly unlikely scenario. But it's basically asking what we're capable of at our most basic form. In our most basic challenge. Life or death, stripped. With the odds against you.
 
Run first. Scared shitless usually outruns mad as hell.

Second, fight dirty. Anything can be a weapon in a pinch. Seek to do enough damage to get you time to go back to running.

If you can't run, go for soft targets. Eyes, throats, groin. Failing that, disabled limbs are usually going to take the fight out of someone. Knees, elbows, and shoulders are all designed to work a certain way, so if you can get them bending another way, you're probably going to take that person out of a fight.

But ultimately, run.
 
05C40 said:
The closest I have ever come to a situation anything remotely like what you describe, happened when I was in the Army in Germany. When we went out to do training in the Fulda Gap, I had to sign out the crypto gear before we left. And I also signed out a 30-day pad of codes to set up my crypto gear in case the balloon went up while we were on maneuvers. I always kept these codes in a plastic bag in the top pocket of my fatigue jacket. At the same time as I got the pad, I also got a magazine with 18 rounds in it. I always kept that in the other top pocket of my fatigue jacket. One time a drunk, middle-aged German man stumbled into our site and walked right up the concertina wire surrounding my commo truck. He swung around to face me and started to pull a pistol out of his coat pocket. I got that magazine out of my pocket and into my M-16 much faster than I thought possible and started screaming "blaues klebeband!" at him to alert him to the blue tape around the magazine that indicated it contained live rounds. Don't know why I did that; he would have had no idea what the blue tape signified. Fortunately, a lieutenant showed up then, outside the wire, and got the guy to put the pistol on the ground. About 15 minutes later the Polizei showed up and took the drunk German and his pistol off our hands. I did NOT point my rifle at the German police.

Side note: When we trained in our actual deployment areas, we were always accompanied by, for the lack of a better description, a German forest ranger who told us how much it would cost to restore the area we were about to tear up with our tracked vehicles. And depending on the cost, we would either deploy there or somewhere else the forest ranger recommended that would cost less to restore. It was this German forest ranger who called the Polizei.
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Not the question of my thread, 05C40, but I certainly appreciate you sharing this with us.

I will admit, I knew it would elicit responses like this. And I'm glad you shared. Thank you!

That was a very interesting story, and I'm glad you were all okay.
 
MendotoManteo said:
Not the question of my thread, 05C40, but I certainly appreciate you sharing this with us.

I will admit, I knew it would elicit responses like this. And I'm glad you shared. Thank you!

That was a very interesting story, and I'm glad you were all okay.
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Sorry for the diversion. I misunderstood the nature of the inquiry. I thought the inquiry was more general as in, what would you do if confronted with a situation where your life was potentially at risk. When that happened to me, I did not pull the trigger and I'm glad I didn't. I will delete my prior response.
 
StrangePackage said:
Run first. Scared shitless usually outruns mad as hell.

Second, fight dirty. Anything can be a weapon in a pinch. Seek to do enough damage to get you time to go back to running.

If you can't run, go for soft targets. Eyes, throats, groin. Failing that, disabled limbs are usually going to take the fight out of someone. Knees, elbows, and shoulders are all designed to work a certain way, so if you can get them bending another way, you're probably going to take that person out of a fight.

But ultimately, run.
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I probably should have phrased my thread title differently.

Yes, run.

But what I'm asking is if you can't run. You don't have options. It's obviously a scenario not likely to happen. But say it does?

The fact you mention soft targets, like eyes, throats, and groin. You get it.

It's a battle to the death. And you can't escape, however.

Psychology is the most important thing in a fight. Especially when death on the line. If you can knock your opponent off balance with psychology, from the get-go, you've practically already won the fight.

So I stand by my baboon scenario. People wouldn't know how to react. You would take them so off-balance.
 
StrangePackage said:
Run first. Scared shitless usually outruns mad as hell.

Second, fight dirty. Anything can be a weapon in a pinch. Seek to do enough damage to get you time to go back to running.

If you can't run, go for soft targets. Eyes, throats, groin. Failing that, disabled limbs are usually going to take the fight out of someone. Knees, elbows, and shoulders are all designed to work a certain way, so if you can get them bending another way, you're probably going to take that person out of a fight.

But ultimately, run.
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Run first. Like Richard Pryor said, “A broken ego is going to heal a whole lot faster than a broken jaw.”
 
I remember reading about a girl getting killed by two coyotes a few years ago. I remember thinking that was terrible but also that if it really came down to it, I think I could kill two coyotes, esp. if I saw them coming..
 
The quote from TENET came to mind: We all believe we'd run into the burning building. But until we feel that heat, we can never know.

Also, from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones' 1997 hit, The Impression That I Get: I'm not a coward - I've just never been tested; I'd like to think that if I was I would pass.

I'd love to think I'd be the tough/brave guy - which I am absolutely not - but the truth is that I'd probably run.
 
hedge said:
I remember reading about a girl getting killed by two coyotes a few years ago. I remember thinking that was terrible but also that if it really came down to it, I think I could kill two coyotes, esp. if I saw them coming..
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And how would you have done that?
 
this reminds me of a junior high dance I went to where one of the chaperones passed out and all of the other adults were busy calling the ambulance, spouse,etc. There we girls were, 250 or so, in a dark room with flashing lights and 250 hormone crazed boys with no adult supervision. I called for a ladies’ choice and we surrounded the poor fellows. Stairway to Heaven came on. It was an estrogen bloodbath.
 
Zoo_View said:
One can plan what they would do in a true “fight or flight” situation.

Unless you practice for a long time and keep practicing regularly, you are not going to do what you planned.
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Yes, I understand this. You're right.

However, the baboon thing, I believe would take them so off-balance, they wouldn't know what to do. Fighting is psychological more than anything.

Get on all fours and jump on one of them. Ripping away. The rest of them would be so messed up from what they were witnessing, they'd probably just run.

I get not everyone can do this. I'm 40, so I can still crawl and jump around a bit.

But, to your point, that's assuming you have the cognizance to do so. And assuming you have the willingness to rip into another human's flesh.

I can't confidently say I could do so. Who among us could?

But the theory is death is on the line. And I understand practice. But none of us practice for death on the line. Like a Sicilian, via Princess Bride. haha!

It's a silly scenario, I get it. But it speaks to who we are, in our most basic and perhaps final moment, when we're caged. Like a wild animal. What would you do?
 
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