THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT

A Close Quarter Combat Journal

Issue 1 Spring 2004

A New Pursuit/Chase Drill

Is Force-on-Force Training the Best?

By Ralph Mroz

In Iraq’s Shadow
By Eric Schmitt

My Number One Wish

By Col. David Hackworth

$15
 W. HOCK HOCHHEIM’S
HAND, STICK, KNIFE, GUN

CLOSE QUARTER COMBAT CAMPS

4 DAY
BASIC INSTRUCTOR CAMPS Levels 1-3
ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR CAMPS Levels 4-6
EXPERT INSTRUCTOR CAMPS Levels 7-9
MASTERS INSTRUCTOR CAMPS Level 10
...or just simply train for knowledge!

One day hand. One day stick. One day knife. One day gun.
4 days of CQC! Become an instructor in one, two or all four of the courses.
Earn the coveted, elite title of:
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Learn the cutting edge martial, police, military and civilian

survival/victory tactics and strategies.

May 27-30 Germany: The Basic Instructor’s Course

Sep 9-12 Harvard, MA: The Basic Instructor’s Course
Sep 23-26 Kansas City, MO: The Expert Instructor’s Camp
Nov 4-7 Valdosta, GA: The Advanced Instuctor’s Course Camp
Nov 25-28 Australia: The Basic Instructor’s Course
Dec 2-5 South Africa: The Basic Instructor’s Course

Each camp includes a review of prior material to aid in your development!

All of Hocks 2 day seminars build the CQC Group training experience.

These camps are open to all people of

good character and standing. You do
not need prior experience to attend
any of them, even the Masters
Camps! A practitioner may have to
attend several of the level camps to
achieve their rank and instructorship
goals.

Contact Hock at 817-581-4021,

or see www.HocksCQC.com
for more details!
 The Hochheim Group Report
Spring 2004 Issue # 1

Table of Contents

From the Editor................................4

Stand Down on the Headbutts!........5

The Hochheim Group Report is published
quarterly by W. Hock Hochheim. It is the
official publication for The Hochheim Group, In Iraq’s Shadow, U.S. Snipers........7
The Scientific Fighting Congress and High
Home Films.
6.7 Million in Prison..........................9
Headquarters
The Hochheim Group
PO Box 601
Keller, TX 76244 Validating Technique through Force
Phone: 817-581-4021 on Force.........................................10
FAX: 817-485-0146

www.HocksCQC.com My #1 Wish for 2004......................12

LauricPres@aol.com
Hockhoch@aol.com
A Funny Thing Happened on the
The Hochheim Group Report is published four
times per year and distributed to members
Way to the Superbowl....................13
only. Back issues are available at our website
or by mail for $15 U.S. $17 Mexico and Canada;
$19 INTL The Knifer’s Irish Whip...................14
Membership:
Regular membership is offered at $49.95 per year The Citizen’s Self Defense
U.S.; $69.95 per year Mexico and Canada and
$89.95 per year INTL. To retain rank in The
League...........................................16
Hochheim Group, you must be a member.

Submissions: The Back Attack.............................17

Article queries are welcome. Please mail, fax, or
email material to the address above. For editorial
guidelines send a SASE. The Chase Drill..............................18
Copyright 2004. The Hochheim Group. All rights
reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without Curiosity Killed Rangster the Cat...19
written permission is strictly prohibited. Printed in
the United States.
Catalog...........................................20
Members must notify The Hochheim Group of
any address changes a.s.a.p. to avoid interrup-
tion in newsletter delivery. The post office will
Fire of the
not forward this publication. Fight...............................................23
THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT
From the Editor:
Welcome W. Hock Hochheim’s new publi-
cation, The Hochheim Group Report.
We are excited to bring you this publica-
tion and we have high hopes that it will
greatly increase your knowledge of com-
bative strategies and tactics and enhance
your overall combative experience.
This publication will replace our cutting-
edge, widely acclaimed and recognized
publication, Close Quarter Combat
Magazine. For those of you who loved
CQCMag and hated to see it go, we
understand. We were a bit sad. But don’t
get too caught up in saying goodbye
because we think you will find the
Hochheim Group Report to be every-
thing Close Quarter Combat Magazine
was and more.
“How,” you say?
The Hochheim Group Report will con-
tain:
More:
a) indepth combat articles that you love so
much.
b) reviews of current events and how they
relate to your training and daily life.
c) real-life scenarios
Less:
a) outside advertising
b) book excerpts
You will find a lot of your regular favorites
still here. We will continue to run columns
by Col. David Hackworth, Steve Krystek,
Ralph Mroz and more. Of course, no
Hochheim publication would be complete
without hearing what Buffalo Nickels has
to say.
The Hochheim Report will be geared
more toward people actively training in the
areas of self-defense than ever before.
We hope to better help you meet your
training goals.
Spring 2004
And if all these changes aren’t exciting
enough, there’s more!
Hochheim Note:
The Hochheim Group
As I write this, Hock is traveling the world
doing what he does best, teaching people The Army recently developed a new
to defend themselves. In eight countries PT course to get it’s members into
now, the name Hochheim has become
synonymous with self-defense. As shape. The workout consists of a
founder of so many systems, we are find-
ing the company name “Lauric,” which, warm-up, workout and cool down. It
originated when Hock was more widely goes as follows:
known as a publisher, no longer suits out
needs. Therefore, we will be changing the
operating name of the company to The
Hochheim Group on April 1st, 2004. Warm-up
Bend and Reach 5 reps - slow
High Home Films
Today, DVD technology is bursting onto Rear Lunge 5 reps - slow
the scene, replacing videos at lightening
High Jump 5 reps - mod
speed, and with dubious results in some
cases. The little known facts are, the tech- Rower 5 reps - slow
nology of burning DVD’s and making them
work on all equipment everywhere is not Squat Bender 5 reps - slow
yet perfected. Sometimes blank DVDs Windmill 5 reps - slow
may fall short of accepted quality stan-
dards. Sometimes it’s an issue of high- Forward lung 5 reps - slow
tech machinery not being compatible in all
cases. This is especially true in small Bent-leg Body Twist 5 reps - slow
DVD runs of less than 500 copies per Push-up 5 reps - mod
take.
Because we’ve found quality assurance to
be lacking with so many major dubbing Workout
companies, we’ve decided to invest in our Push-up, 4-count 10-20 reps
own state-of-the art equipment and handle
production in-house. As of February 1, Sit-up, 4 count 10-20 reps
2004, all DVD’s will be produced by our Straight-arm pull, 2 count 5 reps
new production company High Home
Productions. Pull-up, 2 count 5 reps
If you liked the material Hock produced Leg Tuck, 2 count 5 reps
before, you will love the new books and
DVD series.
or
All DVDs will be filmed with the highest
quality professional digital cameras. All Power Jump, 4-count 5-10 reps
editing will be conducted on state-of-the V-up, 4 count 5-10 reps
art digital equipment. No longer will we be
limited by studio timetables and video edi- Mountain Climber, 4-count 5-10 reps
tors who know editing, but don’t know self-
defense. Hock himself will do final edits Leg Tuck & Twist, 4 count 5-10 reps
on all DVDs so you know they will contain Single-leg Push-up, 4-count 5-10 reps
the very best instruction.
Our friends, we look forward to working
with you to enhance your overall training Cool Down
experience this year. Repeat warm-up
Please watch the website for new seminar And
dates, for a complete line of new DVD’s
and for additions to the incredible Stretch Drill 1 each 1 time
Training Mission Series of books and Overhead Arm Pull 20 sec
DVDs that Hock’s producing. When com-
pleted, the Training Mission Series will be Rear Lunge 20 sec
the complete bible of combative tactics
and strategies when it’s complete. Don’t
Extend and Flex 20 sec
miss out on this cutting edge material. Thigh Stretch 20 sec
Check it out today!
Single Leg 20 sec
Best wishes for an incredible year.
—Jane Eden
Page 4 - The Hochheim Group Report
THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT Spring 2004

“I recently read your webpage speeches on the problems with head butting. I work as a patrolman for a city in
the Midwest and have taken Jeet Kune Do. A few years ago I got into a scrap with a perpetrator in the middle of
the night. (We learned later he was a walk-around and look-out for two burglars inside a music store.) During
the confrontation, we grabbed each other, and I tried to throw him to the ground, but his footwork was fast. I
saw a chance to head butt him. I lowered my head, aiming for his nose, then lurched forward. When I woke up, I
was laying on the sidewalk, alone, my gun and badge gone! I had knocked myself out when I hit him. This was
very embarrassing, and members of my department still needle me about it. On one of my birthdays they gave
me a helmet as a present. There was a cartoon passed around that pictured officers shooting at a range and
me, down range, head butting the target with this helmet on. It’s funny but, I think I could have been killed.
Killed by my own pistol. I don’t like head butts either. And, despite all Mister JKD__________’s words, I would
never tell anyone to head butt.” —Name withheld by request.
In the martial arts article, she turned to run—but wait! Time
STAND DOWN ON THE HEAD BUTTS! for one more head butt! She stopped and without even
looking, knocked her head sideways into the side of the
By W. Hock Hochheim
attacker’s head, then she ran off. She was swinging her
head around as though it were an impact weapon! With
Two students charged and wrapped arms in the classic
“fighters clinch.” They crashed and both, independently,
decided to simulate head butts - just sudden, simulated
“The practice of striking the enemy with your
forehead smashes that were meant for the opposition’s
nose. The bad news was…they did them simultaneously, head in a butting fashion can be foolish, as
and for the first time in their lives actually cracked their you could well be stunned or fall uncon-
head against something. One wavered, while the other scious, either way subject to considerable
dropped to one knee! I weaved my way through the bat- enemy attack.”
tling groups in my 1989 Texas martial class over to the
duo.
“You alright?” I asked, and being young and tough,
articles like this, it is easy to see why so many are simulat-
they shook it off and continued. Both, however, had lost a
ing head butts in training. I myself can fake a darn good
few precious seconds. At session’s end, the topic came up
one, but honestly at times when doing so, I often feel a
in our parking lot gossip session.
second or two of dizziness. That is without any contact!
“Is that what can happen to you if you do a real head
Why the head butt craze? The head butt is often pro-
butt?” he asked. “Possibly,” was my answer, but now years
moted as some kind of easy, secret, dirty, tough-guy
later, I have a medical/scientific answer to that very ques-
weapon. Observing a simulated head butt is a very seduc-
tion. What I discovered many martial artists are just not
tive motion to the novice student seeking street creds.
going to like to hear. That answer is a very big, real “yes!”
Simulated! But vets tell a different tale. Worldwide, very
If indeed dangerous, why is the head butt so prolific
few military close combat battle manuals even mention
in the martial arts? Why, recently did a major, martial arts
head butts. Most soldiers are wearing helmets anyway, but
magazine run an article about a woman who, when
special operation personnel may not. One British commando
attacked by a man, demonstrates no less than five head
butts? First, came the usual groin kick, but next came a
series of head hammerings, which of course the acting
criminal reacted to with dramatic, thespian devastation.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently
issued a warning to all athletes to wear helmets in their
activities, telling them the light tap of a soccer ball should
be avoided. If the skull is so tough and resistant, how did
football players like Dallas Cowboy Troy Aikman, their
heads ensconced in the latest padded, high-tech helmets,
suffer repeated knockouts and concussions? Because
their soft brains inside the hard skull, inside the helmet
still, freely splash and twist against the inside of the crani-
um.

Page 5 - The Hochheim Group Report

THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT
manual warned,
“When you are stunned, or “Never do a head
knocked unconscious, it’s butt.” Cautioned
from your brain splashing Dr. William Baker,
a noted neuro-sur-
against the inside of your geon. “But Doc,” I
skull” have asked Baker
and so many other
MDs and EMTs, “what about using the harder parts of the
skull to strike with, such as the crown-circling the top part
of your head?” This is often high-lighted by martial experts
as a so-called “safe” surface with which to head butt.
Then other artists will tell you if you should head butt, try
to strike the nose of the enemy and there is much solace
in the collapsible nose giving way under such a hit.
“When you are stunned or knocked unconscious, it is
from your brain essentially splashing against the inside of
your skull.” Dr Stephen Mendel told me. “If your brain
smashes up against one side, it will in most cases splash
back, injuring the opposite side to a lesser degree.”
Unconsciousness also may result from your brain twist-
ing-even ever-so-slightly-inside your cranium. At times with
this twist, connectors can stretch or even rip free. It has
absolutely nothing to do with what part of your skull is
thicker or harder and everything to do with the force that
moves the brain inside the skull. “Another neurosurgeon,
Dr Kenneth Chen reports:
“Sometimes the simplest bump on the head or a ding
from a fall could take away your sense of taste for life, or
your sense of smell, depending upon where the injury
occurs. You don’t want to risk these injuries.”
There are accelerated and decelerated brain injuries. If
your head is hit from an outside force your brain is accel-
erated inside your skull, hitting the far side of your skull. If
your head travels to hit something, you experience a sud-
den stopping or deceleration of the brain. SPLASH! At
best, these splashes are also called—concussions! A con-
cussion may result in temporary loss of brain function.
There are three kinds of concussions.
1) Mild - Confusion without amnesia. No loss of con-
sciousness.
2) Moderate - Confusion with amnesia. No loss of con-
sciousness.
3) Severe - Loss of consciousness. If you find yourself
unconscious for more than four minutes you really
need to visit a doctor.
Next on this list of brain injuries, are contusions—the
bruising of brain tissues and the worst, a hematoma—a
collection of blood from a broken vessel. The brain will
swell from injury and, confined inside the rigid structure of
the skull, this is a very dangerous event. The nerve cells of
Page 6 - The Hochheim Group Report
Spring 2004
the brain are unable to regenerate. Repeated hits to the
brain, even little ones, may result in a host of grave conse-
quences. Repeated injuries, even very minor ones have
been investigated. Some medical studies indicate prob-
lems like drug addiction, crime and other social misfit
activity may result.
Sure, everyone has an anecdotal story about some Joe
who did a headbutt one night and survived, or we know of
a Neanderthal who has done several. Maybe Joe was
lucky. Maybe you should take a good look at Joe. Did Joe
finish high school?
Do not misunderstand me. I am not telling you that you
should never, ever, under any circumstances use a head
butt. There are rare times and positional situations when
that may be all you can do. In such a situation, steel your-
self and do it! But first, tighten up your neck. If you are
holding the enemy’s head in your hands to try a nose
smash? Then you could and should probably hammer-fist
the nose instead.
Some of the biggest proponents of head butts have
actually knocked themselves out when they have really
done them in a fight! What I am warning you about is that
you must not, cannot and should not build an entire fight-
ing system around head butts. If you still disagree with
these brain surgeons, you may already be suffering from
the effects of one too many head butts!
Stand down on the head butts! God did not make your
head to be an impact weapon!
Still have
doubts? More
brain ques-
tions? Below
are four of the
best books
I’ve ever read
on the brain.
Read one or
more to gain
additional
insight and
information.
THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT
In Iraq’s Shadow,
U.S. Snipers
By Eric Schmitt
Soldiering is a violent business,
and emotions in combat run high.
But commanders say snipers are a
different breed of warrior: Quiet,
unflappable marksmen who bring a
dispassionate intensity to their
deadly task.
The intimate horror of the guerrilla war here in Iraq seems
most vivid when seen through the sights of a sniper’s rifle. In an
age of satellite-guided bombs dropped at featureless targets
from more than 9,100 meters, or about 30,000 feet, army
snipers can see the expression on a man’s face when the bullet
hits.
“I shot one guy in the head, and his head exploded,” said
Sergeant Randy Davis, one of about 40 snipers in the U.S.
Army’s new 3,600-soldier Stryker Brigade, from Fort Lewis,
Washington. “Usually, though, you just see a dust cloud pop up
off their clothes, and see a little blood splatter come out the
front.”
Working in teams of two or three, army snipers here in Iraq
cloak themselves in the shadows of empty city buildings or bur-
row into desert sands with camouflage suits, waiting to fell guer-
rilla gunmen and their leaders with a single shot from as far
away as 800 meters, or half a mile.
As the counterinsurgency grinds into its ninth month, the
army relies increasingly on snipers to protect infantry patrols
sweeping through urban streets and alleyways, and to kill guer-
rilla leaders and disrupt their attacks.
“Properly employed, we can break the enemy’s back,” said
Davis, 25, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. “Our main targets are
their main command and control elements, and other high-value
targets.”
Soldiering is a violent business, and emotions in combat run
high. But commanders say snipers are a different breed of war-
rior: Quiet, unflappable marksmen who bring a dispassionate
intensity to their deadly task.
“The good ones have to be calm, methodical and disci-
Page 7 - The Hochheim Group Report
spring 2004
plined,” said Lieutenant Colonel Karl Reed, who commands
the Stryker Brigade’s 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment,
Davis’s parent unit. In the month since he arrived here on his
first combat tour, Davis already has eight confirmed kills —
including seven in a single bloody day — and two “probables.”
He and his partner, Specialist Chris Wilson, who has one
confirmed kill, do not brag about their feats. Their words
reflect a certain icy professionalism instilled in men who say
they take no pleasure in killing, and try not to see their Iraqi
foes as men with families and children.
“You don’t think about it,” said Wilson, 24, of Muncie,
Indiana, speaking at an austere base camp nearby after a
late-afternoon mission. “You just think about the lives of the
guys to your left and right.”
Listening to his partner, Davis nodded in agreement: “As
soon as they picked up a weapon and tried to engage U.S.
soldiers, they forfeited all their rights to life, is how I look at it.”
All soldiers are trained to destroy an opponent, but snipers
have honed the art of killing to a fine edge. At a five-week
training course at Fort Benning, Georgia, they learn to stalk
prey, conceal their own movements, spot telltale signs of an
enemy shooter, and take down their target with a lone shot.
To qualify for the school, a soldier must already be an
expert marksman, pass a physical examination and undergo a
psychological screening. (“To make sure they’re not training a
nut,” Davis said.) The rigorous course fails more than half of
its students.
The demand is great enough that the army has sent a
team of trainers to Iraq to keep churning out new snipers for
the war effort here and other hot spots.
As the army faces more conflicts where terrorists use the
tight confines of city blocks and rooftops to stage hit-and-run
strikes, the sniper school has placed increasing emphasis on
urban tactics. That makes sense in places like this city of
250,000 people, a hotbed of Saddam Hussein loyalists that is
105 kilometers, or 65 miles, northwest of Baghdad.
“I shot one guy in the head,
and his head exploded.
Usually, though, you just see
a dust cloud pop up off their
clothes, and see a little blood
splatter come out the front.”
THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT Spring 2004

“We try to get away from stereotypes
that you’re a psychotic gun nut, like
the guy in D.C.”
The training paid off on Dec 18th. Dusk was setting in and
Davis was wrapping up a counter-sniper mission when he spot-
ted an armed Iraqi on a rooftop about 300 meters away. He
said he knew the gunman was a sniper by the way he sneaked
along the roofline to track a squad below Davis’s Unit - B
Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment.
“The guy made a mistake, when he silhouetted himself
against the rooftop,” said Davis, who has 20/10 vision. “He was
trying to look over to see where the guys were in the court-
yard.”
Davis said that as the gunman rose from the shadows to fire,
he saw his head and then the distinctive shape of a Dragonov
SVD Russian-made sniper rifle. Davis drew a bead on the
shooter with his weapon of hairs and a red aiming dot.
Firearms are hardly new to most snipers — Davis and
Wilson grew up on farms, and both owned their first rifles
before they were 10. They fondly remember hunting deer as
youngsters.
Both men are married with children, but say they do not talk
much about their work outside their tight-knit clan.
“We try to get away from stereotypes that you’re a psychotic
gun nut running around, like the guy in D.C., or like in the
movies, a cool-guy assassin,” Davis said.
There are not many targets these men dread, but in the
shifting battlefield that is Iraq, where seemingly everyone is
armed, one candidate emerges. Would they ever shoot a child
who targeted them?
“I couldn’t imagine that,” said Wilson, a father of five. But
Davis had a different view: “I’d shoot him, otherwise he’d shoot
me. But I wouldn’t feel good about it.”
Eric Schmitt works as a reporter for the New York Times cov-

“I went ahead and engaged him and shot him one time to the ering the Middle East.
chest,” Davis said, matter-of-factly. “I watched him kick back,
his rifle flew back, and I saw a little blood come out of his chest.
It was a good hit.” Three days earlier, B Company had walked
into an ambush in central Samarra. Gunmen on motorcycles
used children leaving school as cover to attack the patrol, Davis
said.
“I went ahead and engaged him

By the end of the 45-minute firefight, the sergeant, armed

this time with an M-4 rifle, shot seven of the 11 attackers that
American commanders say were killed in the skirmish. and shot him one time to
“We don’t have civilian casualties,” Davis said of how he
avoided the schoolchildren. “Everything you hit, you know
exactly what it is. You know where every round is going.” the chest,” Davis said,
In city or desert, army snipers spend hours planning and set-
ting up their positions, often under cover of darkness. “We don’t
have the capability to survive a sustained firefight,” said Davis,
noting that snipers fire from distances well beyond their adver-
matter-of-factly.
saries’ weapons. “We use surprise and stealth to accomplish
missions.” Army snipers generally choose from four weapons,
depending on the mission.
“I watched him kick back,
Davis’s standard M-24 sniper rifle, painted sand color to blend
in with the desert, is simple in design. It has an adjustable
Kevlar stock, a thick stainless steel barrel, a mounted telescop-
ic and a day/night scope, and it is bolt action, rather than semi- his rifle flew back, and I saw
automatic, like other sniper rifles. It sets up on a bipod and fires
7.62-millimeter ammunition, hitting targets up to 1,000 meters
away.

In the desert, snipers wrap plastic bags or condoms over the

a little blood come out of
gun muzzle to keep the sand out. They carry their weapons in
padded green canvas bags.

“We baby the hell out of them,” Davis said. They also carry his chest. It was a good hit.”
spotting scopes, laser rangefinders and barometers. Humid air
can alter a bullet’s course. Hot, dry air can cause a shot to fire
high.”

Page 8 - The Hochheim Group Report

The HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT
SQUAD ROOM
While one out of every 142 Americans is currently in prison,
the stats change when you add in parole figures. One out of
every 32 is either in prison or on parole from prison, accord-
ing to yet another report on Americans from the Bureau of
Justice Statistics. This means that 6.7 million adult men and
women — about 3.1 percent of the total U.S. adult population
are now members of America’s “correctional community.”
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ report
Probation and Parole in the United States, 2002, the number
of adult persons on probation grew by 63,434 during 2002.
Probation is a court-determined period of non-prison supervi-
sion served following a conviction. The number of adults on
parole increased by 20,808, or 2.8 percent, almost double the
1.5 percent average annual growth since 1995. Parole is a
period of supervised release following a prison term. By the
end of 2002, an all-time record of 4,748,306 adult men and
women were either on parole or probation.
Thirty-five states experienced an increase in their proba-
tion population during 2002. Ohio had the largest increase
(16,024 additional probationers), followed by Washington
State (7,487) and California (7,353). Thirteen states reported
a probation population decrease, led by Idaho (down 12 per-
cent) and Nebraska (down 8 percent).
About 75 percent of probationers were under active super-
vision and were required to regularly report to a probation
authority in person, by mail or by telephone. Half of all proba-
tioners had been convicted of a felony, 49 percent of a misde-
meanor and 1 percent of other infractions. Twenty-four per-
cent had been convicted of a drug law violation and 17 per-
cent for driving while intoxicated or under the influence of
alcohol.
Of the more than 2 million probationers discharged from
supervision, 62 percent successfully completed the terms of
their supervision, 14 percent were reincarcerated because of
a rule violation or a new offense, 13 percent had their proba-
tion sentence revoked without incarceration and 3 percent
had absconded.
As of last Dec 31, 2003, about one in five probationers
Page 9 - The Hochheim Group Report
Spring 2004
6.7 Million in Prison, on Parole or
Probation in the USA
were women. More than half were white, one in three were
black, one in eight were Hispanic and 2 percent were of other
races.
At the end of last year four states had an increase of 20
percent or more in their parole population, led by North
Dakota (27 percent), New Mexico (26 percent), Kentucky (23
percent) and Oklahoma (21 percent). Among those states
with 100 or more parolees, 17 reported a decrease in their
parole population, led by South Carolina (down 14 percent)
and Florida (13 percent).
Nearly 448,000 parolees were discharged from supervision
during 2002. Forty-five percent had successfully met the con-
ditions of their supervision and 41 percent had been returned
to incarceration for violating a rule or committing a new
offense. About 9 percent had absconded and 2 percent had
failed to meet their parole conditions but were discharged
without incarceration.
Among parolees at the end of last year, more than one in
seven were women, 42 percent were black, 39 percent white,
18 percent Hispanic and 1 percent were of other races.
Robert Weisberg and David Mills of Slate Magazine recently
sited a 2003 report by Human Rights Watch that synthesized
data and various perception surveys from around the United
States and conservatively concluded that approximately 20
percent of all inmates are sexually assaulted in some way
and at least 7 percent raped. A cautious inference is that
nearly 200,000 current inmates have been raped and nearly 1
million have been sexually assaulted over the past 20 years.
And, as HRW notes, prisoners with certain characteristics—
first offenders, those with high voices and passive or intellec-
tual personalities—face far higher probabilities.
Moreover, the reports reveal that sexual slavery following
rape is also an ordinary occurrence. Stories abound of prison-
ers who, once they are “turned out” (prison jargon for the ini-
tial rape) become the rapists’ subordinates, forced to do
menial jobs and sometimes “rented out” to other inmates to
satisfy their sexual needs. Prisoners face not only sexual
assault from other inmates, but violence of all forms,
often leading to horrific injuries and death.”
“...about 3.1 percent of the total U.S.
adult population are now members of
America’s “correctional community.”
THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT
Validating Technique Through Force-on-Force Training:
A Bad Idea!
With car-jackings on the increase, sometimes the only defense
left is to attack. Use your hands to strike the eyes, nose or other
vulnerable spots.
No one has served as a more vocal proponent of force-on-
force (FOF) training over the last several years than me. I, and
many others have correctly pointed out, for example, that in
terms of gun courses, static range training is useful for nothing
more than developing basic marksmanship and gun handling
skills. We proclaimed to anyone who would listen that FOF train-
ing is an absolute necessity for developing the skills that save a
person in a real-life encounter. And I stand by the last statement.
But too many instructors make the jump from acknowledging
the necessity of FOF training to validating their curriculum with it.
That is, they point to the fact that the tactics and techniques they
teach hold up well in FOF training and conclude they are there-
fore validated survival skills.
Wrong, wrong, wrong! They may well be teaching tech-
niques that will get their people killed! It’s wrong because much
FOF training is different from many real-life encounters. In a
spontaneous, violent, real-life fight for your life, you are probably
going to drive your sympathetic nervous system into an extreme
state that I call Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) fight symp-
toms: tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, the perceived slowing of
Page 10 - The Hochheim Group Report
Spring 2004
By Ralph Mroz
____________________________________
time, target focus, and so on. In FOF training, we train people not
to enter this undesirable state. Therefore, we cannot claim that
because a technique holds up in minimum FOF training that it will
be reliable, or even possible, in a real-life encounter.
We will never be able to determine what works in real-life
encounters except through AARs (after-action reports) and
videos of them. In order to respond as if your life is in danger—
you must actually put your life in danger. Obviously, for the pur-
pose of training only, you can’t do that. As Model Mugging Suit,
Airsoft and Simunitions veterans know, it’s the first couple sce-
narios with these technologies that have any severe stress effect
on participants.
Participants soon learn they won’t die in these FOF sessions
and won’t even get hurt all that much. After these initial scenar-
ios, these simulations become good validators of tactics and time
frames, but they are not forums in which we can observe the
effects of genuine fear for one’s life, and therefore what works
under such conditions.
What we hope for in FOF training is the level of stress to
which we inoculate participants will be greater than that which
they will experience in a real-life encounter, and therefore the
techniques they honed in those FOF sims will get them through a
real-life situation. This often works as planned when we have
control of the real-life situation, such as with warrant executions
and hostage-rescue entries. But all too often we see operators
are unable to execute trained skills when they lose control of the
situation. In these cases, they simply revert back to whatever
Mother Nature lets them do in the state of SNS override.
So where does this leave us? I submit that for the most part
we need to train extensively in those few techniques, tactics and
skills that are possible in SNS override. These basic skills are the
only things that will be available to us in most spontaneous
encounters and will often be necessary even in those that aren’t.
This assumes we know ahead of time what these skills are.
And we do: one-handed shooting, target focus, and so on-the
basic curriculum. These skills can be honed successfully with
FOF simulations to train more complex skills, by inoculating the
operators to high levels of stress. But we need to recognize that
unless operators are trained thoroughly in the basic skills possi-
ble, they will be helpless when they exceed their threshold.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that FOF sims are
verifying that the skills taught are actually possible under
extreme stress. That’s not possible.
THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT
Ralph Morz is police officer in Massachusetts, assigned
to a narcotics/gang task force, and has been a student of the mar-
tial arts since 1973. He is a well-known defensive tactics and
firearms author of books as well as over 250 articles in the profes-
sional law enforcement journals. He is a frequent instructor at the
International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors
conferences. Ralph has a black belt from the United States Judo
Association, and holds multiple firearms and defensive tactics
instructor certifications. He is the Training Director for the
New England Police Officer’s Safety Association.
Get Ralph’s insightful and outstanding books
and tapes at Paladin Press. www.Paladin Press
303-442-8741
Hochheim Note:
In Porterdale, GA, two, police officers received their
walking papers because they were competing to see
who could write the most tickets in a single month.
Erin Cox won the bet. He wrote 76 tickets. Frank
Jackson wrote only 72. According to Mayor Paul
Oeland, the tickets were “petty in nature,”. He con-
sidered the number of tickets “staggering” for part-
time officers who only worked 16 hours per week.
“People were crammed into City Hall trying to pay,”
Oeland says. “It all makes sense now.
Page 11 - The Hochheim Group Report
Spring 2004
SO WHAT IS FORCE-ON-FORCE TRAIN-
ING?
Steve Krystek wraps up a
knife attacker in an FOF sim.
There are 20 various definitions of Force-on-Force training.
It is a term manifesting from the military and then later,
police training—worlds hungry for acronyms, fad titles and
catch-phrases. But, force-on-force is a simple idea to grasp.
There are many long, Jack Webb-jargon, specific defini-
tions put forth in quasi-military circles, but cutting edge
trainers and trainees must wrap their minds, fists, bullets
and knees around the general FOF methodology, because
each discipline will have its own meaning...
-To a tank commander, FOF training might mean running
his troops against another commanders troops and shoot-
ing blanks, or even sitting inside a computer simulation tank
game room...
-To a rifle team, it might be practicing a Urban Operation
(UO) versus an opponent team with simulated ammo who
will shoot back...
-To a SWAT team, it might mean raiding a shoot room
and having unruly occupants who will resist commands...
-To a martial artist, it might mean punching and kicking
against a partner in a padded suit, who is kicking back...
-To a stick fighter, it is stick sparring...
-To a patrol officer, it might mean working a session on
pistol retention against a partner in a padded suit and hel-
met who is really trying to get the gun...
-To a citizen, it might mean a Model Mugging Suit session
battling an attacker...
In summary, FOF training sessions are a loosely orches-
trated conflict with an enemy who resists to some degree.
Extra force is applied, and the intensity is notched up a few
clicks. FOF involves harder-core, interactive training with
simulated weaponry and safety gear. And there you have
the FOF brain wrap! —W. Hock Hochheim
THE HOCHHHEIM GROUP REPORT Spring 2004

W. Hock Hochheim Seminars 2004

Mar 20 - 21 Elsmere, KY
Mar 27 - 28 Oreland/Philadelphia, PA

Apr 3 - 4 Huntsville, AL: 2nd Annual Knife/Counter-Knife

Apr 16 - 18 Denver, CO: PAC WEEKEND!
Apr 24 - 25 Thunder Bay, Canada

May 1-2 Fredericksberg, VA

May 13 - 16 Independence, MO: The Tri-Annual PAC Seminar
May 22 - 23 Shreveport, LA
May 27 - 31 Germany: Big international CQC Group Camp
My No. 1 Wish for 2004
Jun 5-6 Stockholm, Sweden
By Col. David H. Hackworth Jun 12 - 13 London, England
Jun 19 Dallas, TX
Jun 27 Chattanooga, TN: CQCG
Wish No. 1? Get rid of the M-16 rifle, which has been a disas-
ter from the get-go. In 1963, Gen. Pat Cassidy — an old pro who led Jul 10 - 11 Lambertville, NJ
Jul 17 - 18 San Francisco, CA: The CQC Group continues
a parachute battalion into Normandy, then fought again in Korea — Jul 24 - 25 Denver (Brighton), CO: Gun/Counter-Gun
handed me a rifle that looked like a Mattel toy. “Test it,” he said. “Let Jul 31/Aug 1 Valdosta, GA: The CQC Group continues
me know if it can replace the M-14. If it does half what the Pentagon
Aug 7 - 8 Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls, ID: CQC Seminar
claims, it’ll be an ideal assault weapon for our paratroopers.” Aug 14 - 15 Upstate New York: Under development
When I put the rifle through its paces, firing thousands of rounds Aug 21- 22 Libertyville, IL (north of Chicago)

amid the dirt, mud and snow of Fort Campbell, Ky., that sucker did Sep 4-5 San Diego, CA
only one thing well: it jammed. Consistently. I reported back to Sep 9 - 12 Harvard MA: CQC Basic Instructor Camp t
Sep 18 - 19 Vero Beach, FL: PAC Seminar
Cassidy that — as opposed to the M-14, a first cousin to the reliable Sep 23 - 26 Kansas City, MO: Expert CQC Group Camp
M-1 rifle our soldiers packed for 20 years while punching holes in mil-
Oct 2-3 Chattanooga, TN: Special Street Ground Fighting
lions of Germans and Japanese, and Reds in Korea — the M-16 was Oct 9 - 10 Albuquerque, NM
a combat warrior’s biggest nightmare. Unless the rifle’s working parts Oct 16 - 17 Romeoville, IL: The CQC Group continues
Oct 23 - 24 Denver, CO: CQC Group continues
were surgically clean at all times, it misfired. Cassidy sent the jammer Oct 30 - 31 Florence, KY area
back to R&D and told them we’d be sticking with the M-14. But when
Nov 4-7 Valdosta, GA: Advanced CQC Group Camp
he left the 101st Airborne Division, he was replaced by one of the Nov 1 - 14 San Antonio, TX
forerunners of today’s Perfumed Princes. A year later, my 1/101st Nov 20 - 21 Los Angeles, CA
Nov 25 - 28 Melbourne, Australia
Brigade was ordered to Vietnam as one of the first units sent to that
swamp. And along with the deployment order came instructions to Dec 2 - 5 Capetown, South Africa
swap the rugged M-14 for the M-16 widow-maker. Dec 11 - 12 Madrid, Spain: Knife Seminar

Everyone fought this lousy order, from the brigade commanding For details, check www.HocksCQC.com or call 817-581-4021.
officer down, even though we didn’t have a prayer without a two-fisted
guy like Cassidy backing us up at the Head Shed. As anticipated, the
M-16 failed miserably. From 1965 to 1973, the Pentagon’s wonder
weapon was responsible for thousands of U.S. casualties in
Vietnam. And after 40 years of costly modifications, it’s still a jammer Hochheim Note:
the troops can’t count on in battle. Just ask our grunts in Iraq — who
Berlin: Cannibal gets off easy: Self-confessed cannibal
keep paying for it in blood and want it gone with a passion.
Armin Meiwes was cleared of murder recently and sen-
tenced instead to 8 1/2 years for manslaughter. Meiwes
Col. David H. Hackworth, author of his new killed Bernd Brandes—a man he met on the Internet after
best-selling Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts, as advertising for a willing victim— sauteed him in a bit of
well as Price of Honor and About Face, has
garlic, and washed him down with red wine. Judge
seen duty or reported as a sailor, soldier
Volker Mutze said the more serious murder charge was
and military correspondent in nearly a dozen
wars and conflicts from the end of World not appropriate because Brandes wanted to die and be
War II, Korea, Vietnam to the recent fights eaten. The two men were “psychologically sick people
against international terrorism. who found each other,” says the judge.

Page 12 - The Hochheim Group Report

THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT Spring 2004

an American team has some distinctions. A USA pro-football

A Funny Thing Happened to My Body on team, as a group, weighs about four times as much as other sim-
ilar sport teams from other countries. A 220 lb. running back can
My Way to the Superbowl
charge at 22 miles per hour, the equivalent of some birds in
flight, multiplying his force. And speaking of speed and flight, a
By W. Hock Hochheim
kick in American football accelerates faster than a F1-11 jet fight-
er. A quarterback’s pass will accelerate faster than the Apollo
jet rocket at take off. No wonder some of these pros drop
passes! It’s like catching lightening in a jar!

During a 100 meter sprint, an NFL wide receiver will only

spend a fraction of a second in contact with the ground-
because over 90 percent of the time he will be flying through
the air. Despite this lack of wear and tear on receiver footwear,
most of the guys are in close contact with the ground. An NFL
team will use 2,500 pairs of shoes each season. Perhaps part
of that sole-searching happens in the gym, where the weight
lifted during a typical NFL training season shakes out to be the
same as lifting 25 amored tanks!

You have to be really dedicated to work that hard and take

all that abuse. But 300 lb.—plus, Washington Redskin
Offensive Lineman Russ Grimm once said, “I’d run over my
own mother to win the Superbowl.” Poor Mom! I hope he was
talking about running her over with a car. She has a better
chance of surviving!

Question: what do the fans miss when they watch football

on TV?
Answer: What the collisions are like.

“When a defensive back hits a guy trying to catch a pass,

some of those things are hard to believe!” Reports San Francisco
49-ner Joe Montana. And Joe knows collisions, as he suffers still
from hundreds of brutes, all larger than he, crashing into him on
a weekly basis. It is noted that a linebacker will generate over a
ton of force when he runs and hits an opponent—the equivalent
of being knocked to the ground by a charging Rino! Dallas
Cowboy football star, running back Tony Dorsett said that his chi-
ropractor told him he had the body of a man who has suffered
more than 100 minor car wrecks. Ever-developing research on
football helmet technology reveals the minor concussions the
brain suffers from rams, crashes and collisions each game. It’s a
game of power and speed force multipliers.

When I teach, I often make the comparison between a fight

and hard contact sports like football. Not just America style, but
the rugby and footie sports one can find around the world. Still,

Page 13 - The Hochheim Group Report

THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT Spring 2004

The Knifer’s Irish Whip

Knife/Counter-Knife Tactics
By W. Hock Hochheim

Have you heard of the Irish Whip? It is a classic grappling
move when an arm is grabbed and turned in revolutions so pow-
erfully, a person either tumbles over, or experiences damage to
his shoulder. The name seems to come from “Catch-as-Catch
Can” wrestling. Well, I have adopted the root movement of this
technique and called it the Knifer’s Irish Whip.
I may call it that, but many other systems like to use the same
root movements against a knife attacker. But, they always miss
two vital life-saving steps because they are attempting the move-
ment against complying practice partners.
Here is how it is typically taught.

You interrupt a knife quick draw by charging forward dash and a two-handed grab.
Next, most systems dictate you go under and turn in...

...ramming the blade back into the attacker. A free hand often drives the blade home.
Then the average naive system ends the practice there.

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THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT Spring 2004
Here are some steps you need to add...

ALWAYS ram a shoulder into the torso. Think football! ALWAYS finish the opponent. One stab does not a finish make.

There is isometric strength in that captured arm. Buckle it into a bend with a shoulder drive.
This breaks his isometric and opens the path to the stab.

Page 15 - The Hochheim Group Report

THE HOCHHHEIM GROUP REPORT
The Citizen’s Self Defense League
Jane Eden with Rudy Giulaini at a recent
conference on Homeland Security.
A Las Vegas, NV woman shot and
killed her next-door-neighbor, whom she
had previously caught burglarizing her
home. Felipe Staks was trying to evade
police officers, who wanted him in connec-
tion with a string of burglaries and a
parole violation, by using a crawl space
above the two apartments. The woman
had just stepped out of her shower when
Starks crashed through her ceiling.
Fearing for her life, she picked up a gun
she had purchased after a burglary in
April, and fired several shots at Starks,
who ran back into his apartment. Police
took him into custody, but he later died of
his wounds. Las Vegas homicide Lt. Tom
Monahan said it appeared the woman had
cause to fear for her life. “If a man fell
through the ceiling right after you’re get-
ting out of the shower—I’m told she had
just finished drying off—I think it’s reason-
able that you would be terrified,” he said.
—Las Vegas Review Journal
James Carter became aware something
was not quite right when he noticed some-
one had damaged his front door. The
Augusta, GA homeowner told police he
then heard a loud noise and that’s when
he saw a man standing in his living room.
Carter aimed a .357 Mag. revolver at the
man and fired three shots, but the intruder
escaped. Police investigating the break-in
recovered a gray jersey that may have
been left by the unwelcome visitor. —The
Augusta Chronicle
A Bank robbery went awry when the sus-
pects crashed their getaway car in a
Sacramento, CA suburb and took off run-
ning to evade authorities. Ed Tippets was
in his backyard, watching several helicop-
ters bearing down on his neighborhood,
obviously searching for someone, when
he noticed his dog, Charley, was acting
strange. “That’s when I decided to get
armed,” he told authorities. Tippets
recalled that he went to the back of his
house to load his gun and then began
searching room to room. Moving toward
the kitchen, Tippets noticed a shoulder in
the doorway of his laundry room. “I saw a
pistol pointing at me, so I started firing,”
he said. The homeowner then ran outside
where he was ordered to the ground by
police. The suspect, later identified as
Jermain Blair, fled the house and tried to
escaping by jumping several fences. Blair
confronted two police officers who had
“The law allows citizens
to use deadly force to
protect their homes,
lives and property.”
given chase and was shot in the leg. A
police task force is investigating 13 other
local bank robberies that may be linked to
Blair. —The Sacramento Bee
An Orem, Utah man nearly had his ticket
punched when he attempted to rob a
Greyhound bus station. The man handed
the clerk at the station a note demanding
money. The clerk, who has a CCW per-
mit, drew a gun and held the would-be
robber at gunpoint until authorities arrived.
The suspect was charged with attempted
robbery and public intoxication. —The
Salt Lake Tribune
In an odd turn of events, a Decatur, LA
man shot an intruder and then adminis-
tered first aid to the wounded suspect.
Ronald Kirk was awakened just before
dawn by an intruder. Kirk shot the would-
be burglar in the leg and dialed 9-1-1. The
homeowner then applied pressure to the
Page 16 - The Hochheim Group Report
Spring 2004
wound to slow the bleeding until police
arrived. The suspect, Robert Lee Goode
was taken to the hospital and later
charged with second-degree burglary and
possession of burglar’s tools —The
Huntsville Times
Justin Doyle was roused at 11 p.m. one
night by loud banging on his back door. In
order to protect his pregnant wife and 19-
month-old child who were at home, Doyle
retrieved his rifle while his wife dialed 9-1-
1. Suddenly a glass door was smashed in
with a cinder block and a man with a knife
burst into their home. Doyle shot the
home invader once in the torso, killing
him. Police later identified the suspect as
Manuel Villa. “The law allows citizens to
use deadly force to protect their homes,
lives and property,” said police spokesman
Jeff Arbogast. “Out of fear for his life, and
the lives of his family, Mr. Doyle armed
himself with a rifle and shot the intruder.
It’s a tragic event to have to go through.”
—Albuquerque Journal
A 26-year-old Portsmouth, VA mother
had used her new .40-cal. pistol at the tar-
get range for the first time and ended up
relying on it to defend her family from an
assailant the same night. Temesha
Greene was fearful of the increasing crime
rate in her community and had purchased
the gun to protect her family. After learn-
ing to shoot the gun at the range, she
went to a grocery store later that day with
her boyfriend, and her two sons. Upon
returning home and while they were
unloading groceries from the car, Greene
said a man got out of a van and
approached them in the driveway. Greene
and her boyfriend, Cedric Williams, asked
the man who he was, but he did not
respond. When Greene saw the man draw
a gun, she pulled her handgun and the
two exchanged fire. Williams found cover
behind a tree and told the two boys to
duck down. Greene was not injured, but
managed to shoot the gunman later identi-
fied as Emmitt Warren. —The Virginian-
Pilot
Reprinted w/permission of America’s 1st
Freedom Magazine.
THE HOCHHHEIM GROUP REPORT Spring 2004

The

Back

Attack
By W. Hock Hochheim

So many attacks, from muggings,

In a life or death situation, you may
barfights, sports disagreement to
have to draw your knife to attack
military ambushes come from
the leg, rather than stabbing the
behind. The wrap-around may be
arm near your throat—always a
an attempt to haul you to the
dangerous proposition for you
ground, to choke you, or simply a

misguided, unplanned attack of

sheer rage. In a life or death situa-

tion you may have to draw your

knife to attack the leg, rather than

stabbing the arm near your throat—

always a dangerous proposition for

you. Never forget the environment!

Crashing the enemy into the sharp

corner of a building may break the Crashing the enemy into the sharp cor-

hold. ner of a building may break the hold.

Page 17 - The Hochheim Group Report

THE HOCHHEIM GROUP REPORT Spring 2004

The Chase Drill

by W. Hock Hochheim

The enemy suddenly turns and runs! Your adrenaline erupts like a vol-
cano, and you are in the classic foot pursuit. If you’re a cop, you can bare-
ly report this on your portable radio between desperate breaths. If you’re a
soldier you might shout to your team. If you’re a citizen dedicated to stop-
ping a criminal, you probably are alone! Then...he turns back on you!
What’s in his hand now? Is that a set of keys? A gun? Do you draw and
shoot? Is he surrendering, or trying to kill you? He’s shooting back!
This is an all-to-common incident in the world of fighting crime and
terrorism. I have created this drill to enhance skills and promote vital,
simulated training experience. It must be run with simulated ammo and
appropriate safety gear. I prefer the battery-powered, so-called “electric guns,” because the pellet flies true with only a
slight sting. The runner needs a series of props in his pocket such as a pistol, a badge, keys, etc., to pull out.

1) Hock starts the run. Jeff “Rawhide” 2) Then Hock stops suddenly, turns... 3) ...and surrenders. Rawhide stops
Laun waits 5 seconds, then chases. and stands ready.

4) Rawhide initiates his arrest, 1) Another chase starts. 2) Hock turns on the run...
control and contain skills.

Remember you will chase people

inside and outside
buildings, and in all kinds of
urban, rural and suburban
terrain. Combat is situational.
The alley to the left offers
potential for cover. Practice for
all kinds of situations. Less time
on the range. More sims!
More sims! MORE SIMS!

3)...and it’s a moving gunfight! Photos by Bill Whitworth

Page 18 - The Hochheim Group Report

THE HOCHHHEIM GROUP REPORT
Curiosity Killed Rankster the Cat
By Buffalo Nickels
“I like Ike!”
General and President Dwight Eisenhower.
You see I am an Ike’s boy, a WWII baby boomer from a truck
driving daddy what did his duty in the Big One. My Pops would
read the New York Sunday Daily News and cuss the
“eggheads” that would write their columns
against our Ike and his ideas. Pops and all the
others had bonded with the old general, and
there was just no talking bad about him! As a
result, no one liked those pasty-faced, intellectu-
als back then. “Too much college! Too much
book-learning!” He’d say.
That started my fear that if I learned too much, I too would
become the dreaded egghead. Not that Ike’s head didn’t look like
an egg itself. It was obviously not about the shape of the head,
but the scrambling inside that made you an egghead, I had con-
cluded as a youth.
Then as a lad reading Dick, Jane and Spot and wrestling with
the times tables, nothing too eggheadish, I’d
hang out near the older guys standing around
in their tattered t-shirts and jeans drinking
whiskey from a bottle at the shipyard or street
corner. They’d say things like, “A little knowl-
edge is a dangerous thing!”
“Hmm,” says I. “That must mean that a lotta
knowledge must be a REAL dangerous
thing.” I mean, one-plus-one equals two.
Right? Suddenly that woodshop course was
looking better and better every day compared
to the math blackboard.
My friend’s mother told us one day, “curiosi-
ty killed the cat,” after Rankster the cat got
roasted. The jerky cat fell down the heating
furnace’s exhaust pipe from the roof. He tot-
tered at the top of the pipe swatting at a bug
maybe? Well, he fell right into the coal fire
below. Mrs. Banechek said Rankster was curious and looked in
too far. She heard him cat-scream all the way down. You know,
that pissed-off, cat howl. Man, how could a steak smell so good
and a roasted-up cat smell so bad?
Mr. Banechek opened the coal furnace that night
and tried to fish out Ranky’s bones with a crowbar,
but they were incinerated. Us kids just stared into
the open door like we were looking into the steamy,
dark, pit of hell itself. I half expected to see
Rankster’s skeleton in there, set up like the
dinosaur display at the Museum of Natural History,
just standing there atop the red and yellow coals.
“No shoe box funeral for that curious cat,” Mr Benechek said.
“Don’t get too close boys! That’s the the mistake poor Ranky
made. Toooo curious!”
Page 19 - The Hochheim Group Report
Spring 2004
At school, the teachers rapped our knuckles
with rulers and yelled at us till spit hit our little
red faces every day to encourage us to learn.
Despite all my fears of instilled knowledge and
curiosity, they MADE us learn all kinds of
things. Basically, I was more afraid of them
than the dying part of learning too much.
I was in Army Basic training with a guy from Kentucky who
would always say stuff like, “that LT. is too smart for his britches.”
I never figured that one out really. I knew britches were pants, but
was he issued the wrong set of “smarty pants” or what? We all
nodded with Kentuck when he said country stuff like that, but we
never really got it. It’s just that Kentuck always had cigarettes.
When I got to Vietnam, another wisecrack was, “They taught
you just enough to get you killed!” as they proceeded to retrain
me for the real, low down, jungle-fight-
ing deal. But I couldn’t help but think
that if they trained me a whole lot more
than just enough, then I’ll surely get
killed? Well, it
worked out that
way for some of
my buddies any-
way. I guess I stayed just dumb enough,
you know, to stay over that just-enough
line.” One thing the Vets taught me?
Everytime I had to look down the stove
pipe, I tried to have a safety line attached.
In the military, so many of my leaders
were LT. and Captain, or General Peter
Principle. Plain jerks who had learned just
enough to get promoted past ...well...their
pants I guess. I guess that’s what that
means, huh? They got their tickets
punched with time, assignment and grade
and suddenly found themselves in charge
of the next biggest link up the golden
chain of command.
Up, up and up.They are up there stomping
all over the roof and looking all around and
down the stovepipe. Eggheads are real
smart and curious, but they often forget that
safety line of real people in real life, those of
us struggling to get by, to stay alive and still
do the simple, right thing for your God, your
family and your country. Oops, that sounds like my dead Pops
talking again, I guess.
You might say that I must be pretty educated to make these
observations, huh? Ya might say? But naahh, its just an
Eisenhower kind of smart. Not egghead smart. If you’re really
Ike-smart? You’ll know what I am talking about. Well anyway
boys and girls, I do know this. If I am stupid enough to fall down
the big stovepipe of life? I want to howl all the way down, all
pissed-off and mean like Rankster the cat.
Curious ain’t it? Bye-Bye!
THE HOCHHHEIM GROUP REPORT Spring 2004