MARTIAL ARTS BLACK BELT RANK; A BEGINNING

Let's drill a little deeper into training for martial arts designations and compare that to something more familiar.

I hold a Black Belt, 1st Dan rank, in two martial arts styles, Combat Hapkido (Chon Tu Kwan Hap-Ki-Do) and Fortress Fighting Hapkido. It took 7 years + of training, two to three times per week. Yes, it is rigorous at times and yes, it required persistence and perseverance, especially at my age. But it is really just the attainment of a beginning place in the art. Let me explain.....

As an excellent example, the martial arts black belt rank is quite similar to having someone tell you they have been going to the pistol range for a few years, and are ranked as an "expert" with a pistol or firearm.

THEY HOLD AN EXPERT DESIGNATION:

They have learned stance, breathing, control, overcoming fear. They have assimilated the knowledge surrounding  sighting, aiming, squeezing, "elevation", "windage" and "leading" the prey or target, when it is moving. They can shoot from behind barricades, squatting, laying prone, in the open, at close quarters or from a distance.

They have learned to care for firearms, disassemble them, clean them, maintain them. They understand ammunition, grain, powder, lead, characteristics of the bullet itself, ballistics.

They have attended and passed training on ethics, laws, when to use firearms, the ramifications of doing so, how to protect bystanders, what to do after a shooting.

Their training encompasses every aspect of owning and using a firearm.

BUT IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING. Training is training. It is not real life. You are shooting targets, in a controlled environment. This is the only way you can train. You cannot put students in life or death situations to train them!

SAME THING UPON REACHING THE BLACK BELT RANK IN MARTIAL ARTS

It is the same with martial arts. A black belt has undertaken and passed perhaps 8 belt "levels", learning/practicing techniques and application at each one. He/she has learned perhaps 200 "techniques" overall-- joint locks, strikes, finger locks, pressure points, holds, kicks, throws. The martial arts student has demonstrated basic ability to execute the techniques, under some degree of pressure. Just like a firearms "expert"--the black belt has all the tools, but their training is training. Not real life exposure to danger. No one really knows how they, or someone else, will act/react, under extreme danger or stress, unless you have been there.

So, the moment of truth may never come. The firearms "expert" will likely never shoot anyone. The martial artist, aside from perhaps dealing with a drunk in a bar or some social situation, will likely never have to break a joint, or harm an opponent seriously.

THE BLACK BELT RANK IS ONLY A BEGINNING.

You have acquired the basic skills and tools. That's what it really signifies.