Lick Your Wounds

If you watch animals fight, they fight to their utmost because they know that a loss means—death. No matter their injuries, no matter their pain, they do not surrender. After the fight, the winner will probably be seriously injured. As the effects of the adrenaline rush fade away, the pain of the injuries will intensify, but the winner cannot relax. He or she must retreat to safety, lick the wounds, and get back to business of survival. After you have fought a tough street self-defense battle, you also must retreat to safety and lick your wounds so you may get back to the business of life.

First aid training is not just for the times you must treat others, sometimes it is for treating yourself. All fire fighting personnel, police officers, and military personnel get first aid training, not just to treat others, but so they may treat themselves when needed so they may get back into the battle and do their job. All black belts should be qualified in first aid.

By first aid, I do not just mean just basic first aid, such as CPR, stopping bleeding, splinting breaks, treating minor cuts, etc., I also mean battle field first aid, the type of would you would need in combat. Nowadays, a self-defense situation may not only involve the fists, pipes, chains, and knives of the past, but the firearms and even explosives of the present. Nowadays, first aid may have to include gunshot wounds, sucking chest wounds, exposed guts, missing limbs, etc. You may not only have to deal with these types of wounds on others, but also on yourself. If you are to survive a self-defense attack, even one you win, you not only must ignore your injuries during the battle, you also must be able to lick your wounds afterward and get on with your life.