Unfiltered Story #248035

I took a RAD (rape aggression defense) course put on by my work’s police department. Over the course of six weeks, we learned different techniques of escaping unsafe situations or defending ourselves against attackers. During the lessons for individual moves, I was pretty good (in my mind, at least). On the last day, we did individual assessments that were filmed for review. We dressed in a padded helmet, boxing gloves, and a padded belt/butt combo. The instructions were to get from one corner of the room to the other (about 200 feet) while warding off attackers (3 police officers outfitted in head-to-toe padded suits), but the first 15 seconds were supposed to be with your eyes closed.

My turn came, and all training and knowledge went out the window. The attackers spun me around in circles, taunted me, and I was told to start defending. I closed my eyes and fought. The only move I managed to remember enough to perform was performing small punches to the face. I continued like this, closed eyes and flailing fists, for about 45 seconds, then the attackers stopped. “[My name], you’re supposed to open your eyes”. I opened my eyes and exclaimed, “I can see!” I started to implement other moves (kicking shins, etc) with no rhyme or reason. As I move my way through the attackers, I turned to face them with my back towards the escape. Confused as to why they weren’t following me, the instructor called out again, “[My name], you can go! Run!” It registered that I was at the end of my assessment, so I exclaimed “Oh! Okay!” and ran screaming towards the exit.

With the whole class watching each other’s videos, I buried my face in my hands in embarrassment during mine. I just hope I never have to be in a situation that requires my skills or lack thereof.