Most people train only in the range their style prefers, but a real fight doesn’t stay where you're comfortable. Bruce Lee identified four ranges of combat—kicking, punching, trapping, and grappling—and Paul Vunak trains students to move through them naturally and aggressively.
In this program you’ll learn to strike at long range, intercept in punching range, control and attack in trapping range (elbows, headbutts, knees), and survive on the ground using BJJ and dirty fighting. This gives you a complete understanding of how real violence unfolds.
When fear hits and adrenaline floods your body, you won’t be able to think through techniques. You’ll fall back on whatever simple plan you’ve drilled. That’s why RAT uses a clear, step-by-step sequence that activates automatically under stress.
Instead of freezing, guessing, or trading punches, you intercept first, overwhelm immediately, and drive the fight into a range where you have the advantage. Your game plan becomes your survival autopilot.
Attributes — timing, awareness, footwork, emotional control, aggression management, and adaptive transitions — are what make techniques work during chaos. Techniques win drills; attributes win survival.
JKD and RAT attribute development prepares you to flow from weapon to empty hand, from striking to clinch, from clinch to ground, from one opponent to several. Attributes create a fighter who adapts instantly instead of thinking slowly.
Energy drills train you to feel the fight instead of think through it. Thai Clinch drills teach base, balance, swimming inside, and dominating with elbows and knees. Pummeling drills teach underhooks, control, takedown prevention, and takedown creation. Hubud develops tactile reflexes that activate even when your mind is overwhelmed.
These drills bridge punching, clinching, takedowns, ground entries, and weapon integration. They are the foundation of close-range survival.
Weapons change everything — speed, angles, and danger skyrocket. RAT teaches the real rule of knife defense: respect the blade and stay alive. Instead of Hollywood blocks, you learn real-world tactics: proper footwork, proper distance, and destroying the opponent’s weapon hand — “de-fanging the snake.”
The same applies to sticks and blunt weapons. Destroy the hand holding the weapon and the fight changes instantly. This training teaches weapon reality and avoids fantasy-based techniques.
Killer Instinct is not rage. It is clear, controlled, decisive aggression applied at the exact second survival demands it. It is the ability to finish the fight — not emotionally, but intentionally.
Through pressure drills, emotional awareness, and decisive action training, you learn to override hesitation and act with total commitment. Killer Instinct is one of your greatest assets in real violence.
Most fights hit the ground. BJJ gives positional control, escapes, reversals, and dominance against stronger attackers. RAT adds Kina Mutai — biting, gouging, tearing — used only when survival requires it.
BJJ gives structure. Kina Mutai gives savagery. Together, they create a system that protects you, finishes threats, or gets you back on your feet. This is not sport grappling — this is ground survival.
Real violence is unfair — multiple attackers, weapons, ambushes, larger opponents, low visibility, emotional shock. Nothing about it resembles a sparring match. RAT is built specifically for this kind of chaos.
Training ranges, game plans, attributes, weapons, Killer Instinct, energy drills, ground survival, and emotional clarity prepares you for the unpredictable nature of real-world violence. The goal is simple: go home safe.
Self-Preservation is the distilled, battle-tested material used by SEALs, law enforcement, and anyone who needs to learn real survival fast. It blends RAT, JKD, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, de-fanging, ground survival, and mass attack response.
Self-Perfection is the art — Tai Chi flows, Wing Chun structure, locks, sweeps, chi development, and philosophical progression. Self-Preservation keeps you alive. Self-Perfection keeps you evolving. Together, they complete the martial artist.
Thank you for exploring this deeper overview of the Rapid Assault Tactics system and the philosophy behind real-world self-defense. This material represents decades of experience — pressure-tested, field-proven, and distilled into a curriculum designed to keep you capable, adaptable, and safe.
If you feel called to take the next step, train with certified instructors, or pursue the
Instructor Candidate Program, visit:
TEAMVUNAK.com
Stay sharp. Train smart. Be safe.