till Valhalla ????

[jetfire]

The warrior thing is more broad-based than LE alone. Much of it is popularized on social media, and it is manifest in clothing choices, decals on vehicles, backdrops in YouTube videos, etc. It's no surprise that a lot of people are influenced by this and seek to show how cool (or simply how in-fashion) they are. It's become a fairly vast and perverse echo chamber full of people sporting a general appearance and pseudo-mindset.

What happened to being a regular guy who is nonetheless squared away?

Of course it is - the human condition longs to struggle against something bigger than us and to bond together with other humans in that struggle, but it is so easy to live these days that people have to go find ways to introduce struggle into their lives. It explains the massive popularity of Group Suffering Workout events like Spartan Races or Crossfit, because you're struggling through something hard with other people.

[Magsz]

The warrior mindset isn't only about "smoking fools" or being mentally prepared to survive a deadly conflict.

It is essentially a summary of how you perceive, think and ultimately solve problems. As others have said, it is in a nutshell, mental resiliency and what you did to get you to that high level of preparedness.

I know tons of people that go about their daily lives with nary a thought towards self preservation. It doesn't make them fools, or stupid, it just means they're different or have different priorities. Having said that, these people still, on a daily basis exercise amazing levels of "warrior" mindset in order to complete their day to day tasks. My biggest issue with this industries interpretation of "warrior" mindset is that it is exclusive to us and that we, as a culture are somehow more prepared simply because we buy a few t-shirts and a few velcro patches.

Mike hit that damned video out of the park.

[JHC]

Mindset is not a history lesson where you simply listen and remember and regurgitate the facts for the test . Simply being exposed to even a good mindset lecture is just a jumping off point. You have not arrived.

Changing your mindset is actually changing the way you think and solve problems. Mindset we talk about is mental toughness. It has to do with how you are mentally geared and your personal resiliency and what you are willing to endure and in the end what you are truly willing and ready to inflict upon others who seek to harm you. That can't be hardwired in a 30 minute lecture. That is going to take experiences and often hardship endured of one type or another. I'm also not saying that ONLY multi tour combat vets or veteran policemen have it. Plenty of little old ladies smoke violent criminals every year so being "hard" does not always have to do so much with being experienced or even "strong" as it has to do with being mentally resilient and willing to do what it takes if the situation arises.

The thing is that mental resiliency is often built in people from struggle and struggle is an action. Think Theodore Roosevelt and the "strenuous life". He was a frail young boy who went out of his way to do hard things to get tougher. But again plenty of grandmothers have straight up dropped the hammer on felons that on paper should win hands down. Maybe the mental and physical struggle of raising children and grandchildren in less than ideal situations led to making them mentally tougher than their outward appearance would belie. My grandmother was not a powerlifter or a sprinter or a combat vet but she was a tough old lady who lived and raised a family during the Depression who lost a finger and a half on one hand in an industrial accident working in a munitions plant during WWII and when the time called for it she could go to guns (literally at least once that I know of) at the drop of a hat.

And not one velcro patch was needed.....

Cooper's "The Deadly American" essay comes to mind from your description of your grandmother.

[Cory]

I noticed that he touched on the range theatrics thing. This little look-left-and-dance is, indeed, silly. One name-now-forgotten local LE instructor occasionally gave the students something to actually see AND PERCEIVE when they looked left/right, and most students totally missed it, because the look-left-and-right dance was just that, a dance, looking without seeing anything.

I will concede that most range environments will not allow a 360-degree scan, while holding a hot weapon, but 360-degree scanning, while actually seeing, is so very important.

Reminds me a bit of Pat McNamara's video where he talks about scanning as being theatrics. McNamara mentions how if it was a true scan his gun would be going with him, because "my flashlight is on my gun and it's dark and scary" or something like that. He also of course mentions that the idea behind the scan is that it "breaks tunnel vision" but that in reality it's just more range theatrics.

I feel like that is kind of a contextual thing. I would rather not scan at all, than scan and bring my pistol with me as I do it. Odds are there are people I don't need to be aiming a pistol at. Just seems like carry over from the military, but it doesn't apply very well to civilian context. I think the entire scan is better left at the door, so that we can use our brains and do whatever the situation dictates.

I understand the urge to be cool. There are a lot of veterans out there (like me) who got out after their first contract, maybe got a deployment in, and then got out. That sense of brotherhood is pretty strong while you're in the service, especially with those you deployed with. A lot of veterans have trouble letting that go, and want to find a way to maintain an image of themselves as a warrior and at the same time feel they belong. Along comes a concept that seems like it will do both as long as you buy a T shirt. I'm not a LEO, but a lot of the blue line stuff seems the same. Brotherhood without the shared suffering for only $19.95, and you can pretend you're badass.

-Cory

[Randy Harris]

I noticed that he touched on the range theatrics thing. This little look-left-and-dance is, indeed, silly. One name-now-forgotten local LE instructor occasionally gave the students something to actually see AND PERCEIVE when they looked left/right, and most students totally missed it, because the look-left-and-right dance was just that, a dance, looking without seeing anything.

I will concede that most range environments will not allow a 360-degree scan, while holding a hot weapon, but 360-degree scanning, while actually seeing, is so very important.

When I cover the after action assessment/scanning in class I tell them the story of the events that took place in Abilene Kansas Oct 5 1871 when James Bulter Hickok shot Phil Coe in a gunfight in front of the Bulls Head Saloon and then without positively identifying who was coming up behind him shot his friend and city jailer Mike Williams. I also relate a somewhat more local story where a guy held a captured burglar at gunpoint while talking to 911 and did not see or hear the guy's accomplice come up behind him...he was shot in the back of the head....

When they scan after they shoot the drill I have them actually ID what is in the other relay's or in my hands. Otherwise it is just a "tactical pirouette".....

[Randy Harris]

Cooper's "The Deadly American" essay comes to mind from your description of your grandmother.

Unfortunately she died in 1977 when I was only 4 so I have limited memories of my time with her. She was at first glance just like most anyone's grandma always loving and kind to me and the other kids but she was a tough old lady. I guess she had to be, growing up in somewhat rural Alabama , losing her dad at 7 years old in a gunfight in 1920 (I told that story here in a different thread) and then raising her kids during the depression and WWII a lot of that time with my grandfather not home while out working on various construction projects (including the facility in Oak Ridge that housed the Manhattan Project). She did her part working in a munitions plant and lost part of her hand in the process.

My mother actually told me the story about when she and my grandmother were approached on the street by a fellow with questionable intentions and my grandmother pulled her pistol and ran him off....I told my wife that story just recently and she said "well THAT makes sense...that was the missing piece to the puzzle I'd been looking for ".....

[Randy Harris]

What happened to being a regular guy who is nonetheless squared away?

It's hard to make money selling gear that way.....

[Chain]

It seems it's as cool now to chuckle at scanning-without-seeing as it once was to do the scan in the first place.

Is scanning AND seeing better? Well ya, sure.

Is scanning-without-seeing WORSE than not scanning at all? Is that where we're at?

[Cory]

It seems it's as cool now to chuckle at scanning-without-seeing as it once was to do the scan in the first place.

Is scanning AND seeing better? Well ya, sure.

Is scanning-without-seeing WORSE than not scanning at all? Is that where we're at?

I think it's worse, yes. The need to scan is pretty dependent on the context that lead to the need to shoot, and your roll (civilian, LE, mil).

Scan if you need to, not because you must because the range instructer says so.

-Cory

[blues]

The need to scan is pretty dependent on the context that lead to the need to shoot, and your roll (civilian, LE, mil).

Scan if you need to, not because you must because the range instructor says so.

-Cory

Exactly. And when you're on a team and assigned an area of responsibility, (whether military or LE), your eyes are to remain focused on your zone regardless of what happens elsewhere. Lives depend on that discipline.