Society in general and America in particular, need to decide what they want.
This arrived today via Greg Ellifritz and even though it's 5 years old, it couldn't be more relevant.
https://theruralbadge.com/2019/12/30...what-you-want/
Society in general and America in particular, need to decide what they want.
This arrived today via Greg Ellifritz and even though it's 5 years old, it couldn't be more relevant.
https://theruralbadge.com/2019/12/30...what-you-want/
"We are the domestic pets of a human zoo we call civilization."
Laurence Gonzales - "Deep Survival."
He posted that one before, and I bookmarked it many years ago.
Skill and experience weigh nothing, and you have them with you all the time.
From the article linked above (talking about friendly officers): "He’ll be the perfect SRO, until there’s an active shooter at your kid’s school."
I dunno. The better half was a high school teacher. They had an SRO (Hi, Officer Nick!) who was the most friendly, approachable guy you could ask for. As in he used to step in for a serving lady at the cafeteria, so he could jawbone the kids as they came through, etc, etc. Knew the kids names and some little thing about all of them. They never had any shootings, but I think several smaller problems got addressed because the kids were comfortable telling him about incipient problems.
He would chat with my wife from time to time after hours. Perhaps because he found out she was a competitive shooter he talked about things he might not have discussed with other people. FWIW, my wife had 100% confidence that if the worst happened he wasn't going to have a courage deficit. Luckily, there weren't any shootings so we'll never know for sure, I suppose, but I'm willing to trust her judgement. Through matches, we knew a couple of other officers that came across as the most affable guys you'd ever meet, but had BTDT on SWAT teams etc.
After a few years Officer Nick was replaced by a guy who stood on the edge of the hallway, dark shades indoors, thumbs in belt, and just glared at the kids walking by. No one would tell him beans. No idea of his courage level, but I'd bet on Officer Nick.
IMVeryLimitedE, at least some really nice guys can be dangerous when they need to be.
Being dangerous is not the exclusive provenance of ass holes. This is a fallacy perpetuated by a culture that views violence of any kind as unacceptable.Originally Posted by whomever
We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......
Very much this !
One of the most polite gentlemen I knew had been on the sharp end in 3 wars.
He shotgunned a home invader when he was about 10.
I never saw him be impolite. He was always a good guy.
Indeed, courage and friendliness are not mutually exclusive, the opposite in fact. Competent, confident people are, IME, generally more open and laid back. The snarly people wth chests puffed out seem to be frequently trying to hide their lack of skill, or whatever. Generally speaking..., exceptions exist of course.
ETA: I recall several conversations with a good friend of mine about how, people come through the door into work with a certain set of characteristics. We could train folks to a certain degree, and some people were better at getting out of their own way than others, but ultimately, you are starting with a baseline and most will only advance to a certain point beyond that baseline. I used to day all the time, you can't really fight your DNA. Some people can bend it to a degree, but we are largely bound by it, or so it seems.
Last edited by Tensaw; 01-10-2025 at 02:00 PM.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
No one is coming. It is up to us.
America has decided what it wants.
It wants what it wants, how it wants it, before it asks, reserving the right to completely change its mind retroactively and deny ever having expressed that desire or acknowledging that need, and have everyone pay lip service public agreement to that denial.
Is that really so much to ask?
Is it?
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