Enemies of Liberty are ruthless. To own your Liberty, you'd better come harder than your enemies..

Monday, October 5, 2015

If Cuthbert is giving you difficulty, have him eliminated.

Virginia Hall fled France only after the Allies landed in North Africa and Nazis started flooding the country. To escape, she had to cross the Pyrenees mountains by foot into Spain, a difficult task for a woman who had lost her left leg in a hunting accident years before and used an artificial leg she had nicknamed "Cuthbert." As her guide led her across the frozen landscape in mid-winter, she transmitted a message to SOE headquarters in London saying she was having trouble with her leg. The reply: "If Cuthbert is giving you difficulty, have him eliminated."

Stick him with the pointy end.
Don't over-complicate the process.
For those of you who think the title "Spy" or "Commando" or "Intelligence Analyst" are titles awarded only after traversing some mystical and shrouded training program, eating grubs to live, force rucking a thousand miles in 22 minutes - you are incorrect.  As with most things in our society, there is a notion that you are not an X until some guru ordains you to be an X.  Whether it's a plumber, a car mechanic, a Rifleman - this is one of the most disappointing evolutions in modern America. 

I am a true believer that: "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."— Robert Heinlein

And he doesn't need a Government permission slip to learn the skills or ply the trade he so chooses.

Look to WWII.  Teachers, librarians, auto mechanics, farmers, and every other profession were represented in our fighting forces.  Some of those people went on to be "Commandos" and/or "Spies" and "Intelligence Analysts", Comms operators, et cetera.  No man or woman is a Commando or Spy or MOH recipient until he is.  No man wakes up one morning with the intention of jumping on a live grenade or rushing a machinegun nest.  You are not a Spy, a Commando, or a Hero in the eyes of your allies - until you are.  William Donovan was a Banker before he took the helm of OSS and created the most efficient, blue-collar intelligence & Commando agency the world ever saw (and some would say has ever seen.)

I've linked the short biography of Virginia Hall.  She was not a spy or guerrilla trainer, had no prior life training for such endeavors when she was caught in Vichy France after the Germans rolled in.  She never rucked a timed march, but she helped train three battalions of guerrilla Frenchmen who fought the Germans.  And she did it all with a prosthetic leg.

A Commando knows basic infantry.  Many of you have those skills from your own time in the service.  Many of you are acquiring those skills or sharpening them with Max or others.  Most of you have been moving quietly in the woods since you were kids.  Many of you have acquired some basic Combatives over the years.  Many of you have picked up basic medical skills, even if only CPR.  All of you know how to use a CB radio, and learning the functional essentials of more advanced Comms should not be daunting, there are great teachers such as Sparks31 available to you.  He can take you to Doctorate-level skills, though most of us can get away with college-level skills.  Basic tradecraft in espionage is remarkably simplistic.  You keep your mouth shut.  You trust no one 100%.  You locate dead drops and work OTPs. You watch everyone and listen to everything.  You recognize patterns.  You identify who is who and what they do.  As to being an "Analyst" - you are the best analyst you have available, because what you synthesize from your raw data will kill you if you are wrong.  Never, whenever possible, trust a third person with your life, especially if he isn't headed with you into Harm's Way.

Take the mysticism out of titles such as "Commando" and "Spy".  They are simply men and women performing particular tasks.  The best of them come from life where Common Sense has been their primary teacher.

Commandos work in enemy territory.  They gather information.  They break shit and kill Bad People.  They generally do things that make the enemy's day annoying and frustrating.  They work alone or in small groups (which makes it easy for you, because there will never be large force-on-force engagements in RevWarIII that are not essentially riot-zones, where Commandos will use the cover of the masses and chaos to execute their mission.  By the way, that "mission" may be as simple as starting that riot.)

The point is: You do not need me or anyone else to anoint you a Commando or Spy or Analyst or Sniper or Comms guy or Militiaman.  You need to teach yourself what you can, and get some training when and where you need it.

But most of all, you must have the heart for the work.  You must be willing to go and do what 8 out of 10 people will find reasons not to do.

Most every engagement that is likely to take place in RevWarIII involves the skills of the Commando and the Spy, with a healthy dose of common sense.

You can be that man or woman.  You can do the Hard Things, and you can inspire others around you to join you, and you can help train the like-minded.

That's what Commandos and Spies do.

Here's the piece on Virginia Hall.

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