Hard Things - Be the Firstest and come with the Mostest

There is good reading on several of our blogs today.  Many people are linking a piece by Bracken (Here it is at WRSA).  Matt Bracken graduated SEAL/BUDs when I was 11 years old.  I'm guessing that puts him at about age 55-60 today.  Let us hope he and men like him are still with us when things get sporty, for the older guys who have been there & done it will always be an invaluable resource to the young filled with piss & vinegar who have to carry the most weight.

In a post below I laid out the average ages of our Founders and Framers.  Most of the talkers - Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, et al, were older guys, more seasoned in life.  But the guys in the field were, as in most wars, kids.  Young, strong men carry the burdens of war.  Always.

Most people reading this blog are not professional Warriors.  Many have some background in military training.  But even you guys with .mil backgrounds have a widely varied experience level and today many of you are merchants, construction workers, Tradesmen and White Collar professionals.  That is not a knock, just a fact.  I have been more desk jockey than Warrior during the last 10 years than I like.  But, it is what it is.  What's worse, I am now 45.  You guys who are 45, or have been 45, know what I mean when I say that 45 ain't 40, and it ain't even close to 35.  By the same token, I ain't dead yet, either.  ;)

But it is what it is.

See the geared-up SWAT guy in the top picture?  Have you ever trained full-contact against a trained Operator in full kit?  When the point man in the Stack coming over your threshold has armored himself in many of his vulnerables, can you get close enough, fast enough, then strike at the chinks in the armor without getting ventilated by him or his buddies?  Kevlar forearm bracers hurt bare forearms and wrists and help him shrug off your grasps, even with adrenaline pumping in your blood.  They deflect your blades.  They can break your fingers if you have your fist filled with the steel of a 1911 and he deflects hard.

What's the point?  You already know you will die or be taken captive if you face a Stack.  (If you don't know that, please have a serious discussion with yourself in the immediate future and get your head un-fucked right now.)  They control all of the important factors, and they have reinforcements.  The best way to survive a confrontation with a Stack - no be there.  The best you can do is take a few with you.  That isn't necessarily defeat, depending on your view of the world. 

Fight as smart as you are able.  Fight with everything you've got.  But make no mistake, even though you may have no interest in a fight, Bad People have an interest in fighting with you, and they will never, ever quit until they force this fight.  They will have you surrender your Liberty completely, or they will have you in prison or dead.

If you take nothing else from what I have written in the last few years, I hope you will accept this as fact, learned through many years of experience: In a fight the fastest, safest way to end it is to kill him, or make him change his mind about fighting in the first place.  You do that by raising the cost of the fight to a level he is unwilling to pay, or even risk.  You raise that threshold by being willing to do Hard Things, first.  There is never any shame in delivering a throat punch or cock punch before he is ready, or at a place he is not expecting it, like at Starbucks. 

You have to resign yourself to doing things that you despise even in theory, and you have to be willing to do them first, without mercy, and on a scale sufficient to change their minds.  You will be a different Human Being when you are done.  But will your family live free, or not?  Never forget for a single moment - they will kill you or imprison you, and then all you cherish is at their mercy.

There. Are. No. Rules.

It really is that simple.

 

Kerodin

III