© Street Combatives 2022
Combat Mindset
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Do you always expect the unexpected?
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Are you prepared to attack your attackers?
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Are you a wolf, a sheep or a sheepdog?
THE WOLF: The wolf is always on the hunt, working
with a pack of other wolves to search out its prey. The
wolf will always attack with extreme violence of action.
The wolf will hit you from one side while his pack hits
you from the back.
The wolf feeds on the sheep without mercy
THE SHEEP: The sheep is a kind, gentle creature who
can only hurt other sheep by accident. The sheep goes
to pasture with little concern for situational awareness.
The sheep requires a sheepdog to protect it from
predators
THE SHEEPDOG: The sheepdog has an important
role in life. The sheepdog lives to protect the flock and
confront the wolf even at the risk of his losing his own
life.
DO YOU WANT TO DEVELOP YOUR COMBAT
MINDSET?
First, define your inner animal. If you have no capacity
for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a
sheep.
If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for
your fellow citizens, then you have defined an
aggressive socio path, a wolf.
But, what if you have a capacity for violence and a deep
love for you fellow citizens? What do you have then? A
sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the
hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of
darkness and walk out unscathed.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks
a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for
violence. The difference though is that the sheepdog
must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant
reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would
prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them
traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in
camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would
much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray
paint himself white, and go “Baa.”
Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries
desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
Here is how the sheep and sheepdog think differently.
The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the
sheepdog lives for that day. When you are truly
transformed into a warrior and have truly invested
yourself into warriorhood, you want to be in the thick
of it. You want to be able to make a difference and
protect those around you.
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are
psychologically destroyed by combat because their only
defense is denial, which is counter productive and
destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror
when the wolf shows up.
And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all
aspects of life and prepare himself for the day when
evil comes. If you are a warrior who is legally
authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside
without that weapon, then you become a sheep,
pretending that the bad man will not come today.
No one can be “on” 24/7 for a lifetime. Everyone needs
downtime. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon
and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath
and say this to yourself…
“Baa.”
(With credit to LTC (Ret) Dave Grossman, author of
“On killing”)
Street Combatives
Specializing in Close Quarter and Knife Combatives