The problem with "On Combat/Killing"

Lt. Col Grossman is a smart guy. I like him and his books. They are informative. He has made a lot of solid points about what we do. He is however, wrong about two things in my mind/opinion.

1. We are mentally geared to identify 70 people or so by sight at a distance (posture, gait, and mannerisms), our natural smell, and voice recognition. I have a great example of this; I grew up in MA with a very distinct dialect. The rest of my family lives in KY, with a very different dialect. I did not meet one of my uncles until I was 7 or so. I immediately recognized his voice and the voices of my cousins as the same “tribe”.

Thus we as a species are pre disposed to be suspicious of folks outside the tribe and hence will kill them for coming into our valley! Extreme yes, but this was how war started. Food, water, land, all causes for fighting. All animals go to war in one shape or form or another. Lions with gazelle for instance. You might say “That’s not a war! It’s nature! Survival!”, go ahead and tell that to the gazelle that have been stalked and hunted by lions for 10,000 years! They are born with the instinct to immediately run the crap away from lions. That’s a war.

2. He classifies society with the animal kingdom incorrectly.

    

     a. bad guys = wolves

     b. people = sheep

     c. we = sheep dogs.

He talks about the uselessness of the sheep (true), and the nobility of the sheep dog (stupid) and the menace on the fringes of society being the wolf. Incorrect. Wolves are highly disciplined, socially structured pack animals that liken to Marines more than any other K-9 animal. They protect one another from the same tribe only, will care for pups and move to eat. They are neither deviant nor ill willed. They are dedicated, driven, and very good at what they do. Coyotes are a better animal to reference as bad guys. They are typically dirty nomadic, unloyal types who are mischievious and won’t mind their business. Wolves hunt and then tend to themselves. Just don’t provoke them. Sheep dogs stay with the flock.

As a result sheep dogs are not expeditionary in nature. They stay close to the sheep and protect them from threats. Like the police. This is very noble! The police are here to help, in your town. They will protect you from criminals and evil doers, in your town. They are armed and willing to throw down their lives, in your town. Wolves on the other hand are expeditionary and will go great distances and stay there as necessary. Like Marines. We will help all those in need. We will eliminate threats before they become too big, and destroy all those who oppose us. Everywhere.

Here is my classification;

    

a.     bad guys = ________________

b.     people = sheep

c.     police = sheep dogs

d.     Marines = wolves.

Fill in the blank. Its whatever you want, but not a wolf.

ENDEX

My recent time in our home away from home, CENTCOM, is coming to a close. This was a unique and some what challenging deployment in comparison to my last trips to the AO.

I switched platoons and watched one of the worst turn into the best, and then watched the best turn average. I stopped working for the most disagreeable human on the face of the planet to working with one of the best officers I have met. I realized that some “friends” aren’t, and being humble always pays the bills. I have made close friends, and evaluated future enemies.



The Middle Evil!



I can say that the challenge was not the enemy or the terrain this time, but the movements, the planning and the control of the Marines. My platoon found itself in several locations through out the AO on numerous occasions doing different missions at the same time. My warrior elite NCOs cracked skulls, towed the line and enforced the rules. Non stop. Every day. All day.



From L to R, Cpl Williams, Cpl Carney, Sgt. Wright,
Cpl. Vlasak, Cpl. Thurmond, and sgt. Fritchman



I met some famous people, hazed the crap out of some athletes, and trained soldiers from end to end of the AO.

The Boondock Saints dropped in, and we ground fought a bit.



from L to R Troy Duffy, Sean Patrick Flannery, Norman Reedus, and SSgt. Visnick

The Florida Marlins came by and got thrashed by me in an LZ Drill.

From L to R Jeff Conine, Grendel, some dude, John Buck, Logan Morrison, and Don Simpson. 

"FOLLOW ME HIPPIES!!!!"

Tobey Keith spent some time with us, but wouldn’t buy me an iPad. And I can't find my pic with him.

I trained Jordanians in Machine gun gunnery, and fire and maneuver.

Clark with a Z, and a Jordanian Machine Gunner

And got all the boys to Grey Belt.

LCpl Cole buttstrokes Lcpl Mott

Talked to the Pakistanis about MCMAP, and modern base defense along with infiltration.

Worked with the Lebanese and taught them how to shoot fast and clear structures.



PNS Qasim in Karachi, the smelliest place on earth



Grendel and Lt. Cluade Mattar talk tactics to the Lebanese Forces

It wasn’t all work and no play, however.

I went to the baptismal site of God’s kid, Jesus.

Grendel on the site.

And looked at the holy land from Mt. Nebo.

A wolf in the Holy Land

Visited the memorial site for the bombing sites in Beirut.

Marine Corps Holy ground....

PT was extensive, constant, varied and always terrible!!!

I worked hard to get as far as possible in MCMAP, and ended up with 11 brown belts, 25 green belts and the rest grey belts!



America's First Sergeant and I.



  

Suck fests!!!

All in all. It was an enjoyable experience and can’t wait for the next go around..........

The Other Culture

These inspiring words are from the most wonderful mother, wife, and partner in the world, my wife.

She IS Bushido.

 We are not born Marines wives.  We volunteer for it.  We marry Marines because we love the men that they are.  We are NOT regular women!  We are stronger, harder and more independent.  We stand by our Marines FOREVER!

This is the flip side, and her take on the opening paragraph of my Culture post.

Self Defense Course for Sexual Assualt Prevention Month

Last Month was “Sexual Assault Awareness Month.” FYI. During that period a group of service members called CSADD (Coalition of Service members Against Destructive Decisions) asked me to put together a self defense course. It was a great opportunity to spread the love of controlled violence to other people, so I of course said YES.

The course I put together was more based on mindset, and rapid devastating violence to quickly end an attackers actions, vice how to “fight” an opponent.

My Favorite the eye gouge!

With me I had two of my brown belts, Corporals Dustin Thurmond and Wesley Burnett. They both have a pretty solid Martial art background and are very intelligent young men.



Cpl. Thurmond (L) and Cpl. Burnett (R)


We started off talking about instilling the mindset that these techniques were to be used when you were in imminent and unavoidable danger of serious bodily harm or death. I was teaching open hand strikes, eye gouges, heel stomps, and the ever effective “grab, twist, pull”. Sweeps and reaps were used in real world type attack postures, but only in a limited capacity.

Got violence?

All of the participants were female, and several had done similar training before, however they were not martial artists or fighter types at all. Most impressive to me was a MCPO brought his teenaged daughters to participate. Smart move. They were young and a little uncomfortable but got a lot out of it.

We developed a group of techniques that would avoid the ground, only have open hand strikes, and also immediately give the defender the upper hand, and rapidly switch to the attacker. All of the techniques ended with stomps to the groin, head or both. We taught ear rips, and eye gouges as preferred methods of engagement, as well as throat strikes.

Strikes were open hand only.

The only ground “fighting” we demonstrated, and trained involved the women in the guard assuming that a rape was being attempted, moving to the mount ASAP and resulting in a blind, earless, head crushed rapist!

KILL!!!!!!!

The event culminated with a complete attack drill, where the students beat the dog crap out of Cpl. Burnett while he wore a full body padded suit. He was happy about the groin protection. Very happy. We preached attacking the gibblies as much as possible.

When you check out the photos those shirts are the “got violence?” shirts of my design in black and red (badass!).

All in all it was a very rewarding experience. It drove me to develop a complete package, and I hope to train more folks in the future.

Ideals

I get asked a lot if I’m a liberal, or a conservative. Right off the bat I have to say it does not matter, because I am a patriot in love with America. And as a Marine I don't get to really voice my opinions TOO loudly.

But, I don’t really know.

First my take on politicians is this, they are ALL rich people trying to do one of two things, stay rich, or get richer. When it comes to the presidency I remember seeing Reagan and like him for nostalgia reasons. I grew up with Clinton and like him because he was there when I was formulating my ideas and ideals. I hate Bush because he got rich off the blood of my friends. I don’t care about Obama because were too far gone. And bottom line is I’m a Marine and we will do as the president directs.

I am typically moved deeply by stories of Truman. His life, his presidency. And Eisenhower. Eisenhower’s dad was a mechanic. My father talks about him. He is like Reagan is to me. Universally the best presidents come from the humblest of lives. Bad presidents (or less than popular) come from privileged lives (Bush,and Nixon for example).

Now for the issue. Liberal or conservative. I believe in a mixed up mash of ideals. I believe very strongly in highly disciplined homes. My mother was very strict and I am also very strict. I believe that family is the center of life. And a mans measure comes from the family he raises, with the materials at hand. I believe in the right to bear arms. But no one needs a machine gun. I believe in the “melting pot”, but at the same time I believe that illegal aliens are the greatest single threat to our longevity.

I believe God has no business in school, but we should still pledge our allegiance even if not “one nation under God”. I believe it is the responsibility of the individual to work as hard as they need to be as comfortable as they desire, but the government needs to give us health care. I believe that most “hot” political issues are based on religious ideals, and that is NOT a public thing.

I don’t care about gay marriage. I don’t care about abortions. These are all private matters that don’t affect me, and shouldn’t bother you. I think we need to take responsibility for the environment, and the nature we dominate around us. We need to revamp our federal, local and state laws to actually protect us. I think it’s stupid to kill an assailant trying to cause serious harm to my family in my house, only to get sued by the family that made him a deviant.

I firmly feel that the old world is the old worlds’ problem, and we need to focus our time and energy on our hemisphere. Our ancestors left Europe for a reason. I believe that drugs are very bad, but fast food is far more lethal. McDonalds, Marlboros, and Bud Light is kill more of us than anything. Marijuana from Mexico is not worth fighting a war over when there are meth labs in suburban America. We can go to war with them.

I believe groups who are overtly anti American or former enemies of our nation should be eliminated. When Germany was full of Nazis we blew them off the continent, but its o.k. for white kids from the burbs? We fought a war ending slavery and then crawled through decades of violence for equality, but it’s not a crime to be in the KKK? Foolish.

I also think that we NEED to censure television. News should be unbiased, and very plain. Information and raw data only. Teens should not be seeing idiots from New Jersey spread herpes and disrespecting there mothers. The grip of popular culture should not be around our throats. Famous people should not have any say in the politics or day to day of Americans who are poor. Except Arnold. He’s the man.

The list goes on and on. Very long, complex story short I am neither. I am both. I am middle of the road. If you are a decent person, you are good in my book. Work hard, contribute to those who need it, and take care of your family.