"real combat"

[DickHardman]

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[Tant01]

Thanks Mr.B LOL

....Getting older taught me you can generally manage to out-think someone who's bent on fighting with a whole lot less effort than outfighting them. It also taught me that there are stages to most fights. Most people go through a posturing and negotiations phase before they get serious. That's the best time to hurt them, because they still haven't made up their minds yet and confusion is even better than surprise.

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:::SMILE::: Welcome to MY world, eh? WAY better to change their mind than their anatomy... LOL

[Tant01]

soft targets...

some people on defend.net have been in "real combat". im wondering, how does it change you spiritually, mentally, physically?? what things have some of you guys in law enforcement and military learned most about yourselves after surviving combat with other armed people??? what has experiencing combat with armed humans taught you about people in general???

I've never been in "Real" combat. (I know because they always said "this is a drill" when we went to general quarters)
I can tell you one thing. The instant you realize you're a target it puts things in perspective for you.

[Hardball]

I learned that luck and a Higher power can work for you or against you and I also learned that Army Training prepares you a lot.

[Liberty]

Mike, you're the Lao Tzu of brawlers - great post!

I've come to a lot of the same end-attitudes (though I have a long way to go).

It's odd, in a way, the role "conscience" plays in it all. I once had to defend myself with a small wooden bench against a guy wielding a baseball bat. My conscience prevented me from bashing his head in after I'd disarmed him, yet it has not caused me any remorse to have intercepted-smacked him with that bench 2-3 times when he first pulled back with that bat to strike at me. In a prior skirmish (with someone else) my hestiation due to conscience earned me a kick in the face. I'd have to say that skirmish affected my conscience from that of "hey this is a human being" to "hey, this #*%6 wants my blood - he's dead meat!," where warranted.

By the way, you have the making of a great T-Shirt in "fighting is better than taking lumps out of fear, even if you lose."

Again, great post. That's gonna be one hell of a book!

[fire cobra]

I've learned that the people who talk the biggest line about what badasses they are, aren't. I've learned that it's better to be wallpaper and go unnoticed than it is to be immediately identifiable as a threat. I've learned I have a conscience when it comes to hurting people, and I'll go a lot further to avoid it than I used to. I've also learned that if I'm pushed there, I really don't feel much guilt.

Being a quick-triggered youngster taught me that fighting is better than taking lumps out of fear, even if you lose. Getting older taught me you can generally manage to out-think someone who's bent on fighting with a whole lot less effort than outfighting them. It also taught me that there are stages to most fights. Most people go through a posturing and negotiations phase before they get serious. That's the best time to hurt them, because they still haven't made up their minds yet and confusion is even better than surprise.

Becoming a father taught me that all these scars and stories were there for my son's benefit as much as mine. They taught me a lot about being brave, but they also taught me a lot baout being stupid. In fact, I'm more qualified to speak intelligently about being stupid than just about anything else.

Spiritually, I learned that I really do have to work off all those mistreatments of others in my own life. I learned that I didn't have much regard for other people when I was younger, and as a consequence, there will be a lot of times when people won't have much regard for me. Some of these times are times when I really wish they would, but turnabout is fair play and I have no room to complain.

Fighting also taught me that I have it in my own power to change my circumstances. As much as I could take it upon myself to make a bully go away or to line up rifle sights to make a bad guy quit shooting, I also had it in my power to pick a better attitude or change my situation if things were hard. The same way bitching and complaining won't make a bad guy stop shooting or a bully stop hitting, it won't make life stop kicking you in the teeth either.

Emotionally, dealing with combative stress has made me more level-headed in a crisis. I don't get very wound up anymore, and I am a much more even-tempered person than I was when I was young.

There's more, for certain. But I think the rest is mostly the kind of stuff that people who've never been there won't really understand from my limited grasp of language, and it's the sort of stuff that people who have been there already know.

"In fact, I'm more qualified to speak intelligently about being stupid than just about anything else".....thats a beauty Mike,made me laugh out loud..thanks.

[Tant01]

He ain't got the market cornered on stupidity by a long shot but he's by far the most eloquent...

[Tant01]

D'oh

told ya...
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[bodhisattva]

no protection

some people on defend.net have been in "real combat". im wondering, how does it change you spiritually, mentally, physically?? what things have some of you guys in law enforcement and military learned most about yourselves after surviving combat with other armed people??? what has experiencing combat with armed humans taught you about people in general???

I was beaten by a large group of inner city kids once in high school. I don't think that qualifies as combat - but it definitely effected me.. Showed me that no one is going to be around to protect me when I'm attacked.