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By SquidSix (not his real name...)
In my line of work (Military) there
are countless young people, mostly men, who are very, very much
into "cool gear". This is great if you are into marketing
products, be they fitness related, or others, like video games,
cars, "tactical equipment" whatever. Great, if you are
selling something.
However, when it comes to real-life
fitness, meaning, of course, the ability to do what is demanded
of you, on demand, every time, these young people are misdirected.
This holds true of all ages, but I have a small sample size.
Some of my peers talk a great deal
about supplements, and their effects, real or imagined. Some guys
will tell you that (insert name of new fuel for workout here) is
the "secret" behind their gains, be they mass or fat loss
or performance. I always question these effects, and wonder about
the performance of these individual WITHOUT said fuel.
Here's the rub: We work in the harshest,
most demanding environment imaginable. We fight clever, motivated
(if cowardly) and resourceful enemies in their home turf. We travel
great distances from our homes, our bases, our "fuel supply"
and are expected to perform, every time, all the time. My question
to these young men and women is, "Where is your shiny new supplement
now?".
None of us
have the room, or even desire, to pack more of anything on our patrols.
None of us have room in our vehicles for giant tubs of powders,
nor the noisy bottles of pills. Nobody ever brings them
with us out in the real fighting world. So, they are forced to rely
on what we have, which amounts to MREs and water, occasionally a
few dozen apples, and canteen coffee. Their performance, far from
our controlled training environment, becomes lackluster. The rope
climbs with all their gear on become slow. Their litter carries
are slower, their reaction times suffer, and their focus is diminished,
all because they have begun to rely too heavily on the magic fuels
they can get at "The Big PX".
Our motto has always been, "train
like you fight", and we have taken great strides to make training
as real as possible, with new ways to simulate combat, and millions
(billions, actually) of dollars spent on state-of-the-art facilities
that make training war-like. They work, and are very, very effective.
Our diminishing casualties are a result of them. This is a Good
Thing.
We can do better.
I have a squad of six, plus myself,
and we operate in remote areas for extended times, with little support,
and no access to the right foods, supplements, or rest we need to
stay sharp. What we have to rely on is Software, not Hardware. So,
I set out to make the training smarter. While in New Mexico, I removed
any of the items the men would not have with them in the desert.
Im made sure water, MREs, and fuel (the kind for the vehicles) was
limited to realistic levels.
I did the same with ammunition and
comfort gear. Entertainment? A deck of cards. Workout fuel? Instant
coffee. I trained their Software to meet the demands. I made them
rely on next to zero hardware. Out of flares? I guess we're out.
Batteries in the flashlights all dead? I guess it'll be dark. Ran
out of creatine? I suppose you will have to get it from food. Shoelaces
broke? You're a Sailor, damnit, tie some knots. The results have
been excellent.
We learned to fight in the dark. We
did our combatives (MMA) practice in total darkness. We did our
night-shooting without night vision devices. We ate our MREs cold,
and drank instant coffee from canteens. We carried 100 pounds of
gear each instead of 80, because ammo is heavy, and running out
makes us WORTHLESS. We took away all the M-16s, and used AKs, and
then broke them, and made the men learn to repair them, and then
resupply would come, and it was M-16 ammo, and we had to find something
else. It WORKED. It made the Software strong, and adaptable, and
effective. It made the hardware just "tools in the toolbox".
The men became hungry for more. They
wanted a good workout. OK, the Franklin Mountains are about 7200
feet at the highest point. Let's make them higher. We took turns
carrying sixty-pound rocks to the top (from the bottom) and piled
them up. How many people can claim that their workouts actually
make mountains taller?
Now, we're here, in Iraq, and performing.
The Software is proving itself, when all hardware fails. Our gym
is ropes and ammo cans and chains and tires. It's grappling in loose
gravel with boots and pants on, sometimes in the dark, sometimes
in 120 degree heat. Our days out in the sand box are becoming a
welcome challenge, not a day we didn't get enough Ripped Fuel. It
works. The Software has bacome the focus, not the hardware.
One doesn't
need to be a Warrior for this to be important.
Anyone can learn from what we do.
Give it a try. Ever grab a backpack and walk out into the woods
for a few days? DO IT. The next time you go, you will bring less
gear, and the next time, you'll bring so little you won't believe
you'll survive. Toss your cell phone in a ziploc bag and put it
in the freezer. Seriously. Now, spend a week without it. Two weeks.
On your third week, you'll start to see cell phones everywhere,
and wonder what these people can possibly need them for. Soon enough
you will have the confidence to be ANYWERE and have the confidence
to perform. Ever been on crutches? Most of us have. What did you
learn? That walking is an amazing ability, right? Well, force yourself
onto "crutches" and see what Hardware you have been using
that your Software can do without. It WORKS.
I tell my friends back home who are
serious shooters to take a defensive pistol class wearing a business
suit. Really? A business suit? Of course! It's what they wear EVERY
DAY. Isn't that the most likely clothing they will be in for a gunfight?
I tell moms and dads who want handgun training to work on one-handed
shooting with a 25-pound sandbag in their other hand, clutched protectively
to their body. Isn't it a good idea to be able to defend your child
without tossing the kid in the bushes? I get looks. strange looks,
but they get RESULTS. Eventually, they tell others, and the Software
grows.
My father-in-law used to deflate my
wife's tire before he want to work. She would get ready to go to
school, and the tire is flat. Guess who's gonna change it? Daddy's
already gone. He was building the Software.
We have this overwhelming need to buy the next, brightest, newest
thing, but it won't make us any better. I myself keep eyeing the
new Current Designs kayaks that I see in the boating stores. I love
the look, the sleek, beautiful lines. I could even buy one, and
take it out in the bay, but my boat makes me stronger. My boat is
mroe durable, and my boat fits in my truck. If I want to keep up
with the other kayakers, I have to work harder, and focus longer,
and be tougher. I HAVE to, since my boat is inherently much slower.
The result? I'm a more fit kayaker than the guy in front of me in
his sweet CD boat.
When Don Wildman paddled around ALL
of the Hawaiian islands, sleeping out under the stars (rain, usually)
he didn't have access to his Geritol, or his diet and supplements
on top of the fridge. He didn't have access to anything he didn't
bring, and maybe not even that, depending on the trouble he ran
into. What did he do? He relied on his Software.
In all training there are mantras.
The late Colonel Jeff Cooper said, "people don't rise to the
occaision. They fall back on their training." This couldn't
be more true. Luckily for me, my men have the training to fall back
on, and their Hardware has become "stuff in the truck"
and their Software is what makes them Warriors.
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