Sheepdog Tip of the Day

[qbz...@gmail.com]

Fortunately the true predator, the sociopath who feeds without remorse on
his own kind, is rare. Still, you should never assume that he is not out
there. Usually, the predator does not give any verbal cues; he stands
calmly and then attacks violently, forcing you to react to his action. It
is quite possible he will get off the first shot and the odds are that you
might get hit. Should that happen, never believe that the fight is over.
Your warrior mindset will replace the shock and fear and you will go on;
you will continue to fight. When a sheep gets bit they go "Baa," roll over
and die. When a sheepdog gets bit, he gets pissed off and bites you back. A
warrior meets the predator and survives. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On
Combat
http://tipyomi-sender.appspot.com/showtip/Sheepdog%20Tip%20of%20the%20Day/During%20Combat/75

[qbz...@gmail.com]

From a duration of a few hours and a depth of only a few hundred yards in
the Middle Ages, battle grew to the point where, in the twentieth century,
the depth of the danger zone extended for miles into the rear areas, and
the battles could last for months, even blending into one another to create
one endless conflict that would last for years. In World War I and World
War II we discovered that this endless battle would take a horrendous
psychological toll on the combatant, and we were able to deal with this
endless battle by rotating soldiers into the rear lines. Within Vietnam,
the danger zone increased exponentially, and for ten years we fought a war
unlike any we had experienced before. In Vietnam there were no rear lines
to escape to, there was no escape from the stress of combat, and the
psychological stress of continuously existing at "the front" took an
enormous, if delayed, toll. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
http://tipyomi-sender.appspot.com/showtip/Sheepdog%20Tip%20of%20the%20Day/After%20Combat/142

[qbz...@gmail.com]

Rationality is critical. We need to maintain a rational view of the way
others treat us if we are to avoid relinquishing control of our emotions.
If we allow outside factors or people to hold sway over our emotions, to
the extent that we choose to view ourselves in an unfair negative light, we
will relinquish a tremendous amount of personal power, and abandon our
self-control. Christopher Brennan, The Combat Position: Achieving
Firefighter Readiness
http://tipyomi-sender.appspot.com/showtip/Sheepdog%20Tip%20of%20the%20Day/Before%20Combat/157

[qbz...@gmail.com]

We must recognize that killing with a knife is significantly more difficult
than killing with the bayonet affixed to the end of a rifle. Many knife
kills appear to be of the commando nature, in which someone slips up on a
victim and kills him from behind. These kills, like all kills from behind,
are less traumatic than a kill from the front, since the face and all its
messages and contortions are not seen. But what is felt are the bucking and
shuddering of the victim's body and the warm sticky blood gushing out, and
what is heard is the the final breath hissing out. Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman, On Killing
http://tipyomi-sender.appspot.com/showtip/Sheepdog%20Tip%20of%20the%20Day/During%20Combat/143

[qbz...@gmail.com]

Security cameras that aren't being monitored by trained professionals can
be worse than useless. People who murder for publicity want the footage for
the news. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Sheepdog Seminar for Churches
(paraphrased)
http://tipyomi-sender.appspot.com/showtip/Sheepdog%20Tip%20of%20the%20Day/Before%20Combat/219

[qbz...@gmail.com]

Tactical breathing is an easy-to-do technique that can be used in a
stressful situation to slow your thumping heart beat, reduce the tremble in
your hands, deepen your voice so you do not sound like Mickey Mouse, and to
bathe yourself with a powerful sense of calm and control. In other words,
it is a tool to control the sympathetic nervous system. Here is what is
happening inside your mind and body and why this simple breathing method
quickly restores your calm and control. For our purposes, let us divide
your body into two parts: the somatic nervous system and the autonomic
nervous system. The somatic nervous system is involved in those actions you
have under conscious control, such as moving your arms and kicking a stone
out of your path. The autonomic nervous system is involved with those
things that you do not have under conscious control, such as your heartbeat
and perspiration. As you read the last two sentences, your inhalation
and exhalation were also autonomic actions. If you had to consciously
control your breathing, you would die when you fell asleep. That said,
please take a deep breath and then let it out. With that conscious action,
you just pulled your breathing from autonomic to somatic control. Breathing
and blinking are the only two actions of your autonomic nervous systems
that you can bring under conscious control anytime you choose. As such,
your breathing is the bridge between your somatic and autonomic nervous
system. Begin by breathing in through your nose to a slow count of four,
which expands your belly like a balloon. Hold for a count of four, and then
slowly exhale through your lips for a count of four, as your belly
collapses like a balloon with its air released. Hold empty for a count of
four and then repeat the process. That is it. Short, but effective. Lt.
Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
http://tipyomi-sender.appspot.com/showtip/Sheepdog%20Tip%20of%20the%20Day/During%20Combat/104

[qbz...@gmail.com]

The strongest program always wins. Every time we hear the words, say them,
think them, or when they cross our mind unconsciously, one more program is
being recorded and reinforced chemically and electrically in our
subconscious mind. If you were to stop using a program path long enough,
that neuron pathway would, in time, stop being fed and begin to break down.
The process of breaking down our old programs doesn't even begin to take
place until we have stopped using the old programs for at least three
weeks. Linda K. Miller and Keith Cunningham, Secrets of Mental
Marksmanship
http://tipyomi-sender.appspot.com/showtip/Sheepdog%20Tip%20of%20the%20Day/Before%20Combat/281

[qbz...@gmail.com]

In the heat of battle, many warriors think of their family. One police
officer said that during a gunfight, he had a vision of his three-year-old
boy toddling around in front of him in his pajamas. These intrusive
thoughts are not always distracting, sometimes they can serve as an
inspiration or motivation, as in the case of one police officer in Arkansas
who was shot in the face. He says that a sudden thought about his young son
motivated him to get up and return fire, killing his assailant. Lt. Col.
Dave Grossman, On Combat
http://tipyomi-sender.appspot.com/showtip/Sheepdog%20Tip%20of%20the%20Day/During%20Combat/65

[qbz...@gmail.com]

When you care about someone, let him know it; that is the first round in
the chamber, ready to go. For example, when my son was in his final year of
high school and on spring break, he drove with some friends to Texas. Later
in the week I got a collect phone call from him (never a good sign). The
first words out of his lips were, "Dad, the car is totaled but everyone is
okay." Well, as a parent there were a lot of things I could have said at
that moment, but for once I was able to practice what I preach. I
said, "Buddy, I love you dearly, and I'm so glad you're okay." Later on we
did discuss the other things, but it was important at that moment that the
first words that came out of my lips was that I cared. Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman, On Combat
http://tipyomi-sender.appspot.com/showtip/Sheepdog%20Tip%20of%20the%20Day/After%20Combat/95

[qbz...@gmail.com]

As a warrior it is you job to go into danger, but you can do something
about how you respond to it. This is critical because if you do not feel a
sense of intense fear, helplessness or horror, there is no PTSD. You
create fear, helplessness and horror by being a sheep. You prevent it by
being a sheepdog, a warrior. If there is no sense of helplessness because
your training has taught you what to do, there is no PTSD. If there is no
horror because you have been inoculated against seeing blood, guts and
brains, there is no PTSD. If there is no intense fear, meaning that your
heart rate does not shoot up to 175 bpm because you use tactical breathing,
there is no PTSD. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
http://tipyomi-sender.appspot.com/showtip/Sheepdog%20Tip%20of%20the%20Day/Before%20Combat/74