to feel as safe in battle as in sleep

Kilted Heathen · Post by **Kilted Heathen** » December 14th, 2004, 8:09 am

I don't want to try and redirect your career,in fact just by reading so far,you sound like you may turn out to be that rarest of breeds.
A decent officer.
Keep the spirit of violence of execution in all your decisions.
Stick with "us" kid,we'll teatchasumfin!

These are the very reasons that every man thinks less of himself for never having been a soldier.

Creeping Death · Post by **Creeping Death** » December 14th, 2004, 8:21 am

I don't want to put words into your mouth, but it sounds like your conscience is sticking you in the side about your religious beliefs, or lack thereof. If so, you should get that settled first. If you find yourself rejecting the Catholic religion of your youth, but have not made peace with that decision yet, then you are gonna get these second guesses.

It's no secret that I am a Christian. I have no clue what it would feel like going into battle believing that if I bought it, I would just rot back to the bubbling puddle of mud that I evolved from. Quite the contrary - my religious beliefs teach me not to be afraid of death. I have no clue how an agnostic goes about resolving themselves to their own deaths, and accepting it as the ultimate finality.

Combine all of this with the "fight or flight" syndrome, and it gets hairy. The purpose of military training is very much so that soldiers push themselves farther than what they THOUGHT they could do as civilians - to show them that they can do things they didn't think they could do. The training breeds confidence.

Fear and aprehension is a natural emotion. Fear is what keeps your senses sharp and helps to keep you alive. I hated jumping. The way I looked at it, after the first five jumps needed to get my wings, the rest of the jumps were just a ride to work, and every one was me cheating death. I wasn't terrified of it, but I was definitely more comfortable sitting on my couch than exiting an aircraft. For me, the confidence derived from my training, the peace found in my religious beliefs, the the concern for the well being of my brothers and fellow Rangers whom I was directly repsonsible for, is what gave me the ability to do things that, to be honest, scared the shit out of me at times, and at others just made me a little uneasy. You will never find a Ranger that will say he was never scared, because he would be a liar.

My advise is to:

1. Forget what you have seen in the movies. Real life will be different, so don't mentally prepare yourself for a fantasy.

2. Do your own soul searching and decide what your own personal beliefs are where religion is concerned. I mean what you truly believe deep down. No questions. No exceptions.

3. When the time comes, trust in your training and expect your confidence level to rise.

4. If you ever find yourself in the shit, know that you will not be the only leader on the field of battle, If you slack off, trust me when I tell you there will be one squared away Plattoon Sarn't there to kick you in your ass if you ever need it. That is what they are there for, among other things. If the time ever comes, I'll bet you will be more afraid of letting your men down that of dieing. And you certainly wouldn't be the first, or the last to feel that way.

Ripcord · Post by **Ripcord** » December 14th, 2004, 9:15 am

Damm, a lot of good advice here Its to bad that it was not here in 1970 when i was on my way to Nam , I had to learn a lot of what has been talked about here ,through the school of hard knocks
Cpart84 ,read and learn and don't ever stop asking questions or be afraid to ask for guidence from your Senior NCO's ,that is what they are for
One thing i learned ,Never Look Back aways DRIVE ON

Silverback · Post by **Silverback** » December 14th, 2004, 1:42 pm

Each time you get yelled at, each time you miss a suspense, each time you get rat fucked by the Commander for being a fuckin' retarded LT...Each time a significant negative emotional event takes place you receive an innoculation that will guide your decision making process.

This innoculation will (over time) cause you to react and think differently than "normal" people. It will allow you to think clearly in times of stress. It will cause you to move forward when a "normal" person would not. Anyone who has faced combat has found themselves thinking (at one time or another) "Is this it...I thought I would shit myself. This isn't as bad as it could be"

Stay true to your course young man! The best men America has to offer await sound and decisive leadership.

Move to the front of the formation close your fucking mouth and watch what happens!

Kilted Heathen · Post by **Kilted Heathen** » December 14th, 2004, 1:48 pm

Silverback wrote:Each time you get yelled at, each time you miss a suspense, each time you get rat fucked by the Commander for being a fuckin' retarded LT...Each time a significant negative emotional event takes place you receive an innoculation that will guide your decision making process.

This innoculation will (over time) cause you to react and think differently than "normal" people. It will allow you to think clearly in times of stress. It will cause you to move forward when a "normal" person would not. Anyone who has faced combat has found themselves thinking (at one time or another) "Is this it...I thought I would shit myself. This isn't as bad as it could be"

Stay true to your course young man! The best men America has to offer await sound and decisive leadership.

Move to the front of the formation close your fucking mouth and watch what happens!

Fuckin' A!!!!!!

Cpart84 · Post by **Cpart84** » December 14th, 2004, 2:16 pm

thanks Rangers
this thread's been very helpful

RGR_Dan · Post by **RGR_Dan** » December 15th, 2004, 12:13 am

This is one thing that has helped me in the Army and in Police work. Mentally train yourself to prepare for the worst case senario. I still drive past convience stores or banks and plan how I would confront the bad guys. Try to think of the smallest details, then imagine you are the supervisor controlling these situations. Then when shit hits the fan, you have a mental template that you can use for the situation. Being prepared provides peace of mind. Prior planning prevents piss poor performance.
Just a few thoughts....

Tool175 · Post by **Tool175** » December 16th, 2004, 3:11 pm

Here you go "Courage is fear holding on a minute longer"
Gen George S. Patton

Parabellum · Post by **Parabellum** » December 16th, 2004, 4:12 pm

There isn't anything I can say that hasn't already been said. I am just going to reinforce what others have posted.

You will be fine. When the shooting starts your training will take over. The hard part will be keeping your men motivated and alert. There will be alot of times when things seem "gay" or "boring". Those are the times when your buddies brains end up in your lap.

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » December 16th, 2004, 4:47 pm

My perspective as a peacetime Ranger:

The main part of being a successful officer, having witnessed a few good ones in action - is mainly orchestrating the forces you command, to successfully defeat the enemy. Sure, you will have stress on you, but your role is not necessarily to engage the enemy directly, although it may be required from time to time, but to keep looking at the big picture, absorb the information being presented to you, and figuring out how to adjust the teams, where to move them and allowing the men within the squads, teams, sections, etc... to do their jobs.

I think that in a Ranger Bn, the job is much easier, because the training is intensive, which is to say stressful, and after some time, speaking as a soldier on the line, you learn to deal more effectively with the stress and not feel panicked just because there are rounds being directed across your front, or your left and right. After a while, you get more relaxed and comfortable with the idea that the other people who are in your unit know where to shoot and things get more predictable. Of course dealing with the stress of the two-way range is sure to have some things in common and other things not so common - such as the predictability of rounds all going in one direction is gone. But all the same, there are stresses to every situation and learning to deal with stress, to stay calm and make good decisions is the key to success.

My assumption is that this experience is somewhat the same for officers, although their perspective is different, and their job is more planning and directing action, while the squad and team leaders are the actual leaders, out in front.

Of course you can have all the confidence and comfort in the world, no one can prevent themselves from getting hit by an enemy round, either lucky or well-directed.