I always thought it was ironic that people assume soldiers and police officers are somehow ignorant or less educated than others. Just recently, as often happens, I came across a couple memes that made me consider how ridiculous that outlook could be, but also how important it is for soldiers and law enforcement professionals –…
It’s been said that no one is just one thing. Even Hitler liked dogs. It may seem a simple thought, but it got me to thinking: what am I besides the obvious? What have I done in my life that might seem incongruous or inexplainable to anyone who wasn’t there in the same time frame?…
Way back in the latter half of 2001, I had someone ask me this: “If you got on a plane with someone from the middle east, would you want to sit next to them? Or far from them?” My answer was that I wanted to sit right next to them. I saw it as an…
A few years back, almost 30 now I guess, I was a firearms instructor and was at the range with several officers who needed to complete their annual qualifications. Keeping in mind that most shooters, in my experience, paid attention and tried to shoot their best, with understandable concern about their score. After all, if…
There was a time in my life, quite a number of years ago, when I was still aspiring to be a published author/writer. It was the 1980s and a person I knew assured me that I would never be a writer; that I had no hope; that I should stop wasting my time; that I’d…
Past experience has shown that all of us have times in our life where we feel like we’re “close to the edge.” That edge is usually visualized or shown in images as a cliff, most often with an ocean or other large body of water at the bottom. In a variety of conversations held with…
A very wise man once said, although I argued with him about it for quite some time, “Everything is a matter of perception.” I argued with him because I believed, at the time, that some things were not open to interpretation; that they weren’t open to perception; that they simply were. While I still believe…
I recently read an article about the new tattoo rage: a semi-colon. People are apparently getting them tattood anywhere and everywhere: behind their ear, on their wrist, ankle, foot, lower abdomen, butt, etc… yes, anywhere and everywhere. The “movement” was apparently started in 2013 and is meant to express that, at any given moment, life…
Three teenagers attack an art teacher and beat her to the ground on video… A group of teenage girls trap and beat another teenage girl until she’s in the hospital severely injured… An elementary school child is pushed on the playground, tells the pusher not to do that again and gets punched for having said…
This article may not apply equally to all generations who read it. It will not necessarily apply equally to military veterans versus those who haven’t served. Keep in mind, as you read, that the purpose is to identify two different outlooks toward fighting and the challenge that can face law enforcement professionals as they have…
Author’s Note: This article was originally published in June of 2008. There are references in it to ‘recent events’ and the reader needs to understand those recent events were recent in June of 2008. But you should still remember there and the observations still all apply. – – – – – – – – –…
Author’s Note: Republished almost 16 years after I originally wrote it. Still just as applicable today as it was then. As I type this it’s Sunday afternoon, November 12, 2006. Two days ago, November 10th was the Marine Corps’ Birthday (231st). Happy Birthday Marines! I’m proud to have to call my older brothers on that…
This entry is a combination of an updated version of two blogs I wrote about 15 years ago. They have to do with reliance, self-reliance and how America’s original values (at our founding) may be related to them. These have been edited only to make them current-society appropriate.
“It’s not how hard you can hit. It’s how hard you can get hit and still keep moving forward.” Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in, well, Rocky Balboa.
Throughout the course of my law enforcement career it has constantly caught my attention how many of my fellow officers – most especially the ones that seem to perform on the street in ways that demand respect – have played contact sports. Given that most of my contemporaries are 45 years of age or older,…
Not long ago I was on a long drive and as the miles passed, I began to ponder fear, our human reactions to it, how different those reactions can be even between people of similar backgrounds, etc. My thoughts came to focus on Various reactions to fear anyone can experience, and Motivations for some of…
No, this article is not about National Guardsmen (or women). It’s not about any state or county run organization that empowers citizens to act as a group during any crisis. This article is about Joseph Average Citizen – otherwise known as Joe Citizen – and what power Joe Citizen has against both crime and terrorism…
In today’s society we all-too-often here members of various generations criticizing each other. Baby Boomers will call Millennials “pansycakes” or “snowflakes.” Millennials will say that Boomers and Generation Xers are too harsh, unempathetic or cold hearted. The reality is that from the different perspectives, it may all be true. The question then becomes, “What is…
Somehow, somewhere along the way, we as a society seem to have come to the belief that every person perceives every experience in the same way. The fact of individual experience, individual knowledge, individual background, individual resilience… these things all seem to be dismissed in favor of the belief that if X happens to little…
The glory days of spring and summer have passed. The days are shorter, the nights are longer, the fires are warm and blankets are good. Snuggling occurs far more often. For all that, many people will tell you “spring” if you ask them what their favorite season is. They’ll cite the rebirth, the returning greenery,…