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Paul LaFontaine's avatar

This premise has been consistent in your writing and has inspired much thought. Thank you for keeping virtual pen to paper.

I think it would be interesting to hear what you have to say if the audience was a group of us who accepted wholly the premise of safety-danger-aliveness and the positive outcomes of action to train for these disaster scenarios.

What does this training that look like? Not squats in the gym or cliff diving, but the setting up of conditions that trigger the healthful reactions in the brain box.

And if you have written on that extensively and I haven’t seen it the shortfall is on my side. I’m intrigued by the sign in the jungle idea and would love to engage in that with like minded people.

Cheers

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Charles Wemyss, Jr.'s avatar

Decades ago as little boys we played with “toy guns” the attacks, ambushes and fire fights went on for hours. Unsupervised of course! “I got you Tommy!” “Nah you didn’t!” Endless Capture the Flag games in summer and in winter the grade school co-ed game played on the play ground snow banks of “smear the queer” (sorry if this offends, but in the day queer meant odd man out and had no reference to homosexuality.) of course this all played into a mind set, for this writer the logic and tactics taught at Marine Corps OCS/TBS/IOC would make perfect sense. The training started at age 7. Once indoctrinated and having led a rifle platoon whether in peace time or conflict your brain never shuts off. High ground, beaten zones, choke points never leave the mind. Standing at an intersection as the walk sign flashes “go” the brain says “ten hut” forrrwaaad march!” “You’re left foot first civilians your left foot first!”

It’s why Sam, when you got home and were living in NYC after the initial rush wore off you were antsy. There had to be more and there wasn’t for you. To the average civilian the big concern was what size Starbucks to buy, your brain was buzzing looking for the next bad guy around the next bad corner. It’s important to find solace but equally important to find the hurricanes in our brains and fight through them, the angst makes us stronger even in our dotage. Scared? damn right but that is the point. You’re alive, and learning to deal with fear is a mighty good skill to develope and use as needed and as confronted.

Keep it coming Sam, you are on to something!!

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