Throughout my life I have been described as "combative", "sweet", and "pig-headed" amongst other adjectives. Someone who had known me since I was young stated: "I hope you know how to handle her; she has been "Miss Independent" since the day she was born."
I preface this article so that the reader understands why I am quoting my favorite noble killers.
I did not grow up shooting firearms, though I did hand-to-hand combat in the teen years and collected knives. The desire to kill a deadly threat to innocent lives has to burn inside you in order to survive. There is much to be said about this topic which I will leave to another time.
There are 2 fighting arenas: that which is personal and that which is sheer pleasure. I believe the majority is based upon some personal values and belief systems. From this stems those who attack innocents whether armed or unarmed and those who counterattack or anti-attack to prevent or ameliorate the fatal blows to those innocents whether armed or unarmed.
I quote here Ray Boehm, father of Navy Seals, serving in World War II, Korea, Cuban invasion, and Vietnam - a man of honor and dignity and chivalry, and determinism. From his book, First Seal, cowritten with Charles W. Sasser, he writes after a harrowing experience: "I became the predator."
A quote from Lyudmila Pavlichenko, credited for 309 confirmed kills as a sniper in the Red Army's 25th Rifle Division during the German invasion into Russia in 1941 follows: "I knew my task was to shoot human beings. In theory that was fine but I knew that the real thing would be completely different."
I quote these two together because they share the same motivation and passion to defeat an enemy, but, only after something deeply personal occurs...
In these two cases the setting is war. Lyudmila reported that she had hestitated when she had a German soldier in her sights while out on her first day in battle. That attitude changed when she witnessed a fellow soldier get shot by a German soldier. It had now become personal for her. She probably gained a sense of focus and purpose versus the "cold-blooded" thoughts of the effects of a rifle round tearing up flesh and blood by the press of trigger on the Mosin-Nagant. She is quoted after as saying,"after that, nothing could stop me." For Ray Boehm, it was not a German soldier nor was it human, but a MONSTER from the deep waters. After being forced to jump into shark-infested waters after the USS Duncan had been blown by Japanese torpedos, Boehm and Dubiel, his shipmate were bobbing in the cold and dark waters waiting for rescue. Soon Boehm feels the brush of sand-paper like skin against his leg, and very quickly Dubiel gets sucked down underneath the water. Boehm was terrified and horrified in that moment. Later, after being rescued, he and a diver were heading to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. He spots a shark and decided to seek revenge on what had happened to Dubiel. Boehm grabs his knife from its sheath and dives into the water. He pursues the shark and is quoted as saying, "I became the predator."
Think about what mindset you have in ordinary life in your ordinary routine of thinking. When confronted with a deadly threat, that ordinary mind must become transformed into an extraordinary one that will have the extraordinary result of stopping that deadly threat.
I have heard many stories, including ones from my students, that enlightened me about how they could not in that moment, even when faced with deadly threat, pull the trigger or point the gun at the intruders. There is an article written about a police officer who got called to an active shooter scene. She did not want any bloodshed so she laid her duty weapon down as she kneeled to the ground in front of the armed suspect. The suspect shot her in the neck.
Is this a chance you will take? Think about it - because you only get one chance.
by anastasia alidaan, certified firearms instructor
Precision Defense Firearms Training, TX
210.632.0528
