Some jobs have side benefits that aren’t deducted from your paycheck. For instance, when I worked on a carpentry crew framing custom homes, instead of health insurance we received suntans, a great sense of balance, and all the strength training that could be handled during a work day. It seemed like a great deal at the time and I really enjoyed that line of work. Being a police officer is no different in this respect.
One of the largest “non deductible” benefits to this job is developing a strong sense of situational awareness. My work environment brings regular exposure to dangerous people, vehicle/foot pursuits, fights, robberies in progress, shootings, and more. This is what has become of most large American “inner” cities. Functioning well under these conditions will inevitably help build a strong mindset.
The average guy, who wants to be alert and prepared, most likely doesn’t have the opportunity to function often in these types of circumstances. That’s a good thing or we’d already be living “Mad Max.” However, without some real life experience and time/stress training it is difficult to fully develop your mindset. I want to start an occasional series of entries to share with the readers some of the things that I’ve learned along the way and hopefully help with that development.
Of course, I don’t even come close to knowing it all and I approach each new shift at work as a student of the harder side of life. Unfairness, sudden calamity, life changing mistakes, and a myriad of other dangers wait daily in the wings for the right opportunity to swallow the unwitting and the experienced alike. No man is ever able to rise above these facts and can only maintain his relationship with God and run the race of life to the best of his ability. I hope that in these following articles the readers will find at least a few nuggets to help guide the way should any treacherous situation come along.
Awesome idea! I think developing the mindset is something that a lot of people think is just a byproduct of being on the job or being in a ton of hairy situations. It’s amazing how often people will say, “get your mind right” but when are you actually taught how to do that? In my time in SOF I have gone through several psych evals, countless suicide briefs and only two schools that taught me how my brian is comprised: Magis Group and Winning Minds. In my opinion one of the best mindset trainings was through Magis Group who took the time to teach us neurophysiology 101 and then taught us what happens to our brain under stress/combat. They then taught us ways to mitigate different natural responses that deteriorate your cognitive thinking ability and to get yourself back into the fight. All of their instructors are current or prior SOF guys with extensive combat experience. I would say one of the best training iterations I have ever been through. One of their best points in the training was “you shoot 10,000 rounds only to fire then .0001% of the time, but you use your brain 100% of the time but only .0001% of your training is how to use it.”
Very nice, the most overlooked aspect of shooting.