Large Fierce Mammal

To optimize battlefield effectiveness, the Soldier is trained to rely on his issue weapons, and of those, the rifle is Queen. An excellent example of this philosophy is the United States Marine Corps which states as an absolute that every Marine is a Rifleman, first, foremost, and always, notwithstanding operational specialty, and requires all of its recruits to memorize the Rifleman’s Creed:

(Click to enlarge.)

The Soldier’s training is carefully orchestrated to eliminate second guessing the efficacy of this fundamental tool by requiring that it be kept with him at all times, its use mastered, and that it be maintained with unflagging diligence. Beware the Man who shoots only one gun.

And then there are situations demanding of a different kind of Soldier. One who will operate alone or in small groups against a numerically superior and better equipped enemy, in decidedly non-permissive environments where uniforms and weapons like rifles cannot be borne openly, if at all. One whose principal weapon will be his or herself, augmented as deemed necessary by such force multipliers as may be, or come to be, in hand — some supplied through “official” channels, most harvested from the environs. Here is an example of the latter —

“According to legend, there was a young samurai who wandered the mountains of Japan one day and became lost, until he met an old man who invited him to his house.

“The youngster bragged about the excellence of his fighting skills, to which the elderly man responded with laughter. That angered the young samurai, and he attacked his host. However, the old man was swift to respond to the attack, demonstrating flawless ability. He supposedly fought only with a saucepan lid

“That is just one of the many stories that revolve around the name of Tsukhara Bokuden, perhaps one of the most prominent samurai in Japan, known to have fought over hundreds of battles and allegedly never losing a single one.” ~ A 450-year-old book advises young samurai how to prepare for combat, the secret to viewing death calmly–and what to name the baby

My purpose here today is not to speak of Samurai, Japan, nor specifically of Tsukhara Bokuden beyond his “flawless fighting ability” in successfully defending himself with a saucepan lid against an enemy armed with a sword. There lies the point, for though Tsukhara Bokuden was schooled in the sword, the message of the anecdote is that he had found on that path a personal excellence that transcended reliance on any specific weapon beyond himself, leaving him with no need to put down the saucepan lid in favour of anything else.

While at first blush, these examples may appear to leave their principals standing in harm’s way at a serious disadvantage, the reality is far from the Truth. In the three organizations and their associated training methodologies we will be looking at in the coming days, we will see some common ground with the reality exemplified by the Tsukhara Bokuden saucepan lid incident, and the philosophy of Socrates who said, “Better to do a little well, than a great deal badly.”

By way of his being trained to absolute reliance on his rifle, the “common” Soldier finds the survival of the Men on either side of him necessitates unconfused excellence with it on the battlefield — there are a lot of ways to kill a man son, here’s your way.

Training of the unconventional Soldier in the arts of war fighting eschews too many fancy ways of killing in favour of what finds its efficacy in decisively minimalist brutality — there are a lot of ways to kill a man son, here are two we want you to be exceptional at, and a third for those heavy days.

The crucible of World War II has much to teach everyone who has drawn breath since its last shot was fired. The value of simplicity in methodology coupled with individual excellence on the part of those who would wield it is not the least of them.

Camp-X when next we convene.