One of the marks of a warrior is knowing what the hell he is doing.  The other is the willingness to stand up when the occasion arises. The last point is an admirable quality and may possibly be immortalized in poetry but knowing where the killing end on the shiny weapons one is holding is something to be sought for.

What is interesting is that much of the training in the present day that an individual were to receive in most modern militaries during their initial entrance into the armed forces is not directly correlated with combat as typically imagined. Their are customs and ceremonial aspects, being meticulously organized, standing still for inordinate amounts of time all while being incessantly berated by psychopaths all the while.

A man may be born with the potential to be a warrior but all traditions have some process of molding that potential into reality. These were often various rites and rituals that took place many of which have been lost to the sands of time. What is interesting is that some of the themes of these rites  have survived to the current day.

An example are the trials of air, fire, and water, and earth. As debased as the current US military is there remains the distant echos of this concept.

Fire: spending moments which seem like eternity in a chamber filled with CS gas

Air: slide for life, a zip line from about hundred feet in the air into water

Water: survival swim course

Earth: crawling under claustrophobic tunnels

Before looking for initiates amongst the unwashed mamelukes of of the crumbling American empire. I use it as an curious illustration of an echo of various rites that have survived likely unconsciously to this day. The events themselves are not particularly useful to modern combat operations with the possible exception the CS gas chamber and having to utilize a gas mask and demonstrating some capacity to swim. Despite this going through these trials are benchmarks used in graduating albeit in a check the block sense.

For the most part these are tests of one’s bravery rather than skill. In modern media the heroes are seen typically as displaying a high level of skill rather than bravery. Showing an uncanny ability to shoot accurately or superhuman reflexes. But the ancient idea of the warrior was one who has undergone certain trials and emerged as something different on the other end. This hearkens to the idea earlier of actualizing potential lying dormant in the individual. Often doing so is not a straightforward or remotely logical process.

Training then is usually a mix of passing through ecstatic and often terrifying moments while going through the more methodical and often banal processes of refining concrete skills. The former have become a murky area and there is no one place where one can sign up for elemental trials yet and before detailing more formal training programs I’ll leave with the suggestion to look upon the trials above

When it comes to training directly for situations  things become very murky because of the countless social, political, and technological variables that can change on the turn of a dime.

The storied Navy SEALs with their almost mythical reputation were foiled by the unfortunate circumstance of a small boy being in their vicinity.

How does one prepare for uncertainty? It seems like a misnomer to even do so despite the DoDs valiant efforts to do so.

For now reflect on those elemental moments that have if not fundamentally changed you, have shaken and destabilized your previous sense of self as initiation and change is fundamentally destabilizing. It’s the only way it can.