Predator or Prey?

By:  Christopher Brennan

Why should it matter if you think like a Warrior?  There are plenty of ways to view our trade but I really believe that the Warrior Mindset will have a much greater impact on reducing preventable line of duty injuries and fatalities; ultimately that is my goal.  A reasonable question for someone to ask is, “Why do you think that, Chris?”  I hope to give you an answer.

I feel that there are two key mindsets that we see all living creatures come back to when they are placed in life and limb threatening situations.  They react as predators, 100% present in the moment with laser like focus on success, or they react as prey, blissful unaware of what is occurring until it reaches out an kills them.  So, let me ask you, are you a predator, or are you prey? 

I don’t think this analogy is a stretch.  The reality is that under the most threatening of scenarios your Sympathetic Nervous System will drive you to act like prey: you may irrationally fight or flee, you may freeze, you may submit.  What does a dog do when it feels like it has been bested?  It rolls on its back and sticks its belly in the air.  That is a sign of submission.  It is an acceptance that the other animal has won.  What does the predator do though, even when it is on the loosing end of the engagement?  It will continually fight to find a way to win, or it disengages in a way that will allow it to come in again to bring down its prey.  Lt. Col. Dave Grossman writes of “Wolves, Sheep, and Sheep Dogs” to illustrate the differences between criminals, the normal person, and the Warriors who stand between the sheep and the wolves.  That is a great way of recognizing the relationship that exists, but when it comes to the underlying reaction to stress, the Predator mindset is present in both the Wolf and the Sheepdog.  The difference is that that Sheepdog chooses to become a predator of the wolf’s. 

That is the Warrior mindset.  It is the choice to become like a predator to kill a predator.  It is the choice to accept the possibility of death or injury, not because you have been subjected to it, but because you want to protect others.  The Warrior mindset then becomes the motivator for the thoughts, actions, and belief systems that guide you as you prepare for the battle.

Are you the soldier on the left, or the Warrior on the right?   

Which one looks like prey?

So, take some time this week and think about how you view yourself.  Self-awareness is a critical skill in developing our 4^th Dimensional Firefighting model, where our understanding of self becomes and asset in preparing to thrive on the fireground.  What role do you choose to play?  I’m serious about this one, give it some deep thought.  Figure out in what life circumstances do you act like a self directed Warrior out to protect society and when do you act like one of the lazy masses.  When do you put your belly in the air?  Once you can honestly know those skills, situations, and moments in life that make you want to submit, to quit, then you can begin training to beat them.

San Francisco

We pay tribute today to Lt. Vincent Perez and FF Anthony Valerio of the San Francisco who lost their lives as a result of changing fire conditions in a structure fire that occurred on the 2nd of June.  Below is the Fireground Audio of the fire and Mayday.  We listen to these audio tracks, read near miss and line of duty death reports, and review fireground video as a means of learning lessons.  I've heard it said that a smart person learns from their experiences but a wise person learns from the experiences of others.

This is NOT an April Fools Post.

I want to take up the topic of exploring the ideas I brought up in my article Four Dimensional Firefighting.  We are forging a Fire Service Warrior culture through this website, and I hope through those people who read, study, and apply the work I did in The Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter Readiness.  I am going to be 100% honest with my readers and say that these posts are about trying to learn how to articulate a very personal process that has been part of my life since I was right out of high school.  Nearly two decades later I feel like I have a deep enough understanding to begin expressing it.  I'm not sure exactly how to teach you how to practice these skills, but I hope we will discover that together along the way.

Ultimately the objective of looking at Four Dimensional Firefighting is to improve the capacity of the individual Fire Service Warrior to operate on the fire ground.  It is about embracing our duty as a spiritual quest as much as anything else.  I've looked at Western Culture and Eastern Culture for a long time.  I've read hundreds of philosophical essays and I've read tens of thousands of pages on both Fire Department Strategy and Tactics and Military Strategy and Tactics.  What I have found is this: those cultures (regardless of their hemisphere of origin) that have embraced the spiritual elements of success in combat speak about doctrine and guidelines; cultures that ignore the spiritual talk about technology and procedures.

Procedures are rote skills that we expect our people to accomplish.  Task A must be completed using steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.  Guidelines on the other had are more general descriptors of what End State we want to reach and allow the individual Warrior to accomplish it has he or she sees fit.

Let's use the donning of an SCBA as an example.  When we take new candidates into our recruit academies we give them a Skill Sheet, a Procedure, to follow.  Step 1, turn the cylinder valve on; Step 2, grasp the back plate of the SCBA and lift; Step 3, allow the SCBA to slide over your arms and into position on your back.  The Procedure is important to Teach a Skill that we want to Measure the students ability to achieve.  With the guideline however we give the Warrior an End State we want achieved. "In 30 seconds be fully encapsulated and ready to go 'on air' to enter the fire building."  We don't have to say How to accomplish the task.

I have been trying to figure out WHY despite the decline in structure fire responses our Line Of Duty Death and perhaps more significantly our Fireground Injury rates are not declining.  I realized that key problem the other day looking at an inflatable shelter system covered in signs saying "Command", "Safety", "Rehab", and "Accountability".  We have totally lost the Spiritual side of the American Fire Service.  We invest in technology; we invest in signs, vests, and accountability systems.  We fail to invest in the Warrior though who will go into harms way.  Far too many departments will gladly drop hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy the newest, prettiest: Engine, SCBA, Turnout Gear, etc.  Yet I see those same departments cutting their Training budget as an acceptable way to "do more with less."

We need to embrace a long held view of the United States Special Operations forces: "Equip the man; Do not man the equipment".  We have been putting our energy in the wrong place.  We have focused on manning the equipment.  Far too often our selection and assessment tools that determine if an individual has the ability to learn this trade are focused on meeting an arbitrary standard.  We spend our finite budget on technological solutions and on procedures because they are easy to grasp.

That is why I keep exploring this Fire Service Warrior ideal.   We have to start "Equipping the man".  We must hire the best and brightest, who have drive and clarity of vision about their duty, and then train them until they CANNOT FAIL.  Look at what members of the United States Special Operations Command do all over the globe: with minimum support, minimal oversight, and at times using indigenous weapons and equipment they DOMINATE on the modern battlefield.  Why?  Because they only select into the fold those who will make the selfless choices, who will train not until they get it right but until they cannot get it wrong, who will be guided by their mission and their ethos.

The time has come for the American Fire Service to return to its roots, to our sense of DUTY, but to add in a cultivated, tangible Spiritual Essence if we are going to improve.  Those who want to learn and excel will.  Those who are afraid of these ideas will express hatred and dismay at the very idea.  If you are sitting at your desk, at the kitchen table, or in the recliner reading this know that our time is now.  Ignore the naysayers, do not allow the fearful to dissuade you from striving EVERYDAY for excellence

Monday we are going to talk about Meditation and a means of practicing it.  Cheers