(01-22-2019 03:38 PM)q5sys Wrote: [ -> ] (01-21-2019 09:35 PM)JRsec Wrote: [ -> ]So what specifically are you wanting posters to respond to in this OP? I think most can grasp your concept of a Warrior Mindset, but what can we add to what you already know? It seems to me that modern Special Forces have reached a fairly advanced state. If you are looking for way to tag good prospects for training I would think that you would have to look for those which exhibit the physical and mental aptitude, and then without them ever knowing it stage some test of that "awareness" factor in their natural environment and observe their reactions to what might appear to the more than casual observer to be a legitimate threat. (It of course will not be.) Their reactions might be good indicators of the country's investment in them.
I didn't come expecting any certain type of replies. Nor would I say that I was coming here for others to add to what I already know about my perspectives.
That being said, its always good to hear others perspectives about struggle and overcoming adversity that I might not be thinking about. For example, the sports examples given was something I hadn't really considered much of. While I played soccer in middle and high school and did crew in college. I've never been much of a typical sports guy. I was always into more individualistic non-sports stuff like hiking, mountain climbing, etc.
I'm not looking to 'tag' anyone as prospects. The military life is one that people have to want, if they're going to succeed. And for any combat rolls... you really have to want to do the job if you don't want to come out broken and shattered.
I've known plenty who wanted to do the job who did come out broken and shattered not because of lack of courage or willingness, but because they were overwhelmed. They passed basic, specialized training, survival training, and still didn't have it when the stress ramped up.
I was in a profession where I sought people who exhibited the ability to read people and evaluate them, who could spot their strengths and utilize them, spot their weaknesses and know where not to place them. Everybody is motivated by something, reacts adversely to something, is hostile toward something, and is afraid of something. Sappers have a very different personality profile than say strike force personnel. Intelligence may not handle the stress of combat very well but might be fantastic puzzle solvers.
I played football, both ways. I loved and lived for baseball. Both required knowing where your teammates were going to be and relying upon them for that. Both, if you are to be successful require reacting to what unfolds before you and prethinking the permutations of a play is very helpful. Football practice sought to push you beyond your level of endurance, especially in August prior to the season. Baseball practice worked on your individual skill sets. Football had some of this in the learning of techniques in blocking and tackling, route running, ect.
I also loved tennis. It had the individual mind games that were directly pitted against the opponent. It had endurance testing and most mistakes were mental rather than physical.
Hunting alone, the way I liked it, was both a cathartic day away, and primal right down through taking the game, field dressing it, packing it, and hiking out. The best game I hunted was the wild hog. They hunt back, and usually don't make the same mistake twice.
I would think that all of those experiences are great for figuring out your own strengths and deficits. But none of them ever really get even close to the stress level that testing special forces would require.
But take football for instance. You could teach a defensive back the total number of plays that might be run out of a formation, and tell them what to key on as the play develops. Some of the finest athletes would only see a mass of moving bodies. But if you had just 1 or 2 guys in the defensive backfield that had what coaches call "field awareness" which is the ability to note what each individual player is moving to do, is aware of the QB's eyes, and knows where the play is going, they can wreak havoc, just like the Clemson corner back did in the first Alabama series in the National Championship game. That kid read the play, reacted not to disrupt the pass but to intercept it, and scored. While he can be made aware of the opponents tendencies and techniques, it is still real time awareness that makes that play. You can't teach it. You can only identify it. But when you find somebody who has it, you can enhance it through education. That's what I'm telling you is useful about observing your top candidates. It's a rare ability and you know it when you see it.
