I'm not a sheepdog

​If you’ve spent any longer than 4 hours in this world we call “The Industry”, then you’re sure to have seen a shirt, patch, banner or some sort of advertisement talking about being a sheepdog. “I’m a sheepdog, I protect the flock from the wolf”….well, I’m not sure that my prior training has bred me to be compared to a fucking Border Collie. A sheepdog sits by idly waiting for the worst to happen to their flock whenever the wolf deems it the right time to attack. Is this what you want to be compared to? Someone that waits to be attacked on the terms of the enemy? I spent far too long training and lost far too many friends to sit back and take it in the ass. I hunt, observe, and pick the opportune time to close with and destroy those that oppose me and my way of life. If you’re not asking yourself everyday “what if?” while eating your breakfast or while shopping for groceries then you’re wrong. What if a shooter comes into the store at this very moment, what if this guy walking towards me tries to grab my wife? What will be your reaction and instinct? Are you prepared to act accordingly or are you going to leave your wife in the aisle holding a box of cocoa puffs while you’re high tailing it to the butcher’s freezer?
           
 I know what you’re telling yourself; you read that last paragraph and were like “yeah right, I’m a big dick pipe hitter who loves his family”. I have no doubt that you believe that, but what is thought and what is fact are two different things. Wearing your Batman suit to the range and shooting a thousand rounds a month will only take you so far. Your pistol, AR, long range and PHYSICAL game need to be on point as well. Neglecting your body and throwing down a few McRibs a week is incredibly detrimental to maintaining a constant state of readiness. Elite units don’t knock out ridiculous workouts so they can look chiseled for the beach, they do it so they can carry their dead off the X, run the 3 miles to the extraction point, hike 5 clicks to the target in the Afghan mountains and carry the necessary equipment for the mission. Now you may be telling yourself; “right, but I don’t need to do any of that”. You’re right, you probably don’t, but you boast about preparedness, always being ready for the wolf and being an A type person. It’s contradictory. Wearing an Ops-Core, Peltor headset, Crye pants and a 700 dollar plate carrier while shooting your LVOA does not negate the fact that you work as a plumber full time; you’re not fooling anyone.

​Train as if your life depended on it, train with the possibility of having to run 6 blocks to your house to come confront the person that just broke in and is hell bent on murdering your family. Do you want to arrive, throwing up your cheese fries while digging your greasy TiN coated pistol out from under your FUPA? And when you do arrive, is that “Paper Slayer” patch on your Condor jacket going to translate to putting two in the chest and one in the head of the meth addict rummaging through your bedroom while your wife is hidden in the closet? You’ve confronted the guy with the crowbar digging through your shit, he goes to charge you with the weapon raised above his head and suddenly “click”, your RIP rounds didn’t feed properly and you have a malfunction. You quickly think “what would (insert high speed instructor here) do?” before you know it, you ate a crowbar to the face and you’re wrestling with this dude on the ground getting your ass kicked because you can’t seem to get him into an arm bar so he can tap, just like you practiced at your dojo.

I know this is set to piss a few people off, that is not my intent, I want it to cause you to re-evaluate your priorities in training and will hopefully cause you to change a few of the flaws you have in your current curriculum; because we all have them. It sucks running; it sucks running more when you’re needed to run to help someone and you're so winded you can't touch two fingers together because your heart rate is 195. So get up, get to the gym, get to the range and get in a proper mindset.

**The author has nothing against LVOA, Ops-Core, Crye, Peltor, sheepdog clothing manufacturer's, TiN coating on firearms or the coveted McRib sandwich. They were just used as examples of popular brands within the industry.