Why I Keep Doing This

As I was typing out my earlier post today, I spent a lot of time thinking about why I continue writing books and this blog. Yes, we’ve made some money from selling books, but it’s not like I’m going to be some non-fiction, tactical Stephen King. I don’t make dick off the blog, since it’s free.

Then, I got the following in an email from a reader (and, to be honest, it is a reader who recently, righteously, berated me for some shortcomings)…and it reminded me why.

There are undoubtedly guys who are more qualified to write hard skills manuals. There are guys who retired with higher pay grades from SF that could be writing these books, and might even do a better job. There are guys with far more time downrange than I got. The problem is, they’re not. So, I have to use my limited, decade of experience, to do so, because one of our tribal core values is still that good people, even if they’re not part of our innangarth, deserve a chance, and I know, someone needs to provide valid information…

“I’m not a reviewer, or even skilled at writing (and I don’t care enough to work at developing the skill). I did want to share some stuff with you, that you may or may not want to share with your readers. You have my permission, in advance, to edit my awful prose, if you decide to push it down the line.

First, I truly believe that anyone who wants to carry a gun should read The Guerrilla Gunfighter. At least the first 2/3 of it. There’s nothing wrong with the last 1/3, but let’s face it, running a gun isn’t rocket science or magic. It’s not really all that difficult and I thought you did a fine job taking what we’ve learned about how humans learn a skill and communicating it. “Treat dry-fire as your daily devotional to the Gods of War” is now my all-time favorite training quote (It really is a great line, isn’t it?…JM)

The first 2/3 of the book really communicate the much more important aspects, skills, and knowledge that we should all have. In fact, your aside dealing with the person who road-blocked you led me to revisit an incident I experienced. I won’t relate the whole story here, but sum up by saying that the dude’s actions were highly aggressive and potentially lethal, but he never crossed the “legal” threshold. The legal ambiguity really bothered me at the time, and I talked to some friends about it.

In the end, I submitted an AAR to some friends and had them review it. The friends included a retired SEAL combat vet, a combat vet Army Officer, and a former SWAT cop/trainer, and one just really smart dude. They ended up collectively giving me a pat on the back and saying I “done good.” After reading The Guerrilla Gunfighter, I got to thinking about it, and realized I had gotten really lucky.

The ultimate outcome had been left up to a tweaked out junkie, and had he attacked me in the way he most likely would have, my trained response would have put my children in the line of fire. I hadn’t even thought about it. My actions on that day may have helped create the lucky ending, but my fear of legal repercussions could have gotten 3 of my children dead, or worse.

You say provocative things that people may or may not agree with, but everyone should have the intellectual honesty to seriously THINK about what you’re laying down, and make an informed decision, before they have a decision FORCED on them.

(One of the maxims I harp on in the book is, you may end up in a situation that requires you to do something that results in imprisonment, versus someone you love ending up dead. You need to know, BEFORE you’re in that pickle, WHAT and WHOM you are willing to spend the rest of your life in a cage for. Dying is easy. People die every day. Everybody dies. I don’t care who or what you’ll die for. I wanna know who you’ll spend your life locked up for. For me, my wife and kids. I’ve lost a kid, from something that NOONE had anyway to stop. I’m not about to lose one for something that I CAN stop, even if it means I end up in prison for life. That’s a decision I made, for me though…–JM)

This is what I’ve really enjoyed about the subscription drills as well, Most them force people to THINK! Many of them challenge intellectual conceits that most of us have. They’re great as just shooting drills, but their greatest value lies in their ability to force people to see and understand more of what is going on downrange.

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My next point really has more to do with FTH (Forging the Hero), than The Guerrilla Gunfighter, but GG was what led me to go back and read FTH again. I wish I was better at writing, but bear with me…

I grew up in the tribal culture you describe. Rural, southern Appalachia, etc…We didn’t think of it as tribal, but that is exactly what it was. My family had a shooting war with the Sheriff’s Department, less than a hundred years ago, and had the support of the community. When I was a teenager, a stranger shot one of our local cops, and every swinging dick over the age of 13 grabbed a gun and started hunting. I could go on and on, but you get it (My wife introduced me to the show Peaky Blinders recently. There was a line at one point that jumped out, even more because my wife mentioned it too, as being relevant. This comment from the reader reminded me of it…”I think it may be that you are very bad men, but you are our bad men.”—JM). This was the culture I lived and breathed until my early 20s, when my kids started being born.

I have actively resisted the social engineering, PC, etc. I used to pay myself on the back about not falling for the bullshit, but I’ve come to realize that I was straight up lying to myself. I HAVE been culturally programmed to go along with the program. My default response is, honestly, to be a “good little citizen.” I have to think about doing shit that would’ve been a knee jerk response less than 20 years ago.

Looking around at my tribe, I’d say that is true of pretty much all of us. We may be better prepared and trained than most folks, but it’s still truly not much better than jerking off. Extrapolating, I wonder how many people, like me, who read your stuff, and so have the information at their fingertips, are just jerking off? Who have had a soul deep epiphany that has to happen before they get real about preserving their culture, beliefs, and values.

Ultimately, I just want to thank you for what you’ve done. It is necessary, and very much appreciated. You may be a pain-in-the-ass in the Amazon Age, but it’s still worth it.”