THE MINUTEMAN Special Edition July 2024
Special Guest Author Contribution
The Grunt Mentality
Guest Author Josh (Modern Frontiersman)
Everything humans do, starts in the mind. To survive and thrive in an SHTF environment, it is just as important that one trains the mind just as one stocks food, guns, ammo, and combat training. People are often surprised to know that in Marine Corps boot camp, very little actual combat training is done within that 13 weeks. It is mostly indoctrination and mentality. After spending time in a combat zone, one realizes how important the mind really is. Three points on the topic of mentality that are very important to understand are, the mental strength to continue on, the ability to ignore your pain and suffering, and the ability to radically accept circumstances just as they are.
Having the mental strength to continue on, no matter what, is much more difficult than the average person may think. Over time, people do get burned out, exhausted, and even bored with any prolonged activity. To be able to remember why the task at hand is so important and to continue fighting is key. One may think that after SHTF, that would not be the case, but you would be mistaken. Even in war, people get mentally weakened, become complacent, or just don’t want to continue on. Strengthening your ability to keep moving, no matter how hard it gets, could very well be the difference in victory and defeat / life and death. A way to strengthen this ability, is to intentionally do things for periods of time that you hate doing. Notice how it makes you feel, mentally remind yourself why this task needs to be done, and keep going.
Pain and discomfort are things that most American’s are not as familiar with as other peoples of the world are. In an SHTF world or a combat situation, comfort is very low on the priority list. Throughout my life, I have heard and seen on a regular basis, people say they cant do certain things or simply quit doing what needs to be done, simply because that thing causes pain or discomfort. Imagine, the only way to move to an objective to acquire food for your family, without being killed by enemies, is by wading through a swamp and then climbing over a steep mountain. This route is going to be quite uncomfortable and painful, but you must do it anyway. In the Marine Corps, I learned how to ignore this pain and suffering. When you can “embrace the suck”, you would be surprised and what you can accomplish. This is a necessary skill for the minuteman.
In the field of “embracing the suck”, not only must you accept the immediate physical pain and suffering, but you must also learn to radically accept the circumstance for what it is. This point and the point of ignoring the pain may seem the same, but they are a different thing. It does no good to dwell on the negative aspect of what is happening. You must accept things as they are, and move forward into the reality. Often times, the things that hinders us in life, are simply rumination and putting too much thought into the way we wish things were. This hold us back. This is critically important in a SHTF scenario, as you must accept and look at things as they really are, to be able to be of sober mind and able to act and react appropriately.
All these mental skills are skills that most any grunt that has spent any time in combat have intentionally or unintentionally acquired. Those that don’t, suffer a great deal. The best way to build these skills, is to intentionally put yourself into uncomfortable and difficult situations, and just…...suck it up. I have come to a place over the years, where I can quite literally and intentionally sort of turn my emotions and opinions off. Imagine the movie “Universal Soldier”. If you can basically turn yourself into a robot when necessary...it can really help you accomplish the task at hand effectively and efficiently.
*Josh is a practitioner of the self reliance and preparedness lifestyle, survivalist, Minuteman, homesteader, and a Marine combat veteran, who is concerned with the direction America is going and wants to encourage all American men to be the best they can be.
Be sure to follow Josh at the following sources:
Thanks for having me brother!
Thanks to everyone else for reading. I hope you found it useful.