Invictus

SETTING THE SCENE

The ramshackle house was not much of a structure. Cement blocks and plywood walls bolted to a metal frame, surrounded by a narrow dirt pit, clawed from the desert rock and sand decades before. But the structure serves its purpose well. Many shots fired in anger have erupted from this domicile, and many more will ring out before the end of its life. “The Pit” was our base camp for scenario training over the course of Gunsite’s five-day Ballistic Response Against Violent Encounters (BRAVE) class.

The dichotomy was simple. Evacuate or stand your ground. The situation had gone to shit, and either option was going to require grit and skill to survive. Draw your side arms and clear your way to the car, or barricade and hope your ammo doesn’t run out before the police arrive. Regardless, you will need a good mindset and proper tactics to receive a passing score for this section of the course. 

THE QUEUE

With the scenario laid out, all that is left to do is wait. We are running the gauntlet one at a time, under the hawkish eyes of the well-trained instructor cadre. My counterparts: a pair of doctors from Colorado and their spouses who are eager to learn, a young couple from Iowa, a retired gentleman who comes up to the high desert from Phoenix as often as he can, and me, all stand nervously behind the dusty building. The afternoon sun tips to the west and leaves us a sliver of shade from the wide overhang above.

THE VALUE OF GOOD INSTRUCTORS

All of the instructors this week have been stellar. Wise and stoic, funny and fascinating; the type of men I one day hope to tell my son about to inspire his dreams and aspirations. The type of men I also hope to emulate one day. The latest in a line of tactical professors who draw their lineage directly from the founder of this vaunted establishment.

INVICTUS

We continue to stand in the diminished shade between the craggy side of The Pit and the cement blocks of the building wall. Our Rangemaster, Col. Randy Watt (ret.) steps out in the middle of our group. Randy is not a big man, but his presence immediately commands respect. An expectant silence descends over the gathered students as we wait for him to speak. He begins reciting a poem. From memory he regals us with one of his favorite works of western literature. One which helped form the ethos of his life.

“Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole.

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.”

LITERATURE LESSONS

“Who wrote this?”, The Colonel questions our assembled class expectantly.

“Anyone have a guess?”, he wonders aloud.

I’m racking my brain, is it Yeats, Byron, Shaw?

After a moment he says, “William Earnest Henley”, only mildly disappointed by our collective English Literature deficiency. 

“He was struggling with the loss of faith, and this poem, ‘Invictus’, is his triumphant stand against the nihilism which he saw encroaching on his culture and himself.”, he further explains.

And then, just as I am hoping for a deeper discussion about the inner workings of late nineteenth century British Stoicism, I get the green light. I am up next in the shoot house. I take a deep breath and steel myself for the coming events.  Bangs, crashes, and yelling quickly ring out from the front rooms of my simulated abode.

THE FIGHT

“Get out of my house!” I scream into the void of my previously safe walls. 

I am barricaded in my bedroom and two men are approaching down opposite hallways, both vying for my attention. One with my television hoisted over his shoulder, screaming profanity, and the other…

A flash of gunmetal, and suddenly one of the home invaders is wielding a Beretta 92. I see the first projectile impact the door frame in front of my face. This is not a good situation. The Glock pistol I had been keeping at low ready is rapidly presented to eye level, and several rounds rip back through the air into the thick Carhartt jacket of my would-be murderer.  I dart back into the relative safety of the bedroom as more rounds impact the previously occupied threshold. 

Col. Watt stands silently in the corner behind me, meticulously noting the good and the bad. Waiting to give me feedback that may one day help save my life. As I take a breath and decide how to proceed, I have one refrain echoing through my mind.

“I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.”

The remaining intruder does not give me time to think. He rushes to the bedroom door, and is on me in a flash, screaming that I shot his friend. I give commands to the unarmed intruder and eventually he complies. Red light is called, and we discuss the various strategies that could have applied to this scenario.

THE TRUE VALUE OF TRAINING

Over the course of the week, we run several versions of this problem. Each time with a new twist or wrinkle.  These variations are not set up for you to fail. You have the ability to win each one. But a wrong decision can quickly lead to consequences best left in training, as the real-world impact of a mistake would cost years of time and thousands of dollars to resolve. But that is the purpose of training. So we can succeed and fail productively on the path to mastery. 

Having access to true masters is one of the many invaluable benefits of training at a cornerstone facility like Gunsite. We build the future on the shoulders of the giants who came before us. And occasionally we are able to spend a week walking alongside those giants, learning to take responsibility for our destiny and gathering wisdom for future generations. And sometimes we even get spontaneous, queue line poetry sessions to remind us that we are called to be both warriors and poets.

CONCLUSION

As Thucydides knew centuries ago, “The society that separates its warriors from its scholars will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.” 

If we want to keep our society strong today, then we must continue to cultivate both the warrior and the scholar side by side.

*Title image created using ChatGPT image generator.