Pupil. Warrior. Sage.

Some of the brightest military minds existed in ancient China. Sun Tzu's Art of War was created during or even before the Han Dynasty, (206 BCE -220 AD).

Out of these warrior philosophy minds came the idea of the three Warrior archetypes. The Pupil, the Warrior and the Sage.

This trio represents an ideal progression of the warrior: from pupil(student), to practitioner(SMBR) and finally teacher(sage).

Armor Down is a bridge between these worlds. Below is a story I received from a warrior sage.

"Taking another person’s life affects the killer in a way that no other event can.

Calling in artillery on an enemy position in war is killing, but distance from the dead
softens the sting to the killer. He doesn’t often see the ruined bodies, smell the blood, or hear last choking breaths.

Killing someone whose agonies the killer can watch is different. I can personally testify to the fact. I once killed a man with my bare hands. He was armed with a knife, trying to mug and rob me. When intimidation failed and I hurt him in the ensuing fight, he tried to kill me. Thanks to long training, he failed. He died from a crushed larynx, choking on his own blood.

In the aftermath of wartime battle and personal battle, what do I remember? In both cases, someone was threatening my life. In both cases, thankfully, I lived, but the immediacy of the hand-to-hand incident is as vivid as yesterday, although the incident is more than twenty years old and the scars on my hand, from the knife, have all but faded.

The challenge to one who has been a fighter is to approach the world with less-violent reactions than those required for survival. Certainly, the business and professional worlds offer threats. Responding to those menaces in a rational manner, without violence of word or action, requires a new set of skills. Developing a sense of measured, calibrated response is another type of necessary survival instinct."

Our society today is different only in the material context. But there are still, students who need to learn, warriors who must fight and teachers that can teach. Thank you, teacher; for your contribution to Armor Down. Sharing your story, your suffering and your knowledge will help us evolve.

Killin, Death, and Suffering.

The worst part about killin is the suffering. You may get used to it, but it's always there.

Killin is death. We all die but death is quick. One moment, then nothing.

I never fired my weapon in Iraq. Raised it once, but never needed to use it.

During a training exercise before the deployment a female Op4 in hajib drew on me from under her garment, my first reaction was .....safety off......2 shots -- center mass.... look for cover.

I felt prepared for down range. I felt prepared for Killin, but the suffering......that's some darker, 0330 wide awake shit.

Being around killin is being around suffering. Just different forms.

At home I've noticed suffering too, same kind I saw in Iraq. Can you imagine the kinda suffering someone must be under to put up with the type of side effects most prescription drugs cause.

Suffering changes you in what ever form it comes in. A women I know suffering from breast cancer is armored up and ready to take this cancer down.

Nothing makes me cheer the human spirit more than the will to adjust and drive on.

I remember noticing when I returned home that I could relate my experience to people with emotions. I can relate to that woman....her suffering.

Being around Killin is suffering. Winston Churchill once said " if your walking through hell, don't stop.

The trick is to walk it in a way that's sustainable. For me the opposite of suffering was pleasure. What I came to learn is that you can live the legend for a while but it's unsustainable as a lifestyle.

Depending on how far down the path you've been is how much you'll need to armor down during your transition.