August 8th, 2020
4minute read
Concrete Jungle: A Green Berets Guide to Urban Survivalisnt a lengthy tome.
We GWOT Veterans have oodles of experience in urban environments, probably like no army before us.
And the environment is unique.
It has chapters on offense, defense, equipment, how tos and much more.
But the most important lesson it teaches is how to organize a team.
No man is an island, and no one is going to survive this alone.
Yes, one man can overcome incredible odds, and it does occasionally happen.Alvin Yorkfor instance.
But the baddest war hero to ever walk the earth would succumb to sufficient numbers.
Let me put an image in your mind, to illustrate the point.
Closed room, so escape isnt an option.
Can Chuck prevail against one?
Of course, without breaking a sweat.
Sure, the odds are still on his side.
Not only is that 300,000 pounds of rabid toddler, the sheer mass of which would crush any human.
But I doubt even a professional fighter has the cardio to throw 10,000 punches or kicks in a row.
So, numbers help.
They arent all important, but at a certain tipping point they do make the difference.
As Stalin was fond of saying, Quantity has a quality all its own.
But that isnt the only reason to need friends in the fight.
But how well can even someone with my resume do all the tasks necessary for combat?
After a decade and half, the Medic is still a better medic than me.
The Engineer is still better at being an engineer.
At the heart of this is another Hollywood trope, the super ninja that can do everything.
How long, in real terms, would it take one human being to master all those skills?
There are just not enough hours in the day.
And at the level you might expect from movies, they dont exist.
It isnt the only reason, but it is a damn good one.
my time as a Green Beret.
And we wear a funny green hat, hence our unit nickname, Green Berets.
Those are UW (Unconventional Warfare), and FID (Foreign Internal Defense).
UW, in laymans terms, means how to start an insurgency and manage a guerrilla war.
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