"The warrior's energy is concerned with skill, power and accuracy, and with control, both inner and outer, psychological and physical, with training thoughts, feeling, speech and actions." (Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette)

What is a warrior?
by W. Hock Hochheim

Hunting the cagey, courageous elephant is an arduous and dangerous expedition. The beasts will stand their ground, charge, and fight back. So much so that the term “seeing the elephant” in certain circles has come to mean surviving some type of real-world badge of courage. The experience is often the key criteria when someone defines a warrior, elevates a hero, or selects some kind of hand, stick, knife, or gun instructor. (…)

Dictionaries define a warrior first as a person engaged or experienced in warfare. Next, they define the term broadly as a person engaged in some kind of struggle. (…)

People seeking the warrior accolades are often insecure about the lack thereof, making excuses for it. Some lie about it. Desiring the psychological and often momentary value of this badge of courage. They pretend to be Navy SEALs, Gurkha soldiers, black bag operators, international martial arts contestant winners… (…)

I think that someone like Col. David Hackworth (U.S. Army, Ret.) is a true warrior in body and spirit, a veteran of close-quarter battle in Korea and Vietnam. He trained, fought beside, and led many successful warriors. Then, in spite of his beliefs, he even fought his own army to try to fix it, against such odds that he was compelled to leave his own country. He was right, and he is obviously back, still the most decorated army soldier in our country’s history.

Ask yourself: What is a warrior?

W. Hock Hochheim is a military and Texas police veteran and former private investigator. He holds black belts in Japanese, Filipino, and Hawaiian martial arts. He teaches hand, stick, knife, and gun combatives courses around the world. Check his website: www.hocksCQC.com

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"Training should be like a bloodless battle, so that battle is just like bloody training." and "It’s not the danger that makes us afraid, it’s the fear of danger."

Mind-set of the warrior
From an interview with Tony Blauer

“I suppose, at the core, a warrior is defined by his willingness to face adversity and do what is right. (…) The true mark of a warrior is often defined by his personal virtues. (…)

A real warrior, at the tactical level, finds himself gravitating toward training, analysis, and the what-ifs. Emotionally, warriors are different because they are able to focus on the bigger picture, such as determining what is the right thing to do for another person or for society. (…)

Being a warrior is a calling. Warriors are goal oriented, and a true warrior is somewhat selfish. So the mission, the objective, the chance to verify the training is of tantamount importance to the lifestyle.

A huge part of our training encompasses more than two decades of research into fear, especially how it affects performance, and we always integrate these behavioural realities into our training. Every single one of our drills blends emotional and psychological components so that danger is just another aspect of the training. (…) This causes pain, and pain causes fear. If you don’t blend pain management and fear management into your training, you are not preparing yourself completely."

On training:
Training must hurt at times but should never injure.

On getting killed
“If you face just one opponent and you doubt yourself, you’re outnumbered.” (Millman) The warrior athlete must focus on the dynamic of the game, because any and every distraction can potentially derail the effort.

On having to kill
If the situation is credible, if the requisite level of force to achieve safety requires it, then killing should be approached simply as another tactic.

Tony Blauer is one of the world’s foremost authorities on personal safety and fear management. You can learn more about his programs at www.tonyblauer.com, where you can subscribe to Mr. Blauer’s free Combatives newsletter by clicking on the CONTACT US section.

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I have been going to most of the TSQ Challenges. I've always been very impressed with the female participants. Here's to you, ladies!

Fierce Love:
The Heart of the Woman Warrior
by Melissa Soalt

"To be effective in self-defense, you cannot just defend - you must attack back. For a female, this is the ultimate reversal: you become the huntress, not the hunted; the predator, not the prey. You summon and unleash all your life forces - courage, will, wrath, cunning, physical powers - and use them like secret weapons. Nothing is out of bound; nothing is unthinkable. There's little to compare this to: you dial up the creature within; you trade in your polite self for your animal-self; you issut the "sic" command and give that beautiful junkyard b-i-t-c-h within carte blance to go for the throat." (Melissa Soalt)

-"The warrior spirit lies deep within us all. It's a vital, rousing force that can turn the meek into the fearsome. Women, as a tribe, are endowed with their own warrir instincts, insights, and powers, born in the female psyche and biology.

For example, classical warrior texts call for a dispoassionate mind-set, devoid of emotion: you must control your fear, control your emotions, they say. But that, I protest, is part of a male paradigm. While it's true that strong emotions can hijack body body and mind - " Don't let your emotions get ahead of your technique," I tell my students - it's precisely the swells of rage, terror, and love itself that fund a woman's fight, fuelling her body, enabling her to evoke the warrior spirit - be it to protect herself, loved ones, or the sovereignty of her peoples.

Rage. Terror. Love. Fury. These aren't words you're likely to find in any warrior's code or combat manual. Yet fighting, and the business of being a warrior, is an emotional and primal reality as much as it is a moral and spiritual one.

-"It's not the size of the woman in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the woman!"

-"Fighting spirit is a lot like beauty - it's both innate and can be cultivated but is always kindled from the inside out, whereas power is a commodity that can be sourced from many places. (...) Power is also kindled by fear. (...) Terror is mother of all fear. (...)"

-"From the neck up I am ice; from the neck down, I am fire."

-"The underlying belief is that we aren't made of the right stuff; that women are the weaker sex; that she'll only get hurt worse, blah, blah, blah. What a screwball argument! Of course fighting back carries risks. And yes, you might get hurt. Count on it, visualize it, become accustomed to the idea."

-"Female ferocity is hard-wired, as old as the womb itself."

-"The face of the warrior belongs to us all."

Melissa Soalt is a black belt and a consultant for many magazines. To learn more about her methods, services, etc., visit www.dr-ruthless.com

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quote:

-"It's not the size of the woman in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the woman!"

I have been very impressed by the ladies that have come to the Challenges as well and would say that they have held their own and then some.

"Intelligence is the ability to carry a thought to conclusion." (Martina Sprague)


Are Warriors Born or Made?
By Martina Sprague

My definition of a warrior is that of a person who has a natural passion about being strong, courageous, intellectual, analytical, and a leader. (…) You can acquire warrior qualities through discipline and hard work, but for those who are not naturally passionate about it, it will be a very long haul.

Warriorhood is not a 9-to-5 job; it’s a lifestyle. You live by your principles, and you’re even on duty when you’re off duty. (…)

Integrity is one of the most important warrior qualities. A warrior is clear-sighted ans speaks the truth without wilfully offending others. (…) The warrior is committed to his craft and has a combat mindset. (…)

A warrior is a different breed because he has conviction, understands the pleasure/pain dichotomy, and takes pride in his physical and mental strength. He has stamina and an analytical mind. (…)

Words such as courtesy, modesty, self-control, and perseverance are often associated with the warrior code. (…)

Warriorhood is action, not good intentions. (…)

Warriorhood is not a one-size-fits-all concept. You must be naturally (genetically) predisposed to and thrilled by the warrior code in order to act on it and make it a lifestyle choice.

Martina Sprague holds black belts in various martial arts. She is also a certified flight instructor. Her website is: www.modernfighter.com.

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