Leadership 101: WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION

[ROFCB Commander 664]

Today is Day Thirteen of the twenty-day "Leadership 101" series I'll be posting. This series expresses my thoughts on some topics important to the successful leadership of a local unit, and asks other unit leaders to post their thoughts, ideas, and experiences on the same subject in hopes that together we can help those who are starting from scratch with unit-building.

 

Today--"Weapons of mass instruction."

 

This post will be shorter than most, because there is so much material out there it's impossible to list it all--so rather than point you toward material (which you can research yourself) I'm going to point you toward ideas. With the ideas in place, you can do the legwork and you won't need a lot from me to accomplish this.

 

As a new commander (overwhelmed as you already are by the volume of work you have to accomplish), you may be wondering what to do once you've accumulated a few people to start your unit and get it running. There are obviously guides and manuals and any manner of other things to get you moving in the right direction, and they all have something useful to contribute. Start by educating yourself. Read. Then read some more. I'd work from the perspective of "organizing manual" first; move to "history/law" next. Finally, look to the "training manual" after that.

 

Regarding training, there is so much you can learn from YouTube. It's truly an international treasure.

 

And there's so much you can learn from YouTube that is incorrect and can even be lethal. It's truly an international crime.

 

You have to know, or be able to research in order to know, the difference.

 

I can't tell you what to watch. I'll tell you this; find reputable people who get GREAT COMMENTS from other reputable people. Those are usually the ones to follow, and whose advice you could feel fairly confident in taking. Use the resource of YouTube; study everything from organizing to psychology to intelligence-gathering to flying drones to handling a firearm...and then pass what you've learned to others.

 

As for actual, hands-on, learn-as-a-group "training", there is simply no substitute for experience. LOCATE someone in your area who can teach--and I don't mean the old fellow who's killed a few deer in his lifetime. Bless his heart, he's probably a great resource too--but dealing with people who are shooting back is an entirely different proposition, and fighting in the urban setting is vastly different than shooting in the quiet woods. FIND a certified NRA instructor to teach your group the essentials of handling their firearms. Convince him/her to give a group instruction for free or at a discounted price, and then pay the man. You just aren't going to do better than that, even if he teaches nothing more than you already know yourself (trust me--there's something to be said for the confidence your recruits will gain just from learning from someone with that patch on their shirt; and he can award certificates of completion that will fill them with pride and confidence at a time when both are going to be essential moving forward). Once everyone is on the same page with handling weapons, FIND (don't stop looking until you do) someone with experience and expertise in fireteam operations/maneuvers, etc. You can't really learn how to clear a building from watching "Cops" or "Law and Order"; you can only get an idea of how it's done. You can't really learn it from YouTube either. You need someone who's been there, done that. If you can find someone who has trained others to do it? You're golden.

 

You won't find any of that without committing to the research, and possibly committing to paying for it. If you're not sure how to pay for it, either pass the costs on to your team members, or learn how to fundraise (which you should be doing anyway). Where can you learn how to raise funds? Right here on the internet. Probably even on YouTube.

 

The problem is rarely the how to do it; it's almost always the get off your ass and make it happen.

 

Besides how to handle weapons and how to operate as a fireteam/unit, you'll want to learn other survival craft (not necessarily how to live off the land or in the woods; more like "how to live when Walmart isn't open anymore" or "how to poop, shave, and keep your feet from hurting while on the battlefield away from the conveniences of home". Again, there are lots of resources out there that can help you, many of which are on YouTube. Find REPUTABLE and quality instruction, spend an hour or two each night filling your head with the information, and then get everyone together and pass it along. Then simply practice.

 

And practice is the key. Sharpening a knife looks easy, until you try to do it. Operating a wheelbarrow looks like child's play, until you try to actually do it if you never have. Starting a fire without a lighter? Splinting a broken finger or arm? Breeching a door or scaling a wall? Yeah, you're going to need to get out and do that a few times. There's no substitute for hands-on. Get out there and get dirty, because you can't really learn it until you do.

 

I will have actual links and resources available for those who want them, and soon. I'm working on compiling a list of resources, and creating a few, too. I'll announce when they'll be available and where. But for now, just plant the seeds of ideas in your mind, and do some due diligence of your own. There's a wealth of information out there, and picking up on all of that sure beats watching funny cat videos or wasting hours on Facebook.

 

Tomorrow--"Strother Martin".