Leadership 101: A NEW BEGINNING

[ROFCB Commander 664]

Today is the final day--DAY TWENTY--of the twenty-day "Leadership 101" series I've been 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.

 

This series has been about starting a unit, and so it is appropriate that it ends with "a new beginning".

 

If you've read what I have to say in other places on this forum, you probably already know what I mean--but let me spell it out.

 

It is my believe that the Militia movement as a whole has been ill for some time, and terminally so. There are lots of reasons for this, most of them rooted in mistakes that were made right from the beginning that have carried forward for the last three or four decades. These are self-inflicted, self-compounding errors that tend to keep us (as citizen soldiers) perpetually painted in a negative light and make it very, very difficult to do what we want and need to do. We aren't for the most part bad people. We don't for the most part have a bad agenda. We really are good people with our heads in the right place, for the most part...but that doesn't matter one bit. If someone dresses up in a multi-colored wig with big floppy shoes and a red nose, you expect him to do what clowns do. It's the same thing with us; say "militia" and people automatically have an expectation--and it's not a good one.

 

It's something similar to being called a "Liberal" today. By most measures, what was once a "liberal" fits within the political spectrum most of us identify with--but that term was applied early to the Leftists, and now the two are almost interchangeable. Someone may call himself a "classic liberal", but as soon as that "L" word comes out of his mouth he's going to be lumped in with AOC. He can persist in calling himself that, but he'll be mischaracterized virtually all the time. There's no getting around it, no way to avoid it.

 

The Militia image has been tarnished as it is; moreover, the whole "militia" is terribly misunderstood to begin with, and from a legal perspective it too is mischaracterized. The "militia" we try to organize ourselves under doesn't exist, hasn't existed for over a hundred years, and offers none of the "protections" or "privileges" we think it does. Right now, all it offers is a barrier to moving forward. This, to me, is the reason a "new beginning" is needed for our movement. This "new beginning" requires many things. One of those is new "branding".

 

It also requires a new dedication to public service, public awareness, public participation, and public support. It requires that rather than scurry around in the dark, secretive, as much of today's militia does--we emerge into and embrace the light. Rather than hiding from the gaze of the public, we seek it out. The focus of this "new beginning" is to draw our legitimacy from the communities we serve (and therefore the support of those communities). Without that, we fail--and "we", the militia movement as a whole, has been failing for years for just this reason. That's why we look at the bumbling fools of NFAC and marvel at their numbers when we can't get ten guys out for a barbecue. NFAC, fools that they are, aren't hiding--they're out in the open. We need to be just as visible (but not as goofy).

 

In the old days--the golden age, if you will--master artists couldn't afford to buy a new canvas every time they wanted to paint something, so they'd just paint over a painting they'd already done. The canvas was the same; it just had a new picture on it. I'm proposing the same thing, in essence, for our movement. It's time we used our same frame but painted a new picture over the old.

 

I and some folks I've been working with have created the Civilian Defense Force. It's a community-based, neighborhoods-first, civic organization with a militia-like arm. The focus isn't on the fighting, but rather on serving the community. And it isn't just about soldiers and guns; it's about family, camaraderie, and the support that non-fighters can give to those who choose to train for martial services. There is still a "militia" feel, with the same types of training, but the focus shifts from that to the operation as a whole. The intent is for this change in paradigm to spur recruiting, citizen involvement, and to lend legitimacy where it's always lacked for us before.

 

The organization is top-down by necessity (so that we can provide training materials, intelligence services, etc. to member Units), but it isn't nationally focused; rather, the plan is to emphasize the local organizations because local people know what's best for their own communities, and that's what it's all about. The National segment isn't there to set a bunch of rules for the local units. We will set an overall framework to ensure some continuity and stability, but other than that the local organizations will run themselves. We aren't getting ourselves wrapped up in the "militia" confusion; in fact we're avoiding that altogether. We function in many of the same ways and with the same overarching goals, but we do it without the stigmas that are attached. That is the plan, in any case.

 

 I won't go into a lot more detail about the whole thing because you can read most of it on the websites. What I will tell you is that a lot of it isn't complete yet, and we're going to be doing/learning a lot as we go. But units are forming now; one per county. New units are probably the best candidates for inclusion, but smaller, established "militia" units are welcome to step into the organization and fly the CDF banner so long as they meet certain minimal requirements (mostly regarding the election of officers, and that sort of thing). CDF units will have access to recruiting and marketing materials, training courses, and our keystone--localized Intelligence--as those things become available. And they'll have the CDF "branding" to help overcome some of the stigma associated with training for combat.

 

To say we're "ready" is a gross exaggeration. We still have a LOT of work to do. But as everyone knows, we're running out of time...all Hell will break loose following the election, exactly three months from today. That's why I timed this series, and this announcement, for today. The CDF becomes an "official entity" three months to the day before the election result turns our nation into a war zone.

 

We have three months to prepare. Three months to organize, recruit, train, and get the systems in place that will allow us to be effective at defending our communities. It's not a lot of time, but it's what we've got. That's why we're pushing for new units to form under the CDF program, but not necessarily for old ones to join us. The older, established units have already been training for what's coming and they need to continue to do so. Changing horses now would be disastrous for them, and for the country. They have some built-in battle readiness that will be vital moving forward.

 

But new units, formed in an organized and disciplined fashion and with a broader agenda in mind, will serve in a complementary fashion to those older units--and, if all goes according to plan, we'll all be able to support one another when the shit truly hits the fan.

 

So today, the "new beginning" I'm announcing is the Civilian Defense Force. In the coming days and weeks I'll write a lot more about it right here on MyMilitia.com (I'm not going anywhere--this is still the best militia forum around), but to find out more right now visit https://civiliandefenseforce.org for a proper overview. There are several places on the site there where you can learn more, request details, or form/join a unit.

 

Thank you for your interest, and for sticking with me through these twenty days of my rambling. It's been a rewarding and interesting journey thus far. It only gets more interesting for all of us from here on out.

 

I hope to see you over on the CDF sites soon.

 

 

[Guest O sleeper]

Good work, @ ROFCB Commander . Hopefully this will do well.