Comfort

As Americans, or members of Western Society as whole, we’ve gotten way too used to comfort.  We like to come home, sit on the couch and watch TV, eat copious amounts of over-processed but readily available food, and be comfortable.  We live in climate-controlled homes, drive in our climate-controlled cars to our climate-controlled offices/workplaces, then after work we drive to climate-controlled stores and restaurants, then go back to do it all over again.

In the course of the average week, we don’t experience a temperature deviation of more than 10 degrees for more than however long it takes us to walk to our cars, and let’s be honest, we park as close as we can so that we don’t have to be exposed to the elements at all.  This destroys the ability of the human body to tolerate variations, and it’s not a good thing.

“…There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

Exodus 16:3

On those rare enough occasions when we plan on doing something outside, if it rains or snows, we cancel immediately, because who wants to be uncomfortable?

Let’s be honest, a lot of us who claim to be involved in preparedness aren’t willing to get uncomfortable.  We’re also not in the best physical shape.  I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had guys show up in class with thousands of dollars of gear but couldn’t climb a single hill or sleep more than one night on the ground in a tent.  In one famous incident here, one student complained to NC Scout that after walking less than a half mile he had to take pain pills to get through the next day.  This wasn’t even a patrolling class, it was mostly classroom.

I’m not excluding myself from this either.  Just about 2 years ago, I attended a weeklong training event at the Brushbeater Training Center in North Carolina.  On day three, I was struggling.  My cardio was terrible, and I hadn’t spent that many days living outdoors and wearing all my gear all the time.  It was an eye opener, and I spent the next year and a half losing 35 pounds and building up my cardio. 

We need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Most people, when they go to the range, go to indoor ranges.  This protects you from the weather and prevents you from learning to adjust for wind.  It also prevents you from training in realistic firing positions, like kneeling and prone.  You are limited to standing up and squaring off with the target like it’s an old-west shootout at high noon.  That has no place in realistic training.

In my Fieldcraft class, I spend a lot of time having people get used to being prone, moving while prone, and general movement on the knees.  Everyone has fun but complains (good-naturedly) about unused muscle groups.  Well, when the time comes to use these skills in real life, you don’t get extra break time to recover.  We have to develop these skills and stretch these muscles now.

If you don’t believe me on this, go outside right and low-crawl (real low-crawl) for 50 meters.  Wait 30 minutes, then tell me how you feel.  If you don’t keep doing it, it will never get better.  We need to get in reps of moving those unused muscle groups.

Another thing about this: You need to get comfortable with getting dirty.  I don’t mean being unhygienic but getting your clothes and gear dirty.  You chuckle while reading this, but EVERY class we teach, there is someone who isn’t happy that they had to lay in the dirt and mud in their $250 Crye pants and their $575 cool guy chest rig.  God forbid you tell them that the $3,700 rifle they built needs to lay in the dirt with them, and that $785 ruck they bought needs to be tossed under a tree and left for three hours IN THE DIRT.

You need to get comfortable with letting all that gear actually get used and get dirty.  Life in the field is hard, but it can be enjoyable.  We’ve gotten too used to comfort.  We need to live a more primal life, where we’re used to living outdoors, walking long distances, and letting our stuff get dirty. 

In my last Fieldcraft class, the students began the land nav course by climbing a 400-foot hill that was incredibly steep.  Even the fittest guy in class struggled, but they ALL felt a sense of accomplishment after having done it, and so will you.  Get outdoors and get moving.

Take the first step by spending a few hours outdoors in all kinds of weather.  Hike a few miles out, make lunch, then hike back.  Start extending the time and distance.  Then, spend a night camping out, but not in a tent.  Throw a tarp over your sleeping bag.  Extend this to a weekend, then three nights.  Start getting back in touch with living in nature.  Humans are perfectly capable of it in a wide variety of weather conditions.

Start moving more.  With that small change, you’d be surprised how quickly the weight falls off.  Then, by changing what you eat to more natural foods, more will drop off.

Getting out and rucking will improve your cardio and overall health.  You all have heard me say it before but getting out and moving while carrying a load is the number one skill you’ll need in any type of crisis or emergency, so start training for it.  Don’t go for speed, go for steady and quiet movement while carrying a load over rough terrain.  Don’t just stick to trails and roads, because in a real situation, you won’t be using roads and trails.  Get in the rough country and move.

It’s time to get off the couch and get serious. Come to a class.

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