This past week I enjoyed a conversation with a “Flight Deck Officer”. That would be, as I understand it, a pilot who is armed. Why they don’t just continue to call them “pilots” is beyond me. Why do they need a special name? Especially one that might point out the fact that they’re armed to any bad guys paying attention? We’ll leave that alone for now. The jist of our conversation was that – in his experience – contemporary Use of Force guidelines as well as defensive tactics are being taught to Flight Deck Officers. He felt that this was inappropriate since the risk is potentially so much greater in a plane, and because so much of the defensive tactics skills being taught today simply don’t work in the limited space of airplane aisles. His comments got me thinking and here we go…

Dave Grossman, a well known speaker / trainer in today’s warrior community, describes people as fitting into one of three categories:

Sheep: The average person. All they want to do is live their life and be left alone. They are peaceful and do no intended harm. If attacked, they will submit to demands and not fight back.

Wolves: The predators. These are the people who commit crimes against others. They prey on the sheep. Violence is their tool. Terrorizing is entertainment.

Sheepdogs: The protectors. The sheep don’t really like the sheepdogs all that much. They don’t trust the sheepdogs. After all, the sheepdog stays to himself on the outside fringes of the group. If he gets angry, the sheepdog snarls and bares his teeth, but if you leave him alone, he’ll leave you alone and all is peaceful. If he is, or those he is supposed to protect are, attacked, he will fight back and fight back hard. He refuses to be prey.

The full text of this article is available in the anthology titled American Thinking.
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