I apparently read Lt. Col. Grossman's books out of order, but On Combat was the first one that I was exposed to. As I generally listen to books via Audible, as opposed to reading them lately, I was at first put off by his voice as he read the book himself. What I found though was that he has an interesting cadence to how he speaks, and obviously knows what he wants to emphasize.
Out of the gate, the first chapter caught my attention because it went into the physiological effects of what happens to our bodies when we got through life and death scenarios. His first chapter or two was dedicated to the urination and defecation that occurs at surprisingly high levels of military and law enforcement personnel that were involved in deadly encounters... and even more interesting, the general idea that it is something to be ashamed of.
I found the middle of the book to be a bit long winded about the correlation between video games and mass shootings. While I understand the points that he makes, I find the correlation and causation to be a bit of a stretch. And my personal opinion is that it's an offshoot of the whole Gun Rights debate with arguably even less occurrences of deadly violence.
What I did find fascinating was discussions on things like vasal constriction, pupil constriction and tunnel vision, the lack of blood during an encounter, and things like that. Our bodies are amazing, and Lt. Col Grossman does a great job of trying to dissect what is occurring to our bodies during these stressful encounters.
Have you noticed yourself looking at your body differently, or have you been through a life threatening situation and recognize some of the concepts in the book?
I finished this book last week, and some of it hit me really powerfully. I really appreciated his breakdown of the physiological realities of conditions yellow, red, black, etc and what that means for operations in a high-danger scenario. Understanding that all the mental and physical responses you will inevitably go through are normal, and there’s no shame in it.
I also have re-established the importance of combat breathing. I used to use it quite a bit while skydiving, And I passed that helping hint on to some of my students who seemed to need it… and now I’m passing it to my children. The ability to bring your heart rate back down at will is a game changer.
Col Grossman laid out the perfect definition of sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs in our society. It all comes back to the mindset required, and the discipline necessary to be a protector instead of a sheep in denial.
I have to agree with SPG1 actual here about the overemphasized impact of video games and media in this book. While I do believe he has a point, in that SOME kids with no discipline or structure to their lives may have a disproportionate impact from violent media, I don’t think kids who are exposed to this are destined to become mindless trained killers. Yes, we use similar types of simulation environments to train warriors, but not in a vacuum. Other training must complement the simulation. If not, every kid that played Mario Kart would be better defensive drivers than their parents.
Further, I truly appreciate his insight into the prevention and treatment of PTSD by decoupling the emotional from the memory. Just understanding what may/will happen to you in one of those lethal scenarios is a huge first step into avoiding the worst of the trauma. As he states, more lives are lost after the event than during.
My copy arrived today. More to follow…