On Combat, The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace by Dave Grossman.

Long overdue on reading this book. Those who know better than me call this book the compliment or second part of Col Grossman’s first best seller “On Killing.”

But first, a warning: This is a book oriented to active Police and Military. As cool as it sounds to be considered a Warrior, if you are just an every day Civilian. The idea of thinking oneself in terms of Warrior can be used against you in a court of law, can get you doing stupid stuff that may get you in trouble. We as Civilians work under a different and more restrictive set of rules when it comes to the use of deadly force. Let us not forget that.

After that, is the book any good for us Civvies? Oh heck yeah. Just section 1 about how the human body reacts to the stress of a deadly force encounter is well worth the price of the book and section 2 on the altered states of consciousness or how our perception of reality is distorted by the stress, adrenalin, etc is 100% pure Belgian chocolate icing on the cake. Understanding what our bodies and brain will do under duress can help us be better prepared for when the need arises. Section 4 dealing with PTSD is another jewel we need to consider and plan ahead for, specially since we civilians do not have an organizational support as the Military or the Police do. This is one example of the great difference between military and LEO vs. Civilians as they more likely will have a close-knit group of fellow warriors that will give them tacit support, free legal back up and degree of isolation from the worst of society’s screaming mimis while a civilian will have to deal pretty much on his own with costs and external pressure plus dealing with the psychological aspects of the confrontation. Remember that we only have a trifecta of people that we can (mostly) talk to about what happened without legal consequences: Doctor, Lawyer and Priest. By the way, it would be great for you to make sure you have one of them or all three available and sure to understand what is you are maybe going through after a Deadly Force encounter. It would not help you emotionally if you were to find that your preacher is a rabid anti-gun bastard that would have no problem using you as example of devil incarnate on this earth. Check all local laws, etc, etc, etc.

So, another book that should be in your Self Defense section of the home library.

And I am officially out of shelf space and the wife ain’t too happy about bumping into books everywhere 🙂