Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Building Tribe: Understanding Tribal Politics

 LANGUAGE

Via Western Rifle Shooters Association

Politics – shit everyone hates that word.  Like it or not any time you interact or associate with a group of people tied together by something common you’re going to delve into politics of some nature.  Now I’m not talking the politics at a macro level (i.e. cake vs. pie, Dem vs. Republican) but the real down in the dirt dealing with people and their interests.  Because after all people rarely act or accept anything  unless it caters to them in some way, shape, or form. And rural folks are no different. If you are going to build a defensible and sustainable tribe you’re going to have to know how to politic.  And the first reality you have to deal with is your expectations.

Get this into your head right now: You are not dealing with trained infantrymen. Hell you’re not even dealing with trained cooks. If you’re lucky enough to have a few vets amongst the crowd then count your blessings and hug ‘em up.  But what you need to expect (and managing expectations is a critical aspect of leadership) is a group of folks that know little to nothing about basic soldier skills or tactics and are more worried about the own issues than developing a way to counter a couple of truckloads of dirtbags raiding into their AO.  I’ve trained some of the worst soldiers on the planet with the expectation of making them decent troops. You want a challenge? Try teaching Angolan NCOs land nav – I’ll buy ya a candy bar if you can get the dumb sons of bitches to shoot a decent azimuth or differentiate between the Norths. Is it realistic to expect to be able to sit Bill who has worked fields all of his life down and give him a three day block of land nav with practical exams?  Hell he probably doesn’t have three days to take off to learn it in most instances – do you? Manage your expectations and keep shit simple.



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