Indigenous Ability

Be patient with me, as before we get to the answer to the above question of bestest strike ever, most effective submission under the heavens, we’re going to take some seemingly unrelated side-roads. ·         We’re going to walk with Netsilik hunters. ·         Ponder the large part that a few lumps of sugar played in the D-Day invasion. ·         Quote a little Ralph Waldo Emerson. ·         Lay out legendary Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s simple test for evaluating field officers. ·         Tell why WWII British Commandos and US Army Rangers praised soil engineers and geologists who never saw battle. ·         Quote a little Smokin’ Joe Frazier ·         And then, finally, answer the titled question and offer a suggestio...

The following is an account regarding the observational prowess and situational awareness of the legendary frontiersman, Jim Bridger. Keep in mind, this is not legend, this account comes to us from a military man, Captain H. E. Palmer, of the Eleventh Kansas Calvary. This account is found in another work by a military man, Biographical Sketch of James Bridger: Mountaineer, Trapper, and Guide (1905) by General Grenville M. Dodge. After you have a read I’ll ask a few self-assessment questions. Again, ponder long and hard, these are pragmatic military men relating what they saw as observable fact and not some campfire tale or jejune super-hero story. “ Captain H. E. Palmer, Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, Acting Asst. Adjt. Genl. to General P. E. Conner, gives this description of the Indian Camp on Tongue River, August 26, 1865. "Left Piney Fork at 6.45 a. m. Traveled north over a beautiful country until about 8 a.m., when our advance reached the top of the ridge dividing the wat...

The Land of Little Rain is a 1903 work from Mary Hunter Austin that can be thought of as a South-westerner’s poetic agreement with Thoreau. In a series of observational walks Austin reveals the beauty of the desert that she sees so ably. She offers evocative expressions of the landscape, insightful commentary regarding the flora and fauna and how to “see” as the animals do and ends the volume with a few choice comments on the difference between those who live on or close to the land and those who don’t. This slim volume is chockful of wisdom. I’ll admit the poetic style may slow the progress of some, for others [myself being one] I find that the poetry of the prose adds emotional color to the information being offered. It smacks of heartfeltness and deep appreciation as opposed to simply rote advice-observation. Here is Austin on our propensity to blunder through our environments. “ Man is a great blunderer going about in the woods, and there is no other except the bear m...

Situational awareness is a much-touted attribute of the truly ready and the ready wannabes of the world. Observational prowess is a much coveted and complex skillset possessed by the best indigenous trackers, seaman, scouts, and explorers. But, if we are honest with ourselves, often what we term “awareness” in the self-protection realm is merely superficial surface skimming of the world around us.           Time spent with indigenous trackers and scouts reveals a depth of perception that goes beyond our mere “ I know where all the exits are in my local Home Depot, now let me take look number 1,032 at my phone .” True awareness, observational prowess is not a faucet-attribute, that is something to be turned on and turned off. The top of the heap observers are always observing, always aware. When we hear of this state of ever-ready awareness we often consider it either an impossibility or at the very least an exhausting endeavor. But...

George “Machine Gun” Kelly, was a Depression-era gangster with one of the most colorful names going. Let’s face it, it beats the hell out of Baby Face or Pretty Boy, or Creepy. Despite the formidable name Kelly was a little less deadly than the moniker belies, associates in Alcatraz where he spent 21-years of his life referred to him as “Pop Gun” Kelly due to his model prisoner status and less than gangstery ways. George Kelly, though not a cold-blooded killer, was, indeed, a criminal. He had numerous charges of bootlegging which in and of itself is not so glamourous a crime. It seems his wife, Kathryn Kelly, played the role of reputation-promoter, she gave him the name “Machine Gun” and sought to create the reputation that George himself did not really warrant. The world may not have taken much notice of the dapper bootlegger had it not been for a switch in modus operandi . It seems the Kelly gang thought that there might be more money to be made in kidnapping than illegal...

The evocative painting “Ambush” by the excellent artist Dan Nance conjures images of the French and Indian War[s], the Revolutionary War, Roger’s Rangers, Simon Girty, James Fenimore Cooper novels, and Mel Gibson at his vengeful best in The Patriot . The dramatic incident portrayed in the painting is romanticized but myriad such skirmishes did indeed occur, are well-documented and the ingenuity, and let’s face it, brutality are front and center of these accounts. Let’s use Nance’s painting as a jumping off point regarding an aspect of American Indian skulking warfare, and like tactics adopted by white settlers who adopted “savage” ways. First, the talented Mr. Nance portrays our ambushing warrior attacking from high and above with tomahawk in hand. This aspect of the painting hews close to many accounts of “from above” ambushes. What does not hold true is the direction of the attack. First, let’s absolve the artist-Mr. Nance is displaying creative license in his use ...