GWOT - Resolute Acceptance
Jun. 16th, 2019 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkitty"Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and
swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead." - Japanese samurai doctrine, aka 'bushido,' 17th century English translation
###
The days blur together. Every day is a new war. Convoy operations, going out into hell to rescue Employees and affiliates, and also stuff we need to survive. Perimeter operations, holding what we have, keeping the bad people out and the good people safe. Internal operations, dealing with the needs of thousands of shell shocked, hurt, sick, sometimes contaminated, and all too often dying people.
I am constantly leading from the front.
After the massive attack, our small infirmary, already overrun with Firecracker casualties, was completely overwhelmed with over one hundred shock-trauma patients.
They mostly died. Most went in the first few hours. Some lingered for days.
Very hard decisions were made. And I was instantly ready to enforce them in the only way available when law and order have failed.
###
The samurai put his hand on his sword and confronted the monk.
"Do you realize, I am a man who is ready to kill you in this very instant?"
The monk humbly replied.
"Do you realize, I am a man who is ready to die in this very instant?"
The samurai bowed, and became Enlightened, withdrawing with apologies.
###
The authority of the doctor and the nurse have been very clearly established. We still staff armed infirmary guards, but my personal intervention is no longer required to keep civil order.
But there are people who blame the deaths of their loved ones on me, rather than the situation. So be it.
"I will fucking kill you."
"Give it your best shot. But you only get once," I replied.
###
"And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart? We all found out the answer on the day it fell apart." - Leslie Fish, "The Day It Fell Apart" (chorus) https://youtu.be/e4y802_Ot-k
###
My personal intervention is needed in the field.
Our convoys - a small team of all too lightly armed people - go out from the site to check the residence addresses of our employees, where this is possible. To Stanford, to pick up our affiliates who made it to that hospital before they stopped accepting patients.
Over and over again, we are confronted by larger groups of more heavily armed people. Some are police. Very few are soldiers. Most are looters.
Doctrine is that on command the enemy leader will have our biggest gun pointed directly at them. Message: if we rumble, you personally will do the dust dance.
This cuts both ways. I am sick and tired of people pointing pistols, rifles, shotguns, machine guns ... once a flamethrower ... but I know an essential secret they do not.
I am dead. There is no threat that can keep me from carrying out my mission. I can be killed, but I will not die alone.
"Duty is heavier than mountains. Death is lighter than a feather."
Looking down the barrel of a dual .50 caliber, I argue for us to be permitted through the control point.
Their leader watches me carefully as I argue with his subordinate. Suddenly, he puts a hand on his man's shoulder.
"Let them go," he says softly.
We go our separate ways.
###
"No no no no no!" the man is shouting. The VP of Facilities. He had left his family at home, where they would be safe, while he bicycled his way in and did his job.
I had finally gotten a chance to go get them from his house.
On arrival I had found a burned out shell and four bodies. Three of the bodies were small. All had suffered horribly before they passed.
It hadn't helped that he'd left them heavily armed, with plenty of supplies and a defensible house surrounded by a six foot tall masonry wall.
I found no enemy casualties. There was extensive damage to the house, but no damage to the vehicle gate. That meant they had been let in by someone.
It was someone else's job to talk him down. I had shown him the photo of the house, not the photos of the bodies. I am not a bloody sadist.
Too late is too late. Not all the tears in the world can turn back the passage of time by even a second.
Based on rigor, blood pools and insect infestation we had been at least two days too late.
###
The indicators were all going the wrong way.
Basic services were down and staying down.
Power at site was very spotty, but we had redundant connections to multiple interties. Ordinary homes and businesses were screwed.
Water had been down for two days off site. That had caused fires. The smoke of things that should not burn permeated everything outside.
The National Weather Service was providing radioactive fallout advisories and we were scrupulously honoring them.
Cash was still worth something, but ATMs and cards and checks could not be processed.
Stores were closing and not reopening.
The surviving hospitals had stopped accepting patients.
Every day a new problem. Security, shelter, water, food, health, medical care.
You can't shoot a plague. You can't shoot rats.
###
I am an unwelcome presence at department head meetings. The skeleton at the feast. But there are things I need to know, and occasionally my input was critical.
When a manager attacked another manager with a knife, the input I provided was the Mozambique Drill. Two to the chest, one to the head.
In the sudden silence after the ringing gunshots, and hearing loss for all present including me, I said firmly.
"The Security Department asserts a monopoly on the use of force, until otherwise authorized by executive management. Not. A. Request."
###
Every moment, I am doing whatever falls into my hands and mind to save and protect the lives of the people here.
I delegate as much as I can.
But most people just want to live. Most people have a skill, or two or three skills, and will try to apply those skills even when they are dreadfully inappropriate.
Matching people to tasks, that they can still perform without breaking, is the most difficult task of all.
###
"Weak wood can always be used for scaffolding, and later for firewood." -- Muyashi's 'Book Of Five Rings'
###
"You will stand here. No one for any reason will pass this point without proper authority. Lives directly depend on your ability to control this door."
"But how do I stop them?"
"Hit them with that stick or blow that whistle. If you blow the whistle, I will not ask questions, I will just kill the person."
"What if they get past me?"
I look him directly in the eyes.
"Then I kill two people."
###
"The ways of building a house are the same as the ways of employing men. Think on this." -- Ibid.
###
Finally, at long last, I have a day supervisor and a night supervisor. Arturo and Sharon.
Now I can sleep.
I am always mildly surprised when I wake up.
swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead." - Japanese samurai doctrine, aka 'bushido,' 17th century English translation
###
The days blur together. Every day is a new war. Convoy operations, going out into hell to rescue Employees and affiliates, and also stuff we need to survive. Perimeter operations, holding what we have, keeping the bad people out and the good people safe. Internal operations, dealing with the needs of thousands of shell shocked, hurt, sick, sometimes contaminated, and all too often dying people.
I am constantly leading from the front.
After the massive attack, our small infirmary, already overrun with Firecracker casualties, was completely overwhelmed with over one hundred shock-trauma patients.
They mostly died. Most went in the first few hours. Some lingered for days.
Very hard decisions were made. And I was instantly ready to enforce them in the only way available when law and order have failed.
###
The samurai put his hand on his sword and confronted the monk.
"Do you realize, I am a man who is ready to kill you in this very instant?"
The monk humbly replied.
"Do you realize, I am a man who is ready to die in this very instant?"
The samurai bowed, and became Enlightened, withdrawing with apologies.
###
The authority of the doctor and the nurse have been very clearly established. We still staff armed infirmary guards, but my personal intervention is no longer required to keep civil order.
But there are people who blame the deaths of their loved ones on me, rather than the situation. So be it.
"I will fucking kill you."
"Give it your best shot. But you only get once," I replied.
###
"And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart? We all found out the answer on the day it fell apart." - Leslie Fish, "The Day It Fell Apart" (chorus) https://youtu.be/e4y802_Ot-k
###
My personal intervention is needed in the field.
Our convoys - a small team of all too lightly armed people - go out from the site to check the residence addresses of our employees, where this is possible. To Stanford, to pick up our affiliates who made it to that hospital before they stopped accepting patients.
Over and over again, we are confronted by larger groups of more heavily armed people. Some are police. Very few are soldiers. Most are looters.
Doctrine is that on command the enemy leader will have our biggest gun pointed directly at them. Message: if we rumble, you personally will do the dust dance.
This cuts both ways. I am sick and tired of people pointing pistols, rifles, shotguns, machine guns ... once a flamethrower ... but I know an essential secret they do not.
I am dead. There is no threat that can keep me from carrying out my mission. I can be killed, but I will not die alone.
"Duty is heavier than mountains. Death is lighter than a feather."
Looking down the barrel of a dual .50 caliber, I argue for us to be permitted through the control point.
Their leader watches me carefully as I argue with his subordinate. Suddenly, he puts a hand on his man's shoulder.
"Let them go," he says softly.
We go our separate ways.
###
"No no no no no!" the man is shouting. The VP of Facilities. He had left his family at home, where they would be safe, while he bicycled his way in and did his job.
I had finally gotten a chance to go get them from his house.
On arrival I had found a burned out shell and four bodies. Three of the bodies were small. All had suffered horribly before they passed.
It hadn't helped that he'd left them heavily armed, with plenty of supplies and a defensible house surrounded by a six foot tall masonry wall.
I found no enemy casualties. There was extensive damage to the house, but no damage to the vehicle gate. That meant they had been let in by someone.
It was someone else's job to talk him down. I had shown him the photo of the house, not the photos of the bodies. I am not a bloody sadist.
Too late is too late. Not all the tears in the world can turn back the passage of time by even a second.
Based on rigor, blood pools and insect infestation we had been at least two days too late.
###
The indicators were all going the wrong way.
Basic services were down and staying down.
Power at site was very spotty, but we had redundant connections to multiple interties. Ordinary homes and businesses were screwed.
Water had been down for two days off site. That had caused fires. The smoke of things that should not burn permeated everything outside.
The National Weather Service was providing radioactive fallout advisories and we were scrupulously honoring them.
Cash was still worth something, but ATMs and cards and checks could not be processed.
Stores were closing and not reopening.
The surviving hospitals had stopped accepting patients.
Every day a new problem. Security, shelter, water, food, health, medical care.
You can't shoot a plague. You can't shoot rats.
###
I am an unwelcome presence at department head meetings. The skeleton at the feast. But there are things I need to know, and occasionally my input was critical.
When a manager attacked another manager with a knife, the input I provided was the Mozambique Drill. Two to the chest, one to the head.
In the sudden silence after the ringing gunshots, and hearing loss for all present including me, I said firmly.
"The Security Department asserts a monopoly on the use of force, until otherwise authorized by executive management. Not. A. Request."
###
Every moment, I am doing whatever falls into my hands and mind to save and protect the lives of the people here.
I delegate as much as I can.
But most people just want to live. Most people have a skill, or two or three skills, and will try to apply those skills even when they are dreadfully inappropriate.
Matching people to tasks, that they can still perform without breaking, is the most difficult task of all.
###
"Weak wood can always be used for scaffolding, and later for firewood." -- Muyashi's 'Book Of Five Rings'
###
"You will stand here. No one for any reason will pass this point without proper authority. Lives directly depend on your ability to control this door."
"But how do I stop them?"
"Hit them with that stick or blow that whistle. If you blow the whistle, I will not ask questions, I will just kill the person."
"What if they get past me?"
I look him directly in the eyes.
"Then I kill two people."
###
"The ways of building a house are the same as the ways of employing men. Think on this." -- Ibid.
###
Finally, at long last, I have a day supervisor and a night supervisor. Arturo and Sharon.
Now I can sleep.
I am always mildly surprised when I wake up.
