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Message-ID: <690948d5-8d56-49a3-890f-63bf578de8fe_at_f11g2000yqf.googlegroups.com>
Subject: Unrequested referrals to me for possible FCC regulated issues.
From: radio-chaser <rad..._at_tech-center.com>
To: TSCM-L Professionals List <tscm-..._at_googlegroups.com>
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To one and all, especially the member, that I can only assume, based
on the circumstances of events, provided my email address to his
"client" who emailed me:
Quote"
"Mr. Riley,
I was referred to you by an electronic technician named (NAME
REDACTED) that have been trying to resolve these wierd occurances at
my home. I have filed a complaint with the FCC in reference to the
electronic harassment I'm experiencing in my home." Unquote
I went back and re-read my posts on this website and can only conclude
that, based on my posts, I am 1) Not Riley (Hollingsworth), and 2)
that I am "Retired" RadioChaser.
By both of the examples above, it should be clear that I cannot assist
a "client" as "Riley" in resolving the issue that your "client" may
have and cannot because I am "Retired".
If anyone else has questions that I may be able to answer based on my
experience of working in the Enforcement Bureau of the FCC, by all
means ask me.
Do not send me an email asking me for advise, then provide your
"client" with my email address before I know what your "client"s
problem and without asking me if you can give them my email address!!
Based on my experience with people similar to the above "client", it
was my (previous professional) opinion, that the individual is either
miss-guided or mistaken in their knowledge of the subject they are
complaining about, or the individual has a mental problem best
addressed by those in the field of psychology and cannot be helped!
Again I sign myself as:
"Retired RadioChaser"
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Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 23:03:46 -0400
From: "James M. Atkinson" <jm..._at_tscm.com>
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Subject: Sheep, Sheepdogs & Wolves
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Just for the record, I am, and always have been a Sheepdog.
On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
(From the book, On Combat, by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman)
"Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so
because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things
that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time,
that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution,
or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth
defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?"
- William J. Bennett, In a lecture to the United States Naval Academy,
November 24, 1997
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: �Most
of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle,
productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.� This is
true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the
aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is
that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another.
Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent
crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time
record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million
Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime
is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year.
Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat
offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less
than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation:
We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is
still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent
people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or
under extreme provocation. They are sheep.
I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the
pretty, blue robin�s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it
will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without
its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers and other warriors are
like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow
into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect
them from the predators.
�Then there are the wolves,� the old war veteran said, �and the wolves
feed on the sheep without mercy.� Do you believe there are wolves out
there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it.
There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The
moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep.
There is no safety in denial.
�Then there are sheepdogs,� he went on, �and I�m a sheepdog. I live to
protect the flock and confront the wolf.� Or, as a sign in one
California law enforcement agency put it, �We intimidate those who
intimidate others.�
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive
citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for
your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath--a
wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for
your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is
walking the hero�s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of
darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.
The gift of aggression
"What goes on around you... compares little with what goes on inside
you." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Everyone has been given a gift in life. Some people have a gift for
science and some have a flair for art. And warriors have been given the
gift of aggression. They would no more misuse this gift than a doctor
would misuse his healing arts, but they yearn for the opportunity to use
their gift to help others. These people, the ones who have been blessed
with the gift of aggression and a love for others, are our sheepdogs.
These are our warriors.
One career police officer wrote to me about this after attending one of
my Bulletproof Mind training sessions:
"I want to say thank you for finally shedding some light on why it is
that I can do what I do. I always knew why I did it. I love my
[citizens], even the bad ones, and had a talent that I could return to
my community. I just couldn�t put my finger on why I could wade through
the chaos, the gore, the sadness, if given a chance try to make it all
better, and walk right out the other side."
Let me expand on this old soldier�s excellent model of the sheep,
wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial; that is
what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in
the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why
they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire
exits throughout their kids� schools. But many of them are outraged at
the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid�s school. Our
children are dozens of times more likely to be killed, and thousands of
times more likely to be seriously injured, by school violence than by
school fires, but the sheep�s only response to the possibility of
violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their
children is just too hard, so they choose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the
wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference,
though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the
sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb
will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at
least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that
there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn�t tell them
where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our
airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much
rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white,
and go, �Baa.�
Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide
behind one lonely sheepdog.
As Kipling said in his poem about �Tommy� the British soldier:
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind,"
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high
school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have
had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they
just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack,
however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the
officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of
them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the
wolf is at the door. Look at what happened after September 11, 2001,
when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than
ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and
military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?
Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a
sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a
sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the
perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the
night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs
yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and
wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along
with the young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep
pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day.
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is,
most citizens in America said, �Thank God I wasn�t on one of those
planes.� The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, �Dear God, I wish I could
have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.�
When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested
yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to
make a difference.
While there is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior,
he does have one real advantage. Only one. He is able to survive and
thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.
There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted
of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory acts
of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The
vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body
language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They
chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out
of the herd that is least able to protect itself.
However, when there were cues given by potential victims that indicated
they would not go easily, the cons said that they would walk away. If
the cons sensed that the target was a "counter-predator," that is, a
sheepdog, they would leave him alone unless there was no other choice
but to engage.
One police officer told me that he rode a commuter train to work each
day. One day, as was his usual, he was standing in the crowded car,
dressed in blue jeans, T-shirt and jacket, holding onto a pole and
reading a paperback. At one of the stops, two street toughs boarded,
shouting and cursing and doing every obnoxious thing possible to
intimidate the other riders. The officer continued to read his book,
though he kept a watchful eye on the two punks as they strolled along
the aisle making comments to female passengers, and banging shoulders
with men as they passed.
As they approached the officer, he lowered his novel and made eye
contact with them. �You got a problem, man?� one of the IQ-challenged
punks asked. �You think you�re tough, or somethin�?� the other asked,
obviously offended that this one was not shirking away from them.
�As a matter of fact, I am tough,� the officer said, calmly and with a
steady gaze.
The two looked at him for a long moment, and then without saying a word,
turned and moved back down the aisle to continue their taunting of the
other passengers, the sheep.
Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically
primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can
choose which one they want to be, and I�m proud to say that more and
more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was
honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall,
was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone
to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he
learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as
weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, �Let�s roll,�
which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to
confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred
among the passengers--athletes, business people and parents--from sheep
to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an
unknown number of lives on the ground.
�Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after
that?�
"There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil
of evil men." - Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of
police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep,
real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are
wolves. They didn�t have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human
being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral
decision.
If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but
you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your
loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect
you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are
going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or
love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior�s path, then
you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate,
equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment
when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well
concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt
holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some
form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police
officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there
is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears
to slaughter you and your loved ones.
I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the
break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church.
The other cop replied, �I will never be caught without my gun in
church.� I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me
about a police officer he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft.
Worth, Texas, in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual
came into the church and opened fire, gunning down 14 people. He said
that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had
been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was
throw himself on the boy�s body and wait to die. That cop looked me in
the eye and said, �Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live
with yourself after that?�
Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was
carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would
probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and
would call for �heads to roll� if they found out that the airbags in
their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire
sprinklers in their kids� school did not work. They can accept the fact
that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be
safeguards against them. Their only response to the wolf, though, is
denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and
disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, �Do you have any idea
how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones were
attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you
were unprepared for that day?�
The warrior must cleanse denial from his thinking. Coach Bob Lindsey, a
renowned law enforcement trainer, says that warriors must practice
�when/then� thinking, not �if/when.� Instead of saying,�If it happens
then I will take action,� the warrior says, �When it happens then I will
be ready.�
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically
destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is
counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and
horror when the wolf shows up.
Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when
you are not physically prepared: You didn�t bring your gun; you didn�t
train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy.
Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically
survive, you are psychologically shattered by fear, helplessness, horror
and shame at your moment of truth.
Chuck Yeager, the famous test pilot and first man to fly faster than the
speed of sound, says that he knew he could die. There was no denial for
him. He did not allow himself the luxury of denial. This acceptance of
reality can cause fear, but it is a healthy, controlled fear that will
keep you alive: "I was always afraid of dying. Always. It was my fear
that made me learn everything I could about my airplane and my emergency
equipment, and kept me flying respectful of my machine and always alert
in the cockpit." - Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, Yeager, An Autobiography
Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11
book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to
terms with our current world situation:
"..denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all
the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn�t so, the fall
they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling.
Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in
small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on
some level."
And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his
life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes.
If you are a warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you
step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending
that the bad man will not come today. No one can be �on� 24/7 for a
lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a
weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and
say this to yourself... �Baa.�
This business of being a sheep or a sheepdog is not a yes-no dichotomy.
It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of
degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-grass sheep
and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist
completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in
between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that
continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting
and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their
job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away
from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved
ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.
--
James M. Atkinson. President and Sr. Engineer
"Leonardo da Vinci of Bug Sweeps and Spy Hunting"
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=15178662
Granite Island Group
http://www.tscm.com/
(978) 546-3803 jm..._at_tscm.com
(978) 381-9111
Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:18 CST