Some military tips/tricks/hacks that are useful in civilian life

   Some of the hacks that are useful in day to day life style even for a normal person can practice that are used by military

• Sometimes ranks get in the way of work. A major who is a slave driver may not be able to get his subordinates to accomplish an intended task. Even sabotaging can happen. Thing is, rank reflects nothing except perhaps your duration in the armed forces which can imply many things. The best way to lead people to do things is to do it with them.
• Don’t ever ask someone to do something you aren’t ready to do it yourself. You’ll lose their respect. Your reputation takes a hit, and before you know it, people cast doubts on your decisions. They start second guessing you.
• Nobody goes to work to fail. Norman Schwarzwkopf said that. Some times its bad job match. Some times soldiers have other pressing personal matters bothering them. Realistically you can’t solve everything. But if you try, they know you have their backs and will fight for you.
• How much are you willing to sacrifice? If a friend messes up, protecting him and keeping quiet can be costly for others.
• Controlled aggression. There is a degree of programming done to soldiers. You don’t want a soldier who is always aggressive, he won’t be able to think straight. Its conditioning, where you can flick on the aggression when called for and switch it off for rationality. Its a great thing to have. You can pick that up from martial arts.
• Mental conditioning. The army training produced men who don't flinch in danger. Right out of army, I was in a cab that got into an accident. Didn't flinch. Didn't blink. Was plenty annoyed that I was going to be late for the movie. You become a little numb to danger.
• After a sprint, you’d find it hard to breathe. Its common for many to breathe as hard or as fast as they can. Fight that urge. Instead, hold your breathe. You won’t die. But it triggers a response in the body to slow down the heart rate from its frantic pace. After 10 seconds, take slow deep breaths. Fight the urge to indulge in rapid breathing.
• Everyone can have different objectives, everyone different roles, but no matter what, everyone must have the same goal to fight for, otherwise the fight falls apart pretty quickly.
• Every soldier thinks the other soldier knows what he is doing. Often, both are as clueless as goats.
• Make a decision. A bad one if you have to. But you must never ever be without a decision. Your team can forgive you for bad decisions. Some times bad decisions can be backtracked. Indecisiveness however is unforgivable (I’m guilty of decision paralysis myself).
• Rolling in the mud, keeps mosquitoes away from you. But it also means the camouflage uniform will be a single brown or orange shape (depending on the mud type) and this shows up against plants.
• Amatuers debate tactics. Professionals discuss logistics. The groundwork requires more emphasis than the actual fight.
• The smartest people aren’t always the best soldiers. Maybe it’s better to put them somewhere safer where they can think up solutions without getting us killed.
• The combat knife is overrated, but you’d never ever find me without one. They are useful as grounding pins incase you enter an area prone to lightning. They also split wood and can be used to dig (I’m serious).
• If you want to move a battalion to fight a battle, you are moving men and material, not just weapons to a fight. People think it is merely a case of putting people on lorries and moving them there. There will be a lot of loose ends to tie up. People and vital equipment get left behind often. If that happens, you’d end up with a half-functioning battalion arriving in chaos. My point is, the tiniest little things we overlook like personnel registry, which platoon goes into which lorry, or which equipment must be towed by which vehicle, everything must be written down in paper form. Paperwork is dreadful but necessary. Because if you don’t bring a fully functioning battalion against me, and I bring my fully functioning one with all personnel and equipment accounted for, chances are I will win. I cannot emphasise again how the tiny important details matter so very much.
• Never ever, leave people behind. We spent 2 days looking for a person we assumed was lost in the jungle. Turns out we left him back in the bunk because of a personnel accounting error. The whole purpose of it is to drum into each other that no matter what we will never give up on you. It breeds trust. Like family.
• Battles are like mathematics. Assume unit 1 is strong, 2 mediocre, and 3 weak. If the enemy arranges their units as 1-2-3, should you meet them as 1–2–3 as well? No, meet them as 3-1-2. Present your weak one to their strong. The weaker unit will suffer. Thus their job is not to fight but to merely hold on to survival. Use your strong unit to overcome their mediocre ones. Use your mediocre unit to overcome their weak ones. Soon, you will outnumber the opponent.
• Never ever underestimate an enemy. We had a battalion training exercise where three of us (elite recce troopers and I was the accompanying signaller) on a ridgeline harassed a platoon (27 of them) on the move and kept them from their objectives for an hour. After a while they sent the entire company against us only to discover that they were fighting only 3 guys. They thought we were a platoon sized enemy on a flanking maneuver. Against overwhelming odds, always try to fight in an environment that is hostile or difficult to your opponent (they had to climb the ridge and circle it to get to us). If it isn’t, then move until you are in a much better position or realm.
• Weight. I know its common to see US soldiers carrying so much stuff on their body. The amount of gear they wear. The excessive amount of nylon their webbing has. Their MRE packs amaze me, because I call that unneccessary weight. The US army is largely vehicle bound. I’d shed a lot of stuff and carry the bare minimal because in our army, we aren’t as vehicle bound. Its common to hear that we need to tab 20–30km for a single mission in the forest/jungle where no vehicles can enter. I learned that perhaps the bare minimal makes for faster movement.
• The more equipment you have, the more logistics you’d require to support or move that equipment. And those logistical teams doing those work? Even they too need logistics to support their work, and it goes on. Every important task needs people, but these people need to be provided for to accomplish their task. And the supporting crew themselves need to be provided for all the way back to the beginning of the logistics chain. This creates a long logistical headache. Thus to thin down the personnel needed for logistics and move them to the frontline, reduce the amount and variety of equipment. Bring ONLY those you absolutely need. Anything else is just waste.
• Items for trading. Always carry things that others will need, to trade, gain favours, or make friends. I don’t smoke, but I carry cigarattes, and a jar of peanut butter.
• Into the fight. Know that you are always superior in many ways. No matter how the enemy is stacked against you, know that you have some advantage they don’t. The larger they are the slower they move or pivot. But have the sense that you have your limitations.
• Always try to win. Don’t ever let the other fucker win. Remember that you are superior always.