Warfighter: Interviews – Trailer

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black hawk pilot, female, grunt, identity, interview, ptsd, purpose, readjustment disorder, structure, warfighter

“Warfighter: Interviews” Marine Cpl. Kristan M. Blanchard interviews an Army female Black Hawk Pilot & Grunt on Afghanistan combat, TBI, firefights, guilt, and being medicaly forced out of the Army, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Readjustment Disorder, and overcomming the lack of identity, structure and purpose in the civilian world.

Marine Combat Vet: “I’m a Warrior, Not a Bureaucrat” Audio & Transcript (unedited)

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bureaucrat, combat, iraq, marine, voice recording, warrior

From a U.S. Marine combat veteran, raw and personal (unedited) voice recording with transcript “I’m a Warrior, not a Bureaucrat”, in response to the overwhelming questions of “How can I willingly go to war for this President (then Bush) and Government?”

Recorded: November 1, 2012.

Recording used as material for upcoming book “Warfighter: The America Warfighter’s Battles at War & Home” by Kristan M. Blanchard.

Please like, share, and comment. Thank you!

Marine Combat Vet: What is PTSD & Readjustment Disorder? (Unedited)

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adjusting to society, combat, ptsd, readjustment disorder, types of ptsd, what is ptsd, what is readjustment disorder

From a U.S. Marine combat veteran, raw and personal voice recording discussing what PTSD and readjustment disorder is in everyday and technical terms, aiming to bring a personal face to something so ambitious and vast.

Recorded: October 28, 2012.

“Warfighter: The American Warfighter’s Battles at War and Home” Intro

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Afghanistan, battles at war and home, combat, Intro video, iraq, kristan blanchard, Marines, On Combat, On Killing, personal interview, ptsd, readjustment disorder, returning home, USMC, war, what is ptsd

Introduction to author K. M. Blanchard’s manuscript “Warfighter: The American Warfighter’s Battles at War and Home”, and the corresponding blog (www.Warfighterbook.com) inviting the world to read very intimate and raw interviews as well as personal accounts, and participate in that discussion.

From Sheep to Wolf: Becoming Actors

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act of valor, blockbuster, ego, id, media, military movie, Navy SEAL, Osama Bin Laden, sheep to wolf, sigmund freud, society of sheep, Special Operator, super-ego, switching from husband and father to warrior, tame or wild, warrior ethos

We have had quite a number of high profile military related movies in the media lately. Of course they have been centered around the killing of Osama Bin Laden. And of course I fancy myself to watch these movies, namely “Zero Dark Thirty”, “The Hunt for Osama Bin Laden”, and of course the blockbuster movie overtly advertising the use of real U.S. Navy SEAL Operators as actors, “Act of Valor”.

If you have seen any of these movies, I want you to pause reading my text for a moment and think over your perceptions of these movies, and what really stands out to you.

While watching this movie alone in the theater the below images really stood out to me, and hit home hard for me. It clicked instantly, I recognized something and I felt it again.

I have provided a series of images of the same man, in the order of precedence as shown in the movie.

“Act of Valor” 2012 – Screen Shot

“Act of Valor” 2012 – Screen Shot

“Act of Valor” 2012 – Screen Shot

Now I want you to analyze the first image. To some it may seem like a simple image capture from a blockbuster movie (Act of Valor). To others it may look like a simple portrait of the difficulties of military life.

To me, it looks like the familiar change in a man morphing from a warm husband and father to the cold calculated master tactician switching from and burying his domestic ego. Morphing from a domestic dog into a wild wolf.

For those who may not already know, understand this was the blockbuster movie that marketed its use of 8 current Active-Duty United States Navy SEALS (along with actual Naval equipment and live munitions) in an attempt to validate the authenticity of the movie.

This man in each of these images, vividly portraying an internal change so fervent that its probably a chemical change, is not an actor. That is a real United States Special Operator. And although he may be in front of a camera and movie set, he is not acting, to this man, these feelings and movements and situations are real life.

In the third image the man is in full combat gear on a mission, thousands of miles away from his family.

Now keep this in your mind while I go on.

Sigmund Freud identified the three separate factors of the human psychic apparatus being the “id”, “ego” and “super-ego”.

Briefly, the “id” refers to the most carnal instincts in us, present from birth, that seek only instant gratification, pleasure, and reprise from discomfort, and deny all connections to reality or sensibility. It is purely animalistic, purely selfish, and has no care for ethics or pragmatisms in any way. Babies are thought to be purely “id” based.

The “super-ego” contributes by directly opposing the “id” in being critical and moralistic in nature. Where as the “ego” is based in reality and subsequently seeks to please the id through acceptable reality based means, essentially “bridging” or “mediating” between the “id” and the “super-ego”.

I would propose to you that this particular man, in this case a U.S. Naval Special Operator, has two main ego’s (or idenities) that matter to us in this situation: Husband and Warrior. Domestic and Wild. Provisioner and Protector. Safe and Dangerous.

It may be unclear exactly how much either of these overlap with each other. It is safe to say that there is some amount of overlapping of each ego, and arguably they rely on each other for sustainment and validation. But it is also safe to say that the extremes of either of this egos are solely isolated firmly inside of their respective egos. The most domesticated behaviors of the husband reside only in the ego of the husband, and do not reside anywhere inside of the Warrior’s ego. The same can be said for the most dangerous behaviors of the Warrior’s ego (having nothing to do with relevance or warrant – rather those dangerous actions are sanctioned in combat or reckless at home).

Take a brief moment and look over these three images again with Freud’s “id” “super-ego” and “ego” in mind, and also look at a fourth image of the SEAL Operators enjoying family time at a beach before being ordered on the mission this movie is based on.

As a society in the background dealing with the overwhelming complexities of waging war, including the re-adjustment of our warfighters, can we explain how this man can transform from husband and father of the year to Special Operator, back to husband and father of the year, back to Special Operator, and so on, for years, even decades?

I personally can only relate to the life of a Special Operator about as well as the average mother and wife can relate to me. But non-the-less, I do not have the answer. I do not know we actually ease the transition from puppy to wolf to puppy to wolf to puppy to wolf back to puppy.

Instead, I posit that there is in-fact no such transformation, not really. Instead, this Special Operator who is not an actor, but a real U.S. Navy SEAL is in fact more of an actor than the famous celebrities we gossip about each day on Twitter, Facebook, and Yahoo. Yes, this man who we know by his call sign Rourke Denver is a better and more experienced actor than Johnny Depp, or Meryl Streep (and I do not say those names lightly, inferring they are without merit, both extraordinary actors with a substantial pedigree).

I posit that the only transformation happens from tame to wild, and wild simply behaves tamely when needed, and it is in this perilous union that we see an exorbitant amount of problems from our Veterans.

Given my combat and military experiences, I am merely an amateur rookie compared to these men who serve our nation as Special Operators, and still these theories are true as applied directly to me. I battle daily with being wild or tame, and every day I sell myself that I must remain tame for the better interest of the people I love, even if it is not a true display of who I am, now.

But does that make me tame? No. This makes me a warrior trying to exist in a society of sheep. An actor.

Semper Fi.

Kristan M. Blanchard
Corporal, USMC.

This post was started on February 26, 2013. Revisions and final edits have been made up to and on January 29th, 2014.

A Quandary of Power

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Alpha Male, law enforcement, Navy SEAL, Quandary, trenton phoenix, warfighter

Take a moment and imagine a scenario between a Naval Special Warfare Operator, such as a Navy SEAL, and a local municipal law enforcement officer.

Imagine the Navy SEAL is in civilian attire in a civilian situation in CONUS (Continental United States) and is pulled over, or confronted by an on-duty Officer for the county in any other type of casual everyday type of scenario.

How does it go down? Who establishes dominance, and respect? Does the small town Police Officer rate to confront, dictate and thus control the elite U.S. Special Forces Operator?

The simple and technical answer I can conclude is that yes, the Navy SEAL should take the speeding ticket, or cooperate with detainment like anyone else should. The law enforcement officer still is deputized, and has the legal authority to police – even if the Navy SEALs training and alpha-male resume’ far exceeds that of the law enforcement officer.

More simply put, the wolf is allowing himself to be controlled by a bunny rabbit – out of principle, and nothing else. But to what degree will the Navy SEAL’s respect for principle prevail? At what point does principle not become relevant, and the personal objectives of the SEAL outweigh that of the social obligations for the SEAL to comply with the social rules and legalities implemented by the very country which the SEAL swore to protect.

This scenario is make believe, but it represents a serious psychological dilemma in dominance and respect of authority.

And it does not just apply to SEAL Operators and Law Enforcement Officers.

[Original edit January 28, 2013, 8:12 pm PST]

The Great Enigmatic Beast in the Fog and Mist

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beast, deception, enigmatic, fog and mist, humanity, kristan blanchard, poetry, shape shifting, trenton phoenix, war, war is simple, warrior

“War is a simple endeavor. It is not the great enigmatic and ghastly beast, always shifting shape and density, in the fog and mist just out of my sight. No, war is a simple endeavor, that of opposing forces attempting to impose each-other’s will against each other.

It is the humanity that war is fought for, that ever driving force of propulsion driving men to kill men, that is the great enigmatic and ghastly beast, always shifting shape and density in the fog and mist, just out of my sight. It is humanity that overburdens me, stifles me – that haunts me in my thoughts and dreams.

It is our humanity that scathes me and eludes me, with its great magnificent mechanisms of deception and manipulation, capable of wanting a thing, and then when this very thing is in humanities grasp, letting go in search of another conquest, dry and unremorseful in its waste.

War is familiar to me, brutally simple, and honorable.”

K. M. Blanchard
Fri, November 23, 2012

Voice Recording – Shock: Bringing it Home to You and Me

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combat, death, divorce, everyday shock, kristan blanchard, love, poetry, ptsd, shock, sons of anarchy, trenton phoenix

Download “Shock – Bringing it Home to You and Me – Nov 15, 2012.mp3” Voice Recording

Length: 49 min 48 sec

This is my voice recording discussing shock – how it applies to people, veterans and non-veterans alike. My goal is to bridge the gap between Warfighters – Veterans, and everyone else. There’s a disconnect in people who have never experienced military, war, combat, and those that have. Our media depicts action and dramatic events and that’s how our society relates to Warfighters, ect. But it’s more of a theatrical, or dramatic relation, than a real intimate connection.

So I wanted to bring home the stages of Shock, what causes shock, and discuss ideas about how a Warfighter may deal with shock differently than non-Warfighters – by using everyday experiences in life, I wanted to tie a connection between you and me. Putting shock in terms of you, and your life – by sharing intimate experiences of my own outside of combat. From the death of my dog hours ago, to divorcing my ex-wife, to near suicide, the potential risk in loss of the love of my life, to being shot at.

We are all human, just like you; fragile, weak, made of flesh, and imperfect just like you. Capable of loss, of pain, of love, of lust, of joy and peace. We are not some alien life-form unrelated to yourself that’s exploited in movies and video games – we are real; humans, just like you.

Voice Recording – I’m a Warrior, Not a Bureaucrat

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army, bureaucrat, combat, honor, kristan blanchard, Military, orders, ptsds, sons of anarchy, trenton phoenix, USMC, VFW, warfighter, warrior

Download “I’m a Warrior, Not a Bureaucrat – Nov 1, 2012.mp3” Voice Recording

Length: 10 min 44 sec

Download PDF Format Audio Transcript – 4 pages, 1,690 words

My voice recording answering a question I was asked regarding how I can take orders, and risk my life for politicians I may not even like?

The answer being because I am a warrior. I was born one, I am one, and I will die one, and I will never be anything different than a warrior.

Also discussing one core commonality between a politician and a warfighter in an effort to also explain key differences as to further expand on my meaning and intention in stating that I am only a warrior (warfighter).

Voice Recording – Combat: Defined – Susceptibility to PTSD, Differing Types of Kinetic Combat

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adjustment disorder, army, asymmetrical warfare, combat, define, dissociative dissorder, iraq war, kinetic, kristan blanchard, post traumatic stress disorder, ptsd, sons of anarchy, trenton phoenix, USMC, VFW, war, warfighter

Download “Combat: Defined – Susceptibility to PTSD, Differing Types of Kinetic Combat – Nov 1, 2012.mp3” Voice Recording

Length: 24 min 05 sec

This is my voice recording attempting to define what combat is – the sustained exposure to the real or perceived threat of kinetic or psychological danger. 

I further propose ideas about who is most likely to experience combat, what types, and why – in addition to the possibilities that some type of combat may be more acceptable and therefor less damaging than other types to a given type of person experiencing it.

Debunking the idea that PTSD can only occur when someone experiences sustained and  excessively intense kinetic violence (the idea that only “Rambo” can have PTSD). The reality being that even combatants, or even more likely, Warfighters that operate at such a high opperation tempo, always on alert, always suspecting, and therefor always under the real or perceived threat of intense bodily harm or death, but never actually engaged in a “fire fight” may also develop [re]adjustment disorder, dissociative disorder, or PTSD.