24 February 2010

Stress reducers...

From the Soldier and Cop side: One of the questions I have been asked many times in my police and military career is: "How did you deal with stress?"


I mean in Bosnia we had a little bit of stress. In Iraq we had a little bit of stress and in police work, every once in a while, we have a little bit of stress.
I found the best ways to reduce stress are:

1.) Find a "happy place." Put your mind in a place you'd rather be at that moment. (Unless assholes are shooting at you or trying to kick your ass, in which case return fire with better tactics. )

2.) Make sure you have had the best training and know WTF you are doing. Not knowing what to do in a bad situation will add to the stress. Also, being clumsy and a duffiss will not help. If you’re the type who can’t walk and chew gum, then in most cases you won’t be able to draw your pistol from your holster quick enough to make a difference in a gun fight—for example.

3.) Use humor whenever you can. Not just dumb shit, but you must work on being truly funny whenever the need arises. Some examples might include having little premade signs for walking out on patrols on places like Iraq, the signs would be put on the back of fellow soldiers and might say things like: “Kick here” or “Will patrol for food.” Or whatever you think will get a good laugh and won’t piss off somebody with a loaded weapon.

So, thinking of humor, I found a friggen funny ass sight at http://nobodys-corner.com/

This it the kind humor we could have used in Iraq.

Ask about this cake damage....

Possible future stories:  Let me know what you'd like to hear about by leaving a comment. 

8 comments:

Red said...

great post! ok, I'll ask..what's the deal with the cake?

Mike Golch said...

great posting.having a happy place is the best defence against insanity of the world.That's my story and by God I'm sticking to it!

Coffeypot said...

You have posted some good stories from the cop side. Got any funny ones from there? And on patrol, I would have put a sign on my back saying something like, I may be slow but I’m ahead of you. That’s an old Brother Dave Gardner saying from back in the early 60’s.

Anonymous said...

I'm thinkin' the guy in the white pants destroyed the cake...I bet he even has confetti in his shirt pocket. Could it be a shartfetti?

OK, nobodys shooting at me so I'm going back to my very perfect "happy place".

Your funny cop stories are good...like mushroom boy. P says to tell some more of those.

anon said...

Yeah, a good laugh can really improve a stressful day.

I stopped to help another blaster secure his lock down area one day, he was shooting a hole for a new Walmart store. Very populous area.

His shot got away on him, shit flew everywhere, he froze up on the radio and failed to ask for an "all clear" from the signaler. He was too stressed to talk, I guess. His crew sat with bated breath.

So I stepped in for him and asked for "Clean up on aisle 3"

His crew were pretty happy to have something to laugh about : )

anon said...

Few things beat a good laugh, especially in situations of sustained stress.

I'm gonna just go ahead and hope that guy sat on that cake, that would explain everything.

But it looks to me like a bunch of people each grabbed a fork and lit into the cake.

CI-Roller Dude said...

R, I'll write about the cake soon.
M.G. I suppose you've found your happy place

CP, I can usually only write about older events because I never know when a more recent event may still go to court or someshit.
~J, Oh, stoned and drunk folks make such good stories.
PG, I hate it when people who should do better, freeze when things don't go right...but "clean up on isle 3" was the correct response.

Mandie said...

Okay so you're just gonna leave us hangin' about the cake?

But that picture was hilarious and so gross at the same time. Haha.

"Farts, you just can't trust them..."

Omg. I'm still laughing.