Fightrepreneur
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User Power
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142%
- May 5, 2018
- 36
- 51
Hello TFLF,
I am posting this so that some more experienced guys may be able to pick apart my ideas/notions and/or give me no BS feedback. This is a rather long-ish story so I thank you if you make it through.
TLDR: The only attractive thing to me about TFL is having time/money to train martial arts and take shooting courses to fulfill a "warrior fantasy," however that will always remain unfulfilling because I won't actually be using the skills in a real world scenario/job. I know law enforcement isn't about hurting people/being a tough guy, but I am shooting for a career in it because I feel, after discussing with many people who know me and know law enforcement, that it would fulfill my calling.
My whole life I have always wanted to be a warrior. I know it sounds cliche, but I loved guns from a young age. I was obsessed with WW2 History, I loved building forts. I also liked picking fights, not to hurt the other guy per se, but just because I loved facing the threat of another individual (I did not go around beating people up, and by 6th grade my "picking fights" phase was over).
I came from a family that didn't support this kind of behavior (anti-military etc), but they did let me have airsoft. In retrospect I think I should have been put in a wrestling program but oh well.
At 20 Years old I attempted to join the Marines, but was not allowed in the military because I am diagnosed as Bipolar 2. Sucks, but I understand the concern (I should add that I have never once harmed myself or others or committed any sort of crime).
I instead got into studying the Middle East and Arabic and had fantasies of perhaps working in intelligence. I graduated Magna Cum Laude and started in graduate school for Counter Terrorism. It soon became clear to me that studying CT and fighting terrorists are two very different things. I had combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan in my program and I envied their training, knowledge, and overall bad-assery, knowing that would never be me.
While in grad school I studied abroad in the Middle East. I F*cking hated it, for the most part. However I discovered Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and quickly realized that studying martial arts was far more fulfilling than studying Arabic and Counter Terror.
I ended up quitting grad school and working odd jobs so I could train martial arts, while living with my girlfriend and then parents. At this point I was age 23. I then decided that I wanted to cage fight, so I started training MMA along with BJJ.
I soon fell into a job doing heating which supported my training, but the shitty part was that the best MMA school was an hour from where I got off work. F*ck it, I said. I made the commute for a year.
I put loads of work in for MMA, and ended up winning an amateur fight. It was an experience like no other, and something money absolutely cannot buy. But I over time realized/began considering, getting hit in the head is F*cking horrible for you, and these guys who go far in MMA most likely have permanent damage to their brains. With the rising concern in CTE in contact athletes, I decided (this week actually) to hang up the gloves. I will be training BJJ still very regularly, but will not be participating in activity involving contact to the head.
I am applying for a corrections officer job, with the goal of having a career in law enforcement (I found out that my bipolar 2 condition is waivable, especially given clean record). My father in law and friends worked in corrections for years, and they said the combination of my martial arts skills, type-A personality, and my strong sense of duty, right, and wrong make me a very good personality match.
I don't care about working my whole life. For me, there's not point to being "retired," I want a challenging job where I stand between good guys and bad guys, and have to think under pressure and physical threat.
Very open to criticism, like I said, I have an interview for corrections lined up and I am absolutely open to the idea that it will be a mundane, boring, day-to-day existence, but it will still require me to be on my toes and physically alert, and I will benefit from having martial arts skills. I see it as a stepping stone to a career in law enforcement.
I am posting this so that some more experienced guys may be able to pick apart my ideas/notions and/or give me no BS feedback. This is a rather long-ish story so I thank you if you make it through.
TLDR: The only attractive thing to me about TFL is having time/money to train martial arts and take shooting courses to fulfill a "warrior fantasy," however that will always remain unfulfilling because I won't actually be using the skills in a real world scenario/job. I know law enforcement isn't about hurting people/being a tough guy, but I am shooting for a career in it because I feel, after discussing with many people who know me and know law enforcement, that it would fulfill my calling.
My whole life I have always wanted to be a warrior. I know it sounds cliche, but I loved guns from a young age. I was obsessed with WW2 History, I loved building forts. I also liked picking fights, not to hurt the other guy per se, but just because I loved facing the threat of another individual (I did not go around beating people up, and by 6th grade my "picking fights" phase was over).
I came from a family that didn't support this kind of behavior (anti-military etc), but they did let me have airsoft. In retrospect I think I should have been put in a wrestling program but oh well.
At 20 Years old I attempted to join the Marines, but was not allowed in the military because I am diagnosed as Bipolar 2. Sucks, but I understand the concern (I should add that I have never once harmed myself or others or committed any sort of crime).
I instead got into studying the Middle East and Arabic and had fantasies of perhaps working in intelligence. I graduated Magna Cum Laude and started in graduate school for Counter Terrorism. It soon became clear to me that studying CT and fighting terrorists are two very different things. I had combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan in my program and I envied their training, knowledge, and overall bad-assery, knowing that would never be me.
While in grad school I studied abroad in the Middle East. I F*cking hated it, for the most part. However I discovered Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and quickly realized that studying martial arts was far more fulfilling than studying Arabic and Counter Terror.
I ended up quitting grad school and working odd jobs so I could train martial arts, while living with my girlfriend and then parents. At this point I was age 23. I then decided that I wanted to cage fight, so I started training MMA along with BJJ.
I soon fell into a job doing heating which supported my training, but the shitty part was that the best MMA school was an hour from where I got off work. F*ck it, I said. I made the commute for a year.
I put loads of work in for MMA, and ended up winning an amateur fight. It was an experience like no other, and something money absolutely cannot buy. But I over time realized/began considering, getting hit in the head is F*cking horrible for you, and these guys who go far in MMA most likely have permanent damage to their brains. With the rising concern in CTE in contact athletes, I decided (this week actually) to hang up the gloves. I will be training BJJ still very regularly, but will not be participating in activity involving contact to the head.
I am applying for a corrections officer job, with the goal of having a career in law enforcement (I found out that my bipolar 2 condition is waivable, especially given clean record). My father in law and friends worked in corrections for years, and they said the combination of my martial arts skills, type-A personality, and my strong sense of duty, right, and wrong make me a very good personality match.
I don't care about working my whole life. For me, there's not point to being "retired," I want a challenging job where I stand between good guys and bad guys, and have to think under pressure and physical threat.
Very open to criticism, like I said, I have an interview for corrections lined up and I am absolutely open to the idea that it will be a mundane, boring, day-to-day existence, but it will still require me to be on my toes and physically alert, and I will benefit from having martial arts skills. I see it as a stepping stone to a career in law enforcement.
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