Finding Your Courage

We talk a lot about training, tactics, and gunfighting, but I want to take a moment to draw a line between skill and courage. These two things often get lumped together, especially in the tactical or warrior communities, but they are profoundly different. Understanding that difference could be the key to rising to the occasion when you find yourself in dire straits.

The Illusion of Skill Under Stress

I've seen some incredibly talented people in action—shooters with fast hands, smooth draws, and tight groups. On the surface, they look unstoppable, but throw in fear, stress, or real-world chaos and I’ve seen them freeze, choke, and break down.

Why?

Because skill and talent, as important as they are, don't equal courage. You can be trained to the teeth and still fold when it matters most. That's not a shot at anyone's ego—it’s a wake-up call.

Confidence vs. Courage

Now don’t get me wrong, skill can build confidence, and confidence can reduce how often you need to tap into courage. Think about it like this:

Imagine if you and I are dropped into a bullfighting arena with zero bullfighting expertise. Facing a 2,000-pound angry animal would require a massive dose of courage just to stand there waving a little red blanket waiting to be gored to death. However, if we did know something about bullfighting—how to bob and weave with a massive, infuriated bull—then we wouldn’t require as much courage, because confidence in our abilities would be doing the heavy lifting, but we would still need to muster courage from someplace.

Training replaces fear with familiarity, but it doesn't replace the need for courage when it counts. Courage is of a different nature.

The Operators’ Edge

What separates a good shooter from a real operator, someone who moves through fire and fury with steady hands and clear thinking?

Some of you may be better shooters than them, being able to burn it down at the range and outshoot any hardcore military door kicker.

But when the whole world is on fire, when fear is closing in, and they’re sure they’re going to die, the operator keeps moving forward, solving problems amidst all the chaos. They keep performing consistently, maybe not the best in the world, but they keep pushing forward, driving forward, and playing the odds.

I believe courage has much more to do with character than it does with strength or even training. It comes from a deeper place.

The Poet and the Warrior

As Warrior Poets, I believe courage flows not from the warrior part of us but from the poet side. It’s the whole man that edges forward when it comes to courage.

Sure, there are times where things just happen so fast that you don’t have time to think and your training just takes over, but if you have the time to think about the situation, it will be the poet in you—rousing your courage—that drives your forward. That courage will manifest from your character, this is the side of us that feels, that loves, that hurts, that hopes, that gives us something worth fighting for.

This is what you’ve been working on your entire life: your honesty, your work ethic, your love for others, your readiness to sacrifice. Real courage comes from a full, integrated life—a mind trained for decision, a heart trained for sacrifice, and hands trained for action. Under this banner is the stuff that makes us poets.

Courage is rooted in character more than strength or skill. It’s built over years of hard choices, self-discipline, love for others, and a willingness to sacrifice. It’s not just about being ready to die—it’s also about being ready to kill if it means protecting those you love.

The Courage Mandate

So, yes, train the skills. Hit the range, hit the gym, but also love your family fiercely, build character when no one’s watching, and face what scares you instead of running from it.

Though the angry, rage-monster in you can be that quick fix to courage, we shouldn’t count on it. Because when the moment comes—when fear is thick in the air and everything’s on the line—you’ll need more than just training and even rage.

You’ll need to tap deep into your poet side and into your character—who you are as a person—because it is there, my friends, where you will find dependable courage.

Remember, Train hard. Train smart. And find your courage.