The Training Card Hoodie
50/50 Cotton/Poly blend with a jersey shirt hood liner.
The Training Card
The message in this artwork is about Skill Set and Mindset. Operating and training with a laser focused mentality so that you can conquer every obstacle or challenge; physical or mental. This is about combating apathy and complacency.
Skill Set - After my time as an FTO I concluded that the skills taught throughout training can be dropped into one of four main categories:
Academics
Physical Fitness
Firearms Proficiency
Defensive Tactics
Academics - Study to know your laws, legal guidelines, and what you can and can’t do. Not knowing the rules will cause hesitation when it’s time to act. That hesitation may be just the moment the bad guy was looking for to get his punch in. Now you’re stunned, laying on your back, fighting for your life. It’s more than just being smart, it’s about being ready.
Physical Fitness - Being physically fit for duty and able to handle the fight and the stress.
Firearms Proficiency - Putting rounds on target to stop the threat quickly.
Defensive Tactics - Being capable to quickly detain and prevent escalation.
All of these build on each other and support one another. You can’t just hang your hat on one and call it good.
Mindset - The mindset is found in the banner statement… “Save Yourself. No One Is Coming.”
No one is coming to study the legal guidelines for you.
No one is coming to lift those weights or run laps for you so you can be fit for duty.
No one is coming to train DT for you or to practice reloads for you… You must.. save yourself. It’s all on you.
You must be prepared as though No One Is Coming. Unlike the training mat, you can’t tap-out and reset on the street. That street fight is final and there’s no rewind button. That fight is won in the hours on the training mat, late night runs after shift, and time spent in the gym preparing yourself with the skill and ability to overcome. It’s what you do when no one else is watching that gets you home!
The “Momento Mori” theme is set in a “playing card” format as a reminder of our mortality and as a warning that so many are gambling with the cards of laziness and apathy and that’s a losing bet!
Most people don’t know what they are capable of because they’ve never been stretched to their limits. They’ve never trained with a dedicated and focused mindset. They’ve never pushed their physical and mental boundaries. They don’t know what uncomfortable feels like. For that officer, I fear the day you meet someone on the street that is willing to take you to your limits. Your frame of reference of pain and discomfort is so far from what you are actually capable of, when your muscles are burning, you’re out of breath, can’t think straight, and are hands shaking… you’re gonna think “this is what the end feels like!”... and you’re going to give up!... when you have so much more fight left in you.
Stop giving the enemy W’s!! You’re letting the enemy win and not even making them work for it. “Unforced errors” - mistakes that are attributed to one’s own failure rather than to the skill or effort of one’s opponent. In short, you’re your own worst enemy. If they are going to outdo you, make sure they have to put in more hours of work and more effort to take you down.
Train our body.
Train your mind.
No one is coming.
Save Yourself.
