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The following is taken from a book titeld "Against All Odds! More Dramatic Last Stand Actions" (ISBN 1-85409-451-3). The author is Bryan Perrett. I thought some of you might enjoy the narrative.

Here is the setup;

Time: July, 1900

Location; Peking

Scenario; The Boxer Rebellion and The Siege of the Paking Legation

Situation; The foreign legations have been surrounded on all sides by the rebellious

Chinese populace. The legations are heavliy outnumbered and have been under siege for weeks awaiting relief from American, British and other forces.

Excerpt:
"By now the Chinese had accepted the futility of further frontal assaults and resorted to continuous sniping and tunneling under the perimeter defenses to plant explosive mines. Their snipers were surprisingly efficient and began to notch up an unacceptable tally of kills. On the night of 12 July Hall positioned one of his marines, Private Dan Daly, in an advanced position on the Tartar Wall with the specific task of containing this menace while a working party strengthened the defences. Daly had only joined the Marine Corps a year earlier but was a crack shot and a born fighter with a strong killer instinct. During the first hour he shot eight of the enemy. For 30 minutes there was silence, then six boxers charged out of the darkness towards him. He dropped three, butt-stroked one and bayoneted two. Settling down, he methodically surveyed the enemy position for signs of movement and picked off three more. He was then attacked by four men, three of whom fell to his rifle and the fourth to his bayonet. Altogether, Daly was attacked eight times during the night and in the intervals between he continued to shorten the lives of those behind the Chinese barricade. Curiously, the Boxer attacks were made with swords, spears and knives; only once was a firearm used - its owner missed and was not given a second chance. By dawn the American working party had finished its task and Daly crawled back to the shelter of the Marine barricade, leaving the Wall littered with bodies. His achievement was rewarded with the Congressional Medal of Honor. Yet it is not for this, nor for a second Medal of Honor he won in 1915 in Haiti, that he is best remembered in US Marine Corps Hall of Fame. It is for a shouted command given when, as a hard-bitten sergeant, he led his platoon into action in the teeth of German machine-gun fire at Belleau Wood in June 1918:’Come on you bastards - do you want to live forever?’"

Ha ..the killer instinct ..one of my favorite subjects of mindset ! Thanks Miked for the thread !

The works of the great Jeff Cooper , comes to mind !

He notes that in contrast to the sixth commandment …man made >>"thou shall not kill " Old testament figures , Joshua , Samson and David , among others , had their own interpretation 'thou shall not kill ,unless thou hast a very good reason "

Evolution favored the predatory carnivorous hominid ,according to Cooper , and man killing seems to be the natural condition of man [Cooper] !
In modern times , Cooper writes, the man in killer instinct is not a policeman or soldier , as they really have 'authorization ' to kill if necessary ….The definition by Cooper is that the killer instinct will surface strongest in men who do not hold the lives of his adversaries in particular importance , is highly skilled with his weapons , does not prey upon society , obeys it's laws , but whom is very dangerous to thwart !

My favorite "killer" is James bowie , and I really enjoy watching the movie "the Iron Mistress" over and over ! This "deadliest man alive" led a wild romantic life difficult to fathom ; what made him famous was his chilling eagerness to destroy with terrible riposte if ever attacked ! An exponent of 'cold steel' with a righteous homicidal "turn of the mind" served upon his enemies !

His 'mindset' is grasped by this description ..which should be the standard for this forum discussions: " His determination to drive nerves and muscles to a conclusion , with no thoughts of evasion , disengagement or retreat " .." to the beholder , he seemed almost superhuman , a terrifying invincible Achilles , an avenging demon , the knife he wielded like a modern excalibur with berserk fury striding into the teeth of pistol fire , in spite of a crippled leg , animated only by his deadly ferocity , irresistible against any human defense "

In the movie , armed with his faithful 'iron mistress' [ I have a custom replica of it] he accepts a duel with a swordsman in a darkened room during a thunder storm . Talk about mindset …one of the most gripping fight to the death ever seen in movies replete with facial expressions of determined dominance over the opponent's life !

As Bowie emerges from the darkened corners of the room over and over to slash and destroy the man's body and spirit, finally plunging his 12 inch blade into the adversary's chest , you can see the acceptance of fate in the dying man's eyes under the malevolent gaze of Bowie triumphant in his kill !

Cooper writes about the terrible concentration of the instinctive destroyer that may indeed repeal the tender hearted ! As I have written before , some men are of the wolf and some will always remain of the sheep no matter how much training you endeavor to give them …as natural as predator and prey !

Van

Van-san,

How did the Iron Mistress escape mention in the prior "film and mindset" thread? I will have to check that one out soon...

Perhaps I'm stretching the scope of this thread a bit, but I can't help commenting on the "morality" issue of the "killer instinct" since you mentioned the 6th commandment...so bear with me!

I do not profess to be a biblical scholar, but in most of the popular translations of the bible today - the actual words are "thou shalt not kill" yet I understand that the original text is better translated as: "thou shalt not murder" - Kind of stretches the parameters a bit from that perspective - yet - even where the "no killing" rule is listed - elsewhere in the Old Testament, outlines are given for a "blood avenger" (NM and DT) and "cities of refuge" are given for those who have accidentally taken life - or for those who have taken life out of defense of themselves or their families - so it seems that Joshua, Samson, David and others were still within the "rules!"

As far as killer instinct is concerned - man killing DOES seem to the "the natural condition of man" [what? while the women stay home barefoot and pregnant?!? - Editorette] and the most "terrible concentration of the instinctive destroyer" would seem to assist the evolutionary process ensuring our survival - interesting to note that the ones better and more ruthless at this destruction - when called for - bring about it's very continuance.

Peace,
Lori

Van Canna Sensei.

Great post. I haven't seen the Bowie movie but I will be sure to rent it soon.

IMHO, the fervent praise we heap upon soldiers during time of battle is soon transmorgified to spite during times of peace.

The honors earned on the battlefield are lauded thorughout the ages but these same actions are looked upon as horrific during peacetime.

Fred Lovret starts his book (The Way and The Power - Secrets of Japanese Strategy) as follows:

"The essence of life is struggle and its goal is domination. There are higher goals and deeper meanings, but they exist only within the mind of man. The reality of life is war.... Civilized man does not believe in reality; he believes in believing. He believes that his intellect has become so great as to place him above nature. The civilized man does not believe in violence; he believes his society should shield him from violence. He closes his eyes to a fact that society does this by violent means. A civilized man does not believe in killing; he has other civilized men do his killing for him. The civilized man believes in the sanctity of all life; he does not let this interfere with his enjoyment of a good steak. The technical term for such behavior is schizophrenia... More often than most people care to admit, a peaceful man must put down the pen and pick up the sword in order to survive. .. In reality the warrior is a relic from the past. He does not fight for God or country, he fights to win. He will endure great personal hardship in order to stand on a hill, howl at the moon, and proclaim his dominion over all he surveys."

Mr. Lovret also states that due to our civilizing customs that less than 1% of the population has the inborn will to fight as a warrior (either soldier or policeman). I am lucky enough to experience this warrior spirit from my dojomates every time I walk into class.

All the best,

Mike