My issue is when nutnfancy talks about being a sheep dog he makes it clear being a “sheepdog” is predicated on carrying a gun and using that gun to fight crime and rescue the sheep. I challenge anyone out there to show my a video where nutnfancy states that if you walk out your door with out a pair of jumper cables you have failed in your civic duty as a sheep dog .
If jumping somebody off who has a dead battery is all the further you're willing to go to save them from "harm," you definitely should continue on with your delusions of what it means to have a sheepdog mentality. You'll stay out of the way of whoever is really prepared to step up that way.
Aside from that, you're just flat out wrong that nutnfancy's or Lt. Col. Grossman's philosophy focuses entirely on gun-play. Here's the Description to the video that nutnfancy posted to clarify exactly what he means when he refers to "his sheepdogs in TNP." I challenge you to show me the word "gun" or "shoot" or anything that can be remotely connected to a laser-beam-like focus on weaponry to fulfill the duty he feels to his his fellow man within his explanation of how he views the concept:
The Sheepdog Concept
Uploaded on Nov 4, 2009
Your actions could save lives. At the heart of what I have referred to as The Sheepdog is a selflessness that looks outwardly to the needs of others. They cannot abide watching their fellow humans beings suffer and die while they do nothing. They are compelled into action even when those actions could lead to their own deaths or injury. The Sheepdog comes from every walk of life, every race, and can be male or female; it is impossible to identify them from appearance alone. It is their actions in the face of horrific situations that reveals the Sheepdog as they step forward when no one else will. Lenny Skutnik, in the face of the tragic Air Florida crash in 1982 into the icy Potomac River, was just such an unassuming Sheepdog. He jumped into the aviation fuel soaked and frigid waters to save passenger Priscilla Tirado just before she slipped beneath the water to her death. Hundreds had been watching Priscilla flounder and would have watch her die without doing anything. These are sheep that are frozen into inaction by their lives of denial and lack of mental and material preparation. They are not bad people but nore are they heroic; they're just there. Leeny's Sheepdog heart was revealed that day. They are others like him in civilian, law enforcement, fire fighting, and military ranks. But they are relatively few indeed and they are special. Few have what I feel possess the other key qualities of the Sheepdog (discussed in the video): a strong value system, unassuming manner, bravery, judgment and maturity, preparation, practiced skill sets, and a strong sense of duty in the face of often scary circumstances. The Sheepdog Concept is foundational to my gear reviews here: an attempt to give quality information to help equip you good people for your "day." Both mental and material prepartation can expand your capabilities in this important calling. Good Sheepdogs span the ranks and include responsible and caring civilians, law enforcement officials, firefighters, paramedics, PJs, EMTs, pilots, and soldiers. Many of these come to TNP to get this info as they equip and prepare. I try hard not to let them down. I salute them all and I myself try to aspire to their level.
I have no doubt in my mind that if that video had been made this week, instead of three years ago, nutnfancy would've used the guy on the train tracks as an example of the tragedy that can happen when people willing to engage their sheepdog hearts aren't around. It is not all about the gun with him.
What he opened with was the story of Lenny Skutnik, mentioned above in his description. He put others ahead of himself. He didn't have or need a gun to earn the honor of being viewed as a sheepdog by nutnfancy. He just did the insane thing of diving into freezing water to pull one of the four survivors of a plane crash out of the water when it became apparent that the helicopter crew that was trying to save her was going to fail. A dangerous, selfless act. No guns. Not even any crime involved. Just selflessness. That's it.
He highlighted in the video that being a sheepdog means being as well-versed as one can be in first aid, because you never know when your skills might be needed.
Yeah, he told a couple or three stories about sheepdogs whose armed status allowed them to save the day too. But it's about the selflessness, not about being "Superman" or a hero or anybody special at all. Just be willing to act if/when you are able and the opportunity arises where your action(s) will be a net gain.
This is really weird for me, because all I've ever been interested in at YouTube was gear reviews and music. For me, I almost never seek out videos of gun reviews, and rarely sit through political speeches or recordings of news events, but rather, I try to get a closer and better look at knives I'm interested in, or body armor and plate carriers (when I was working in armored transport), backpacks, custom sheaths, whatever camping and/or survival gear I'm in the market for at any given time. Nutnfancy reviews all of the stuff I'm interested in, and it really baffles me that he's slammed for the things he's slammed for. If I want as much info on a knife as I can find, would I go to a manufacturer's 2-minute marketing video, or to a 45 minute full-on field test out in the woods using the knife for chopping, batoning, shelter-building, making snare-traps etc? Duh. But the #1 complaint of nutnfancy is that he's too long-winded! And on this forum, it's that he believes in selflessness too much! He believes that the survival training and combat experience that he learned from his fighter-pilot-father, supplemented by becoming a fighter pilot himself first, and as a tanker pilot up to retirement from the Air Force, should be beneficial to the society he walks around more or less free in now that he's retired. The nerve of that guy, huh?
I'm not even claiming that I'm a sheepdog really. I do believe that I would have the presence of mind to quickly evaluate most situations I might find myself in, and determine if it was time to step in and if it would likely be a help or a hindrance if I did. I would like to think that if my determination was that I could be a help to preventing someone(s) from being harmed without exacerbating the overall situation, that I would have the fortitude and courage to do it, whether or not it involved my gun. The gun is only one tool used in the sheepdog's toolbox. It could be your loud voice as you take control of a chaotic situation. It could be as simple as reaching down and giving someone a hand up from the well of a train track when many bystanders are just frozen by group-think to not get involved, or they're scared or whatever. Or it may well involve the use of a gun. But it boils down to a selfless mentality, and that is the crux of the philosophy, not the gun.
Then when someone like me says “That’s not why I carry a gun” it morphs into “and you’d stand there and watch you’re fellow man freeze to death on the street.”
Maybe that's because those people actually listened to what is meant by the concept of a sheepdog, and you, obviously, have not. At least not where nutnfancy is concerned, because clearly, you have his philosophy pegged 180 degrees out of phase if you think his only focus is on using your gun, or even crime-fighting at all. It's about being helpful if/when you can be, reducing suffering if/when you can, wanting/expecting nothing in return, not even praise.
While the chest beaters congratulate themselves on how brave they are.
And who might that be?
So, let me be clear here, when I say I’m not a sheep dog I mean ‘I’m not the guy that likes to aggrandize himself on the internet by stating that the fact that I have a concealed carry permit somehow invests me with police authority and a duty to respond to any and all crimes I may encounter regardless of my knowledge of said crime or my possession of the facts concerning the scenario I’m interjecting myself into or any way of providing for my family if I’m crippled or killed in so doing.”
Nah, you're just the guy who criticizes and tells half-truths about a freakin' YouTube video producer who encourages his friends and fans to do what they can to help others when the opportunity presents itself. You "aggrandize" yourself by putting others down, but you're right, you stand firmly against the idea that if you can help, can evaluate the situation to the point of knowing whether or not your intervention will actually help rather than hinder the situation, can show courage when the odds are against you (like Lenny Skutnik, not necessarily someone using a gun), then you won't. It ain't your business. You're not getting involved. And that's fine. You'd be in the way anyway. But I have no idea why it's important to you to put down those who would involve themselves in selfless acts of courage. It seems obsessive with you, what with that "the anti sheepdog" crap next to your nick. Whatever.
Blues