Learning Close Quarter Defense | Angel Naves | TEDxOaksChristianSchool

hello everyone thank you for having me today Oaks Christian students faculty and the great church here at Calvary I tailored my message today because I wanted to give it some meaning to you some residents in your life and I always want to speak exactly to the audience that I have the honor to speak to so I'm going to ask you to engage with me even though it's not a dialogue and it won't be overt engagement I want you to think about some of the things we're going to say and really internalize them and come up with the answers to yourself as we bring forth these questions all right as Paul said I was once a Navy SEAL and I was also a seal instructor which for us is a small cadre in our community that end up facilitating the training for new trainees as well as for our teammates and some of our advanced skill sets as we go on so I won't tell you about my time in the SEAL Teams there's no reason in fact I'll be the rarity I'll be the one seal that is not trying to get into a movie or make a video game at this time but I will tell you about my time as an instructor so as people that are in training and training for life you can gain some of the insights that I saw when I went through the training I didn't necessarily know exactly what I was going through but when I was an instructor and we were going through the same formal of what we would put our students through it really gave me insight into the human spirit into the mind into what people are capable of and are not capable of if they choose not to be but what differentiates them in this process now the one week that all default to that everybody kind of understands from what they've heard or read or seen is this one week in training called hell week now there's nothing special and magical about it it just lasts about a week and it goes on and on and it's continuous training with very little rest and very little sleep and the main thing is it's just cold there's a lot of activity but part of the reason for the activity to keep the students busy and moving is really just so they don't freeze to death and become hypothermic now the unique part about facilitating this training when I was instructor as normally I would work by choice the day shift that went in tonight when the Sun Goes Down and people start to lose a little bit of faith it gets a little colder and they start to question what they're capable of and how long it's going to last some of the events we did again the cold usually caused a great deal of attrition now what was unique about this type of training but it's very similar to life is that at anytime the trainee could choose to stop you could dropped or training on request we called it a dor so that was the acronym for that but the way in which it would have to manifest itself is it couldn't just be a thought and it couldn't just be verbalized the action was one where they had to go and they had to walk to a bell this beautiful brass bell that was shiny and polished at all times that followed the class wherever we went in the individual would have to take the Bell and they would have to consciously and precisely ring it three times thereby displaying their intent to stop training so it couldn't be a slight mistake it had to be a conscious choice it had to be a conscious action now the unique part about this is even though the training lasted from approximately Sunday at some time in the evening to Friday at some time in the afternoon almost all of the individuals that chose to leave training left within about the first two days thereafter we would have to continue the event for the trainees that were still left but at this point in time it was almost just an exercise we would have to stop doing activities to save the students from themselves so they wouldn't hurt themselves physically because they had already resolved in their spirit that there was nothing that was going to stop them that whatever they were told to do whatever they needed to do whatever was determined to be or ordered to achieve the mission the objective at that time they were going to do now the unique part about this is they didn't look any different from the guys that decided to stop training in fact oftentimes they look maybe even less impressive physically they weren't as strong didn't appear as athletic maybe not even as smart so a couple of unique things when I started doing this training over and over again that I took from this is that's this one you can't judge a book by its cover so don't be too quick to judge somebody based on appearance because you don't know what's inside of them number two talent is overrated now I've just got to say that and put it in context and what I mean is a certain amount of talent you need in life you got to be smart enough you got to be capable enough depending on what you want to do but at the end of the day you just got to not quit so I say that because it mattered to me that that was the insight that I took from that and that it took all kinds and you could never judge anybody but the more important training I did is what I do now predominantly when I was a trainer I would teach as Paul had said leaders close-quarters defense or what we called cqd now this was the system of defensive and protective tactics unarmed and armed individual and team that our teammates would use to protect themselves and achieve the mission overseas and the unique part about that training was it was very positive and the reason is because it was developed by a man named Duane dieter and he is my great teacher my great mentor and the man I look to and one of his axioms was life as a fight the greater the purpose the greater the fighting potential now when I internalized that and as I continue to think about it more deeply and internalize it that much more what it means is that not necessarily life is always a physical engagement it's not but there is struggle at some point in everyone's life and to achieve anything of worth there will be hardship and there will be effort involved and it will be on going but if you know your purpose and it's a positive purpose you can almost always achieve it so in that basic part of training that I was just talking about we never encourage the individuals we wanted them to find it in and of themselves and it made me actually quite sad later on when I thought about it because some of those same individuals that had decided to stop training became my tactical role players and they would become situational adversaries in the training mechanism the training my teammates thereafter and I saw in those young men they were just as smart they were just as tough but nobody had encouraged them positively to fulfill their purpose and they hadn't yet resolved it to themselves so there were good people and they went on and no doubt to have great lives and many of them even came back through the training so I don't want you to think that because they didn't make it through the training they're not good people not good Americans they just at that point in time during hadn't resolved that they were not going to be stopped regardless of the situation and for anything that's another thing that I got out of seal training that a lot of the things that were easy for some people weren't for others but at some point in time everyone was challenged to their absolute core deep and they could either dig within the wellspring of their strength their inner strength and spirit and achieve or they couldn't so it's what comes from inside and we're all going to be challenged so at some point in time if you're not struggling be thankful you might struggle later on you will I can flat-out guarantee it so one thing in life that you can guarantee at some point you will fight and you will have to struggle to achieve now fighting just isn't in the physical manifestation of defence your great purpose and everyone's purpose and my purpose and my passion is to teach you to fight to protect yourself and those you love as well as to have the courage to do the right thing to fight for what is morally right and just even if it's not happening to you real courage is when you protect somebody that is being preyed upon or disparaged from somebody else and it's not happening to you for you to intervene that's real leadership so if you're struggling now just take heart on that and know this when you come to this paradigm shift of understanding and you reconcile this in your mind you'll understand that the goal is not to make it to the destination that when you get to the end state you will be at peace there will be no pressure because you're no longer struggling when you understand that the struggle is the goal and how you react in your ability to maintain positive and know your purpose and not be dissuaded as you're in your struggle that is the outcome and as soon as you understand that you will not only understand that life is a fight you will take joy in it and your positive example will lead others the other thing I would say is encourage each other if you're lucky enough to not be struggling but you see a friend struggling through anything be there for them at some point in time you're going to want somebody to be there for you very critical so as we said life is a fight and the greater your purpose the greater your fighting potential so now we have to talk about that I want you to examine your own heart and say right now what is my purpose it's a very broad term you might not know what that is yet you might still be exploring that in your life what does that mean to you but I can simply tell you this that your purpose right now is to discover if you don't know it already and at some point in time it will be to serve others to cherish each other individually and collectively when we started this we took a pledge of allegiance you all took an oath in doing so to stand for liberty and justice for all for fairness so as I had mentioned before you can never judge a book by its cover that you should celebrate each other's diversity don't judge each other lift each other up pick each other up you're the leaders of tomorrow and we're all counting on you and we need that desperately now I know and I just have to say and I hope it doesn't offend anybody but because of where we are I just have to tell you my story because at the end it has to be an idea worth remembering and it has to be at about how it impacted you your personal story so there's really only one idea worth remembering that if you need to know why you're doing what you're doing and you need to discover that purpose first off you need to know that there's a reason behind you to discover that purpose and you have to know that there is an author of that purpose so I am a seeker of truth a revealer of that truth to others and to train them in that truth but there is only one absolute truth now there's a lot of things that are true and they're small components of that truth but I got to tell you the absolute truth and the author thereof is God the Father and I just hope I hope I haven't offended anybody in that I'm not here to preach you I'm just telling you how it was revealed in my life that without having that purpose in that confidence to know that somebody cared for me and had a destiny for me in my life I would not have had the strength at times to go on and I hope you can rely on that and the only thing you don't have to struggle beyond that with the struggle that has been accomplished for you is that Jesus is Christ and if you know that and you acknowledge that and you accept that it's a powerful thing because the spirit of that God will in dwell within you and give you the strength to do anything and that is my goal for you so just know in closing that I believe you all have a destiny because you all have a purpose because the Creator wants you to fulfill your purpose he wants you to fulfill your destiny only surround yourself around people that want the same and are doing the same I've done the same in my life people that want to edify others in mind and body and spirit now your destiny is there God wants you to live it but you still have to manifest that destiny only you can fulfill your purpose there will be a great struggle in the process but know that it is there before you and you can achieve it take heart in that knowledge and take comfort in each other thank you very much god bless you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 180,493

Rating: 4.5827522 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, United States, Life, Crime, Decision making, Initiative, Military, Mindfulness, Struggle, Students, Teaching

Id: mpQAsB1ECXo

Length: 14min 14sec (854 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 30 2016