Can We Actually Train Lethal Intent?

Is mindset training a load of nonsense? Is it something we can actually, reliably count on to increase our odds of favorable outcomes in deadly force encounters involving knives?

I received a great comment from a combat veteran today agreeing with a post I made recently about how luck plays a role in the outcome of deadly force encounters with edged weapons.

In that comment he asked how we train lethal intent?  And I seriously thought about this. 


The first thing that came to mind were these cheesy misrepresentations of so called mindset-training which can sometimes seem like fantasy commando guided meditations that are proposed to immediately and authentically access specific mental states just by targeting vital areas while manufacturing mad faces and hitting harder. 

The more I thought about it, the more I realize that lethal intent cannot so easily be manufactured.  Lethal intent is triggered by the totality of circumstances and conditions - it doesn’t just mean targeting vital areas…or striking those areas harder…or any of that stuff that some folks make seem like its kind of an easy thing to do.  I don’t think we can train lethal intent.  Or in other words, I don’t think we can actually, meaningfully recreate it.

We can be educated on human anatomy.  We can work on being more aggressive.  We can work harder in training.  We can be connected to our purpose in training.  And all of those things may be important elements that can influence our performance in a real world deadly force encounter…and perhaps I am only being semantic here by proposing we can’t actually train lethal intent…because our actual INTENT in training can never be applied with lethality.

I see a lot of dudes dressed in camo yelling at their students like a drill sergeant as if that kind of thing has any lasting benefit.  More often than not, it could be kind of a cool experience.  At best, it could stimulate a kind of inspiration that motivates (hopefully) people to train harder.

However, I think that mindset training isn’t done with words…it manifests, on a personal level when we are given opportunities to struggle and fail in training. When we are confronted with our specific cocktail of deficiencies and liabilities, we can certainly be motivated by others on how to deal with them better, but ultimately, I think its far more dangerous to have a false sense of confidence by way of shallow, surface level mindset training…and its far more important to focus our training towards addressing actual deficiencies, than relying on this magical switch that can give us superpowers.