Book Review: In Search Of The Warrior Spirit
In 1985, that is exactly what happened in a classified program called The Trojan Warrior Project.
As part of an initiative to make super-soldiers, the U.
S.
Army turned a group of Green Berets over to a team of martial artists and meditation instructors.
The project was chronicled in the book In Search Of The Warrior Spirit, by Richard Strozzi-Heckler.
This book is a great jumping-off point for anyone interested in gaining the discipline of a military warrior and the compassion of a monk.
In it, Strozzi-Heckler uses journal entries to capture his experiences and thoughts of one of the most innovate and successful awareness-training programs ever conducted in the U.
S.
Because of the incredible premise of the project - that modern warriors could benefit from training in the martial arts, meditation, and self-awareness - I am choosing this book as the first book review in the series of Awaken The Inner Warrior.
In 1985, the Army was still hurting from the whiplash of the Vietnam War.
Troops were returning home incredibly skilled at killing but never received any training in how to apply their warrior mindsets to their careers, relationships, and goals.
The result, the Army knew, was a weapon that had no use in peacetime.
Because the Army needed to make their soldiers the best in the world, not only in wartime but in peacetime, they began exploring how to create the most effective warriors the world had ever seen.
Enter Strozzi-Heckler.
As a Marine stationed in east Asia in the 1960s, he traveled extensively studying meditation techniques and the martial arts.
He returned to the U.
S.
where he earned a Ph.
D.
in clinical psychology with an emphasis on mind-body connection.
When the Army began putting together a team to teach their Special Forces soldiers how to be 'super-soldiers', Richard was an ideal candidate to instruct.
In his words, "The point of the Trojan Warrior Project is to increase (their) potential as soldiers and as individuals.
" He chronicles the entire program from start to finish in the book, wrestling with the place a modern warrior should hold in a peaceful society and the struggles he encountered as he trained America's most skilled fighters how not to kill.
Richard had his work cut out for him.
The Green Berets he was tasked with training ran the gamut from those with experience in multiple wars to those who were new initiates to one of the most elite military units in the world.
All of the soldiers were skeptical about how Aikido, meditation, and body-awareness were going to make them better fighters and people.
The author makes the argument to them, and to readers, that "Potential and performance are increased in direct relationship to our ability to be aware.
" To teach this body-awareness, he began training the Green Beret soldiers in Aikido, a martial art based more on conflict resolution than winning in a fight and in meditation techniques used in eastern wisdom traditions.
While many of the soldiers were skeptical of the flowing movements of Aikido, they were impressed that so much could be accomplished without the physical strength they had spent so much time developing.
In the middle of the six-month program, the soldiers were taken on a meditation retreat where they were discouraged from smoking and eating meat (two things most soldiers enjoy).
While some soldiers rejected the long hours of sitting quietly, many others found the experience an asset to their ability to remain calm under pressure.
Surprisingly, many of them experienced more benefits when they returned to their families as they were able to be aware and compassionate on a level they hadn't experienced prior to the training.
Strozzi-Heckler consistently stresses the need for the Green Berets, and all warriors, to actually separate themselves from the wars they fight.
He shares with readers his thoughts on the need to cultivate a warrior who understands the difference between being a warrior and fighting in war: "With all our reasons not to fight, we have not lived in peace since our beginning.
Instead of asking 'Why is this?' we need to ask 'What is it in war that attracts us? How do we free the warrior spirit without destroying ourselves? How do we separate the warrior from war?" Richard's account of how the Trojan Warrior Project changes the modern warriors is nothing short of amazing.
By the end of the training, the soldier's ability to be able to control pain and promote healing increased by more than half, while their ability to maximize the effects of rest and recuperation doubled.
On average, the soldiers increased their physical, psychological and mission-related capabilities by 75%.
More importantly, the soldiers gained an understanding of what it means to be more than a weapon; they learned how to be better human beings.
As Richard says, "The warrior class...
holds a piece of the human heart that hungers for a passionate and whole-hearted life.
" What I enjoyed most about this book was the philosophy of warriorhood Richard explores throughout the book.
Instead of focusing on how to make modern warriors better at inflicting harm on others, he explores how warriors can be more self-aware so that they can be better at whatever they do, whether it involves combat or taking care of one another.
Additionally, Richard's definition of what makes a modern warrior is one of the best ones I have ever read: "Being a warrior doesn't mean winning or even succeeding.
It means risking and failing and risking again, as long as you live.
" Whether you're a Green Beret or an accountant, a martial artist or a stay-at-home mom, those are words you can guide your life with.
For all these reasons, I can highly recommend In Search Of The Warrior Spirit as a must-read for anyone interested in living as a modern warrior.
As part of an initiative to make super-soldiers, the U.
S.
Army turned a group of Green Berets over to a team of martial artists and meditation instructors.
The project was chronicled in the book In Search Of The Warrior Spirit, by Richard Strozzi-Heckler.
This book is a great jumping-off point for anyone interested in gaining the discipline of a military warrior and the compassion of a monk.
In it, Strozzi-Heckler uses journal entries to capture his experiences and thoughts of one of the most innovate and successful awareness-training programs ever conducted in the U.
S.
Because of the incredible premise of the project - that modern warriors could benefit from training in the martial arts, meditation, and self-awareness - I am choosing this book as the first book review in the series of Awaken The Inner Warrior.
In 1985, the Army was still hurting from the whiplash of the Vietnam War.
Troops were returning home incredibly skilled at killing but never received any training in how to apply their warrior mindsets to their careers, relationships, and goals.
The result, the Army knew, was a weapon that had no use in peacetime.
Because the Army needed to make their soldiers the best in the world, not only in wartime but in peacetime, they began exploring how to create the most effective warriors the world had ever seen.
Enter Strozzi-Heckler.
As a Marine stationed in east Asia in the 1960s, he traveled extensively studying meditation techniques and the martial arts.
He returned to the U.
S.
where he earned a Ph.
D.
in clinical psychology with an emphasis on mind-body connection.
When the Army began putting together a team to teach their Special Forces soldiers how to be 'super-soldiers', Richard was an ideal candidate to instruct.
In his words, "The point of the Trojan Warrior Project is to increase (their) potential as soldiers and as individuals.
" He chronicles the entire program from start to finish in the book, wrestling with the place a modern warrior should hold in a peaceful society and the struggles he encountered as he trained America's most skilled fighters how not to kill.
Richard had his work cut out for him.
The Green Berets he was tasked with training ran the gamut from those with experience in multiple wars to those who were new initiates to one of the most elite military units in the world.
All of the soldiers were skeptical about how Aikido, meditation, and body-awareness were going to make them better fighters and people.
The author makes the argument to them, and to readers, that "Potential and performance are increased in direct relationship to our ability to be aware.
" To teach this body-awareness, he began training the Green Beret soldiers in Aikido, a martial art based more on conflict resolution than winning in a fight and in meditation techniques used in eastern wisdom traditions.
While many of the soldiers were skeptical of the flowing movements of Aikido, they were impressed that so much could be accomplished without the physical strength they had spent so much time developing.
In the middle of the six-month program, the soldiers were taken on a meditation retreat where they were discouraged from smoking and eating meat (two things most soldiers enjoy).
While some soldiers rejected the long hours of sitting quietly, many others found the experience an asset to their ability to remain calm under pressure.
Surprisingly, many of them experienced more benefits when they returned to their families as they were able to be aware and compassionate on a level they hadn't experienced prior to the training.
Strozzi-Heckler consistently stresses the need for the Green Berets, and all warriors, to actually separate themselves from the wars they fight.
He shares with readers his thoughts on the need to cultivate a warrior who understands the difference between being a warrior and fighting in war: "With all our reasons not to fight, we have not lived in peace since our beginning.
Instead of asking 'Why is this?' we need to ask 'What is it in war that attracts us? How do we free the warrior spirit without destroying ourselves? How do we separate the warrior from war?" Richard's account of how the Trojan Warrior Project changes the modern warriors is nothing short of amazing.
By the end of the training, the soldier's ability to be able to control pain and promote healing increased by more than half, while their ability to maximize the effects of rest and recuperation doubled.
On average, the soldiers increased their physical, psychological and mission-related capabilities by 75%.
More importantly, the soldiers gained an understanding of what it means to be more than a weapon; they learned how to be better human beings.
As Richard says, "The warrior class...
holds a piece of the human heart that hungers for a passionate and whole-hearted life.
" What I enjoyed most about this book was the philosophy of warriorhood Richard explores throughout the book.
Instead of focusing on how to make modern warriors better at inflicting harm on others, he explores how warriors can be more self-aware so that they can be better at whatever they do, whether it involves combat or taking care of one another.
Additionally, Richard's definition of what makes a modern warrior is one of the best ones I have ever read: "Being a warrior doesn't mean winning or even succeeding.
It means risking and failing and risking again, as long as you live.
" Whether you're a Green Beret or an accountant, a martial artist or a stay-at-home mom, those are words you can guide your life with.
For all these reasons, I can highly recommend In Search Of The Warrior Spirit as a must-read for anyone interested in living as a modern warrior.
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