When the group set out once again, Tim was riding shotgun with Bob, and had his own set of questions.

"Bob, do you mind if I ask you about some things?"

"Ask away."

"I heard some of the things you said to Kathy. They make me wonder. I mean, I know that uniforms are easy to come by, so anyone can look like a 'professional' as you've put it. But how do you tell the difference?"

"That is easier to say than it is to understand. It isn't any one thing, it is a combination of things. Mostly attitude and actions. You are right about one thing. A uniform does not make a soldier. But you can tell a soldier from a civilian. Mostly it is by the way they act. For example, take a road block. A professional will have people BEHIND the car or whatever they are using to block the road. Only one man, or at most two, will come out to check the oncoming vehicle. The rest will stay behind cover.

The two things that you need to look for are actions. First, a professional will always have someone watching his back. take those gang bangers that attacked your house on that first day. Obviously they didn't have any kind of attack plan, besides overwhelming you and killing any who resisted. if they had been real soldiers, they would have either waited you out, or offered you a chance to surrender and then taken what they wanted. They didn't expect to be hit from behind, themselves.

Secondly, a professional is very observant. He tries to see everything that is going on around him at all times."

"Sounds like being paranoid or something."

"No. Not at all. It's not that he expects to be attacked. He simply wants to know what is going on. Alert, but without fear. Take those guys at the checkpoint the other day. As you all pulled up, all three of them started towards you. A professional would have left at least one person by the 4X4. After all, someone might steal it when they were otherwise occupied."

"Alert, but without fear." Tim repeated. "I take it that is what you've been doing all these years."

"Something like that. I watched the news, checked outside sources on the Internet, and began to put things aside as best as I could. As scripture says,

1Ti 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

I was doing what I could for my family, like anyone would. The difference was that I believed these days were almost here, and that meant that I took it a little further than most people did.


BW, Vietnam Vet