Where the Warrior/Peace Keeper?...
 
We live in a world that is involved in much violence.  Much violence is perpetrated upon us.  Sometimes we must use violence in return to stop the violence already going on.  We are expected to bring violence in our presence to a quick and legal, suitable end.

To the world whom we serve, we are expected to function as superhuman servants that can take care of any situation to which we are assigned or that happens in our presence.  It has always been so and it will be so long after you and I are no longer concerned with putting down violence and keeping the peace.  Also, the location of the field of battle does not matter... Whether in the Homeland or on a foreign field... Their expectation is the same... Stop the violence... Stop the illegal action... Take into custody the perpetrator... If you must shoot the perpetrator, shoot in the hand, foot or leg... And those who have the highest of expectations of our performance expect us to not ever kill someone they love no matter what they have done or are doing.

This then is the world in which those who are not Warrior/Peace Keepers expect us to function and get superhuman results... And kill no one in the process.

This is unrealistic expectation.  Those who have and express these expectations often have been victims of violence themselves or have been the one performing the acts of violence...

A young police officer makes an arrest for a violation of law in his presence... The man he arrests promptly attacks the officer physically resisting arrest.  When questioned as to why he resisted arrest, the response from the violator was... "To test you, to see how you would respond...!"

I have seen one violent man who had just been physically attacking and injuring two women, attack four police officers even as he was surrounded by them.  I watched as the four officers wrestled him through two rooms of the house... He was stopped only when he was soundly thumped on the head by a metal flashlight and dazed into submission...
I rode in the ambulance holding the infant child of one of the women as we took the mother to the hospital... She had been beaten and stomped.  Her temple bore the imprint of a shoe heel... I had found her on the floor in a fetal position quietly sobbing and out of touch with reality because of the fear that had been beaten into her during the violence.  In addition, he had torn the hanging earrings out of her sister's ears when she tried to assist her sister in getting away from the violent beating.  We found the sister in the front yard hysterically screaming and bleeding.

When he came to court he was so well polished and well dressed that one had to look closely to identify him as the same man of the night of violence.  The charge of assaulting a police officer was dismissed.  The four officers and myself were victims of a complaint submitted to the police department by the accused defendant.  He charged that we all, including me on scene as a chaplain assisting the injured women, had attacked and beaten him for no reason.  He said he was an innocent victim of police brutality.  We spent more time writing reports than he spent in his court hearing for assault... But that also is part of the system.  It is something that we must do in the performance of our duties.

Two soldiers (the police officers of their day) came to John the Baptist when he was preaching repentance in the wilderness and asked, What must we do?"  John replied, "Never demand or enforce by terrifying people or by accusing wrongfully, and always be satisfied with your rations (supplies) and with your allowance (wages)." (Luke 3:14 Amplified Bible)...  Or, Do what you have to do within the law and rules of conduct, be satisfied with your pay and with your equipment... Do what the situation and the actions of the people involved demand that you have to do to restore peace and order.... BASICALLY THE SAME RULE WE ALL FUNCTION UNDER TODAY.

"1 LET EVERY person be loyally subject to the governing (civil) authorities. For there is no authority except from God [by His permission, His sanction], and those that exist do so by God's appointment.
2 Therefore he who resists and sets himself up against the authorities resists what God has appointed and arranged [in divine order]. And those who resist will bring down judgment upon themselves [receiving the penalty due them].
3 For civil authorities are not a terror to [people of] good conduct, but to [those of] bad behavior. Would you have no dread of him who is in authority? Then do what is right and you will receive his approval and commendation.
4 For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, [you should dread him and] be afraid, for he does not bear and wear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant to execute His wrath (punishment, vengeance) on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath and escape punishment, but also as a matter of principle and for the sake of conscience.(Romans 13:1-5, Amplified Bible)

Peace Keeper... That is you he is speaking of... God's servant for good... Does not bear and wear the weapons for no reason... God's servant to execute His wrath, punishment, action upon the wrongdoer...

Our taskmasters, the citizens, allow us no variation in our conduct... It must be legal and right or we will suffer the actions of law ourselves.  They do not understand the demands they place upon us.  They would not live under these demands themselves.  Their demands are sometimes not realistic.  They have seen too many movies where the Peace Keeper has shot the gun out of the hand of the violent offender... In some cases without even scratching the hand that held the weapon of violence.  I have even seen movies where the Peace Keeper intentionally creased the head of the violator with a bullet to stop his violence and threats of further violence... So the citizens have come to expect these same actions from us without ever having tried to use any shooting skills themselves to see how impossible that action might be to achieve in real life situations.

Many of these citizens have not faced life-threatening violence themselves where the only hope of deliverance for a victim is the shooting or talking skills of a Peace Keeper.  Few citizens have ever been faced with doing the impossible in a split-second and getting a good result that would view well on the evening news.  Few of them... and I suspect few of us as well... are capable of taking a shot with a handgun to hit one human head that is right beside another human head to kill the perpetrator and save the victim.  I well remember the first time I was trained to do this particular action... I also remember the times I was successful at it in training... Thank God I was never tested in a real situation to see if I would be successful there.

Noise, explosions, physical stress, adrenaline pumping, hearing shut down, all senses sharpened to fight or run... Except there are few times it is acceptable for us to run away... Instead we are taught to run in!  No matter how much we train... No matter how much we practice... No matter how much we play "WHAT IF?" in our thoughts... No matter how much minute detail of our activities and our training are revealed to the citizen... Their unrealistic expectations of superhuman performance will never diminish... They will always expect far more from us than any of them would ever give if they were in our situations... THIS WE MUST LIVE WITH... UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS!!!

Peace Keepers, our world is a world of war... We must always be seeking that which is not right and be committed to making it right to the very best of our ability... Soldier or police officer makes no difference... Paying whatever it costs us to get the job done even if we do not ever come home again.  While it may be that we did not understand this when we came into peace keeping, we should know it before we finish Basic School.  Somewhere in our beginnings we had to come to the place of decision... Can I look down the barrel of my weapon and pull the trigger to intentionally injure or kill another human being?  If you are a Peace Keeper and have never finalized that question for yourself it could cost you your life because a few moments of hesitation are all it takes for the battle to be over and you be the loser... That person in front of you trying to take your life or to just stop you has already made that decision and their effort is to get you before you get them.  Can you do it???  YOU NEED TO KNOW!!!

Our rules of conduct for Peace Keepers says you are to stop the unlawful, violent acts... You are allowed to use that amount of force that is necessary to stop the unlawful action and restore peace... You may use that amount of action and no more... You must conduct yourself as you have been trained to conduct yourself.

If a person walks up to you and strikes you in the face as hard as he is capable of striking you, causing you injury or pain, and then raises his hands and says, "I give up, I surrender."  You may take him into custody but you may not legally harm him in any way if he does not resist any of your actions.  Rules of law and conduct...

If a person has just committed a heinous crime in your presence doing the worst imaginable violence to an innocent child and he says, "I give up, I surrender."  You cannot  harm him... You may take him into custody but you may not legally harm him if he does not resist in any way.  Rules of law and conduct...

All of my life I have witnessed violence upon others and at times have been a victim of violence perpetrated by individuals and by groups.  In the days of my youth we did not call them gangs but more than two people acting together for illegal purposes are a gang as far as I am concerned.  I was a child from a rural area... In my small village there was a younger child who would pick fights until you responded, then his older brother would take up the fight and do violence to you... In the schools there were bullies and groups... When I began to go to town to have fun and seek female company, the town boys did not want me approaching their girls... That brought threats and sometimes violence... I learned how to not be a victim by getting tired of being a victim of the violent actions of others.  I learned to give the ones making the threats a simple statement of my intended response if they insisted upon trying to perform violence upon me... And then following through if they did not listen.  I well remember the words of my Sergeant giving Defensive Tactics instruction... "There is no such thing as a fair fight.  You are in this to win.  Use any tools at your disposal.  Even bite if there is no other course.  The object is to win and be able to walk away when it is over."

I learned to carry the power of communication into my relationships in all areas...  I used that power of communication to convince the woman who became my wife that I was the absolute best man in this world for her and she abandoned a crowd of suiters to accept me... And finally I brought it into my peace keeping career and honed it still further.  I learned that communication was my most useful talent and that it could gain great results when used properly.  I learned to inform the people with whom I had to deal just what to expect if they did not comply with my lawful instructions and orders... In all of my 46 year career I have received only two minor scratches... I have never had to strike anyone... I have never had to shoot anyone... But that does not mean that I would not have used those actions if needed. 

I did take people to the ground in physical arrest when they threatened me and secured them before they could move to carry out any threats.  I have physically assisted other Peace Keepers when they needed it... And I will never hesitate to assist a fellow Peace Keeper as long as I can move and communicate.  TO ALL OF THIS I AM STILL COMMITTED!  I cannot conceive not ever being involved in peace keeping... I don't like retirement and I will be here as long as I can efficiently function and my Commander-In-Chief does not reassign me to some other duty.

Your public will never understand who you are nor where you are... They will never understand how you must function... They will seldom care how you must function unless you are functioning for their immediate benefit... They will often scold you for interfering with heir plans and their progress if you must take action upon them... In spite of all of this we must keep our place in preserving Life, Liberty and Peace... The citizens and we ourselves will have no life if we do not perform our duties for them.  Many of them take no thought of this until they need you and then they want you to do what they need as quickly as possible and leave as soon as possible...  You are so different than most of them that they are not comfortable in your presence...

All of this is why I am committed to you and write to you weekly... This world would be a terrible place in which to live if it were not for people like you in it.  There would be no life in this world as we know it if it were not for you.  You are the foundation of all that we are and you are vital to our existence and progress.  I learned this very early in my career of experience.

Thank you for who you are and for what you do.  My Commander-In-Chief and I are eternally grateful for your time, commitment and service to all the rest of us and one another... And again I MUST SAY TO YOU...

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!"  ALWAYS be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary.  Take the very best care of you as you care for and about others.  See to the strength and well being of your spirit as well as all the rest of you.  Your spirit must be strong for you to be successful.

Peace Keepers and people in our support systems, we have a Divine purpose.  Do your duty to the best of your ability.  Our world depends upon that from you.

Call or write if I may be of any service... Or if you just want to encourage me... Feedback encourages all who write... It helps to know we are reaching someone who reads the message.  Thanks you for all of the feedback that I have received.  How deeply you have blessed me is far beyond description... And if you have intended to write me but just never got around to it, please do it soon.  I powerfully appreciate hearing from each of you and all of you.

As it has always been... So it still is!!!

"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN."  Sun tzu

Training and practice are everything!
Without it, the best results are not obtained!

ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!

WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics...  it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process. 
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]

I represent, write for... and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer Virginia Beach Police Dept.,
DCJS Certified Police Instructor,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety)
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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