Learning when your life or others may depend on it:
While I wish I had the time, research, or inclination to
study and write a longer post on the subject; I nonetheless want to write a
couple quick notes on what or how I feel this kind of learning is beneficial
and different to other types of learning.
First, while I realize we as humans learn a great many
things that are crucial to our safety or to our preservation of life; this post
is not about those obvious or trivial learning's throughout our lives. Instead, the following are observations about
learning and training for the specific purpose of the preservation of one’s
safety and life with a focus on military training.
In regards to training, the military is often a great
example of mindfulness to 1) acknowledgement of the time constraints to teach
required material, 2) adequate knowledge level of instructors conducting
training, 3) pertinence of training given or offered, 4) using student
experiences and examples to enhance the training experience, and 5) application
and use of training material to further trainee success.
One is usually very motivated to learn skills that will help
keep them and others alive.
This is a
gateway into the seriousness with which those in the military undergo
their training. For those who undergo military
training; whether it be first-aid, nuclear-biological-chemical (NBC) warfare
training, combat skills, or survival training, or any others… it is a whole
different brand of learning. For most;
studying literature, business, mathematics, philosophy, art, history,
psychology, or drama, will never have the impact or depth of ability for one to
recall pertinent facts as one training to properly identify an agent and know
if one needs to take pyridostigmine bromide tablets or not. The whole point of training in the military is successful application of skills (learned and/or otherwise adapted upon,) to succeed at the objective and (hopefully,) preserve the safety of those in your team to achieve further successes.
As I go through and study about different learning methods,
theories, and techniques I am reminded in my perspective that I believe that there are two different repositories of where humans store what they
have learned; 1) Intelligence-level matters of history, philosophy, math, art,
and similar matters, and 2) Learned observations and training that are more
connected to our human innate survival and preservation of health/safety
matters. It is doubtful I will ever pursue
post-graduate work someday, but this is where I would/will focus.
