For about 27 years my internet tagline has been “You won’t rise to the occasion—you will default to your level of training.” Recently some readers or colleagues have asked about the origin of the motto, which has been widely quoted, and sometimes misattributed.
Here’s the lowdown:
In 1992 my brother and I published The Sixth Battle from Bantam, a complex, multi-layered techno-thriller set in South Africa and the Indian Ocean. At sea, it pitted a U.S. Navy carrier group against post-Soviet Russian forces deploying carriers and amphibious units. The scenario quickly caught the attention of wargamers, and occasionally I still hear from those folks.
One of the major players in the novel is the fictional Fighter Squadron 181 flying F-14 Tomcats from the fictional Forrestal class carrier USS Langley. In one scene VF-181’s leading light, Lieutenant Commander Ozzie Ostrewski (“the world’s greatest Polish fighter pilot”) ponders the informal squadron doctrine on the bulkhead:
VF-181 Lessons to Live By
1. You can only do what you can do.
2. You won’t rise to the occasion—you will default to your level of training.
3. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
4. A little subtle keying helps on radio calls.
5. At 90 degrees of bank the lift slides off the wings.
6. Use the sun but remember everyone else is there.
7. Be King Kong on radar and have King Kong eyes.
8. When the BBs are flying it’s time for your last best move.
9. Think big—think basics—and cheat like hell.
10. When planning a fight, see Rule Number One.
10. When planning a fight, see Rule Number One.
Number Two became the most-cited of the “ten commandments” and caught on as soon as I began citing it online. I remembered several of the quotes from visiting Topgun and “Strike U” spaces at NAS Miramar, California, and NAS Fallon, Nevada, but added a couple from elsewhere. Number Nine was cited at a 1980s Tailhook banquet by the late Vice Admiral Jim Stockdale of honored memory.
Time passed. Eventually other operators began picking up the “rise to the occasion” mantra, applying it in other venues such as elite forces and a Midwest fire department. The online search turned up a Special Forces (Green Beret) manual that attributes the quote to me in what I will call soldierly terms: “WTSHTF (you can look it up) you will not rise to the occasion…” But I do appreciate the credit line just the same!
Some outlets requested permission to quote me and some did not. I always granted a request when asked because I reckoned that I do not hold a copyright on the quote, but I merely asked proper attribution.
Since then, the quote has been claimed by or attributed to others, including retired military officers and civilian firearms and martial arts trainers. The other day I ran a Google search and found some of those usurpers with as few as eight hits and as many as 140. My count runs somewhere north of 7,700.
However, with my curiosity aroused, I sought additional leads. Internet discussions often cite an ancient Greek poet named Archilochus, without many specifics. Allegedly he wrote, “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”
I’d never heard of Archilochus, and little is known about him, other than reputedly he was KIA fighting the Thasians or Naxos in the VII century BC. The similarity between Archiolochus’ alleged version and “mine” is obvious. But since the link between the poet and the statement seems tenuous, we’re back to the XX century.
Yet there are other examples across time. In the IV or V Century AD the Roman military writer Publius Flavius Vegetius said, “Si vis pacem, para bellum.” The translation: “He who desires peace should prepare for war.”
The U.S. Marine Corps version runs, “The more you sweat in peace the less you bleed in war.”
Vegetius’ oft-cited statement can be interpreted in a broader sense, essentially “Peace through strength.” It has much to do with deterrence, certainly well understood by the ultimate Cold Warrior, General Curtis LeMay. His Strategic Air Command emblazoned its nuclear-armed bombers with the motto, “Peace is our profession.”
The subject of training for conflict is of course broad and deep, spanning an immense ocean of material compiled over millennia. There are many levels of training, and thus many default levels. Though I would never claim that my quotation is definitive, it has gained considerable notice in three decades. If it prompts practitioners and operators to discuss the subject, that’s as much as I can expect.
Stay vigilant, stay informed, and stay well trained.
