* * *
In the locker room Tom quickly put on BBC World News. They were reporting on the only story everyone was thinking about.
“North Korea released a video today of its troops preparing for war. North Korean soldiers were seen demonstrating their hand-to-hand combat skills and shouting war slogans in unison. A video was also shown of missile batteries being raised into a firing position. The regime released a statement saying ‘If the American puppet state dares to strike us, we will unleash a fiery response they cannot imagine. Our nuclear forces are on the highest alert and are prepared to smite all of America’s major cities with terrible destruction.’ South Korea meanwhile has called up its reservists and has moved several Marine units closer to the border. The United States is reported to have sent its B-2 bombers to the region. These are the planes that can carry nuclear bombs.”
Tom stared at the screen.
Why do they talk that way?
The martial arts demonstrations coming out of North Korean or Chinese militaries always amused him. Kicking and punching was useful in a small percent of hand-to-hand combat situations. The vast majority of fights end up with both fighters on the ground immediately. On the ground someone who knew Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu had a complete advantage. A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner knew multiple chokes and submission locks to which a kicker or puncher had no idea how to respond. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was a form of grappling or wrestling developed in Brazil originally from a form of Judo brought in by a Japanese immigrant. In the SEAL teams, Tom had learned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to a level that gave him a distinct advantage in any potential hand-to-hand combat situation. He had practiced the Triangle choke so many times he thought he could perform it blindfolded. The Triangle was the classic move – if one was on his back and the opponent was on top, trying to punch or attack in some way, one could wrap a thigh around the neck and lock that leg’s foot with the other leg’s knee. At the same time one pulls in on attacker’s arm and locks it with the attackers head in the legs. The attacker ends up looking like he is raising his hand in school, with someone’s legs wrapped around his raised arm and neck. The triangle, named from the shape one’s legs made, constricts the carotid artery carrying blood to the brain. It makes the attacker pass out in less than a minute.
As Tom was stepping into the warm shower, he thought about what that video out of North Korea really showed. It showed a pure fanaticism. What drove people to that point? History had examples of fanaticism at this level: during World War II, both the SS and the Japanese soldiers demonstrated a similar fanatical indoctrination. Each ended up fighting to the death at a heavy cost to the allies. Could these North Koreans really believe in their regime in the same way? Tom knew he could not question their sincerity. He had to assume that once he entered that land of darkness, he would be in the midst of true believers.
Tom wondered if that copy of Heart of Darkness had arrived yet. He had memorized passages from it while in college. One piece stuck out in his mind at this moment:
“They howled, and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity — like yours — the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar.”
There is only one thing worse than nobody believing in a cause, and that is everyone believing in it.
Devil's Fork Page 13
