by Jason Fox
Shock the body by getting your training mate to randomly throw in another set of exercises at the end of a gym session, especially when you’re already feeling knackered.
Because the battle is never truly over until you’re home, safe, and ready to go again.
Endgame
Resilience is a skill. And like any skill, it takes time and effort to maintain. Repetition and practice are important. If we don’t regularly challenge ourselves, our resistance to adversity can wane and our skills fade. One early example of this struck me during my thirties. As a kid, I’d been a pretty good hockey player and, having made it into the Royal Marines, I represented the regiment in a number of inter-services tournaments, both at home and abroad. Once I’d passed Selection and started operating in the Special Forces, however, showing up for competitions was off the table so hockey fell by the wayside. That was until 2010, when a mate asked me to play in a veterans’ game.
Yeah, I’m up for that, I thought, rummaging around for some old kit. It’ll be a laugh.
But ten minutes into the match, I was struggling. The techniques and tricks I’d been able to execute as a younger bloke were gone and I was horribly off the pace. It wasn’t about fitness; I was certainly physically strong enough to compete. Instead, skill-fade had kicked in, an event where certain talents diminish if they’re not worked upon for a period of time, ranging from six to eighteen months. In some activities, such as riding a bike, the techniques needed to operate effectively stay burned into our brains because they’re so simple. But for other activities – such as tennis, computer programming or mountain climbing – the skills required gradually disappear, but they can be relearned.
Resilience operates in pretty much the same way: it’s vital we constantly work on it. We need to find new challenges, escape our comfort zone and seek out areas in which to grow. By reading Life Under Fire, either as a whole or in chunks, it will be possible to build an understanding of how to locate, develop and maintain fortitude and emotional grit. Think of the lessons described in here as tools – equipment we can all use in the gym, at home, in the thick of a work mission or while paddling down a bloody great river in the Canadian wilds. But the work, as with any skill, requires practice and commitment.
What’s been laid out in this book is adaptable to any situation, and deliberately so. The British military is built to bend and flex in order to overcome all enemies and environments; every individual within it has been taught to prepare for the unexpected, starting with Basic Training before going all the way up to Special Forces Selection. By using Part One, ‘The Battle Mind’, we can find new ways to overcome any obstacle and grow; with Part Two, ‘By Strength and Guile’, we’re in possession of the artillery required to meet an emotional scrap head-on. Yes, the effort of facing down our demons and challenges will often seem exhausting, but having overcome them we’ll eventually emerge stronger. Once it’s done, there might even be one or two stories to tell.
As I’ve explained, life can become a war zone at any given moment. All of us have our deadly ground to cover.
But now you’re prepared.
Acknowledgements
A lot of hard experience went into the making of Life Under Fire. Some of it came from lessons learned in battle; other tactics were picked up during my struggles with mental health as I grew through my recovery. I’d like to thank everybody who has helped to get me to a healthier, happier place today, and to say to everybody dealing with conflicts of their own: victory is always possible, no matter how brutal life gets.
Special mention has to go to the Brotherhood, which features old faces from the UK Special Forces and Royal Marines Commandos, and newer recruits from many different walks of life. Among the roll call of legends are SAS: Who Dares Wins teammate and BreakPoint partner Ollie Ollerton, Malcolm Williams and Jamie Sanderson at Rock2Recovery, Aldo Kane, all the lads from SAS: Who Dares Wins, and my crew at The Manor. Most of all, I’d like to thank my wife, Jules, and my family – Mum, Dad, Mat and Jamie – for their help in getting me here.
Several people came together to make this book possible. Cheers to all at Transworld – particularly my editor, Henry Vines, my literary agent, Jon Elek, and my Battle Scars therapist, Alex Lagaisse, for her bomb-proofing efforts. Finally, I’d like to thank the writer Matt Allen, who somehow captures everything that’s rattling around in my brain. Without him this book wouldn’t exist, and we’ve become amazing friends throughout our writing journey.
By strength and guile,
Foxy
London, 2020
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
Find us online and join the conversation
Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/penguinukbooks
Like us on Facebook facebook.com/penguinbooks
Share the love on Instagram instagram.com/penguinukbooks
Watch our authors on YouTube youtube.com/penguinbooks
Pin Penguin books to your Pinterest pinterest.com/penguinukbooks
Listen to audiobook clips at soundcloud.com/penguin-books
Find out more about the author and discover
your next read at penguin.co.uk
TRANSWORLD
UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia
New Zealand | India | South Africa
Transworld is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published in Great Britain in 2020 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Jason Fox Consulting Ltd 2020
Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologize for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Cover portrait © Robert Wilson
ISBN: 978-1-473-57638-4
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
