Mr. Tough Guy

Mr. Tough Guy

I am a military veteran. I spent 6 years on active duty as a US Navy Seabee. The Seabees are the Navy’s civil engineers. There are two mottos of the Seabees: “We Build and We Fight” and “Can Do”. During my time in the Seabees I spent time with the Army, Marines, and Airforce. I spent time around US Navy Seals on a couple of deployments.

In my martial arts training I have trained in Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts. I have trained boxing with a Golden Gloves champ. I have trained with professional mixed martial arts fighters. Guys in the UFC or that used to be in the UFC. I have trained with high level Judo and Jiu Jitsu practitioners.

I say this to say I have been around a lot of legitimate tough guys.

I talked my wife (Mrs. Jungle Cat) into training kickboxing with me several years ago when I was training at Yakima Mixed Martial Arts. I wanted to get her into BJJ, but she was resistant to having grown men “man handle” her on the mats. I think training in any combat sport is good for self defense, so I was glad she was willing to give it a try.

After a couple of weeks of training she said to me that it was much different than what I expected. She told me that she was surprised how sweet everyone was. She thought everyone was going to act like a “tough guy”.

I explained to Mrs. Jungle Cat, something that I still believe, that legitimate tough guys are friendly and often outgoing and silly. Training at a high level and getting good at fighting removes insecurity. Testing your knowledge through sparring, or field exercises for the military guys does several things for someone. The first is it lets you know what is effective and what is not. You will learn what you are capable of and what you are not. As your skills increase you will see your own effectiveness grow. You will get beat up along the way, but it will help most people to become humble and grow their confidence.

The tough guys that I know and have met are confident and friendly. Their self confidence usually leads to them becoming more outgoing and caring. The picture of a tough guy to me is open and friendly, usually caring. This is a stark contrast from the Hollywood tough guy who is a loner and rough around the edges with a short temper. These are signs that a person does not have self confidence.

~Jungle Cat