Sheepdog Tip of the Day, Before Combat tip 106
Combat is scary. Therefore, realistic training also needs to be scary. Here are a few suggestions beyond the obvious paintball scenario: 1. Darkness or better yet variable blood-red light, with occasional flashes. If you're ever played Doom, think back to the final levels of the game - this is the color scheme you're going for. If you haven't, you probably should. It is good training at how to make things scary. 2. Soundtrack with the occasional scream, explosion, etc. 3. Put on protective clothing and have attack dogs join in the "fun". There is something primitively scary about having a carnivorous animal attack you. 4. Fire, if you can use it safely enough. Does your local fire department have a firehouse they use for training you can borrow? 5. I think revulsion and fear are related. A few rats, cockroaches, and maybe some unidentified sticky (flour and water, maybe mixed with dye to make it look like blood) or slick (spilled oil) goo to run into. Is there a butcher shop that could give you the parts of the animal that aren't normally eaten to spill here and there? Let your inner horror-film director loose.
Ori Pomerantz, Suggestion by the Tip of the Day geek
Tom Kratman makes a good point that the brain quickly learns to filter out supposedly scary things that are not actually associated with risk. This kind of training, if it happens, should probably happen very rarely.
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