RLSH Ways of Thinking
As a Marine Veteran, I still keep much of the military mindset for my RLSH work/way of life. I usually try to avoid thet Police Officer mindset in terms of ideologies and methods. I'm not posting this to bash cops - there's good and bad cops out there - I like the good ones and dislike the bad ones. I'll try to be specific about what I mean and why, about how unlike a lot of RLSH, I make sure to NOT have that cop mindset, as Police and Military are needed for two different reasons.
Patrol patterns and transparency
With the Police minded RLSH, they often patrol a specific city the same way that Police Officers patrol within their own jurisdiction or even a specific portion of their city or town. Often emphasized is patrol times and locations. I understand why they record that info. It doesn't mean I like the style of it though.
With the military mindset, one thinks in terms of operational security. To not set a pattern where the enemy can either track you down or work around your pattern, if they know it. And should you have to have a pattern for any reason, try not to make it too well known.
The law
With the Police minded RLSH, they feel it's their duty to either enforce and/or defend the laws, or report lawbreakers to the police, or perform a citizens arrest. Regardless of what is right or wrong, good or evil/bad, their allegiance is to the law, even if they disagree with a law or not.
Although in the military, you'll find a lot of libertarian conservative ideologies amongst the majority of them, which for some reason is shocking to people. They think just because the military is strict that veterans love being bossed around. That couldn't be less true. We self sacrificed our own freedom for that time because we wanted to defend the freedom of others. And the strictness reminds us how much we love and value our freedom. We do fight evil, regardless of what the law says. Granted, while in the military we have to obey all lawful orders from those who outrank us and/or hold a senior billet - after our military service is finished, many of us keep our oath to defend America and our allies from all enemies, foreign and domestic - during peace and/or war. Some join Oath Keepers and similar type groups, and many of us do it on our own without the direct supervision of the U.S. Military, some just act heroically when the need arises. With weapons or without. And we stand for what we believe in regardless of what is popular or legal.
Accomplishments
Amongst the Police minded RLSH and RLSV, many former or inactive RLSH get condemned and ridiculed for "not having done anything or much lately". Or maybe they care about how often and long they patrol in terms of how many days a week and how many hours a day/night. Or by how many citizens arrests they made.
People always respect military veterans, especially those who have served in wars. NOBODY ever looks at World War 2 Veterans - the few that are still alive today - and says "They're useless since they haven't done much lately." Instead most people realize the historical signifance, and respect them for their bravery and heroism.
Punishment and Forgiveness Amongst Themselves
These parts are not literal examples of what each side or type would do every time. But it explains and emphasizes the different general mindsets that I've observed and/or analyzed. Police themselves are known for arresting and charging others who break the law, including their own fellow officers who break the law or commit a misdemeanor, etc.
In the Military, if you do something bad or make a dumb mistake, you gotta do a bunch of pushups or whatever as punishment. It is a quicker way to discipline someone and not only does it not ruin your life forever on public record, but it also makes you stronger. Yes there are Military Police and Court Martials, but this isn't as common for the military as regular ordinary punishment for mistakes.
What makes one Active
In the Police, after you graduate the Academy and get hired by a Department, you begin to start working. You're either On Duty or Off Duty, meaning on patrol or not on patrol, or with the occasional office work like filing a report.
In the Military, if you're on active duty, it doesn't always mean you're in a war zone. Even during times of peace and also even in times of war, the patrols and missions aren't the only thing the service member does. They do their physical training, and also have classes about various subjects that are useful to their military occupational specialties, combat weapons, and things relevant to their missions. They even do training patrols and learn team skills such as hand and arm signals as one example. And of course, when the time comes for it, the actual patrols and missions. And nobody condemns a service member who just returned from war - for taking a few months R&R upon leaving a combat deployment, though with RLSH you might get mixed reactions. There is a natural aspect for some RLSH where it is viewed more as a way of life than as a job, while some view it as a volunteer job, but those who view it mainly as work like a volunteer job tend to burn out faster. They're the ones who eventually "retire" when they get tired of it. But there are those who view it as a way of life, whose methods and tactics can change as they grow older, but they also realize that there is no way one can just absolutely "retire" from a way of life that defines who they are and gives them the passion to wake up and get out of bed every morning, and to live life to the fullest, with the hopes of doing good and making the world a better place.
Personality
This doesn't so much apply to cops, as much as it does for RLSH who try to think like cops. There might be a few former law enforcement officers who still keep that mindset but continue as RLSH with a new name/uniform and no direct supervision of the government. There are cops with personality but the RLSH who try to think like cops try to appear so disciplined that they try to be so boring and serious out of a fear of looking weird or crazy, or of not being taken seriously. These are the people who usually think inside the box, because it keeps them thinking in terms of what they deem realistic. On a side note for the record, I like cops who try to think and act like superheroes more than I like superheroes who try to think and act like cops.
I can't as much say this applies to all branches of the military or not - as much as I can say it does with the Marines, how most of the Marines each have their own unique and interesting personality. They aren't only not afraid of looking weird or crazy, they actually embrace it - with a vengeance. These types of people often have to be creative and think outside the box, for the sake of survival, and even morale.
Security
I've done security missions before. Both in and out of my Tothian uniform, but always as Tothian. This is one where I actually DO have more of the cop mentality than the military mentality, but it does depend on if the scenario is generally a peaceful one as a whole. I've done security at rallies before.
In these rallies, I've often stayed neutral from the debates or arguments themselves, and focused more on the security aspect. I did also speak to drivers who drove up to us in the parking lot to ask questions. At some of these rallies I would film and interview different people. Occasionally I will debate or interview protesters, be they supporters and/or opposition to our cause. I try to be creative about things. And I have answered questions both on camera and to reporters about my views.
I feel with the Military mentality in this scenario is the fighter who actively engages in arguments with protesters in ways that start out political but become more personally argumentive. They make it a war of us vs. them, but I try to make sure our own side stays in line too so they don't get themselves in trouble nor push the public away from supporting us and our agenda. But also because it feels like both the wiser strategy as well as the right thing to do. This wouldn't normally sound like me, since I'm usually all about having that warrior spirit. However, there is an exception to a lot of things and even with the warrior spirit we must pick our battles wisely, and there's a good reason for that because I do feel there are others who hate people for having different opinions (sometimes it's ok, sometimes not, depending on what it is) and also it is sometimes good to have friendly open dialogue.
There are limits to my thinking about this sort of thing though. When it comes to scenarios where you have groups like Antifa attacking innocent people on the streets, or fighting against the Proud Boys (a group I support what they do and stand for but wish they would have used a better name), it no longer becomes a situation of merely personal security nor merely protecting individuals from other individuals, but rather acts of war. And I am a Warrior.
Social Interactions
This one doesn't necessarily apply 100% of the time. One of the facts I left out earlier in this blog is that many police officers are former, retired, or reserve military. So I'm only generalizing based on some observations I've had. When someone is telling a story, the cop minded individual or even cops, will listen thoroughly, and ask questions to understand the story better. One time I was at a bar sharing some of my great stories with a group of people, and one guy was loving my stories and asking me questions, even saying I needed my own podcast, making me feel awesome and all, and then I began to sense that this guy was a cop. I told him that I believed he was a cop, and he verified with me that he was a cop. He was wondering how I knew that. Basically his personality reminded me very similarly of another cop I knew. That was why I kept thinking that. And I was right. A lot of cops I know always seem to like a good story, and they ask good questions. Sometimes they do it just to see if they can get information from people, be it for legitimate investigations, or sometimes just for their own personal entertainment purposes. But as for the Real Life Superhero Community, a cop minded superhero might not always have the best stories to tell, but like anyone they love a good story and are willing to listen and ask questions.
With the military minded RLSH, and I'm specifically thinking of all the Marines I knew, not just some of the Marines, but any Marine you spoke to would always have interesting, wild crazy stories to tell. And there are some RLSH who if you sat down and had a conversation with them, they would have stories you might not believe, and some of which are funnier and more interesting and entertaining than comic books. This type of personality isn't as common in the Real Life Superhero Community, because so many of them are trying so hard to prove to the world that they are boring, normal, regular people. I couldn't understand why anyone would want that, but it happens. As for me my life always felt like a comic book.
Fiction
For the Police minded RLSH, I think of DC Comics. Batman, The Question, The Spirit. These are guys who usually focus on only protecting their city from street criminals, and your occasional supervillain. The comics and movies rarely have much if any humor to them. Often dark and serious.
For the Military minded RLSH, I think more of Marvel comics. They are focused on facing threats of evil all over the world. They are usually fighting some great war to save the world or save literally life itself. Despite the great threats, these heroes often have interesting personalities and aren't afraid to be their crazy selves while fighting great evils of the world.
Punishing criminals and evildoers
I had a similar paragraph earlier about how each side would generally respond to wrongdoings of their own side. In this scenario, one often sees someone do something bad automatically think they should be arrested, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
When it comes to Castle Doctrine. Or Stand Your Ground Laws, these are laws which work better to help the military minded RLSH. There was a scenario in Texas where a teen male raped a female, and her father murdered her rapist. He not only didn't get in trouble, but was praised as a town hero. It might not feel legal for people to say they would wish death or want to kill such evildoers, but it's definitely the emotional sentiment that a lot of people would feel. Many Veterans aren't afraid to say how they feel about such things, including military minded RLSH. And this isn't limited to that one type of act of evil, but any where there is an innocent defenseless victim involved. And it's not that they all simply endorse killing evildoers, but that they definitely support a more hands on approach when it comes to fighting evil. Although such types might also take morality more than or instead of the law into consideration.
