The Cloud Warriors

I stumbled across an article about the Chachapoya civilization of Peru, who are also called the Cloud Warriors. They also occupied a fortress called Kuelap in the Andes.

Lanchester Models

This is only tenuously connected to the topics of fighting and warrior culture, but i came across the idea of Lanchester models a few days ago. Basically, these are mathematical models of attrition in combat. One of the interesting consequences of this particular model is that the size of the group involved in combat is more important than the skill of the individual fighters, which seems contrary to the special forces model that seems to be advocated for the fight against non-centralized guerrilla or terror groups. Of course, these are pretty simple models and they apply more to traditional combat engagements.

Style of the Week VI: Gladiator Combat

OK, so this isn't so much a style as a category. The gladiators were among the first warriors trained exclusively for sport fighting, albeit of a particularly brutal nature. The word gladiator means "one who wields a sword", so not surprisingly the training of gladiators often involved sword training. But other weapons and methods were used, for example the type of gladiator known as a retarius used a trident and a net to capture opponents' weapons.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of information about exactly what the combat style of a typical gladiator might have looked like, but there is evidence that gladiators were often trained in set of choreographed routines and that they would fight according to these sometimes in gladiatorial contests. Some archaeologists have even suggested that gladiatorial events were a sort of ancient WWE-style spectacle, although it's clear that combatants did in fact sometimes die in these contests.

Gladiators were trained in schools called ludi, the best known being the ludus magnus that was connected directly to the Roman Colosseum. There were also schools in which combatants were trained specifically to fight animals. Gladiators were owned by men called lanista, who were sort of the Don King/Dana White equivalents of their time. Sources including Epictetus and Cicero indicate that gladiatorial training was also like modern fight training in the sense that it included conditioning and dietary restrictions.

True gladiatorial spectacles, called munera, are mercifully a thing of the past. But apparently, you can still engage in the training of the gladiator.

What Is Warrior Culture?

I came across an article recently in which the LAPD was criticized for having a "warrior culture". The term was used pejoratively to mean a subculture that considers itself separate from mainstream society and which will resort to violent means to assert control even if other means are available. In reality, I assume that all major police departments have a warrior mindset given that we provide them with a variety of tools clearly meant to do battle: guns, special vehicles, armor, etc.

The idea of a warrior culture could encompass everything from ancient Sparta, the nomads of the Eurasian steppes, the Samurai, various branches of the modern military, police departments, and probably even certain criminal organizations if the idea is stretched thin enough. The characteristics of the warrior culture seem to include

• There is a warrior caste that is clearly distinct from the rest of the society
• There is a code to which the warrior is expected to adhere
• The group takes precedence over the individual
• The warrior has tools or techniques that are not available to the general population, because of lack of expertise or legal restriction

Although the warrior code will often contain concepts of honor and morality, i would think that the idea of a warrior culture is morally neutral. However, the idea seems to be interpreted through a political lens. Conservatives seem to view warrior culture as a generally honorable and worthy thing, while liberals see a dangerous, use-violence-first mentality. Contrast for example, this essay at the military site BlackFive with this essay by Barbara Ehrenreich from Time magazine.

My personal view is that a warrior culture is not either a morally superior subset of society, or a cultural trait that emphasizes revenge, honor, and glory. Rather a warrior culture is a society or subculture that focuses on the practice and refinement of martial methods to achieve some end for that society. This might manifest itself in a nation that wants to aggressively expand its boundaries and resources, or it might result in an organization that is more cautious about the use of force than society in general. I think the latter is often true of the American military. Whether it's Iraq or Darfur or Bosnia, the educated warrior in the military usually understands the consequences of his or her actions better than the people calling on them to perform those actions.

The world of sport fighting and martial arts training can't really be considered a warrior culture even though a contribution is ostensibly made to the evolution of martial arts, because the focus is on the individual. I can't blame commentators when they describe a fighter, or even a football player, as a "warrior", but the other key distinction of a warrior culture is that of course its members often die, sometimes anonymously and without much reward.