So you want to be a pirate? Most of my writings here are not going to be about theoretical and conceptual things but tackling the practical aspects of conquest and colonization in Africa. I will leave target selection for another post, or debates in the comments. Choosing a place to conquer is going to be partially contingent on the geopolitical realities of when such a project as this becomes feasible. Other posts will involve structure of governance; currently the guiding model for a small warrior elite ruling over a vast populace of enslaved laborers which it has disfranchised via conquest is of course Sparta. The working name for the country to be founded is Lacedaemonia. Every man who fights with us shall be ennobled.
First, read this thread; this is what we will be up against.
https://twitter.com/kunley_drukpa/status/1658554759798824961
Africans are not a militarily competent people. They regularly got their shit rocked by tiny forces of westerners. I have already explained the reason why nobody has done this. I will write a post on information era and advanced warfare but it is likely that tactics which exist today only in the realm of speculation will not be necessary. It is also likely that advanced technics: tanks, fighter jets, helos, artillery, are going to be de-emphasized. They would be nice to have in African conquests of course, but the advantage that the white man has over the native Bantu is not just in technics. Looking up combat footage from african wars and even gang violence in inner city US should impress on you the points in above thread concerning African competence in waging war. Basic incapacity to understand how to operate firearms effectively is compounded by total lack of discipline and coordination, a feature which was common also to the Aztecs that Cortez defeated time and again.
I will discuss the most effective infantry tactics to most efficiently clean up such "armies" in a later post. This post is about what you can do now to make yourself as deadly as possible. This is not self-help or fitness blog, but I provide some guidelines and expectations for training that recruits to this venture will be expected to achieve and maintain.
-You do not need to be extremely strong like a powerlifter or bodybuilder jacked. That being said, strength is good and makes other aspects of fitness easier to train. The basic strength requirement for piracy is a 315lb deadlift, easily achievable within months of strength training. This is in line with the average strength of soldiers from the 1800s and is what I consider to be "normal male strength" though many in toxic spiritually female environment undoubtedly fall short. Training for a 3 plate deadlift will involve other strength training activities for which there are no hard guidelines but one should be able as a recommendation to bench his bodyweight for five repetitions and standing overhead press at least 2/3, greater than 3/4 is desirable.
-Cardiovascular requirements are divided into sprinting and rucking. Man is made to sprint short distances and to walk extremely long distances; our physiology is designed around this, and combat generally involves short bursts of intense motion followed by long stretches of walking. You must train sprinting, and other high intensity cardio like boxing and other combat sports are also good for this. Something like a three mile jog is completely unnecessary, do this if you want but it is long-term damaging to health and provides no utility during combat and little useful gain in fitness that sprinting and rucking do not train.
-Rucking, especially over rough terrain, is extremely important to train and no amount of walking endurance is "too much". This should not only be trained unencumbered on flat ground but in hilly and mountainous terrain while bearing weight. It should also be trained under stressful conditions; think multiday backpacking trips in the backwoods, living out of your backpack. There is no way to train hiking endurance but to hike. Even walking on sidewalk does not train the particular fitness of covering uneven ground through the woods, because it is not possible to replicate the multidirectional and constantly changing load put on the feet, ankles, knees, and hips without going out and doing it. A useful goal is to be able to achieve 30-mile days with light encumbrance (i.e. a day trip with enough water and food for that day) and 20-mile days with "combat load" encumbrance. A thirty-mile day is hard but this is the equivalent of 3mph for 10 hours of hiking; leave two hours for rest and this can be accomplished in the summer, though it will be quite difficult over rugged terrain. It is also important to occasionally hike off-trail and familiarize yourself with crossing truly untouched ground.
-Nimbleness, yes, think a military obstacle course with ropes and monkey bars, you should train balance and ability to clear obstacles. This is indeed important for combat and here a muscular endurance comes into play that is separate from strength training and is practiced with pull-ups, push-ups, other calisthenics. Rock climbing helps very much with this, jumping over fences, and so on.
Ideally, you will be lean, strong enough to carry the wounded, quick and graceful in movement, rugged enough to bear combat loads (though I believe that modern combat loads are too heavy and apprentice soldiers should carry many supplies and ammo) over long distances, and have the explosive power and endurance necessary to navigate a battlefield.
Now for non-physical aspects to train, obviously learn how to shoot, and this does not necessarily have to be with intermediate-caliber rifle like most militaries use, the skills carry over. Work on accuracy and precision first, ensure you have consistent accuracy, and then work on making accurate shots faster and faster. The goal is to have many marksmen, and always engage the enemy at ranges at which we can make reliable hits and they cannot. Given Africans, this range is not going to be terribly large, but we may have to contend with do-gooder mercenaries from the West who volunteer for the Bantu forces despite their home nations being unable. It is likely that we will recommend full-caliber battle rifles over so-called assault rifles, though some intermediate calibers with longer barrel lengths can serve; 556 out of a 20 inch barrel is very nice for range and accuracy. This depends on terrain too of course, much fighting in the jungle does not need long-range shooting. So-called "tactical" room clearing, close range shooting tactics, 3-gun, all these things in which we LARP as Navy Seals, these are not necessary to train. The "operators" use such tactics essentially to minimize damage to civilians and infrastructure. We have no such concerns. If the enemy hides in a structure that is destructible, that is work for explosives and incendiaries. If the enemy hides in something like cave that is not destructible, we seal it off and let him starve. There is no need to engage dangerously when we can engage safely. The consistency, calm, and accuracy of the elite infantryman, a cold and methodical warfare, is the warfare of the white man.
Speaking of cold and calm, something nobody ever talks about is adrenaline desensitization. It is extremely important to be calm in the face of death, and the only way to do this is to face actual danger, time and again. In boot camp they try to do this by having drill instructor scream to you, constant pressure, and so on, because they cannot shoot live rounds at you. The best way to do this in reality is to ride motorcycles, on or off road, on which the degree of risk you take can be easily modulated. This will of course make you far more powerful in your personal life as well but here this is merely a side effect. Other things like rock climbing, racing cars, anything in which you can spike your adrenaline and desensitize your body and mind to having spiked adrenaline for long periods of time are good. Momentary thrills like riding rollercoaster and skydiving, not so good. Need adrenaline to be prolonged or you may suffer from "shell shock" or "PTSD" or some such from being thrown into danger for first time in life.
One thing that is rather important is hunting, maybe where you live you cannot do this, but you must take life of animool in cold blood, know what this feels like at the bare minimum before you can kill in battle. This is no modern army where 20% of soldiers inflict 80% of casualties, and men fire at the air next to the enemy out of softheartedness. Every man must be a killer. If you are not you must be honest with us and you can work as ammo carrier, apprentice soldier, driver of vehicle, intelligence operations and so on, maybe drone pilot. But know that shooting a deer causes greater regret and sadness than taking enemy life, if you can shoot a deer, you can, well, I don't want to be banned but refer to the thread I linked above.
In the course of rucking and hunting you should pick up some outdoors skills. If some men specialized in recon and scouting I would be very pleased, I have some skill in survival and evasion, land navigation, myself. When in the woods take note of cover, concealment, sightlines. Most trees are not cover, test this out yourself how far 556 will penetrate through wood. But focus on how to move efficiently, how to choose paths in overland (off trail) hiking that minimize your visibility, how to conceal camping spots, find water, be thinking about ambushes both giving and receiving. I am not going to give you comprehensive guide on this, there is lots of good stuff out there. Radio communications and information security are both important as well; it is uncertain what levels of technology will be available to us.
Many of these activities should be engaged in with other men, friends and brothers, not even necessarily of politically right mind. This is both to practice working as a unit, coordinating as one, and to edify and empower the self. Practice leadership. Appoint a leader and have him make decisions. This is natural for some and others are poor at it. Even without "forcing" it a natural leader will arise within your friends.
The idea behind all of this is that you should be able to get to a port and jump on a boat within 12 hours of a call going out, sail to Africa (not without stopping at some tourist beaches for wife raids!), get off the boat, and begin fighting.
The final point is that it may be a long time before GAE power is weak enough that Lacedaemonia once again becomes possible. As much as I hope it occurs within a decade or two this may be a venture for your sons. If you are not so good at this I have many previous writings on how to establish personal patriarchy. But I will leave you today with one final inspiration. This is useful for you to think on and is also the basis of the old religious worship. Imagine your ancestors, just the men who share your Y-chromosome, sitting at a table in judgement of your life. Would they be proud of you? What would they consider needful for you to do, what things would almost be a trifling matter of laughter or mild disrespect? Respect you? Brood on this often.
Clear vision - as always from you
What diet would you recommend in order to get a soldier's physique? (muscular yet lean and energy-efficient)