There’s something primal about knowing you’re not prey.
It changes the entire dynamic — in a fight, in a confrontation, or in the quiet war inside your own mind.
If you think like prey, you are.
I told it to Marines in the kill house. To rookies on the street. And when no one else was listening, to myself.
Especially in high-threat environments — street, battlefield, courtroom — mindset is everything.
You cannot survive an ambush if your psychology tells you you’re the target.
As a cop in uniform, you live under constant assessment. The criminal element is always watching, always sizing you up. That’s why you cannot give them prey.
Not mentally. Not emotionally. Not for a second — even when you're getting shot at… even when wounded.
Because if your mind surrenders to that identity, the initiative shifts.
And once it does, you’re done.
But here’s what I’ve realized over time:
That truth isn’t just for gunfights.
It’s for life.
If you move through your day seeing yourself as hunted, as powerless, as “the one it’s happening to” — you give up your leverage.
This isn’t about being macho, or being the hunter instead of the prey.
It’s about knowing who you are — before it gets tested.
It’s about deciding that no matter what happens, you are not prey.
This mindset has to live in your bones.
You don’t summon it on the fly.
You abide by it daily — in your posture, your tone, your presence.
When you carry it, the world notices. Not with thought, but instinct.
They don’t circle, they don’t test, they move on. And if they don’t — they learn.
— C.K. Redlinger