Indispensable: A Tactical Plan for the Modern Man

By Krisofor Healey

In 2006, Kristofor Healey was a broken man. Reeling from a failed marriage and a sense that the life he had envisioned was rapidly slipping through his fingers, he resolved to take the reins and live his life with valor. His journey of reclamation brought him from Northern New England to the Southwest Border and beyond as he traveled t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Team Healey, LLC
• Release date: Aug 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798218038991

Book preview

INTRODUCTION: THE TACTICAL ENVIRONMENT

Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.

GEN. GEORGE S. PATTON

In my more than fifteen years with the Department of Homeland Security, I traveled the globe taking on some of the world’s most notorious criminal organizations. Along the way, I learned valuable lessons in leadership, mindset, and tactics that gave me the tools I needed to become a successful criminal investigator, take down some of the world’s worst scammers and bring justice to thousands of victims. There was nothing magical or lucky about my career. I wasn’t born a genius, I didn’t come from a law enforcement family, and I wasn’t well connected politically. And I didn’t work for a large agency with an unlimited budget and all the investigative tools you see on television. My professional accomplishments can be attributed to two things: 1) developing the tactics necessary for success and 2) creating the tactical plans to achieve my objectives.

The tactical plans were the easy part. Throughout my career, every time I prepared to execute a mission, I would, first, create a plan. The plan, a written document, would incorporate the same basic elements each time. It would identify the objective, analyze the risks, threats, and vulnerabilities, assign roles, review gear, and incorporate contingencies. Having a plan helped me reduce risk and identify blind spots, and it always gave me an advantage over the subject, who had to play defense when my team hit the door with strength and numbers at zero dark thirty.

A well-executed plan had no room for ego. It was presented to peers, tore up, and resubmitted with changes. It expected failure and built-in contingencies. It identified obstacles and means to overcome them. It ensured that the tools, the team, and the target were well understood. And after executing every mission, it would be subjected to a thorough debrief so that I could better understand what went right and what went wrong to perform even better the next time.

In law enforcement, tactics are simply an action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific outcome. That could be investigative techniques like surveillance, testimony, or legal process. It could be the use of force or the deployment of sources. The tactical environment is simply the arena, the battleground, where those tactics are going to be deployed.

Knowing what tactics were in my toolkit, what I was facing in the arena, and how to conquer the objective gave me an advantage in my career. Still, none of that would have mattered if I hadn’t paired those investigative tactics with the personality traits necessary for success. Those personality traits - character, accountability, and consistency - became their own set of tactics. They were truly foundational; without them, my career would’ve been a lot different. Had I lacked consistency, I would have never made the largest tele fraud case in United States history. Had I lacked character, I would have never had the strength to take on dirty cops, agents, and inspectors or to stop smugglers and kidnappers. And without a sense of accountability, I would have never had the courage to confront and overcome systemic corruption in my own agency.

Personality traits, like other skills and tactics, are not inborn. Those traits are learned behaviors earned through experience, trial, and tribulations and perfected through years of application in the arena. And they are almost always the difference between reaching your objectives or falling short. What I eventually came to recognize, and what many modern men fail to understand, is that we live our lives in a tactical environment. Life is our battlefield, our arena. But far too few of us acknowledge it for what it is or take the time to develop the tactics and the plan necessary to win each day. And, as a result, we are losing the initiative.

As my career progressed and I began to see professional success, I began to recognize the utility of applying the same tactics and tactical planning to my personal life that had driven me professionally. And as I began to set goals, analyze my targets, plan my approach and execute missions with accountability and consistency, I never failed to achieve my objectives. Before long, I was racing Ironman triathlons and ultramarathons, competing in bodybuilding shows, and growing a successful business on the side.

THE MODERN MAN

To maximize your life and thrive in a tactical environment, you need tactics and a tactical plan. Hoping for the best doesn’t cut it. Having the skills and a plan has never been more important than it is right now because men have never before been as adrift. The modern man has become weak, dispensable, an afterthought. He is a product of convenience and lethargy, living a life of ease and expediency never before known. He has stopped doing the hard things that define his character and build his virtue, favoring, instead, to scroll the internet, order takeout, and resign himself to his growing waistline and fading ambitions. As a result, his dreams remain unfulfilled, objectives remain unachieved, and life moves past him, leaving him wondering what he did with the time he was gifted. This isn’t progressing. This is decline, and decline is a choice.

It has been said that weak men create hard times. I believe that is true, and we see the impact of weak men on our society daily. We see it in the children growing up without fathers, resigned instead to lives of crime and violence. We see it in the lack of personal responsibility and the inability to feel shame or regret for things done or left undone. We see it in the finger-pointing and blame-shifting and in the rhetoric of our politicians, who seek to silo and divide us. We see it in the failure of our institutions and the erosion of our families, churches, and communities. The hard times are accelerating, gentlemen, and it is on us to be the bulwark against this rising tide of apathy.

Yes, the world needs strong men. Men of valor. Men of integrity. Men who are indispensable to their families and communities. Men with fortitude live by a code, act on principle, and accomplish hard things through the strength of will and character. Men who set the example for others to follow. Men who understand the cardinal virtues have the strength of will to live by them. We need those men now, more than ever. And it is within you to become one of those men.

BECOMING INDISPENSABLE

As an academy instructor, coach, teacher, and trainer, I have worked with hundreds of men to achieve their goals of becoming more indispensable. I tell them all the same thing. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. Overcoming obstacles, achieving your goals, and becoming a stronger man for yourself and those around you isn’t easy. It will require steady work, attention to detail, and commitment. But it will be worth it. And with the tactics and tactical plan discussed in this book, you will have the toolkit you need to make order out of chaos, gain strength and resiliency and become a stronger man for yourself and those who depend on you.

This book is a guide, a roadmap. It uses stories from my life and career to identify the tactics and tactical plan you will need to win the day and live your life with valor. But it is only as good as the work that you are willing to do. And one thing I will promise you is that a lack of effort will always net a lack of results.

Everything I have accomplished came from a solid plan and a toolkit of character, accountability, and consistency. And everything I have ever failed to achieve can be attributed to the lack of one or all of those things. It really is that simple. If you want to make something of your life, it won’t happen by accident. You must be deliberate and dedicated. You must be strong and resilient.

It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.

Let’s get started.

CHAPTER 1

RESURGENCE

So, what should each of us say to every trial we face? This is what I’ve trained for, for this is my discipline!

EPICTETUS

THE TACTIC: Learn to get back in the fight.

You never finish anything.

The words rattled around my brain as I stared straight ahead, afraid to make eye contact with the others in the courtroom. Afraid they might recognize me or acknowledge me.

You never finish anything.

I felt shame in every part of my body. I wore the failure like a backpack. Once again, the words came through. Louder this time, a bleak prophecy was fulfilled.

"You. Never. Finish. ANYTHING."

The voice had a point.

I had quit karate, never reaching black belt.

I had walked away from the Boy Scouts, a service project shy of Eagle Scout.

I had left graduate school without a degree.

And now this. Divorce.

You never finish anything, the voice insisted. "ANYTHING!"

My parents had been married 32 years at the time —a story of commitment, love, and teamwork. My marriage ended after 27 months, a train wreck by any definition. So much for til death do us part.

By the time I arrived in the courtroom that morning, I hadn’t seen my wife in more than a year. In truth, I didn’t even know where she was. We hadn’t even made it to our first anniversary when she left to visit a friend for a weekend and never returned to our apartment. I had filed the paperwork months prior but had to wait until I earned enough leave from my new job in Texas to make the trip back to Maine to finalize the decree.

As I waited for my turn before the judge, my shoulders slumped forward, and I sighed. I had no reservations about my decision. Only a profound sense of melancholy. The mournful language of a defeated spirit.

We were young when we married, 25 and 24, but we had known each other since childhood. We had gotten engaged before I left graduate school, then spent much of the next year living apart as she finished her studies two hours away. The strain and the distance caused red flags that I ignored or looked past. I chalked it up to the stress of distance and planning a wedding while assuring myself it would get better. I told myself it was just a season.

And for a while, after the wedding, it was better. But then, eight months into our marriage, everything changed when we were on vacation with friends. After too much wine, another couple had an argument that broke up the party, and as the two of us got ready for bed, I mentioned it to my wife.

That was kind of a mess, I said.

I cheated on you before the wedding, she replied, bursting into tears.

I didn’t yell or scream or lose my temper. I didn’t call her names or tell her to leave my room. I just stared, unsure what I’d heard. Numb.

You did what? I finally managed.

I found myself tuning her out as she came clean about the infidelity. I didn’t care about the details. I didn’t care about the apology. I wasn’t listening. My mind was racing—pure panic. And the only thought that kept returning was how I would look if word got out. My reputation. The embarrassment of it all. No one can ever find out about this, I thought. No one.

She assured me up and down that the affair had been a mistake, a momentary indiscretion. A momentary lapse of judgment at a grad school party. A deeply held shame that she had lived with and regretted ever since. She insisted that she didn’t want to end up like our friends, unhappy and publicly bickering with one another on vacation. She needed to clear the air. She was deeply apologetic, and the words poured out of her like hot lava.

Please forgive me, she sobbed. "I’m so, so sorry. You must forgive me!"

I said nothing.

"You have to forgive me," she repeated, more statement than a request.

Okay, I finally managed.

It wasn’t okay, and I wasn’t okay either. But I wasn’t emotionally prepared to process what I had heard or what it had meant. And, so, I swallowed it. I repressed it, shoved it deep into my stomach, and went to bed, content to pretend it never happened and never mention it again. We were married, after all. Committed. I couldn’t back out of that. What would everyone think?

Okay, I said again. It’s fine.

Vacation continued. I woke up in the morning and went for a jog. I drank beer in the hot tub with the guys. I cooked on the grill. I smiled and joked. And I never mentioned the conversation to a soul. What would I have said, after all?

So, you’ll never believe this. My wife cheated on me before the wedding and didn’t tell me about it until this very minute!

Nope. Never. I couldn’t say a word.

My friends might judge her, I reasoned. Worse yet, they might judge me. What kind of guy gets cheated on, after all? Beyond that, they were invested in my marriage. They spent good money on wedding gifts, tuxedos, and bachelor parties a few months ago. I imagined their disgust, their disappointment. God, no. Anything but that. That couldn’t happen. I had appearances to keep up. I had a reputation to uphold.

And, I filed the admission away in the dark recesses of my brain where all the shame was held. All of the things you don’t tell your friends. All of the things you barely admit to yourself. Gone. Everything was fine. Just smile and laugh.

We returned home, and life moved on. We resumed our routines of work and friends and family. I was managing a self-storage facility to pass the time while my application with the federal government slowly made its way through the labyrinthine Human Resources process. We talked about Texas and wondered aloud when the offer might come and what duty station I might be assigned to. Austin? San Antonio? To our friends and family, all was well. Happy newlyweds, just as before, a great life ahead of them.

But behind the door, things were tense. I never brought up the secret. I never held it over her head. I never sought to understand why she had done what she had done or how I might have contributed to her actions. Instead, I gave it all a good leaving alone. That wound was far too gruesome to look at. Best to not even acknowledge it. But when we’d get a few drinks into us, my simmering resentment boiled to the surface, and I became dismissive of her and quick to make jokes at her expense. I felt inadequate and ashamed and wanted her to feel the same. It was the only recourse I had.

I don’t know if the relationship could have been salvaged if I had acted differently in those months and weeks after the reveal. I don’t even know if it was worth saving. But I do know that my behavior didn’t help. There were two clear paths I could have taken: a path of true forgiveness and atonement or a clean break and a path of independence. I chose to split the baby. I chose to feign indifference and embrace avoidance. The combination was toxic.

She left for a weekend with a friend two months later and never returned.

It turns out it