Michael Kurcina is the Founder of Spotter Up, a tactical gear website that doubles as an immense resource of information, reviews, articles, and podcasts featuring former or active-duty members of the Special Operations community, master-level shooters, special agents, case officers, athletes, and outdoor enthusiasts who share their knowledge on everything from guns and ammo, to prepping and Survival, martial arts, Fitness, Nutrition, and Health. Michael is also the author of “We Fight Monsters: Wisdom And Inspiration That Speak To The Warrior’s Soul.”
In this episode of The Alpha Human Podcast, Lawrence Rosenberg and Michael Kurcina discuss his journey as the son of a brilliant engineer who worked with the CIA during the Vietnam War and a Vietnamese woman from a small village who left the country before the fall of Saigon to grow up in San Jose immersed in books and fighting as a kid searching for meaning. As Michael grew into a young man, he became a warrior looking for a war, fueled by violence and an intense need to test his mettle, brawling in bars and on a path to prison, he would eventually rise from being broke and jobless to reenlisting in the military at age 39, two decades after an injury ended his career with the Marines.
We delve deep into Michael’s book “We Fight Monsters” a journey into his musings on what it means to be a man and face death, fear, love, war, as well as how to be free, how to dare, and how to be reborn, as seen through the eyes of his journey of self-discovery. Along the way we discuss Michael’s views on why cultural elites and “intellectual doubters” seem to be bent on destroying what it means to be a man, fomenting a self-hating, weak society – why men aspire to be Gods and are often plagued by anger, and how we can use the “seeds of pain” born of the trauma wrought by violence, grief and hate to build a positive and rewarding life.
We also explore the genesis of Michael’s vision for Spotter Up as a source of knowledge for those who much like himself are part Man of Action, Man of Intellect, Man of Emotion, and Man of Spirit (gunfighter, writer, warrior, and monk), and who through dedication to the Whole Man Concept of Paideia and Michael’s Chessman ideal, can find their way to the top of the mountain that we all envision conquering.
Links –
We Fight Monsters: Wisdom and inspiration that speak to the warrior’s soul – https://amzn.to/3dDCcPR