Centurion Training Group

Our ‘tactical’ corner of the world is filled with references to ancient direct action guys and warrior brotherhoods.  There are flashlights named after swords and training facilities linked to two thousand year old mythologies, sunglasses and water bottles and socks all referring back to evocative historical figures that personify the warrior ethos. So why did we choose the Centurion? Not because he was the ancient counterpart of today’s Master Gunnery Sergeants, Sergeants Major and CWOs, the long-term veteran regular of the Roman army, with decades of service…the true ‘lead by example’ unit commander that made his army the most professional and effective the world had ever seen.  Not because history tells us that it was only two centurions who were strong enough and tough enough to stop the legendary Spartacus in man on man combat.  Not because Caesar wrote in his campaign histories that it was his centurions of the first line that were the vessels of his victories, not because centurions rarely retired from their duties, almost always dying in service, nor because the units of the day were named after their centurion rather than numbered or given a letter designation as they are now.

We chose the Centurion for other reasons.  The New Testament references seven Roman Centurions, from Cornelius, who was the first gentile convert to the Christian faith, to the Centurion who asked Christ to heal his slave, to the Centurion whose confession recognized Christ as the True Son of God as he hung from the cross.  Not Roman officers, not Roman dignitaries, not noblemen or philosophers or storied artisans, but the rough old senior NCO Centurions.  As these old warhorses, men whose entire lives were dedicated to the profession of arms, went about their duties as commanders, police officials and provincial administrators, at least a few of them linked their duties with a conscience and a moral obligation.  This is what we choose.