I would never mess with an old warrior. I am old enough to know better. The question was a follow-up to farmgals point that it can be trained either at a young age or middle age if they are willing to learn. I am nearing the old age category and often wonder if I have what it takes to take a life. I am pretty darn sure if it was to protect or feed my son there would be no question. But beyond that I am not so sure.

You can train to it or be pushed into it. The quote in Rambo 4 "when your pushed, killing is as easy as breathing" is quite true, you just have to know where you personally draw the line and if someone pushes you across that line...you protect what you got to protect. Warriors aren't warriors for themselves...they do it for those they love, for those you can't do it themselves and for the warrior standing next to you.

GM1

Glockman said it best! Practice and practice more on life size targets it is muscle memory. Also, the person you are shooting is not a person but a target and should always be referred to as a target. These would be the two main things that were used when I was in the Infantry. Like everyone else has said killing is wrong but if you have no choice in as shtf scenario it is a target and nothing more, aim for center of visible mass and squeeze the trigger.

You are the product of your experiences. The range training gives you the muscle memory to shoot accurately and effectively when you need to.
The decision to act is all done before that, and most often not yours. The outcome is the reason you've started prepping. Sucks Huh?

This is an older thread, and I'm not going to read it all, so please forgive me if my own thoughts are repeating what someone else has already said.

I don't think you need to go cold in order to take a life. I don't think you should attempt to destroy or alter your humanity for any reason - valuing life generally, and human life especially, is part of what makes our conscious awareness, as thinking, feeling beings, so valuable. The war mindset isn't natural, no matter what military-minded people believe. The natural feelings of people are kindness and compassion, and forgiveness and trust. It's the sickness of this world we live in that's stolen those things from us, and turned them into weapons that can be used against us. The idea of killing human beings isn't natural. In a fully sane world, the idea of it would be considered insane. But we don't live in a very sane world. And in the near future, it's going to become a lot less sane.

When the world falls apart to the point where we will be forced to protect ourselves, those we care about and live with, and our ability to keep ourselves fed, clothed, and housed, by whatever means necessary, then you must necessarily look at things differently. In that sort of situation, approaching it philosophically, on what objective reasoning could you justify carrying around guilt and shame for killing another human being, if you had to do it? What purpose would it serve? Would it help you to be able to do it again, if you had to? I think it would hinder it. Would it help you to grow as a human being? Again, I think it would be counterproductive. Would it increase your value as a human being? No. Would it otherwise benefit you in any way? I can't think of one. The reality is that, if you were forced to kill someone to protect yourself, or another or others, or the security of the assets you or you and they had that were responsible for ensuring your continuing survival, then who really killed who? Yeah, you might have pulled the trigger, or fired the arrow, or stabbed this person to death, but they were the one who failed to see that you were willing to do so to protect what you had to protect, and forced you to it. From an objective standpoint, whether you were the physical agent or not, they really killed themselves. You can say that it was the car that killed you, if you jumped in front of it, but who jumped in front of it?

Owning your emotions, as opposed to them owning your awareness, as is pretty much the norm - and something I'm a victim of myself - isn't easy, but for the sake of your survival, and that of the people close to you, you must do what you can to mitigate them with objective reason. Mourning the loss of a life you were forced to take is natural. Life is precious, and its loss is always tragic. But to willfully allow yourself to carry guilt and shame over something beyond your control is beyond foolish. If a bear was threatening to maul you, your friend, wife, child, neighbor, you would, without hesitation, kill it. If a man, with full conscious awareness, was threatening the welfare of you, your friend, wife, child, or neighbor, the situation is no different. No matter what your emotions would try and have you believe, carrying guilt and shame for any reason is completely counterproductive.

If you take life using long range means, usually its not as troubling as close encounters. The problem is usually in the aftermath if you're left with a lump of non-functioning bio-machinery. To deal with the guilt you can handle the remains with proper means or if its not possible, you can give it at least a farewell like:
"See you on the other side",
"I hope you find peace",
"The fight is over, you can continue your journey"

If you see someone kicking, spitting, or even shooting at such remains, usually they're already broken inside. I know that some may doesn't deserve some respect but you have to draw the line where things are over.

This is mental matters, the lesser example is like being dumped by your gf/bf.
Everyone will just say, get over it, bru!
However its easier said than done. Sometimes when people are broken hearted, and not treated immediately they may just choose to end their misery by performing act of you know what. Some may continue their live with memories stuck in the loop remembering the person they care, and regretting if-only, if-only-I, and so on causing significant decrease in productivity.

In today's language, clear the history, flush the cache.