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Situational Awareness


CalmerThanYou
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I was in a store during an armed robbery at the age of 12. It hasn’t turned off in 43 years.  The feeling of having a loaded sawed off shotgun pointed at your face cannot be explained. Neither can the joy of surviving it. Tunnel vision. Intense focus. Slow motion. Flight or fight. Sublime euphoria. When the perp went over the counter to empty the cash register, I bolted. Flight kicked in. 

Edited by Will Beararms
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It's those moments when you are least prepared, you get caught off guard.  Just recently I had a tire problem with the truck and stopped by the repair shop to get it fixed.  Wife was to pick me up,  I told the guy let me get my bag out of the truck and I'll give you the keys.  I walked back out to the truck and just as I approached the driver door a police SUV came pulling up real quick,  Officer got out real quick pulling his gun, telling me to step aside.  As soon as got my butt on the move he yelled for a guy hiding behind the truck to come out with his hands up.  In just the couple minutes since I had parked there this guy had hide, fortunately another gentleman had been observant and got the police involved.  Guess the guy had been breaking into cars and the fellow had spotted him and followed him there.

I was armed but it was early on a cold morning and I totally unprepared.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

A few things I do:

1. Stats show that more crime happens after the sun goes down. I might be armed during daylight, but I am always armed after dark.

2. If I am traveling away from home,  I try not to let the fuel level go below a quarter tank.

3. I try to plan my routes ahead of time, and avoid urban downtown areas if I can.

4. Am choosy where I gas up after dark... prefer larger travel centers.

5. I avoid outdoor ATMs after dark.

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  • 7 months later...

Yrs back my sis, her hubby lived in Texas.  They had to take me to "Dicks Resort" IIRC.   We had to walk at least a block from parking thru a industrial area repurposed in lofts I think. (Maybe longer)

. The place was peanut shells, sawdust on floor. Waiters insult you, blown up exam gloves, condoms maybe blown up...  I hurt the servers feelings when I suggested he stop making such comment to my sister....

  We are walking back, it's dark...  Homeless looking guy crosses the street to get infront of us...   I step infront as he starts his spiel.  Then "no trouble, I don't want no trouble.." He crosses back.  My sis is upset I pulled a gun.  Thing is that's no reason to pull a gun.  Even if I had one on me.  But I was not legal at that time in TX...

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14 hours ago, larry_minn said:

Yrs back my sis, her hubby lived in Texas.  They had to take me to "Dicks Resort" IIRC.   We had to walk at least a block from parking thru a industrial area repurposed in lofts I think. (Maybe longer)

. The place was peanut shells, sawdust on floor. Waiters insult you, blown up exam gloves, condoms maybe blown up...  I hurt the servers feelings when I suggested he stop making such comment to my sister....

  We are walking back, it's dark...  Homeless looking guy crosses the street to get infront of us...   I step infront as he starts his spiel.  Then "no trouble, I don't want no trouble.." He crosses back.  My sis is upset I pulled a gun.  Thing is that's no reason to pull a gun.  Even if I had one on me.  But I was not legal at that time in TX...

San Antonio River Walk, close to Ripley's  The same street preacher, AKA the homeless guy is still there yelling at people.  My wife wanted to go there on vacation last summer, for a memory lane stroll from before we had children.  My son decided to challenge the yelling preacher with scripture, which blew his mind.  That a skinny teenager went over to quote it to him.  He stopped his spiel and looked shocked.  Since last time they put in a tasty Fudruckers.  I was amazed that the tiny Alamo had been so greatly expanded into a park and tours.  Before, all that was put in it was pretty small. 

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  • 1 month later...

I'm fortunate, in that I tend to notice more, naturally, than most folks do when they try.
I'm not bragging, it's just my experience.
I like to people watch and this helps also. I instinctively try to figure out what folks are doing. I can't help it.
I have become a bit paranoid, in the last few years. There are just so many more tweakers, 'opportunists' and flat out predators, than they're used to be.
This is not mine, but I use it, "Be polite to everyone you meet, but have a plan to kill them."
That might seem extreme, but it's not. You never know who looks amicable now, but could become a threat.
The Navy taught, when unarmed, identify a 'weapon of opportunity'. A part of the 'plan'.
I work on a military installation. As a result, I spend much of the time unarmed. I don't like it, but only nine more years to go.

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  • 3 months later...

A bit of paranoia is always helpful.

If you have the feeling that you are being followed while driving, here's one way to test it.

In quick succession, make two left-hand turns. And watch what's behind. If you are being followed, the car following you will also make the two left-hand turns. In normal life, people don't usually make two left-hand turns in quick succession. Chances are that if it happens, you are being followed.

Of course, if it's the .gov, it really doesn't matter. They are probably employing the hamster-in-the-floating-box method. If so, I'd invite them for coffee and donuts.

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Space between stopped cars.

How many times when stopped at a red light, have you seen a car that leaves a space from the car in front of it, of a car length or more? By the same token, of a car that's sniffing the butt of the car in front.

In most cars, a turn of the steering wheel from 12 to 6 will enable you to sneak by the car in front if the space between them is as follows. With your field of vision, the front line of the hood of your car aligns with the line of the rear wheels (where they touch the ground) of the car in front of you.

If you leave that space and someone tries to corner you in, a quick flip of the steering wheel and rapid acceleration will get you out of there. Of course, if you are in the center lane of a three lane road and they corner you from opposite sides, you are pretty much screwed for that maneuver. Or if your car's specs do not conform to that description.  Might as well test it.

 

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Field of vision for no blind spots.

In most cars this will work.

Sit upright in your seat. The inside rear view mirror must cover the rear window evenly.  Raise the driver's side window. Lean your head towards the side window and let it rest against it.  While in that position, adjust the outside rear view mirror so that when you look, the back end of the car is  "touching" the inner portion of the side mirror.

For the right side mirror, calculate the distance to lean your head as described above and lean your head to the right. Adjust the right side rear view mirror accordingly.

Out on the road, if done correctly,  what will happen is this. You will get a clear view of the car behind you. If the car behind you changes lanes, it will pop up  clearly in the corresponding side mirror. Seamlessly.

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Trust your gut feeling. When the voice tells you that something is not kosher, don't allow your intellect to rationalize your way out of it.

The voice never lies.

 

From a fellow Rosicrucian:

 

 

Edited by Ricordo
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Need to drive 100 miles at night and you are almost conked out?

Turn on the car's interior light. It will fool the brain into thinking that it's daytime.

For a time at least...

Beware---Gewahren!     Know Your Limits.

Edited by Ricordo
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Somebody grabs you from behind?

Don't waste time trying to wiggle out of it.

Stomp hard on the assailant's top of the foot/feet. Hard. Those bones break rather easily and hurt like crazy. React accordingly.

The assailant will remember that one. If it was a friend pulling a joke, will remember you more.

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Watched a movie where somebody grabs someone by the throat?

Here's a better way. Make a kung fu grip with your hand and grab your trachea. Exert pressure by pinching behind the trachea. You will notice that it doesn't take much to start feeling pain.

And if you exert unadvisable, but remarkably significant pressure, you will hear a sort of a squishing sound. So don't do it to yourself. But do it to your enemy. That's cartilage there, not bone.

Then you can smoke a cigarette, read a magazine, relax...especially if you also manage to crush his/her eyeballs all the way to the back of the head.

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2 hours ago, Batesmotel said:

Always have an escape plan. 

Always be ready to fight. 

There are no rules in a fight. 

Anything you own can be replaced, even vehicles. 

A vehicle is a great combination weapon/escape plan. 

If you can avoid, avoid.

 

Next month................"Poisons: Are they truly a green alternative."

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3 hours ago, Batesmotel said:

Always have an escape plan. 

Always be ready to fight. 

There are no rules in a fight. 

Anything you own can be replaced, even vehicles. 

A vehicle is a great combination weapon/escape plan. 

My favorite purely fictional chase threat scene in movies, is when a car is being chased by motorcycles.  Guns are another problem, but motorcycles are subject to the least little contact with a vehicle.  Don't run from them, attack them. 

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1 hour ago, janice6 said:

My favorite purely fictional chase threat scene in movies, is when a car is being chased by motorcycles.  Guns are another problem, but motorcycles are subject to the least little contact with a vehicle.  Don't run from them, attack them. 

Kinetic energy+mass versus mass.

Love it. ?

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Here's another one that Hollywood never gets right.

At the exact moment of death, the jaw drops.

Unless, of course, the body is upside down. At the beginning, it probably went like this:

"Is he dead?"

"I don't know."

"Go ahead and wiggle his jaw. But be careful in case he tries to bite."

 

Edited by Ricordo
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  • 2 months later...

Many years ago I worked in a group home for troubled kids.

One night during dinner I was having a conversation with one of the kids when another kid asked me a question. I turned to answer the other kid and the first one, feeling disrespected, bounced her Melemene dinner plate off my forehead. That was the beginning of my journey of learning situational awareness.

I also worked in a mental health facility for almost a year. That was an environment where one minute a patient was fine and the next he decided that you were the Antichrist and you had to die. That only has to happen a couple of times before you really start paying attention to what's going on around you.

I honestly don't know if you can teach somebody situational awareness any other way than by putting them in a position where they have to pay attention to what's going on around them or they're going to have to suffer actual consequences.

 
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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a valuable thread, and bears review from time to time. One thing I got from reading it again was the difference in threat level when it's one potential assailant versus two or three potential assailants. Specifically, the lead assailant screening his buddy, who is trailing. If confronted with such a situation, I may have to move/shift position to keep both of their hands in view. 

This brings up another good teaching point made earlier, when refueling at a gas pump. If possible, utilize a pump within view of the cashier inside the store. 

I tend to use a credit card at the pump... refuel, and go; however, sometimes I choose to go inside, for coffee, candy bar, whatever. I visually sweep the area to get an idea of the other customers refueling, how many with each vehicle, age/gender, etc. When I come back outside, I do the same, and as I approach my  truck, I try to remember to scan the vicinity around my vehicle. Never assume.

Thanks to the OP who started this. 

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  • 2 months later...

I get the sense that many people are lumping common "paying attention" and general "awareness" into the same category as situational awareness.  Situational awareness is a generally a much broader consideration and not likely something that will actually be achieved by a single person.  A person's situation is much larger and much more substantial than what most people give it credit of being.  Having a handle on what is going on at the dinner table or in the 15' x 15' dining room is not "SA" in my estimation.  If you have a handle on what is happening inside a structure, 300 feet surrounding the structure and the most obvious routes that a common vehicle would take to arrive at your location within 60 seconds.  I would call that a little closer to SA than not.  When I say.. "have a handle", I am simply referring to being reasonably aware of current or developing conditions and elements which seemingly have a potential to endanger you or your mission.  I would also say that SA would also include a good understanding of how effectively navigate your current surrounding effectively.  SA is not really the job of a single observer.  At least not in my estimation anyway.  

Should you pay attention?  sure.. but I wouldnt call it situational awareness.  To do so would unduly diminish and marginalize real situational awareness.  I accept that situational awareness is overused and abused as much as the word "tactical".  

Edited by Paper Tiger
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