Got Awareness?

[41magfan]

All the recent talk about the Virginia TV News crew getting shot today has prompted me to post this.

About 35 years ago I was sitting in a restaurant one evening and felt a hand on my shoulder from behind. An acquaintance had recognized me and walked over just to say hello. Moments after he left, it became painfully obvious to me that had that friendly touch on my shoulder been a gun, a knife or a claw hammer I would have been in serious trouble.

So, I came up with this friendly little game that my fellow officers and I started playing with each other. The object of the game is to not let anyone you know touch you or get within arm’s reach - in a public place - without you seeing them first. If they do, you owe the tagger a dollar. If you’re unarmed when you’re tagged, you owe them another dollar; payable on the spot.

The purpose in this exercise is to add some realism to the notion that being truly “aware” of what’s going on around you is a fairly tedious process until Condition Orange actually becomes a part of your consciousness.

Think about it; if someone you know can go undetected in your immediate proximity, how can you reasonably expect to see someone or something threatening in time to plant your feet anywhere meaningful in the reactionary curve?

I can tell you after three decades of play that the humbling reality is simply this; everyone gets “tagged” (liars excluded). The only question is, how often does it happen and are you getting better or worse at honing your awareness skills.

The tactical principle of "forewarned is forearmed" cannot be overstated and it begins with awareness.

[RoyGBiv]

Given the increasing frequency of lone wolf attacks and more and more crazies trying to exorcise their psychopathetic, narcissistic demons on law enforcement and the general public, awareness is a critical skill.

[GardoneVT]

Situational Awareness saved my neck once. Because I was looking at the parking lot I was walking towards instead of some inane Facebook update on my phone, I spotted a carjacker when he was twenty yards away from me instead of negative point five Yds.Thanks to that awareness I had a plan to deal with him , resulting in Jerk running for the bushes instead of me looking suddenly at the wrong end of his gun barrel , or finding out he was armed via bullets flying at me.

[BehindBlueI's]

Is there anything like the Combat Hunter program that civilians can attend? Knowing the body language, proxemics, etc. that are precursors to an attack can help immensely. Awareness isn't just noticing what's going on around you, its sorting the irrelevant information you receive from the relevant, allowing more of your processing power to work on the things that are out of the ordinary. Noticing your buddy keeps your head up and on a swivel, but it also teaches you to look for your buddy. Combining that sort of game with training and practice on profiling would be better than either alone.

[41magfan]

I agree, but you can't spot something known until you filter it through the all the unrecognizable. The game we play is a means to an end; not the end itself. The manifestation of the practiced skill can be something as simple as this; I witness shoplifting just about every time I go in a store. Those that don't may not be as aware as they think they are.

[TGS]

Is there anything like the Combat Hunter program that civilians can attend? Knowing the body language, proxemics, etc. that are precursors to an attack can help immensely. Awareness isn't just noticing what's going on around you, its sorting the irrelevant information you receive from the relevant, allowing more of your processing power to work on the things that are out of the ordinary. Noticing your buddy keeps your head up and on a swivel, but it also teaches you to look for your buddy. Combining that sort of game with training and practice on profiling would be better than either alone.

Craig's ECQC.

John Murphy in Virginia changed up his programs after attending ECQC and covers it, as well. "Street Encounters" is the title of the course, I believe.

[StraitR]

I agree, but you can't spot something known until you filter it through the all the unrecognizable. The game we play is a means to an end; not the end itself. The manifestation of the practiced skill can be something as simple as this; I witness shoplifting just about every time I go in a store. Those that don't may not be as aware as they think they are.

While I see where you're going with that, there seems to be a high probability that the "unrecognizable" will be filtered quickly as a "means to an end", in your instance, finding friendlies. The game is to not be tagged by friendlies, which WILL be the inevitable focus. Even if only for the pure sake of competitiveness, or pride, players (dudes, most likely alpha types) are going to focus hard on not getting tagged (the object of the game) rather than what everyone else is doing while being filtered. Putting it another way, in this particular game, friendlies have become the threats, and the unknown pose no threat. What are you really looking for?

Not trying to bag on you or your game, just trying to add some additional perspective. It's a great thread, and I look forward to the discussion.

[BehindBlueI's]

Craig's ECQC.

John Murphy in Virginia changed up his programs after attending ECQC and covers it, as well. "Street Encounters" is the title of the course, I believe.

Good. That's the sort of training that often gets overlooked but can pay huge dividends. I took a body language class from a rodeo clown and it was well worth the time spent. (In fairness, he was also a PhD, LEO, blah blah blah, but the rodeo clown part was more interesting to me.)

[voodoo_man]

I have repeatedly addressed the "scan" post shooting as well as during your regular goings on.

The best method I have found is to make eye contact with everyone around you. I have done this for some time now, in various places. Eye contact is a positive way to make sure you see everyone around you.

[BaiHu]

I have repeatedly addressed the "scan" post shooting as well as during your regular goings on.

The best method I have found is to make eye contact with everyone around you. I have done this for some time now, in various places. Eye contact is a positive way to make sure you see everyone around you.
vdm and others, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the above.

I too, as a man, am more likely, more comfortable and more willing to make eye contact with most people in order to "say", I see you seeing me to the "right" people. This gives me general awareness of exits, crowds, police as well as specific awareness of who may be the "right" person/s to look out for.

However, certain subcultures see eye contact as a challenge and almost all cultures see eye contact from a woman as an invitation. This is something I find important to share with my male/female students.

Any thoughts, suggestions or tips that might aid in the awareness game? And yes I'm a big fan of MUC, I have taken ECQC and I'll be hosting EWO next spring.

[voodoo_man]

As humans we rely on our senses to give us cues that preempt actions.

Visual awareness is 99.50% of the stress inducer it has to be as we react very quickly to what we see. If you do not see a threat because you did not look at it, how are you supposed to be the one feeding the ooda loop - terms used can be clarified if need be but they are specific to threats.

A man or woman needs to see the threat first before making an unconscious decision to react to it, of the possible presence of a threat.

If you are walking down the street and two guys walk past you laughing and smiling, you may not take a second look. If they walk by you and hands in their pockets and they are laser-eyeing you up and down you will have a drastically different response, I hope.

Eye contact does many things, specifically for you because someones intent can be projected by eye contact. I was in a class a long time ago and an instructor told us, "if you want to know who the baddest motherfucker in the room is, start eyefucking everyonex stare everyone down and if everyone looks away, you are the baddest motherfucker there
" That has real merit in many situations. The guy who wont look away in crowd or area you are not familiar with is probably the guy eyeing people up for a reason.

[Dropkick]

This might be a little bit of a thread drift, but since it was already brought up...
For pre-event scanning, William Aprill offers "belt checking" for hidden weapons around the waist as an alternative to to "eye checking" if you're worried about any negative connotations of eye contact.
For post-event scanning, John Murphy teaches scanning people's hands for weapons because "hands kill."
I think a combination of both could be used for both scenarios. The important thing is the methods is that they require both looking AND assessing. All too often people will just spin their heads to "scan" around but don't actually "see" anything.

[41magfan]

While I see where you're going with that, there seems to be a high probability that the "unrecognizable" will be filtered quickly as a "means to an end", in your instance, finding friendlies. The game is to not be tagged by friendlies, which WILL be the inevitable focus. Even if only for the pure sake of competitiveness, or pride, players (dudes, most likely alpha types) are going to focus hard on not getting tagged (the object of the game) rather than what everyone else is doing while being filtered. Putting it another way, in this particular game, friendlies have become the threats, and the unknown pose no threat. What are you really looking for?

Not trying to bag on you or your game, just trying to add some additional perspective. It's a great thread, and I look forward to the discussion.

For me and my LE buds this started out as a game, but it's not a playful endeavor when you practice it like there's something meaningful at stake. The "game" dynamic runs outta gas pretty quick and it either works continually as a catalyst or it doesn't.

It bears repeating that the "you owe me a dollar" thing only applies to fellow officers (who voluntary participate, obviously) and only serves as a playful ruse get them to pay attention and stay armed.

The application of the exercise in detecting non-LE acquaintances doesn't involve a "gotcha" element to it (they're totally clueless) and only serves as an informal metric for critiquing your own personal level of awareness.

For me, this practice lets me know how well my awareness acumen is working on any given day because it provides me some level of feedback. What I do with that is up to me, but merely walking around and assuming - without some form of verification - that I'm plugged in, is simply evidence that I'm drinking my own Kool-Aid.

If anyone has developed a better mouse trap in this regard, please share it.

[Hambo]

Eye contact does many things, specifically for you because someones intent can be projected by eye contact. I was in a class a long time ago and an instructor told us, "if you want to know who the baddest motherfucker in the room is, start eyefucking everyonex stare everyone down and if everyone looks away, you are the baddest motherfucker there
" That has real merit in many situations. The guy who wont look away in crowd or area you are not familiar with is probably the guy eyeing people up for a reason.

I would agree. I make a lot of eye contact when out and about. The most common responses from guys are 1) they look away or 2) they acknowledge me in some way, like we nod to each other. I've also left a couple of bars because some dude was eyefucking me. I didn't feel particularly manly but I've got more to lose in a bar fight than some wannabe or real tough guy.

[StraitR]

For me and my LE buds this started out as a game, but it's not a playful endeavor when you practice it like there's something meaningful at stake. The "game" dynamic runs outta gas pretty quick and it either works continually as a catalyst or it doesn't.

It bears repeating that the "you owe me a dollar" thing only applies to fellow officers (who voluntary participate, obviously) and only serves as a playful ruse get them to pay attention and stay armed.

The application of the exercise in detecting non-LE acquaintances doesn't involve a "gotcha" element to it (they're totally clueless) and only serves as an informal metric for critiquing your own personal level of awareness.

For me, this practice lets me know how well my awareness acumen is working on any given day because it provides me some level of feedback. What I do with that is up to me, but merely walking around and assuming - without some form of verification - that I'm plugged in, is simply evidence that I'm drinking my own Kool-Aid.

If anyone has developed a better mouse trap in this regard, please share it.

That makes a lot more sense. Could have just been the way I was reading it, interpreted as more of a competition than an exercise in actively scanning for potential threats. Thanks for the clarity, could be something I use for my family, particularly my wife.

[HCM]

I think the OP's game is a great idea despite any potential pitfalls. However, I have to ask, am I the only one who immediately thought of this after reading the OP?


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S2l5Yt6LBfo

Or this ?


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jw1f94dx4xo

[ACP230]

I attempt to pay attention to what is going on around me.
A recent fail was at the range. While I was doing a drill someone drove in
parked his pickup, walked into the range house and took a seat on a bench.
I didn't hear or see him till I finished up, made the gun safe, and turned around.
Usually I hear cars turn in off the main road and crunch on the gravel drive. Not
that day.

In partial defense, I had ears on and was about 35 feet forward of the covered range.
Told my wife about this and she said, "I hope you weren't doing a self-defense drill!"

Next trip I looked around a lot more before, after, and mid drill.
Two people showed up but I saw both before they got past the club house.

[41magfan]

I think the OP's game is a great idea despite any potential pitfalls. However, I have to ask, am I the only one who immediately thought of this after reading the OP?


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S2l5Yt6LBfo

Or this ?


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jw1f94dx4xo

Along those lines ......

My best friend is a poster child COP from the 70's. He's a big guy that outweighs me by 30 lbs or more and has at least a 6" advantage in height and reach ..... certified in every form of DT, a former martial arts guy and amateur boxer, carries 2 guns and three knives all the time (he's been doing this for almost 40 years - long before that was a pop trend) loves pain ... both giving and receiving. Just a kick-ass kind of guy.

He caught me in Wal-Mart once with my head up my ass and closed the distance to just a yard or two before I caught his furtive movements out of the corner of my eye. I instinctively turned and had just closed my hand around the grip of my pocket rocket when he caught me, trapped my arm in one of his Ninja holds effectively pinning my gun hand in my pocket so I couldn't move.

It only lasted for second or two before he smiled and turned me loose, but I think I know how a gazelle feels when the leopard exercises his dominance.

[Andy in NH]

I like to spot people I know before they see me. Walking through a big box store or the supermarket, I'll be on the lookout for people I'm familiar with or recognize from around town. When I see them first, I make sure to greet them right away. It also works great in the hardware store or mini-mart. Sometimes when I see a particular buddy of mine I'll send a text to him stating "awareness fail" and then watch him look around for me when he receives the message.

In a moment of failure a few years ago, I got task fixated while looking at mother's day cards in a store. To my left, a man stepped up next to me (also looking at cards) within arms reach before I noticed him. As I glanced over, I was surprised to see "Rob", a sparring partner from the dojo standing next to me. He had not noticed me either, so I took a step back, (to his 4:00) and said, "Hey, you want to fight!" He didn't hear me at first, but I thought the woman standing to my right was going to shit a brick. I repeated myself again, but this time louder, "HEY, YOU WANT TO FIGHT?" The woman to the right made herself scarce and Rob turned around. Once he saw me we both laughed and shook hands in greeting. After a bit of small talk with him, I found a card and left.

I also like to play the "see them first" game in traffic. I live in a relatively small town and it is great awareness practice to watch for people on the sidewalk or see their car coming before they see mine. Or at least see and recognize them in time to exchange friendly waves.

[1911Nut]

This is all great stuff. I was initially introduced to it by Jeff Cooper at Gunsite in 1981, including the exercise of trying to walk up to and touch/greet someone you know in public places such as restaurants or grocery stores before they see you. It was part of the training discussing color code, mental conditioning, and awareness/control of one's personal environment.

[StraitR]

I attempt to pay attention to what is going on around me.
A recent fail was at the range. While I was doing a drill someone drove in
parked his pickup, walked into the range house and took a seat on a bench.
I didn't hear or see him till I finished up, made the gun safe, and turned around.
Usually I hear cars turn in off the main road and crunch on the gravel drive. Not
that day.

In partial defense, I had ears on and was about 35 feet forward of the covered range.
Told my wife about this and she said, "I hope you weren't doing a self-defense drill!"

Next trip I looked around a lot more before, after, and mid drill.
Two people showed up but I saw both before they got past the club house.

This is exactly why I use electronic ear pro with the mics turned to the rear. The local Sheriff's range boarders the club I belong to, and while shooting in our private bays, I can hear the A/C turn on and off at the Sheriff's building 100 yards to my rear. Cars, RO golf carts, and people are easily detected, even when doubled up with plugs and electronic muffs while shooting on the rifle range.

[41magfan]

The TX Deputy getting whacked at the gas pump last night is a tragic reminder of the reality that awareness is paramount. Be vigilant, guys ..... your other skills and preparations are fairly worthless without it.

[MGW]

I'm not a brain expert but I would like to put out some food for thought.

In my personal experience and in working with others what I've found out is that the brain can't process large volumes of information at once. Go to a live football game and watch the football for a couple of plays. There is no way you can remember what every person on the field was doing. With practice and experience you can look at the results of the play and mentally recreate what happened but you are relying more on past experience than on what really happened.

The brain is also not truly capable of multi tasking. It can do one thing at a time. So if you are pumping gas and trying to remember the last time you check the air in the tires you've effectively lowered your ability to perceive what is going on around you.

The brain will filter what is currently happening through past experiences. So if you are you are in a location that in the past you have decided is "safe" your brain will be slower to recognize a threat in that location. The opposite is also true. If you deem an area dangerous you are more likely to pick up on a threat.

Finally, being truly "switched on" is some of the most fatiguing work you can do. When working convoy security in Iraq I would make sure we rotated gunners as often as possible. Fours hours of that kind of work is exhausting. You are literally processing thousands of details a minute and making mental decisions on everything you see. It's simply not possible to maintain that kind of mental focus for extended periods of time. It's a recipe for disaster. Everyone has to be able to take mental breaks throughout the day in a "safe area" to maintain any focus throughout the day. I really have never been able to figure out how LEOs make it on departments that run 12 hour shifts.

I can not remember the name of the doctor, someone here well, but I was listening to Ballistic Radio awhile back and heard one of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard on how to maintain situational awareness. Before moving from one location to another take a second to stop and use as many senses as possible. Look, listen, and smell. Not just a gaze around your surroundings but pick out smaller details. The color of a car. Number of people. Individual words of someone talking near you. Also say to yourself "the world is not as it ought to be". This gives you a mental reset and even in comfortable surroundings helps to reset your brain so that you can more easily pick out key details.

[cclaxton]

I have spent most of my career in broadcasting, and when you are doing an interview, you are totally focused on the job. You can't be spending cycles thinking about situational awareness. A better option is to have a third person scanning or armed security. In some cases armed security is required. Many video journalists have bodyguards when they travel overseas.
Cody

[41magfan]

I'm not a brain expert but I would like to put out some food for thought.

In my personal experience and in working with others what I've found out is that the brain can't process large volumes of information at once. Go to a live football game and watch the football for a couple of plays. There is no way you can remember what every person on the field was doing. With practice and experience you can look at the results of the play and mentally recreate what happened but you are relying more on past experience than on what really happened.

The brain is also not truly capable of multi tasking. It can do one thing at a time. So if you are pumping gas and trying to remember the last time you check the air in the tires you've effectively lowered your ability to perceive what is going on around you.

The brain will filter what is currently happening through past experiences. So if you are you are in a location that in the past you have decided is "safe" your brain will be slower to recognize a threat in that location. The opposite is also true. If you deem an area dangerous you are more likely to pick up on a threat.

Finally, being truly "switched on" is some of the most fatiguing work you can do. When working convoy security in Iraq I would make sure we rotated gunners as often as possible. Fours hours of that kind of work is exhausting. You are literally processing thousands of details a minute and making mental decisions on everything you see. It's simply not possible to maintain that kind of mental focus for extended periods of time. It's a recipe for disaster. Everyone has to be able to take mental breaks throughout the day in a "safe area" to maintain any focus throughout the day. I really have never been able to figure out how LEOs make it on departments that run 12 hour shifts.

I can not remember the name of the doctor, someone here well, but I was listening to Ballistic Radio awhile back and heard one of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard on how to maintain situational awareness. Before moving from one location to another take a second to stop and use as many senses as possible. Look, listen, and smell. Not just a gaze around your surroundings but pick out smaller details. The color of a car. Number of people. Individual words of someone talking near you. Also say to yourself "the world is not as it ought to be". This gives you a mental reset and even in comfortable surroundings helps to reset your brain so that you can more easily pick out key details.

That is some excellent commentary and it certainly has some relevance to this discussion.

I have no experience in threat management outside of my LE background, but here’s how I do it and teach it in a domestic setting;

Instead of the environment or the surroundings themselves being the only driving force in determining when to dial up or dial down, I use exposure and vulnerability as the motivating factors for staying sharp.

My experience tells me that we are most vulnerable when we’re alone, exposed, isolated, or our visibility and mobility is limited by light or physical barriers. Those situations demand a dialed-up sense of awareness regardless of the physical location.

Thankfully, those times are generally limited in duration and frequency (all things considered) and do not demand a lot of our mental resources. Mental burnout and fatigue is best thwarted by learning to recognize when you need to be plugged in and not waste any time and energy on the benign circumstances of life.

As it relates to an overall sense of what’s going on around you let me also add these foot notes.

Personal conflict often has particular sounds and noises associated with it. Loud voices and words of anger should always get your attention and should never be dismissed or ignored. Along with that, furtive and hasty movements should also demand your scrutiny until any potential threat can be dismissed.

Lastly, crime trends in your locale should always be foremost in your mind. Trends tend to continue as long as they remain productive for the criminal, so don’t be that guy. You’d be surprised how many people will willingly go - often times unarmed - where angels fear to tread.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

One has to post the gorilla awarness test - http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/videos.html and some background - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inattentional_blindness for theories.

It happens in hearing. Doctors scanning X-rays for tumors missed a hidden gorilla image inserted into the X-rays. IIRC, the highest level of alertness and vigilance shows a half-life of twenty minutes.

Such research makes me take folks who stay they are perpetually in 'yellow' or 'orange' with a grain of salt.

One training anecdote and I forget who told me, was that someone would walk up behind someone doing the mandatory scan after shooting. The man of the shooters never noticed them.

[StraitR]

One has to post the gorilla awarness test - http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/videos.html and some background - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inattentional_blindness for theories.

It happens in hearing. Doctors scanning X-rays for tumors missed a hidden gorilla image inserted into the X-rays. IIRC, the highest level of alertness and vigilance shows a half-life of twenty minutes.

Such research makes me take folks who stay they are perpetually in 'yellow' or 'orange' with a grain of salt.

One training anecdote and I forget who told me, was that someone would walk up behind someone doing the mandatory scan after shooting. The man of the shooters never noticed them.

Just heard about this study on the way to work this morning while listening to an audio book about Mindfulness. 100 Oncologists were shown chest X-rays and told to look for nodules in the lungs. In the lungs was the image of a gorilla, and 83 out of the 100 failed to notice the gorilla due to the brain concentrating so hard on looking for the nodules.

I'm only about 2 hours into the 13 hour audio book, but I'm already drawing a lot of parallels between Mindfulness and Situational Awareness.

[ST911]

I'm only about 2 hours into the 13 hour audio book, but I'm already drawing a lot of parallels between Mindfulness and Situational Awareness.

Which book? (title/author)

[StraitR]

Which book? (title/author)

The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based Path to Well-Being (http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/The-Science-of-Mindfulness-Audiobook/B00MEQRUG0)

[Software Guy]

I am a huge advocate for always being aware of your surroundings. It's as simple as not stepping on your quiet kids while cooking or otherwise or sensing the people around you. I recently attended a church other than my own and the gentleman in front of me appeared to be carrying from the imprint on his shirt. MY first thought was he has my back. My second was what if he doesn't?

A few years ago I was walking to the local bank to make a deposit for my company and saw what appeared to be 4 gang members. I didn't have a whole lot of choice other than to back track so I made sure I stood up straight and had that "Don't mess with me look on my face and appearance". I walked between them, they quit talking and actually backed off. It was all I could do because I wasn't carrying at the time. Had I been paying more attention I would have seen them and crossed the road at the cross walk and not gone by them. That was also shortly after I got my CCW.

Since then I really try to be more aware but not paranoid.

[Luke]

Since then I really try to be more aware but not paranoid.


This is where I struggle. It's either semi zoned out in my world, or paranoid everyone might be a newly recruited jihad. Still working on a happy medium.