Got Awareness?

[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.