Lets talk about situational awareness

[Smurfette]

ok. What should I say?

[dsdmmat]

Say ~ The house is full of cameras. We had a break in last year and I am paranoid.

[Jimbo_79]

+1 on the instincts! I've learned to trust mine more over the years. I'd also say to utilize your senses other than vision. Especially hearing and smell.

[Smurfette]

what's super funny about my place, I collect masks. I have dozens of them all over the place. An ex used to complain they were watching him.

[Jimbo_79]

what's super funny about my place, I collect masks. I have dozens of them all over the place. An ex used to complain they were watching him.

Well, were they?

[Female]

You can never have too many eyes... imo

[Pissed Off Patriot]

what's super funny about my place, I collect masks. I have dozens of them all over the place. An ex used to complain they were watching him.

Start up a new thread, and let's see them!

[Smurfette]

Well, were they?

nope. I think he was hopeful I was covertly filming him. The thing is...there was nothing happening I wanted to ever view again.
btw I just finished following instructions on how to hollow out a book to make a covert hiding place. I have hundreds upon hundreds of books. if someone picks that one as the jackpot then they deserve to have my stuff. I was going to buy a little safe to put meds in and chain it to something. nothing to stop someone from taking the whole thing but it would sure be obvious. can't afford any of them so had to use other measures.

[Smurfette]

working on book #2. If I die, everyone race over here and search the literature. No, there aren't any books shaped like an ar-15.

[usmcveteran]

Can you recommend a good book to read?

[Gunner57]

Rumor has is that these are on her recommend list...

[FCG LLC]

I am not an expert on "situational awareness", except I've had my ass filleted and handed to me on a plate, and there was this one time I ended up being on the spit slowly turning over the fire shishkebab style...but that is for another thread.

Sorry I am late to the thread, I did read thru everything but chances are, I am repeating some stuff here. Also sorry that this will be a multi post response, as I certainly cannot get it all out in one fell swoop.

For me, there are three basic modes of situational awareness.
1. Inside and around my abode
2. At places where I frequent or am familiar with
3. Places I am not familiar with

One of my jobs is that I am sometimes responsible for getting people who think, and in some rare cases ARE perceived as targets of opportunity or value. Now I am not speaking about a secretary of state, the DD-O of the Central Intelligence Agency or the guy who prints the winning lotto numbers on the scratch off tickets. Nope, I am working way farther down on the food chain. Think more like washed up hollywood "E" listers who wouldn't able to even get a walk on role in anything - including a youtube video.

But still, sometimes it pays the bills, and sometimes (most times) I am tasked with taking folks into environments that are naturally challenging, often alien (language, topography, climate/weather, politics, culture), and infrequently downright hostile.

For clarity's sake - I am not, nor have I ever been a "bodyguard". My philosophy on that is, sorry, but even if you are the POTUS, my kids love their daddy as much as your kids love their daddy, and I want to be able to piss the crap out of my kids by spoiling my grandkids. Even so, I recognize that some bees have different, more complex roles in society, and thus some bees are more disposable than others. When I (and this is very rarely) work where I am tasked with getting people in and out of places (usually for entertainment), it is tempting to play the role of "body guard" because as silly as all of the entertainers seem, most of them have developed a level of cunning manipulation unknown to normal people. Think about it - how else could they get a bunch of people to "follow" them? Sometimes it is natural talent, a great body, and often some combination of both of these.

Where was i...yes, situational awareness - from hence forth in this thread called "SA" for brevity's sake.

The biggest challenge to being SA is knowing what your weaknesses and blind spot(s) are, and properly buttressing them. At the professional level there is a "weigh and balance" element in risk assessment - (so a lot of it is crossing your fingers and sticking a rabbit foot in the front pocket ). In our personal lives we are mostly ignorant, or apathetic to certain risks.

WARNING, PLUG HERE: I teach a defensive mindset / gunfighting class (no current offerings due to work) - my own class, and one of the first things we start of with after a brief site orientation / "what to do in an emergency" is ask the question: "What will kill you, maim you, or impede you from the pursuits of life?

Because really, your personal risk assessment should boil down to that. We use the term "you" to include those under your charge - the little babies, the adolescents, the spouse, the grandparents, etc.

SA should probably start with looking at what your life risks are, how you could possibly be maimed (permanently disabled or disfigured), lawfully or unlawfully detained, or separated from your assets (theft, damage to property, arson, etc).

In my (admitted limited) experience, the biggest challenges for me have been to be SA in or around places where I have some level of familiarity with. Yep, not my home, and not places I am totally familiar with. In places I am NOT familiar with, I am already operating at a heightened level of SA and place lots of protocols and (real or imagined!) layers between myself, my charges and the outside world. I find that it is when I am going about life - in the places where I have established a "routine", where I sometimes drop the ball. Am I still thinking above a level far above the general population? I don't know, but I would like to think so.

In closing (for now), I agree with USMCVeteran - running scenarios is a great way to prepare the brain on how to deal with stuff. How adults function: We are always trying to decipher reality unfolding in front of us. If there is a previously uploaded program in the noggin, chances are it will take us less time to load and run that, than to arrive at new deductions on what is happening.

Because I am going to forget later, memo to me: What Travis Haley said about men training, and what I say about passing on the love of the shooting sports to our offspring and other loved ones.

LHT.

[prambo]

I found these 3 volumes to be a good base to build my SA upon; since I'm always paranoid (because they ARE out to get me), SA is second nature:

http://www.amazon.com/Other-Survival...e+gift+of+fear


http://www.amazon.com/Facing-Violenc...ds=rory+miller

http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Vi...ds=rory+miller


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