BravoCharlie
04-29-2010, 09:30
So, what does situational awareness mean? How do you do it?
...Only kidding. I simply find it humorous to lead off with that.
On a serious note, I had the chance to briefly train with a narcotics officer-turned SWAT capt (don't quote me on rank/title, head of his SWAT unit is all i recall) this past weekend on controlling the critical distance of "a couple arms length" and less when dealing with unknown contacts (hence the term "Managing Unknown Contacts" - a Southnarc-coined term). He began by demonstrating how easy it is to allow a stranger into your within-arms-reach zone and then how quickly, even when the vic expects it, that the BG can land a fatal strike with a blade et al. Interesting, of course, but not entirely new info, right?
What he went on to display was how to non-violently confront and handle strangers who may be approaching you; the emphasis was that you can't just pull out a concealed weapon every time a stranger walks up, but any one person can easily meander up next to you and position themselves in a way to be a violent actor against you - successfully. He also went through how you physically prepare yourself in situ on the occasion the stranger in fact turns BG.
I was quite impressed as he proposed and demonstrated a way to still assert strangers with kindness and keeping your safe distance. He demo'd maneuvering to detect any accomplices on impending attacks, ways to escalate the situation as appropriate, and other high-value means of staying safe as a "normal citizen".
I would highly recommend any civilian look into his methods (I'll link below) and see if you can't get some h2h time with him. Oh, and to address any potential concerns, I am in no way sponsored or endorsed for this post/publication.
Best,
BC
http://www.shivworks.com/
PS - One of his more enlightening and humorous stories of the often-abused "Situational Awareness" theme was when he was making street buys on the narc team. He had been on the street for a short while and came across a new act on a buy. He rolled up (in car) to the handy man, handy man comes up and starts talking the typical gibberish of "money first" vs. the buyer's "rock first." A few verses into this dialogue the buyer (our narc officer) hears a tap on his passenger side window, and being so SA he quickly turned to check it out, SA to the bone, right? Unfortunately, the second he turns his head to the right the handy man lands a solid sucker punch and takes the buy money. It brought about a good point of recognition for me in terms of not letting SA be a routine that refreshes every time you're in a new place/area, but a device that allows you to think as well as react - not just react.
...Only kidding. I simply find it humorous to lead off with that.
On a serious note, I had the chance to briefly train with a narcotics officer-turned SWAT capt (don't quote me on rank/title, head of his SWAT unit is all i recall) this past weekend on controlling the critical distance of "a couple arms length" and less when dealing with unknown contacts (hence the term "Managing Unknown Contacts" - a Southnarc-coined term). He began by demonstrating how easy it is to allow a stranger into your within-arms-reach zone and then how quickly, even when the vic expects it, that the BG can land a fatal strike with a blade et al. Interesting, of course, but not entirely new info, right?
What he went on to display was how to non-violently confront and handle strangers who may be approaching you; the emphasis was that you can't just pull out a concealed weapon every time a stranger walks up, but any one person can easily meander up next to you and position themselves in a way to be a violent actor against you - successfully. He also went through how you physically prepare yourself in situ on the occasion the stranger in fact turns BG.
I was quite impressed as he proposed and demonstrated a way to still assert strangers with kindness and keeping your safe distance. He demo'd maneuvering to detect any accomplices on impending attacks, ways to escalate the situation as appropriate, and other high-value means of staying safe as a "normal citizen".
I would highly recommend any civilian look into his methods (I'll link below) and see if you can't get some h2h time with him. Oh, and to address any potential concerns, I am in no way sponsored or endorsed for this post/publication.
Best,
BC
http://www.shivworks.com/
PS - One of his more enlightening and humorous stories of the often-abused "Situational Awareness" theme was when he was making street buys on the narc team. He had been on the street for a short while and came across a new act on a buy. He rolled up (in car) to the handy man, handy man comes up and starts talking the typical gibberish of "money first" vs. the buyer's "rock first." A few verses into this dialogue the buyer (our narc officer) hears a tap on his passenger side window, and being so SA he quickly turned to check it out, SA to the bone, right? Unfortunately, the second he turns his head to the right the handy man lands a solid sucker punch and takes the buy money. It brought about a good point of recognition for me in terms of not letting SA be a routine that refreshes every time you're in a new place/area, but a device that allows you to think as well as react - not just react.