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AWARENESS
BY: TOM GIVENS
Most people stumble through life, blissfully unaware of the world around
them. They remain preoccupied with thoughts of work, or personal problems, or
how to get a date, or other trivialities, with no thought to their immediate
environment. By not paying attention to their surroundings, they place
themselves in needless jeopardy.
Go sit in the intake area in your neighborhood hospital emergency room one
evening, as an educational exercise. Observe the unfortunates who come in for
treatment, and you will get an excellent illustration of this point. About
twenty percent of the customers are actually sick-discount them. The remaining
eighty percent are there because they were inattentive to their environment.
These will be people who walked off loading docks, stepped off ladders twenty
feet up, backed into running machinery, stepped into the path of a vehicle, OR
allowed a thug to walk right up to them un-noticed and bean them with a brick.
You can be stupid, inattentive, and oblivious in your work environment day in
and day out and get away with it until one day the odds catch up with you and
you are injured. The same applies on the street. You can be stupid, inattentive,
and oblivious and get away with it until your path happens to cross the path of
a criminal. The majority of criminals are opportunists, who only strike when
presented with a viable opportunity. Remove the opportunity and you remove
the risk to you!
By learning to observe your environment, constantly evaluate it, and react
appropriately to what you see, you can achieve a large degree of control over
your fate. This requires you to learn to shift up and down a scale of readiness,
just like shifting gears in a car, so that you can match your level of awareness/
readiness with the current requirements of your situation. In a car, you shift
gears based on the grade encountered or the speed desired. On the street, you
must learn to "shift gears" mentally, to match the threat level encountered.
There is a sliding scale of readiness, going from a state of being oblivious
and unprepared to a condition of being ready to instantly do lethal violence
if forced. One cannot live stuck at either end of this spectrum.
If you try to live at the bottom of the scale, you will fall victim to an
accident or to a criminal, eventually. It's just a matter of "when", not "if".
On the other hand, you can't go through your daily routine with your hand
hovering over your pistol, ready to shoot if anything moves! What you must learn
to do is escalate and de-escalate up and down this scale as the circumstances
around you dictate. This is an easily learned system, and one that will help you
be in the right frame of mind to deal with any conflict you encounter.
If you should find yourself faced with a life-threatening attack by a
criminal, as a typical normal person, you will be faced by three enormous
difficulties. They are:
1. Recognizing the presence of the predator in time;
2. Realizing, internalizing, and accepting that THAT MAN, RIGHT THERE, is about
to kill you, for reasons you do not understand, if you don't stop him; and
3. Overcoming your reluctance to do lethal violence against a fellow human being.
Let's look at each of these in turn. First, you have to see him and
realize that he is a threat. Thugs are flesh and bone, and are not invisible.
Contrary to public opinion, they do not beam down from the mother ship, attack
you, and beam back up. They typically walk right up to you un-noticed because
of the fog most people operate in daily. Learn to lift that fog and see the
warning signs earlier, so you can be prepared.
Second, it is very difficult for normal, rational, socialized, civilized
people to grasp that they live cheek by jowl with people who are NOT normal,
rational, socialized, or civilized. There are people out there who do not care
about your hopes or plans for the future, they do not care about your family,
they do not care about the pain and suffering they inflict-they just don't
care. They may kill you for the contents of your wallet, so they can buy one more
day's supply of drugs. They may rape you because they feel powerless,
degraded, and abused except while they are degrading and abusing someone else.
They may kill you simply to move up one rank in their street gang. Guess what?
It doesn't matter "Why?". A typical victim reaction is, "But why would anyone
want to hurt me?". Who cares why?
Third, it will be difficult for you to put your sights in the center of a
human being's chest and press the trigger, knowing that you are turning a
vertical, living, breathing person into a horizontal pile of meat. Don't let
anyone tell you that will be easy. As a society, we don't want it to be easy,
do we? This is why legally armed citizens don't shoot people over arguments, or
traffic accidents, and so forth. In fact, shootings by armed citizens are almost
always ruled justifiable by the authorities, while almost a third of police
shootings are ruled questionable or improper. Private citizens are reluctant to
actually shoot, even when it is necessary. You must overcome this obstacle
if your life is on the line. You will have to realize that there are times when
lethal violence is not just excuseable, or justifiable, or acceptable, but
actually required.
Fortunately, there is a system available to help you overcome all three of
these problems. By learning to use this system, practicing it, and making it
part of your daily routine, you can be assured of seeing an attack in its
developing stages, and become both mentally and physically prepared to defend
yourself. This system, called the Color Code, was first publicized by Jeff Cooper,
who taught it at Gunsite and later gave an excellent videotaped presentation.
I had the great good fortune of being taught this by Jeff early in my career,
and I can say without reservation that this system saved my life on several
occasions. Not what kind of gun I had, nor the brand of ammo, but this mental
system. I feel so strongly that this is one of the most important weapons in
your arsenal, that I feel it is my duty to share it with you.
I mentioned earlier learning to move up and down a scale of readiness, just like
shifting gears. The scale consists of four mental states, which Jeff gave color
names. The colors simply let us conceptualize and discuss the basic mental states.
You must learn to go up and down this scale as the situation and circumstances
around you change, as they invariably do as you go through your daily routine.
CONDITION WHITE- White is the lowest level on the escalator. In Condition
White one is unaware, not alert, oblivious. This state can be characterized as
"daydreaming" or "preoccupied". People in White tend to walk around with
their heads down, as if watching their own feet. They do not notice the impending
danger until it literally has them by the throat.
You see examples of this frequently. When was the last time you saw someone in
traffic roll right up to a barricade or stalled vehicle, then expect you to stop
and let them into your lane? They're operating their vehicle in Condition White.
When a motorist runs over a motorcyclist and kills him, what's the first words out
of their mouth? "I didn't see him." They're not lying. They were so inattentive
and complacent that they did not notice a 200 pound man on a four hundred pound
machine right in front of them. When this same guy runs past a stop sign and
broadsides your car, killing your child, he will say, "I didn't see it."
These same guys will be the victims of violent crime, because the criminal
targets the inattentive, the complacent, the lazy, the distracted, the preoccupied.
Why? Because the criminal wants to get to him, get what he wants from him, and get
away from him, without being hurt or caught. Who would be the easiest person to do
that to? Someone in Condition White. I'm sure you've seen or read about the Miranda
card police officers carry. From it they read off a suspect's rights before
questioning him. Dedicated victims carry a similar card in their pockets. If they
are still alive when the police arrive, they take this card out of their pockets
and read from it, as follows: " Geez, it all happened so fast. He materialized
right next to me. I never saw him.".
So, when would it be acceptable to be in Condition White? When in your own
home, with the doors locked, the alarm system on, and your dog at your feet.
Then, you can turn off your mind, if you wish, because you have sufficient
layers of protection and warning to enable you to get up, get your gear, and
get your head running. If you leave your home, you leave Condition White behind.
The instant you leave your home, you escalate one level, to Condition Yellow.
CONDITION YELLOW- This is a relaxed state of general alertness, with no
specific focal point. You are not looking for anything in particular, you simply
have your head up and your eyes open. You are alert and aware of your surroundings
and are difficult to surprise, therefore, you are difficult to harm. You do not
expect to be attacked today. You simply recognize the possibility.
Here's an excellent analogy. You are on a small naval patrol vessel in the
middle of the Mediterranean. You are not at war with anyone today, so you do
not expect to be attacked. You do, however, recognize the possibility, so you
have your radar on twenty-four hours a day, making a continuous 360 degree
sweep of the area, looking for potential problems. Suddenly, there is a blip on
your radar screen. You cannot tell by looking at the small, greenish-yellow
dot on the screen whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, so you ask a
fighter plane to intercept the blip and check it out. If it is an Al Italia
airliner a hundred miles off course, the fighter pilot will wave at it. If it's
a Libyan MIG headed toward your boat, he will shoot it down. He won't know whether
to wave or shoot until he first assesses the blip as a threat. This is exactly
the same process you go through on the ground. When you leave home you turn on
your radar, and it continually sweeps the area around you for potential hazards.
When something catches your attention, you assess it. If it's not a threat,
dismiss it. If it is a threat, start getting ready mentally to deal with it.
Anything or anyone in your immediate vicinity that is unusual, out of
place, or out of context, should be viewed as potentially dangerous, until you
have had a chance to assess it. Someone who looks out of place, or someone
engaged in activity that has no obvious legitimate purpose, should be looked
over carefully. When your mental radar picks up on a blip, you immediately
escalate one level on the scale, to Condition Orange.
CONDITION ORANGE- This is a heightened state of alertness, with a specific
focal point. The entire difference between Yellow and Orange is this specific
target for your attention. Your focal point is the person who is doing whatever
drew your attention to him. It might be the fact that he is wearing a field
jacket in August. It might be that he's standing by a column in the parking
garage, instead of going into the building or getting in a car and leaving. It
might be that you have been in five stores at the mall, and saw this same guy
in every one of them. His actions have caused you to take note of him, so you
must assess him as a potential threat, just as the fighter pilot assessed the
blip earlier.
How do you assess someone as a threat? You have to take into account the
totality of the cues available to you. His clothing, appearance, demeanor,
actions, anything he says to you, are all cues. The single most important cue
is body language. About 80% of human communication is through body language.
Predators display subtle pre-aggression indicators, which are obvious once you
learn to look for them.
When you shift upward to Orange, you begin to focus your attention on this
individual that caught your eye, but do not drop your general over-view. You
don't want to be blind-sided by his associates. You begin to watch him and
assess his intentions, again looking at all of the cues available to you. Nine
times out of ten, after a few seconds of observation, you will be able to see
an innocuous reason for his behavior and then dismiss him. Once you figure out
he's not a threat, dismiss him and de-escalate right back down to Yellow. Who
is the tenth one? He is the predator, who would have got you if you had been
inattentive. Now that you are aware of him, you are in far less danger.
As you assess this individual, and you see things that convince you he has
evil intent, you start to play the "What if?" game in your mind, to begin
formulating a basic plan. This is how we get ahead of the power curve. If he
acts suddenly, we must have at least a rudimentary plan for dealing with him
already in place, so that we can react swiftly enough. By saying to yourself,
"That guy looks like he is about to stick me up, what am I going to do about
it?" you begin the mental preparation vital to winning the conflict. With even
a simple plan already in place, your physical reaction is both assured and
immediate if the bad guy presses his intentions. After assessing him, if you
believe he is an actual threat, escalate to the highest level, Condition Red.
CONDITION RED- In Red, you are ready to fight! You may or may not actually be
fighting, but you are MENTALLY PREPARED to fight. In many, or perhaps even most,
circumstances where you have gone fully to Red, you will not actually physically
do anything at all. The entire process of escalating from Yellow, to Orange, to
Red, then de-escalating right back down the scale as the situation is resolved,
occurs without any actual physical activity on your part. The key is you were
prepared for a conflict, and thus could physically act if the situation demanded.
When you believe a threat is real, and you have escalated to Red, you are
waiting on the Mental Trigger, which is a specific, pre-determined action on
his part that will result in an immediate, positive, aggressive, defensive
reaction from you. This is how you achieve the speed necessary to win. By having
a "pre-made decision" already set up in your mind, you can move physically fast
enough to deal with the problem. Without that pre-made decision, the precious
time in which you could have acted was wasted on trying to decide what to do
after he starts his attack.
The Mental Trigger will differ depending upon the circumstances. It could
be, "If he swings that gun in my direction I will shoot him", for instance. It
could be, " I have told him to stop, if he takes one more step toward me with
that (knife/tire iron/screwdriver) in his hand, I'll shoot him". Whatever
trigger is selected, it is a button that, once pushed, results in immediate
action on your part.
Your main enemy is reaction time. If you are not aware of your surroundings,
and fail to see the suspicious character, you may be overwhelmed by him before
you can marshal an effective defense. On the other hand, if you are thinking to
yourself, "I may have to hurt that guy if he doesn't wise up", you've probably
already won that fight, because you have a better understanding of what is
transpiring than he does! The best fight is over before the loser fully
understands what just happened. If you're caught in Condition White, you will
need five to six seconds to realize what is happening, get your wits together,
and respond. You simply don't have that much time.
There are a couple of mental tricks you can use in the early phases of
your training to assist you in this. Remember that one of the three problems I
mentioned earlier in this chapter will be actually "doing it", actually
employing lethal force when required. To help with this, each morning when you
put your gun on, remind yourself, "I may have to use my gun today". This plants
in your subconscious mind (which drives 90% of your life) that there is a reason
we wear these guns-we may actually need them to save our lives! When you pick
up on that potential threat and escalate to Condition Orange, tell yourself, "I
may have to shoot him today!". Believe me, if you have internalized that a
specific person is an actual threat to your life, but that you have the means
to stop him if need be, it gets easier to mentally deal with the situation.
Let's work through a scenario to illustrate these principles. Let's say
you are working in a jewelry store today, a small store-front shop in a strip
mall in suburbia. All of the other employees went to lunch and left you here
alone. There are not even any customers in the store at the moment, you're alone.
What mental state are you in? (Yellow. You are not ensconced in your home,
you're out in the real world). So you keep your head up, and occaisionally you
scan out through the glass storefront and check out the parking lot. Since
there is no one else in the store, any problem will have to come from outside.
You want to know about a problem while it's out there, not when it's standing
across the counter from you.
As you glance through the glass, you see two men in their early 20's back
up an old car to your store, get out in identical jogging suits, enter your
door, and split up. Immediately, you go to Orange. They have done nothing
illegal, and nothing aggressive, but they are out of place, out of the ordinary,
so you escalate your mental state, and begin to think. "This looks like a hold-up
in the making. I may have to hurt these guys. What should I do know? If things go
bad, I'll drop behind this safe and I can shoot into that wall without endangering
anyone on the parking lot. I have a plan." At this point you watch them, and
continue to monitor their movements. If they leave, you de-escalate to Yellow
once they are gone.
If they stay, they will probably get together on the far side of the store
and briefly discuss what they have seen. They will then move toward your
position at the counter, and after trying to distract you (Can I see that ring
back there?) pull their guns and announce a stick-up. If you have been using
the system, you went from Yellow to Orange when they came in, and went to Red
as they approach your counter. You are ready. Because criminals have to be adept
at reading body language (their lives depend upon this skill), they will see
that you are prepared and simply leave. About nine out of ten pairs will leave
at this point, without a confrontation. As they drive away, de-escalate from
Red, to Orange, to Yellow.
What about the tenth pair? They are drugged, drunk, or both, and failed to
recognize your level of readiness. They may go ahead foolishly with their
hold-up. According to FBI studies, probably 80% of the ones you will actually
have to fight will be under the influence of drugs/alchohol/drugs and alchohol
at the time. What's the good news? They're drunk and/or drugged, which plays
Hell with their reflexes, reaction time, and motor coordination. They'll be
relatively easy to deal with, IF you are mentally prepared (Condition Red) and
have done your homework.
If they come in, and upon observing them you go to Orange, then as they
approach, to Red, but then they leave, and you de-escalate, you will have gone
all of the way up the scale without even reaching for your gun, which is very
common. The point is, you would have been ready to reach for your gun if
necessary. This is how you win fights, by being mentally prepared to win.
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