Situational Awareness

Fernando,

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This has to be ONE OF THE BEST, IF NOT THE BEST article on the subject of being aware of your surroundings AT ALL TIMES.    I KNOW YOU KNOW IT, BUT EVERYONE ELSE NEEDS TO TAKE THIS TO HEART. 

This guy covers almost everything.  I saw it and I KNEW you would want a copy.  This IS one of the better explanations I've seen in a LONG time.

 

Jim

 
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Freedom From Fear: Spotting Trouble Before it Happens

By Kelly McCann aka "Jim Grover"
From Guns and Ammo

One of the most-asked questions during my street survival training is, "What am I going to see right before an attack?" That's a good question. It tells me the student is concerned about avoiding the situation altogether, and wants as much time as possible to maximize his chances of survival.

Those things you are most likely to see before an attack are called "pre-incident indicators." They are peculiar things you will recognize if you know what to look for. Any one of them alone is probably not enough to call out the cavalry, but when two or more appear, there is need for concern. If you pick up two or more of these indicators, take immediate steps to get out of the situation, place or activity in which you're involved.

The first indicator is unnatural impediment to your movement. It doesn't matter whether this is while you are walking, in your car or on a bicycle. When something stops you or causes you to go well out of your line of travel...beware.

Next is correlation of someone's movement to your own. When you first notice someone is keeping pace with you, it should alarm you. You stop, they stop. You speed up but the distance doesn't increase between you. The slim chance of two strangers regulating their pace so precisely is minuscule. Cross the street or go into a store. If the person stays with you, there may be something wrong.

Any sudden changes in status of a person(s) near you should make you think twice. For example, if you are walking along a city street and pass by two young adults who are leaning against a wall and they suddenly stop loitering and become pedestrians behind you, ask yourself why. What was it that made them decide to fall into step behind you? Regulate your pace differently and see if they are correlating to your movement. If they are, that's two indicators and a strong possibility exists that they have something much more dubious in store for you.

If you have been stopped unnaturally in your movement, or if you are standing somewhere and you notice predatory movements, immediately take some kind of action to extricate yourself. Predatory movements include circling, two people moving in opposite directions around you, or one or more people moving around or away from you and another moving at you.

A verbal exchange initiated by a stranger is unique enough today to make you take pause. People are much less apt to ask a stranger anything anymore. Attacks can sometimes be predicated on things such as, "Got a dollar?," "Do you know where. . ." or "What time is it?" Obviously, don't be ready to launch into the offensive when this occurs. Simply take a step back away from the person addressing you and look to the sides quickly. It is doubtful the person talking is the attacker; usually the attack is coming from the side.

Target glancing or avenue-of-escape glancing is a fairly reliable indicator that something is about to happen. This furtive glancing indicates the criminal is sizing you up, identifying escape routes, confirming there are no police in the area and so forth. This is noticeable when you see a person glancing in your direction several times, then glancing away.

If a person is approaching on an oblique path that will intersect with your own, you should beware. This is commonly used as an access route to the target because it keeps the attacker in a blind spot the longest.

Whenever an approaching person has his hand hidden, causing unnatural movement, keep an eye on him until either the hand comes clear of the cover or the person passes. Felons typically have their gun, knife or club already out when they approach their victim. To conceal it as long as possible on their approach, they hold it discreetly behind their arm or leg or inside their coat.

Any bump, shove or push should alarm you. It may be a pick-pocket attempt, it may be a setup, it may be just an impatient person. Whatever the case, if this occurs you need to be alert.

The relative absence of other people and authorities provides the criminal an excellent time to attack. Singularly, this indicator is not necessarily a big deal. When coupled with one or two other indicators it has enormous implications. Remember, an attacker strikes when it is least advantageous for you.

As you walk along there is another indicator of which you should be aware. Since the advent of drive-by shootings, most people notice cars that pull alongside them in traffic. As you're walking along, any automobile stopping alongside, slightly to the front or to the rear of you serves as ample warning to keep your eyes open. Any second pass of the same vehicle should likewise cause some concern.

You should also be wary of any obviously intoxicated person or group.

Have you ever noticed glances between strangers as they approach, impede, hail or otherwise interact with you? This occurs when criminals are just shy of launching their attack. They're looking at each other to ensure each is ready, taking one last quick look for cops, and glancing at the escape route to make sure it is clear. If the criminal is alone, it will look the same.

Any time you are confronted by more than one person and the first is in your face, keep your eyes not only on him but on the calmest appearing individual in a verbal altercation. Keep looking at the whole picture until you have to strike, then pick one target and strike.

Obvious attempts at baiting you are conducted only to cause a confrontation. Don't take the bait. Stay calm, keep your hands up and ready to strike or block, and keep moving. If there are other people in the area, move toward them and gain their attention.

Well, there you have it--some views of that picture seconds before something bad happens. As I said, any one of these things alone is probably not cause for concern; two or three of them should make you twinge with anticipation. If you wait any longer to act you'll be down to split seconds, and the chances of avoiding or surviving are exponentially decreased.


WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR

Unnatural impediment to your movement

Correlation of someone's movement to your own.

Any sudden change in a person's status as you get near or pass them.

Predatory movements (circling, two or more people moving in opposite directions, etc.)

Any verbal exchange initiated by a stranger

Target glancing

Persons closing on you from an oblique angle that intersects with your path.

A hand hidden that causes unnatural movement by someone as they walk toward you.

Bumps, shoves, pushes or grabs

Relative absence of other people or authorities

Automobiles stopping alongside you or slightly to the front or rear as you walk along

Any obvious intoxicated person

Any second pass of a vehicle

Obvious attempts at baiting you

Glances between strangers as they approach, impede, hail or otherwise interact with you

The calmest-appearing individual in a verbal altercation; not always the guy in your face

(Kelly McCann has a series of DVDs called "Combatives for Street Survival" )

Combatives for Street Survival V.1

Look Alive!

I was thinking of his post’s title and how it could maybe be interpreted as a contradiction regarding the low profile post I made previously.

This is something Baigorria mentioned in the close combat class I took a few weeks ago, the importance of looking alive, awake and alert.

You can keep your mouth shut, dress down and use certain clothes colors and patterns that don’t attract attention and still look and be vigilant and alert.
How is this not a contradiction?
It’s because this kind of awareness works at a different level, and normal folks aren’t looking for the alert guy. Criminals are.
Baigorria mentioned, and I completely agree with him by the way, that criminals look for a certain victim profile, and they are usually excellent judges of character.
It’s not only the way you look, (rich, poor, bank runner carrying money), or your physical condition (big, small, strong, capable of putting up a fight), they also notice if you are aware and ready for trouble.
Standing or walking straight, arms crossed over your chest or at lest brought to the chest bone level, pretending to rub them to stay warm, massaging the wrist or simply playing with your knuckles, any excuse to keep your hands ¾ ready from a fighting guard position.
Hands ready, standing straight, and LOOKING.
Look around you, step and look 180º behind you, not paranoid but vigilant, moving your head sideways, scanning the people as you stand or walk, looking to their faces. Every couple seconds, you must cover the 360º so as to be sure who’s approaching you from all sides. Sounds paranoid? After a while it becomes second nature.
You ARE aware, but you look aware too. The person that is going about his business wont notice any of this, but the criminal looking for a victim will, and will certainly take it into consideration when selecting a potential victim.
The more alive you look, and the more aware you truly are, the better.
Even petty everyday pickpocketers or bag snatchers will choose a more “sheeply” victim.
You’ll truthfully be more aware of your surroundings, ready to react in case anything happens, ordinary or extraordinary.
At first it’s a mental exercise, you have to consciously do it. After a few weeks its like driving a car, you don’t think of every little thing you do, you just do it without consciously thinking every step.

FerFAL

Awareness, gear and expiration dates

Anonymous said...
I have an off topic comment here...

Hi Ferfal,

I'm have a small dilemma and I'd like to get your view on this.

Background first. I live in the suburbs and work in San Francisco. I take public transit (BART) to work.

As you might already know, SF is full of homeless people and general weirdos.

To help block out the train noise and other people talking on their mobile phone etc, I put on my ipod pretty much 100% of the time.

I keep the volume pretty low so that I can still maintain situation awareness.

So here is my delimma -- the pros of having my head phones on is that I can pretend to not hear the homeless and the weirdos on the street asking for
hand outs or asking me to buy their stuff -- they tend to keep their distance if you don't react to them. The cons is, of course, this makes me appear to have low/no situation awareness, which could make me a more attractive target to the bad guys.

We're not at a point that I'd want to react violently to every street person I encounter (quite a few daily)

Thanks!

I think I told this before once.
One day I was going to work in the train that goes to Constitucion.
I wont waste much time describing it, anyone the ever set foot on the “Roca” railroad knows it’s the stuff nightmares are made of, crowded, dangerous, infested with thieves, smell like piss, it’s a total disaster, but since it’s the cheapest form of transportation, it’s crowded far beyond it’s capacity.
Traveling in that train was one of the main reasons why I started using steel toed shoes, you just can’t avoid having people step on you all the time during rush hour, it’s worse than a can of sardines.
Anyway, I was like you, trying to avoid the smelly reality with some Mp3 music when suddenly I see everyone around me flinch, look in one direction simultaneously, and duck. Everyone except the idiot with the headset (me).
I knew better but like you, I wanted some distraction. By the time I realize what’s going on I turn around and see a “gendarme” ( military police) running in one direction.
I never knew what happened, didn’t care much. All I know is that if that had been shots, I would have been the only idiot left standing while everyone else ducks and hits the floor. It’s a mistake I wont be making any more.
Nomad over at Minion’s forum told me he uses just one ear bud, so as to be able to hear what’s going on around you. It sure is a good idea. You don’t get that stereo sound, but at least you aren’t so vulnerable.
I just resist the temptation and just dont use anything that can impair my hearing any more, in any way. So the mp3 player stays at home form now on. Besides, it attracts the attention of thieves.

Hi Ferfal:

I have come up with some questions if that is okay. Here it goes:

1. Can you provide a link for the solar powered hand crank battery charger (for regular batteries, not cell phone batteries);
2. You have recommended LED flashlights, do you have a link for your favorite one? I only saw the headlamps on your sight;
3. I have some storage questions:
· Can medicines such as: Alleve, Ibufrofen; aspirin and multi-vitamins be stored in the refrigerator for long term storage?
· I am also storing toiletries such as bar soap, shampoo, toothpaste, how can these be stored to maximize storage life?

Thanks for all your help.
J

1- Using that same charger ( the one that has the wire to charge the cell phone), you can hook it to a regular RW or other regular battery charger unit and charge batteries. You only need a wire adaptor that fits, or a spare set of wires cut and fit with alligator clips.
Still, I ‘ve done it with the hand crank and believe me, it’s a waste of time. It’s much better to leave it under the sun and let the solar panel recharge it.
Either that or simply get a dedicated solar charger,

http://www.amazon.com/SunJia-Solar-Battery-Charger-4/dp/B000H36S0G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1240632939&sr=1-2

2. The LED headlamp by energizer is one of my favorites. For most uses, I’ve always favored head lamps because they are so practical and allow you to use both hands.
My wife made fun of me and yes, the word “dork” was mentioned.
It only took one try during a blackout for her to ask me to get her one for herself. :)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00081GATG?tag=surviinargen-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B00081GATG&adid=1WVS21HKZPF5S61EZCFZ&

For normal flashlights, pick one of the excellent Fenix lights
https://www.fenix-store.com/index.php?cPath=22
Try sticking to AA or AAA lights, and the ones that use LED.
Some have variable lumens and can double as “tactical” lights without needing the more expensive 123 batteries.
These are the kind f items that are well worth the bit of extra money.
Alleve, Ibufrofen and aspirin, I’ve used some that were a year past the expiration date and worked ok.
Aspirin I’ve had some that was even older, + 2 years, and it still stopped my headache.
As long as you keep them in a dark, cool, dry place, the expiration date in these is a bit more forgiving.
Vitamins, no, you have to keep track and rotate because they loose efficiency quick.
Id’ avoid storing in the refrigerator because of the humidity and extreme temp. Rather keep in a dry dark place and try to rotate as required.
Soap pretty much lasts forever, and I’ve used toothpaste that was many years old with no problem other than the paste drying up and needing to pop some of it out with a nail.
Toiletries store well. Again, a year or two give or take, but still try to rotate.
I’ve used shampoo that was almost a year beyond it’s expiration date and it was perfect.
Keep in mind that aromas ( shampoo, perfume ) degrades in time, say 5 years or more. I’ve had some perfume smell rather bad after 10 years, some last better than others but expect the smell to change for the worse, even if the shampoo clean just as well.
For the year or two you plan to keep in hand and rotate, it wont be a problem.

FerFAL

SHTF skills

Blackeagle said...

On the actual subject of this post, you’ve talked here and in other posts about financial and physical preparedness, what about skills it would be useful to learn before TSHTF? Despite wanting to buy every shiny new gun I see, I’ve always tried to discipline myself into prioritizing software over hardware. So far, I’ve managed to spend more on practice ammo and professional training than I have on firearms, and I feel like I should apply that to other areas too. Self defense skills are an obvious asset, but I’d like to diversify my skill set a bit. What would you recommend? Driving skills? Medical? Others?

For self defense I suppose you are set regarding gun fighting since you found me through Gabe’s forum.

I’d do handgun and rifle training, but concentrate mostly on handgun and hand to hand combat.

Its sad to see some excellent shooters that would get their asses kicked by girl scouts.
You probably know it well, but at close range most gunfights will have a lot of hand to hand fighting.
Its not the first time someone pulls a gun, ends up loosing it in the struggle and gets shot with it.
Same for knifes, though guns are much easier to pull away than knives.

Usually, the hand to hand you get in shooting schools isn’t enough, preferably you’ll do box, tai box, and BJJ or judo. That covers, striking ( feet, hands, knees and elbows) and grappling.

This is all what you end up using when you failed at awareness, so situational awareness should me your priority in terms of defense.

Take for example my wife. If I could bottle and sell the level of awareness my little lady has I’d make a fortune.
Yesterday she told me that she was in a pharmacy when a guy walked in. It’s summer here, and the guy was wearing his hood over the head, ( too much for the warm weather we have these days) also had something she couldn’t identify wrapped and carried under the arm. She said he also looked nervous and had something his eyes, like sick or insane.

She was already close to the door ( she stays near the exits in case the place that she’s in gets robbed) and right as she saw him walk in, she decided what to do that same second and walked out.
She didn’t freeze, hesitate or wait. She instantly left as she saw him come in.
If the guy pulled a gun and robbed the place my wife will never know. She was already outside before the guy went all the way in and did whatever he had in mind.
She’s used to doing this. She’s always well aware of her surroundings, and quickly walks away when something doesn’t feel right.

Of course she got to be this way because she’s been robbed and kept hostage at gunpoint at her home and business more times than I can remember.

A good first aid class, specially that teaches how to deal with GSW, hemorrhages and other basics should be on your list as well.

You’ll need to carry some basic first aid gear in your every day carry bag.
(definitely get a practical EDC bag, I carry mine everywhere I go ever since I put a decent one together)

Defensive driving is something that you should do too. I’ve always wanted to take such a class but they are usually too expensive for me.
I can tell you that it is useful since high crime and general poverty requires good reflexes, and knowing a couple tricks behind the wheel is very useful.

I’ve read about it, practiced it and used many of them a number of times in complicated situations. My car is all chewed up by protestors and roadblocks and the suspension needs replacing due to emergency driving over places where a normal car shouldn’t go through at those speeds. The streets and roads here are in pretty bad shape so its not entirely my fault.
Downtown is nicer but the suburbs have some craters were you could burry someone.
Keep in mind that there are lots of dirt roads in the southern suburbs and they get pretty bad, specially after if rains.

You can keep a nice proficiency level in self defense shooting with dry fire. Saves a lot of money and improves trigger control, even practice and run dry fire mock scenarios at home were you are likely to end up defending yourself.
You can reduce the amount of ammo you shoot. Instead of shooting 1000 rounds a month you can shoot 200 and mostly concentrate on dry fire, using the live ammo at the range only to test the improvement.

Mostly, do a lot of reading. I’ve learned lots of things out of necessity. Since I don’t have the money for classes for everything I’d like to learn I read about it and later put it to practice. Woodworking, metal working, finances, computer skills, etc.

Gardening and business development classes have become also popular.
If you have some land and wish to keep an orchard, again, reading a lot or taking a few seminars or classes, that’s very valuable.

Never underestimating the power of money, seminars with money making ideas and business developments, micro businesses as they are called here, those are great alternative ways of making extra money or increasing the profit within your business or profession.
Check the local community center or local college for classes on business development, marketing, sales, or other additions to your profession that may give you an extra edge in the more competitive future that awaits us.

FerFAL

Reply: Racism, religion and preconceived notions that could undermine your awareness and security.

Chad said...
I didn't want to get sidetracked here, having only wanted to get FerFal's opinion on the topic, but I contemplated on the matter and decided I should respond.

It never ceases to amaze me how, in discussions on ethnicity and race, the name callers and self-hating whites come out of the woodwork. The so-called "assumptions" about how crime correlates to race are hardly controversial to anyone who pays them mind and removes the PC-blinders. I mean that in the truest sense of the word; the link is as uncontroversial as the sun rising every morning. Ceteris paribus, race tracks with crime rates, in the United States and everywhere else. Do yourself a favor and look into which countries have the highest violent crime and murder rates. They are disproportionately located in South America and Africa. Don't make the mistake of assuming these facts mandate a deterministic viewpoint. Race and ethnicity are hardly the sole determinant factors. However, there is a stone-cold connection on the macro-level that all the well-wishing in the world will not take away. With this consideration in mind, it's also why I wanted to ask FerFal why a majority European-descended country would devolve into essentially third-world violence, and also how he thinks a more multicultural society (like the United States) would fare in Argentina-like circumstances

One other thing. Most criminals are white in the USA, yes, it's true. Do you now why this is? It's because it's a majority white country! This should hardly be surprising. The entire point of discussing the higher murder rates among different groups is to show that, if they were comprising equal segments of the population, that would no longer be so. In other words, for example, there are many more murders amongst a group of 10,000 Hispanics than amongst 10,000 Asians. Concerning the rather selective example of the Aryan Brotherhood (kind of a predictable response in discussions like these, but whatever); assuming your statement is accurate, it's hardly a condemnation of, y'know... white, non-criminal, non-murdering, non-gang members. In other words, 99.9% of the white population. It tells you absolutely nothing about the normal white person's propensity to violence which is, as I stated earlier, lower than any other group's (excluding Asians).
February 17, 2009 5:46 PM

Anonymous said...
Chad actually makes a cogent argument. All the PC, racially equivalent apologists out there usually resort to name calling and pulling out arcane facts like the AB is the most violent criminals in prison.

I saw a picture of Fuerte Apache in Buenos Aires which as Ferfal can tell you is a a war zone. In fact in comments linked to a google map which displays Fuerte Apache somone wrote "drop 10 kiloton nuke here". And guess which ethnicity was prevalent in Fuerte Apache? If you guessed negro you win.

Now all of you apologist can continue your little delusions, but IF there is social strife amongst the population, the other races who aren't so constrained by foolish notions are gonna have alot of fun with you.

Plenty of street gangs are ethnically organized and armed to the teeth. When the authorities move out, they'll move in (as if they weren't running things already).

As you say before, most people here are white. There’s no African black people here, at least not in any significant numbers.
There’s some people with darker skin due to the mixing with natives when the conquistadors came here, but overall it’s white people from Spain, Italy, and a small number of Russian, German, and very small number of Arabs.

There’s also a growing Bolivian and Paraguayan community (more of native ethnic, a bit short, brown skin), Unfortunately thought many of them come here and work very hard, there’s many of them that take part in criminal activities.

Many women from these bordering countries are also promised great job opportunities in Argentina, only to find out that they end up trapped in prostitution networks as modern slaves.
But 90% give or take and without splitting hair into race purity or whatever, sure, people here are white.

About 80% of the country is Catholic as well.

It’s clear though, there’s a growing number of so called evangelical churches, with self proclaimed pastors.
They are very common among the poorest population, and unfortunately many times all they are after is what little money they have.
Many of these have embraced criminals and drug dealers into their pseudo churches, since more traditional institutions like the Catholic church or the Jewish community have much stricter moral codes.

These evangelical pastors say all you have to do after robbing, murdering, raping or committing just any atrocity, is to ask God for forgiveness, and God will always forgive. Confessing evil deeds to another person is a bit more uncomfortable to them, it would seem, so these churches are rather convenient.

This is why hands down the most popular religion in prison is some form of evangelical Christianity.

The few real black people we see here are either American tourists, African street merchants ( they mostly sell low quality gold Jewelry) or maybe someone from Brazil.
My son is 6 years old and last week was the first time he saw a real black person.
We where both waiting in line and I started talking with the guy. Turns out he lived here most of his life, parents came from Africa.
He was as much Argentine as I am. The way he talked, dressed. We talked about football a bit, very normal guy, more polite than average person I run across.

I believe the kind of problems you guys have up there aren’t really racial, but cultural ( intentionally created by a political agenda).
The subliminal indoctrination, making it seem ok for black people to hate white, reparations for slavery, and other political mechanisms to divide society and make people hate one another, also creating poor, marginal sectors of society.
The more poor, uneducated and stupid people get, the easier they are to control. It also creates cheap labor and uneducated voters.


Politicians and the people in power use this things to their advantage.

Anyone thinking black people are all the same around the world should compare the getto culture glorified by Hollywood and government alike, to the hard working black people I saw working in the fields of Spain.

No, not slaves. These guys risked their lives across the Mediterranean to get there and enjoy the privilege of having a job in a civilized country. They were damn proud about it and they should be.

They were the kindest most educated people I saw during the month I spent there.

You mention Fuerte Apache somewhere, and while it is one of the most dangerous places a person can walk into anywhere in the world, it’s not because of black people. There’s no black people in Fuerte Apache, they are white.

I think a real black person would be dead in Fuerte Apache rather soon. So would a German, an American, a Chinese, a Jew or a white person that doesn’t look poor.

Why?, because that’s not how the political machinery works in Argentina.

We are not divided by color ( though skin color and religion are all good excuses for the kind of hatred and violence often seen).
But no, out government ( particularly our president and his right hand, Mr. Luis Delia) made sure this country is divided into “rich” and “poor”.

The poor are referred to as “Negro”, but a “Negro” in Argentina may as well be a white skinned, blue eyed blonde of Italian heritage.

“Negro” is the word describe those of darker skin, but more than that the bum and lazy, but also the poor, the uneducated.

Mr Luis Delia openly shouts on radio that the “negros” should start killing “whites”, and “the rich”.

You see, it’s all hatred, and through hatred they control the stupid mass.
The poor guy that has no job and had little education and comes from a history of domestic violence, the kid that has lived a life of crime, the drug addict, they all fit into this “Negro” box, and this guy, that is the president’s right hand, is telling them it’s ok to kill the “white” the “rich”… of course the mass is too stupid to notice that Mr. Nestor Kirchner is rich beyond their wildest dreams… and he also happens to be a blue eyed white of German ancestry.
The mass is stupid, and will blame and hate whomever they are told to blame for their calamities.

In Argentina it’s the “rich”.

But since the real “rich” are far beyond the reach of the mass, since they live in very exclusive places or don’t even live most of the year in the country, who’s the “Negro” going after?
The middle class. The hard worker that forged a better future for himself and his family.

The middle class Mr. Kirchner promised would “get on their knees”.
So far he’s succeeded. The Argentine middle class is nearly destroyed, and the social hatred is evident.
The bad guys, many of which consider themselves “Negro” , will not only rob, they’ll murder and rape because the hatred is well fueled.
And after all, it’s also government approved.

About racism, real racism, all I can say is that I don’t think it’s a smart choice in terms of awareness.

I’m not going to get into my personal opinion on racism, (frankly I don’t like it or approve it), but worse than that, it creates preconceived notions that I find go against the practical way in which I view things.

I distrust anyone equally, of any skin color and religion, until proven they are worthy of trust.

I’m color blind when it comes to detecting threats.

If you think that white people are less dangerous than blacks, you’d be surprised by the number of pretty 15 year old white girls that commit crimes on regular basis, often more cruel than males.

Not long ago a cop got stabbed and was seriously wounded by a 14 year old girl.

He got too close and his gun did him no good, he never even managed to bring it out of the holster. His armor vest probably saved his life.
I’m sure he’s not going to underestimate young white girls ever again.

FerFAL