Situation Awareness: Inherent Ability vs Motivation

I got confused when I was recently asked for ideas about situational awareness training. It appears to me, not as a technique to teach but as something that derives from intuition. I assume that we are hardwired to recognize human predatory behaviour. As time went by, wild animals as our primary opponents switched their places with criminals. Much like a dog lifts his hackles in a fight, the hair on the back of our neck is a sign—an instinctive alert that something is wrong.

Certain odd social activities are viewed as criminal behaviour. Survival instinct teaches us that when a group of teenagers splits direction, they may want to circle a possible victim as the wolf pack does. Often, we get worried when someone we don’t know makes strong eye contact. These kinds of abilities have kept us alive as cavemen and continue to this day, although in a different way.

The more I pondered if certain awareness-raising skills are appropriate, the more reality seemed to set in. While you may be instinctually mindful of your surrounding environment, you must also be motivated to put that capability into practice.

My long-held conclusion is that most people don’t keep vigils of conscience. Maybe it’s because they do not have enough motive yet or they don’t realize the importance of situational awareness. Some of them who carry a gun think that they are fully capable of preventing any attack just because they are armed. After all, that’s the reason why they have a firearm.

Situation awareness involves many key aspects, including the lookout for possible assailants and the perception of a cover-up places, the determination of potential entrances, and the search for escape paths. Start with a well-known environment and build your skillset.

“Like most people, I did not realize that a defence is not likely to succeed when it is a reaction to the violence that has already commenced.”

Taking multiple practices and testing my skills in real-life scenarios, I realized that in the case of direct and personal attacks you won’t be able to respond successfully without preliminary training. If it were a surprise attack, I would most certainly have low chance to succeed. Despite realizing the attack was inevitable, I found myself behind the time/power curve because the claim has always been that action beats reaction.

Situation awareness – Practical cases

Empty and tape your firearm so it’s secured, in simulated scenarios measure your reaction time with a fake gun by using an Airsoft replica. One of the possibilities is a “bad guy” situation when someone armed demands cash. Make him point his gun at a friend, then grab your firearm and see if you manage to shoot him before he turns and shoots you.

Another suitable example to test is a carjacking or road rage attack. How much time does it take for you to reveal your weapon or get covered if the driver gets out of the car in front of you with a gun in hand? When these concepts of action and reaction are comprehensively taught, you will know that there can be no feasible defence in a direct assault and a situational understanding to prevent encounter is the only key to survival.

Ability to react

The defence is a responsive reaction, by itself. Thus, due to the response time, the victim is in a vulnerable condition once an assault has begun.

For an attacker, it requires less time to move four feet to injure someone than for the victim to move their trigger finger a quarter-inch.

The brain of the victim must first detect the movement of the attacker, understand its sense, decide whether it is a deadly threat, determine a response and then actually make a move. In fact, the victim will be stabbed long before he can shoot his weapon, and more than certainly, he will be stabbed well before he acknowledges what’s going on.

When in a relaxed setting, like your local bar or when sharing a meal with mates, it is easier to let your guard down.

The Tueller experiment reveals that the assailant can on an average cross 21 feet earlier than any person can consider the attack has begun, draw, and shoot a firearm. If you’re assaulted and your pistol is still in your holster, chances are slim that you’ll manage to use it. Thus, the greatest way to successfully ward off an attack is to foresee the confrontation and prep for it.

Importance of Situation awareness

Situational knowledge includes a range of core aspects, like the lookout for possible attackers, the identification of cover-ups and protection, the detection of potential escapes, and the search for routes of exit. Being mindful of your environment and your surroundings will help you significantly.

1. The trouble can be prevented when you actually avoid it. Keep your distance if you’re monitoring your surroundings and you’re seeing something that looks like danger ahead.
2. Acknowledging the trouble in advance will provide you with some time to develop a plan, look for a cover-up, and get your weapons ready (grab pepper spray, open your knife, lay hands on the guns, etc.).
3. It’s possible when the attacker realizes that his existence is known to you and you are ready for confrontation, he will try to track down an easier victim.

Once when I was wandering downtown with my friends, a bunch of street punks came to us. I thought they didn’t have the best possible intentions in mind. Incapable of avoiding the situation, we moved the two women to the safe side of our party and made strong eye contact with possible troublemakers with the aim of clearly showing that we were really alert about their presence and that we would not be helpless victims. Right after that, we noticed them changing their behaviours. They weren’t loud, gross, and dominant. Instead, they passed us gently. This scenario could have ended up in a completely different way if their presence had not been identified in advance.

Process of choosing a victim

Criminals typically don’t pick a victim by chance. They’re looking for an adversary they can effortlessly defeat. They tend to get 10 dollars from an easy victim then get in a fight for 50 dollars with a prepared opponent. In the sixties, street thugs were likely to persecute hippies, without struggling they would give up their valuables and not report them to the authorities. Nothing much has changed today. Attackers target people who are likewise unaware and not prepared.

Being aware of the environment that surrounds you will always contribute to your safety. Remain alert and attentive. Free of any psychological damage, you can spend your whole life in a cautious state. When you demonstrate carefulness, the attacker realizes that you are alert, that you are aware of your surroundings and that you definitely know about his presence. The attacker will get the impression that you’re not the convenient victim he’s looking for.