At the most basic level – this means paying attention to what’s going on around you. Jeff Cooper (considered the father of modern pistol shooting) created a series of color codes which represent your condition (state of awareness). White means you are blissfully unaware – like a person focused on their cell phone or at home watching TV. Yellow means you are scanning around you to see who and what is happening. You are relaxed but alert. Orange means you have spotted something that might be a threat. You are now watching the actions / behavior to determine if your initial impression was accurate. Red means you have determined that the potential threat is a real threat. You are fully alert and determining the best course of action – possible escape or needing to engage.
In general, you should be in condition Yellow when you are out and about. This doesn’t mean you are paranoid or tense – it means you understand that the world is unpredictable and you might have to protect yourself or your family. For example, do you look to see who is in surrounding cars when parking? Would you avoid parking next to a van with a side door facing you? Do you look for anything out of place when returning home? When in a new location, do you look around for avenues of escape and for people who seem out of place? When you stop in traffic, do you stay far enough back to see the tires of the car in front – thereby giving you space to maneuver around traffic if needed? These are all examples of paying attention and positioning yourself to react if needed.
The same applies to knowing what is happening around your home. Consider having video cameras or motion sensors to alert you to vehicles or people entering your space. Even a simple driveway alarm will allow you to look out the window to see what is coming before it’s at your front door. In this way, you buy precious time to move to a better location, grab a weapon and call police if they are available.
Situational awareness applies to your community as well – especially if there is an unusual event. It makes sense to monitor news channels and have a police scanner. Stay in touch with friends via cell phone to understand the location and severity of any problems. In the event of a grid problem, these resources will not be available for long. Do you have a ham radio to monitor news? A network of friends with radios? Even with no functioning technology, you can walk to visit neighbors or arrange a community meeting time and place. The idea is to be aware of developing threats rather than being surprised.
Bottom line, you are less likely to be targeted and more likely to react effectively if you can see a threat materializing. Being aware of your surroundings means being forewarned of problems.
You can find much more in my book “Thriving in Times of Chaos” available on Amazon. It provides time-phased actions to become more sustainable in any location along with links to additional information and useful products. A more complete description of the book along with a PDF version are available on my website.
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