Having 3rd party awareness is paramount to your success in identifying if you are being targeted by suspected violent individuals. Headphones out when you are walking in public. The one time I will break this cardinal rule is having 1 AirPod in while walking in cities unfamiliar to myself. A discreet way to navigate in unfamiliar terrain is to set directions to your destination on foot via maps on your phone and listen to guidance through the one headphone. Adjust to a low volume to allow as much 360 auditory security as you can. This will aid you in not looking like a tourist walking around staring at your phone!
360 Degree Security:
Use sunglasses for discrete detection, use reflections, shadows, sounds, all of it. Why wouldn’t you?
As you may recall from my previous blog, 0m, 5m, and 25m scans are useful, but what criteria should I be looking for?
Orient yourself to sounds such as footsteps, verbal cues, acceleration/deceleration of the pace at which suspect individual(s) are moving, at which direction? Are they moving towards or away from you? Have you seen the same individual(s) in different locations?
Terrain dictates circumstance. If said individual were to make a move towards you, how would you respond? Would you respond differently based on the balance you have on the terrain you’re in? Where are your primary, secondary and tertiary routes of egress?
I often find myself in an OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) loop while walking in places like Wal-Mart on a rainy day. “I am definitely not throwing kicks on a surface like this. I may also limit takedowns.”
If I sacrifice balance for a kick then I may find myself on the ground, which we know is not an improved position.
Interview yourself as you navigate populated areas. What options do you have based on your circumstance? What options are stripped of you because of your environment? If you ask the questions pre-incident you not only will have increased the efficiency at which you respond, but you also have a better sense of how things might play out. Every action brings a reaction, but more importantly action will always beat reaction. Decide to act given the first opportunity. Who will command the circumstance? It is up to you.
You are your first responder. Take ownership of your safety.
Key: OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act)
On-the-Street Example: I observe a man staring at me a block away. I orient to the terrain beneath me and the distance between us. I decide walking across the street is the safe move. I act upon it.
