Situational Awareness

[shouldazagged]

I attempt to practice situational awareness at all times, and I'm always armed or have a gun within reach. But if I make changes in my routine or my provision for emergency, the terrorists, professional fear-peddlers, conspiracy theorists and street miscreants have won.

I not-very-respectfully decline to give them that little victory. Especially the first two categories.

I didn't get this old to be at perpetual condition orange.

 

[rustythread]

New executive order in the works, prohibiting filling of bathtubs to more than 2" depth.

 

[TX-Dennis]

New executive order in the works, prohibiting filling of bathtubs to more than 2" depth.

We must keep bathtubs out of the wrong hands. We're not trying to take away your bathtubs. Nobody wants to do that. You all stink, after all. We are only talking about common sense bathtub regulations. We have to close that home show loophole and make certain that everyone who buys a bathtub does so legally.

 

[Squarebutt]

"When bathtubs are outlawed . . ."

 

[Izzydog]

We recently had a 60ish year old fella, sucker punched by one of the president's sons. He was photographing the moon from a super market parking lot, and wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. He wasn't robbed, they just walked up to him, and punched him in the face, then walked away laughing. Pay attention, regardless of your location.

 

[arjay]

We recently had a 60ish year old fella, sucker punched by one of the president's sons. He was photographing the moon from a super market parking lot, and wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. He wasn't robbed, they just walked up to him, and punched him in the face, then walked away laughing. Pay attention, regardless of your location.

Have fox and breitbart run with this yet? [emoji23][emoji1]

 

[Yiogo]

As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Apart from the fact that there is much evil in the world, there are just too many people who want to take away our freedoms... and we allow it to happen rather than using the ballot box wisely.

It's only paranoia if there is no basis for the fear. Well, there is basis and we best be observant.

I live in a small border town with mid sized cities near by.

I once had a car come up my driveway and leave when the driver saw me.

I just recently had a guy come to my door asking if knew where a certain family lived. He supposedly was hired to do electrical work for them. He was obviously casing my house which incidentally, is alarmed...thankfully.

I'm not sure if situational awareness can be taught. I think not but don't know. I have it. My oldest daughter has it but my wife and youngest daughter do not. I've tried to teach them but...

Being watchful and vigilant is not being paranoid.

 

[therewolf]

I guess it's something some people practice naturally. I stay

pretty alert to my surroundings, some folks I see are so tied up

in their phones, or what they are doing, they haven't got a clue

what's going on around them.

 

[JCFindley]

Situational Awareness can absolutely be taught/learned if the student wants to learn.

My career has been in military aviation and I still train military aviators. There is a grading spot for SA on every grade sheet and is absolutely the most important part of aviation.

Applying that same SA philosophy to SD and general life is extremely useful. It is critical even when just driving a car and most people develop it to some extent or another.

 

[Old cop]

Old habits die hard. After 30 years as an LEO I normally operate in condition yellow, trying to be aware of my surroundings always. I recently took my 16 year old grandson school shopping at Old Navy. Four sketchy looking dudes came in and he picked up on it as soon as I did. I notice the same thing in my wife so I guess it does rub off.

 

[cracker57]

I forget where I learned this but I try pass it one when ever possible. To stay on top of the awareness game when you are out and about in public areas, Never let someone you know see you first. Keep score of how many time you see someone you know before they see you. If they see you before you see them that's a negative you see them before they see you that's a positive. I hope your score is way in the positive. I find this little game helps to keep my hear on a swivel.

 

[walkin' trails]

Even though the President says you are more likely to drown in the bathtub than be a victim of terrorism (interesting that in the next sentence the President attributes these acts to the availability of guns and speaks to an urgent need to do something - never mind that the probabilities of being a victim of a terrorist or terrorist with a gun are essentially the same),


Looks to me like we'd better be lookin' into this bathtub thing. Licensing or banning or something..

Prepackaged wipes will put an end to all bathtub falls, and save the planet too!

 

[KSDeputy]

I do not believe a word Obama says. I always carry a firearm when off of my farm, and mostly when I am on it. More than thirty years of law enforcement taught me a lot about the evil out there. I try to always be observant of my surroundings and am very careful. I do not take chances. I am not paranoid. Anyone can do the same, it does not wear you out if you make some changes and make it part of the way you live. In light of all of the shootings and murders of LEO's I have made even more changes, in the amount of extra ammunition I carry. I have a new knife on the way. I am even more observant than I was, and I was quite aware before. We must all be good witnesses, try and recall every detail.

 

[Tom S.]

I forget where I learned this but I try pass it one when ever possible. To stay on top of the awareness game when you are out and about in public areas, Never let someone you know see you first. Keep score of how many time you see someone you know before they see you. If they see you before you see them that's a negative you see them before they see you that's a positive. I hope your score is way in the positive. I find this little game helps to keep my hear on a swivel.

When you get to be my age, it's hard to see someone you know - unless you're at a cemetery.

 

[Dude]

Living near a wretched hive of scum and villainy keeps us on our toes.

One thing that we do when we go through a fast food drive thru is we go park out in the middle of a large parking lot to eat. That way we can see anyone approaching our car. We put the fast food bag on the dash so that local LEOs can see we're having lunch.

As we eat, we look around and remain observant. Sometimes we observe the crows and other birds observing us. Sometimes nearby construction projects or other developments catch our eye.

Every once in awhile, we observe a homeless person or young hoodlums on a course to pass near us. We just fire up the car and move while the "threats" are still far away. They never know and we don't get hassled for money or worse.

 

[amazingflapjack]

decide to resist?

We are already becoming prisoners of our paranoia in many ways. I am not sure how we fix it but I know we need to get back in charge of our own destinies. Thinking of the hundreds of people hiding from a lone gunman in Florida is enough to convince me that we need to start training people how to overcome the perpetrators of these attacks. Giving up our freedoms must not be the solution!

History tells us many stories and teaches us invaluable lessons. I remember that the James Gang went to a town in Minnesota to rob a bank. The people there were armed, and prepared. The James Gang-the baddest in the land, were "shot to doll rags."

 

[BaaBaa]

Situational Awareness can absolutely be taught/learned if the student wants to learn.

Can you expound on this? Perhaps in another thread? I'm trying to be more aware but not sure. I already do a good job of noticing anything wrong with any of the animals, I can spot a sick sheep from across the paddock, but not too sure on the rest of my skills esp. when it comes to humans, those wily creatures.

 

[Whitwabit]

Paranoia can run rampant after someone hears something happened to another person ..afraid that it will happen to them ..

Terrorist are one of those things .. when in reality you have a much greater chance of being killed by someone texting on their phone while driving causing an accident while you are driving your car .. yet we aren't paranoid by that act !!

 

[okiegtrider]

.. when in reality you have a much greater chance of being killed by someone texting on their phone while driving causing an accident while you are driving your car .. yet we aren't paranoid by that act !!

You must not be a motorcyclist. The idea scares those of us that are a lot.

 

[Yiogo]

Situational awareness goes way beyond just being observant but it does include that.

It also involves assessing the non verbal cues of potential miscreants and of those who mean you harm.

For example, most strangers won't look you in the eye if you look first. They'll look away.

But this man looked me right in the eye as I entered a subway station. He followed my wife and me down the stairs but veered away when I turned around to face him and had my wife get behind me.

Well anyway.