Awareness in urban environments

Discussion in 'Back to Basics' started by snowbyrd, Jan 24, 2007.


  1. snowbyrd

    snowbyrd Latet anguis in herba

    The self defence people tell you to be 'aware' of your surroundings, I agree. But how[dunno]
    Just a few of my thoughts of it, uh, little experience here too, not much mind you..Scan with your eyes front, right side, left side, watch a block (at least) or so ahead. Look for anything that is 'unusual' or 'different', might be a couple of persons 'hanging around'. A car/van idling by the curb, just 'things' that seem different. Can't tell you all what that is, just different, trust your instincts. Check over your shoulder, (behind you), by looking across the street and glancing over your shoulder. Take a quick look in the window you are passing by and steal a glance behind you. You don't need to stare, just glance. Remember, do all this casually, if you are nervous looking, or paranoid in your movements the sharks will notice. [sheep]
    Use reflections to your advantage, windows, crome on vehicles, nice shiney paint on automobiles.
    Listen for sounds, boot heels, footsteps, faster moving?, clothing noises, (punkers like them chains). People tend to walk loud in cities, hearing is dulled by the constant noise, busses, traffic, gunfire (hee hee). Those ear phones that kids wear, blasting out thier sicko rap music. Hmm, showing my age huh?
    It is amazing what you can hear if you tune into it and tune out the day- to-day noise.
    Shadows from the sun, street lights and headlights work also. This has many variables, time of day mostly.[doh] Watch the shadow comming up from behind you. Closer? Closing the gap? What about that dog that just barked as you went by? Did it stop and then start up again? The motion sensor light come back on? Cough, sneeze, various gasses expelled from the body? (PC enough?)
    snowbyrd
     
  2. RightHand

    RightHand Been There, Done That RIP 4/15/21 Moderator Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Thanks for bringing this up snowbyrd. We have a thread on personal safety and it would be great if we could resume the discussion and information.
    http://www.survivalmonkey.com/forum/showthread.php?p=45722#post45722

    The part which applies specifically to your post reads as follows:

    The "parking lot" is familiar to all of us and another of those everyday events which harbor potential danger. The following is taken directly from Marc Mac Young's website No Nonsense Self-Defense and contains valuable information.

    Fringe Areas
    Fringe areas are places "in between." And it is here that criminals usually operate. This is where you are most likely to be attacked, mugged or raped.

    It isn't until you begin to consciously look for them that you begin to see how many you pass through each day. A fringe area is not inherently dangerous, which is why we don't normally notice them. There is no reason to fear them; it is what lurks there that you need to fear.

    Fringe areas are usually places that you pass through on you way to and from the crowd. In the middle of the crowd, there are too many people for the criminal to operate safely. Too far from it, there is nobody for him to attack. At the fringes, there are enough people going through that the criminal can find victims, but not enough to effectively hinder him.

    The main thing to remember is any fringe area is transitional. It is a place that we pass through on our way to something else from something (e.g. from a crowd to your car). This is a large part of why we don't notice them; We are focused on getting somewhere else or on something other than what we are doing. It is that focus on "elsewhere" that the criminal exploits to successfully develop what he needs to attack you.

    The best example of a fringe area is a mall parking lot. There are too many people in the middle of the mall for the criminal to be successful. And by the time you are in your car and driving away, you are beyond his reach. A parking lot, however, meets the criteria he needs. There are enough people to find a victim, you are out of reach of immediate help, he can still get to you *and* he can easily escape after he has mugged you.

    You don't need to be paranoid about entering a fringe area, but you have to look around when entering one. Things that are "out of place" in fringe areas carry far greater weight than they would in other circumstances. Developing the habit of scanning a fringe area is a critical component of creating your Pyramid of Personal Safety.



    Learn to recognize when you are in a fringe area.
    Most fringe areas are transitional but, that is not always the case. A fringe area is any place that you are beyond "immediate help." That means: Would it take longer than 30 seconds for help to get to you?

    That is all the longer it takes for a mugger to rob you. Granted, when you are staring down the barrel of a gun, 10 seconds seems like 10 years, but the reason most robberies are successful is their blitzkrieg nature. They happen blindingly fast. By the time help reaches you, the criminal is speeding away.

    Another standard: Would anyone hear you if you screamed?

    Many a young woman has been raped at a party, but, because she is in another room with the door closed, nobody hears her cries for help. Many assaults happen in stairways for the same reason.

    It takes no more than a week of paying attention to learn to immediately spot a fringe area. Once you know what to look for, they become glaringly obvious. The next step is accomplished at the same time.



    Know what is normal for that area
    What is the normal behavior for people in that area/situation?

    Before you can accurately assess when something is wrong, you need to have a recognized standard of what is right. While that may sound obvious, most people have never really thought about it. When they see something is out of sync with the norm, the best they can muster is, "I don't know what is wrong, but I know something isn't right." It is during this confusion that the criminal gets into position to successfully attack.

    The best example of this is - before reading on further - answer this question: What is normal behavior for people in a parking lot?

    Don't be surprised if it took you a few seconds before answering "walking to and from cars" -- or if your answer wasn't that specific. In many ways the answer is so obvious that it is hard to shift gears to recognize something so basic.

    Parking lots are transitional places: You are either walking or driving in/out of them -- you are not loitering. If someone is not moving, there is usually an immediately identifiable reason. The car hood is up, they are unloading or loading their vehicle, preparing to drive or gathering something up, getting something out of the trunk, fussing with a problem before they walk out of the parking lot.

    It is not normal to loiter in parking lots -- except for very specific circumstances. People will walk to a car and spend a few moments talking before departing. These groups tend to be insular and exclusive. That is to say, they are turned in and talking to each other ignoring what is going on around them.

    These are both common and normal behaviors for the average parking lot. You see them so often that you probably don't even pay attention to them anymore. Now, what is abnormal for a parking lot?

    First of all, someone loitering is showing wrong behavior for a parking lot -- especially if he doesn't have an immediately identifiable reason for being there. People who are waiting for someone tend to wait right next to their car. And in fact, if you think about it, it is rather obvious if it is his car or not. (People who sit or lean on cars, don't tend to have nice cars). More common however, is that the driver waits for the person by sitting in his car.

    Unless their car is broken down, people don't generally wait for other people to pick them up in a parking lot. Usually they wait inside an establishment, or if they are waiting outside, they wait by the door or on the corner. If they do wait in a parking lot it is either near their broken down car or at the driveway for easy pick up and in plain sight from the street. You don't loiter in a "generalized way" in the depths parking lot. That shows something is not quite right.

    The idea of a "generalized manner" is important. Another indication that something is amiss is lack of "laser focus." It is a binary focus, there is your car and your destination, everything else is background and not worth notice. There is no casual meandering from car to car, taking the scenic route or hovering around a non-specific area. This is why someone who is wandering through a parking lot, looking into cars stands out like a sore thumb. While casual glances at cars occur, a methodical search is glaringly obvious.

    When you walk into a parking lot and a group of young toughs are lined up against the wall and watching people pass, something is amiss. Normal people tend to cluster. While they may glance at you, they quickly return their attention to the group, dismissing you as unimportant. If they don't, something is wrong, and you better not walk into the middle of it. This is why watching who is watching you is such an important robbery avoidance tip.

    Another point of normal is "how do people walk through parking lots?"

    Generally pedestrians will follow the driving aisles. If they do cut between cars, it will be consistent with their goal (i.e., heading for the entrance). Cutting between cars is a "short cut" to that goal. What is important to realize is that they still have that laser sighting on their destination. A person who is meandering or changing his course to intercept you is not acting in a normal manner for the location. He should be considered dangerous or up to no good.

    We unconsciously know what is "normal" for a great many situations. We see it every day. In fact, we see it so much that we don't see it anymore. It has become a part of the unnoticed background. Unfortunately, it has become so commonplace that we have forgotten why abnormal behavior in that situation is abnormal -- we know it isn't right, but we don't know why. It isn't until we consciously sit down and think that we can slowly explain what it was that we saw and knew...but couldn't figure out in time.

    This is a small sampling of what is normal for parking lots. And if you think about it, there is nothing we have said that you didn't already know. We unconsciously know these things. Because we take them for granted, however, we are often at loss when things go wrong. It isn't until we spend time consciously paying attention to what we already know that we can immediately identify what exactly is wrong with a situation. There are many other situations and locations that you need to review -- especially the ones you regularly find yourself.

    Parking lots
    Although there are many fringe areas, we tend to emphasize parking lots. Simply stated there is no place more likely for you to be robbed than a parking lot. They are a hotbed of carjackings. And most personal robberies happen here*. The presence of vehicles also makes it easy for rapists to kidnap a victim and take her to a secondary location for rape.

    Parking lots offer the best advantages of fringe areas. They are close enough to where people congregate to offer enough passerbys to choose the best victims. Parking lots are isolated enough that a victim will be beyond immediate help. And someone rich enough to afford a car will have money (or goods worth stealing). Most people are "wrapped up in their own head" while passing through the area and not paying attention to what is going on around them. This makes it easy to set them up for a violent assault or robbery. In addition, the areas offer easy escape routes for the criminal(s) in that they have easy access to the streets and they can obstruct your view (by jumping into a car the next aisle over and speeding away, odds are that you will not see the license plate).

    We have already explained many of the identifiable behaviors that tell you something is amiss, but there are a few more refinements. It isn't just loitering in a parking lot that is a danger sign, but *where* someone is waiting. Although there is extreme paranoia about specifically targeted assaults (e.g., the guy hiding under the car and grabbing your ankle) those kinds of attacks are, in fact, so rare as to be almost statistically meaningless. An overwhelming majority of attackers are loitering by the pedestrian entrance of the parking structure or area.

    Would-be robbers in parking lots most often position themselves in a place where they can observe people passing by and either follow them to their car or intercept them along the way. The criminal is not psychic. He doesn't know where your car is when you enter the parking lot. This is why loitering off at the far end -- which while good for drug deals and illegal drinking -- is not a winning strategy for mugging someone. If he were to take such a position, you likely get into your car and drive away before he can reach you. This means he or they usually take up a position at the pedestrian entrance or within the first third of where you enter the parking lot. From there, they can easily intercept or follow you to where ever you are going.

    When you enter a parking structure and you see a loitering person or a group, the bells need to go off. This is a serious sign of not potential, but probable, trouble. Continuing on is literally walking into the lion's jaws -- especially if they focus on you. This is one of the reasons you need to pretend you are a mugger for a week. Once you have done this exercise, seeing someone in this position will scream danger to you.

    It also is not uncommon for muggers to "hang out" at the mall entrance under the guise of smoking. Although not as common, selecting a victim who is in the mall and then following her out to her car also occurs. Both of these can be foiled by simply looking around -- and that includes behind you -- when entering a fringe area. If someone follows, return to the mall.

    It is also important to remember that within a large fringe area there can be several smaller ones. For example, a wide-open parking lot can be checked in its entirety with two two-second glances (one when you enter, one when you reach your vehicle). However, a parking structure or a "wrap around" parking lot (the sort where parking is so vast that "wings" wrap around the building, obscuring your view of the front door) may require four or five checks as you enter into new "blind spots" or levels.

    We mentioned earlier that there is a certain element that does "hang out" in parking lots. Generally speaking, such people are up to no good anyway. This is not to say that they are robbers per se, but if a police car were to pull up, their lives would get rather interesting. It is not uncommon to see these types hanging out near liquor stores or other places of interest to them. Basically the easiest way to handle this situation is to take your business elsewhere. In fact, you might want to take yourself elsewhere because you are not in a nice part of town if this kind of event is occurring.

    Generally speaking, however, these types will not be immediately near the door of the business. A savvy business owner will run them off rather than let them linger too close to the door and chase away business. As long as you can park next to the door, they should not be much of a problem. It is when you have to walk by them that they can become a problem.

    These people usually want to position themselves far enough away to see a police car approaching. That allows them to start wandering away and divest themselves of anything that would result in their being arrested (this also holds true in parks). As long as they stay over there, it is no problem.

    While individuals will come and go from time to time, such a pack doesn't generally move without reason. If you enter such an area and the pack goes into motion GO BACK! That's right, turn around and return to where you came from. If you are wrong about their intentions then they will pass from the area. If they are up to no good you will have foiled their attempt to rob you. (If you see a pack following you from an entrance, obviously don't turn back into their midst, but instead loop around, putting obstacles between you and head for the entrance)

    A serious danger sign is when you enter a parking lot and see a group spread out along a wall. Do NOT continue as it is a specific type of trap described in the video Safe in the Street. When present in a fringe area, you are literally asking to be raped, robbed or shot if you proceed. Return to the establishment and inform management. From there, the manager will decide if he needs to call the police.
     
    john316 likes this.
  3. Rancher

    Rancher Specialist

    Good "heads up" Snowbyrd.[applaud]
     
    john316 likes this.
  4. Seawolf1090

    Seawolf1090 Retired Curmudgeonly IT Monkey Founding Member

    As always, exceptions to the rule exist. Many times, when I drive my car, I'll spend my lunch hour sitting in my car eating and reading. I have been known to wait for my buddy to come out - we are on different floors - and I'll be standing in the parking garage by his car.
    I'd take it right personal if someone caused a ruckus because I'm "loitering". :sneaky:

    But in many cases, this may be prudent behavior. Depends on circumstances.
    And being ex-military and ex-security - I do maintain my "situational awareness".
    Being well-known to the local building/parking lot security guys helps too.
     
  5. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    While someone who didnt know you would have no real call to make a big fuss about youloitering there, I would say it would only be reasonable for them to try to be on the other side of the driveing lane when they would pass by you (as in anyone standing around in a parking garage for no obvious reason) and be aware of you and what you were doing as they passed and untill they had a bit of distance and determined you were not interestedin following them.

    It would be rather foolish if someone were say standing by the back of a car, apparently just hanging out in a parking garage/lot, to walk right by them on the same side and not bother to be aware of what they were doing, give youself what room you could from them and so on. This would be entirely different though from whipping out the pepper spray (or whatever else) and 'covering' them as you walk by and back away 20 yards or screaming for security while they are just standing there.
     
  6. Screaming Eagle

    Screaming Eagle Monkey+++

    Another thing to consider is entering and leaving your home. If there are tall hedges or shrubs, it seems that someone could hide, wait until you pull your keys out and force you into your own home. Bad news all the way around. Entering vehicles in a large parking lot (especially with bags etc) is another vulnerable area. Just things to think about and be aware of.
     
  7. Seawolf1090

    Seawolf1090 Retired Curmudgeonly IT Monkey Founding Member

    I've avoided putting in bushes close to the house for that reason. Also, I habitually use the backdoor, out of sight of neighbors. I reckon that could work against me - no help if I were attacked. But with everything so open, I would see a goblin approaching long before he reached me.
    At work, it's dim, and the parked cars offer lots of cover. Security does a walk-thru often, but the goblin only needs seconds to do the deed.
    Store parking lots are danger points too. I'm always scanning for ne'er-do-wells, especially as occasionally someone is begging there. It'd be easy for a 'pan-handler' to get a sheeple's attention while his buddy slips up behind.
    Gas stations are another danger point. Can't count the number of times I see folks go into the store while leaving the car idling! Then they wonder why the car gets stolen . . .
     
  8. DesertDawg

    DesertDawg Monkey+++

    Not knowing how "modern" your local police agency is, I'll explain that many LE agencies have what is called the "Neighborhood Watch Program", and the "Lady Beware Program". I was an LAPD officer for 31 years, and conducted almost a countless number of those community meetings.

    They were great for letting the folks know of certain crime trends/locales to be aware of, AND to GET information from the concerned citizens. One of the community groups started out with about 6 neighbors showing up for the very first meeting, to a massive 400+ folks! We were fortunate enough to have access to a local church for those huge meetings!

    It was also quite fortunate that there were some very wonderful folks that got involved, and were able to "enhance" the monthly meetings by inviting special guest speakers....and even putting on a fantastic "Disaster Preparedness Expo", with many commercial vendors showing up with their "goodies" for sale.

    Believe it or not, but....since I have always been PRO-GUN and PRO-2nd Amendment, I was able to convert quite a few anti-gun folks through speaking at those community meetings! Nice!

    What I've said so far may seem a bit far-fetched from the original topic, but it isn't! It may benefit many of you if you look into possibility that your local police agency has such programs. Besides the benefit of finding out what is going on in your community, it may cause you to realize that the LEO's are actually on YOUR side, and most of them are decent folks! Add to that, if you can "enhance" the community meetings just a bit by getting involved, the list of topics that can be discussed are almost infinite!

    Do you happen to own a business? Well, from the "Neighborhood Watch Program", many LE agencies added "Business Watch Program" to their community meetings.
    During one of the "Business Watch" meetings that I conducted, I was able to get several business owners involved in being more aware of their region....and one of them was responsible for calling in a "suspicious person" who turned out to be a purse snatcher.

    Just some food for thought, folks! Don't overlook your local police! While you may cuss them for the ticket you got, they may be a valuable asset to you for your personal safety!
     
  9. oldteacher

    oldteacher Monkey+++

    Watch out for your elderly or disabled people in doctor's parking lot. Everybody is inside and people leaving the offices tend to think there are too many people around for trouble. If you're hurting or sick you don't think about muggers. We left our doctor's office in the middle of a crowed hospital---doctors' buildings compound to see two young men checking out unlocked cars in the middle of the afternoon. I don't like to think what could have happened to the 80 year old using a walker if he had walked out alone. The town may be small town America in the rural south but drugs and the consequences are everywhere.
     
  10. RightHand

    RightHand Been There, Done That RIP 4/15/21 Moderator Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Post #31 in our Personal Safety Sticky deals specifically with parking lots
     
  11. crehberg

    crehberg Monkey+++

    Yep, it is sad but true.
     
  12. john316

    john316 Monkey+++

    Ganado likes this.
  13. john316

    john316 Monkey+++

  14. Lone Gunman

    Lone Gunman Draw Varmint!

    A day or two before Thanksgiving, 1997, my wife ran out of milk while cooking; and, rather than have her go out after 9:00 pm, I volunteered to take our brand new SUV down to the supermarket to buy a gallon of milk. So there I am walking back to my bright and shiny new vehicle when, all of a sudden, I hear rapid, but very quiet, footsteps coming up behind me. I had just reached the vehicle, and placed the shopping bag down on the seat when something told me NOT to wait, to arm myself, and quickly turn around.

    We had just move into the state; and I wasn't licensed to carry, yet; so there was no gun; but there was a large folding knife; and, as I turned around to face the threat, I drew it, put my weapon-hand behind my back, and, with a flick of my wrist, snapped the blade open from behind my leg. More than 40 years of martial arts training had taught me not to either show or expose the blade; so I continued to hold the knife, blade-forward, behind my leg.

    Well, ....... you should have heard the snap when the blade locked in place! In the silence of that parking lot it sounded absolutely deafening - Both to me, and to the obviously sober and casually well-dressed adult male who was quickly coming up behind me; and, equally obviously, had me as his intended target. As our eyes met inside the echo of that loud snap, he suddenly froze exactly in place! I caught him in mid-stride, with his weak hand out, and his right-hand inside (but coming out) of his jacket pocket with his whole body leaning forwards and towards me.

    He looked amazed; and, as for me, I'm sure I looked more amused than frightened. In his haste to get at me he'd screwed up! No matter if he had a gun, it was going to be worthless against my blade! We were standing no more than 4 or 5 yards apart; and I already knew that I, 'had him'; and he knew it too. I became even more amused when I realized that he thought I'd just snapped the safety off of a semiautomatic pistol! (Didn't really matter, though. If a pistol had come out of his pocket he'd have ended up dropping to his knees right where he stood.)

    What happened next? All of a sudden he goes into this terrific, 'song and dance' routine! He stares at me with those big wide-open eyes of his and asks, 'Are you Charlie?' 'Are you Charlie?' 'I'm looking for Charlie!' I answered him in a low calm tone of voice, 'No.' Then he regained his balance, took his (empty) hand out of his pocket, and began wildly waving his arms in the air. 'You're NOT Charlie?' 'Well, I'm looking for Charlie!' 'He's got to be around here, somewhere.' I didn't answer him again; and found myself wondering what he'd look like if he were to suddenly shut-up?

    My immediate problem was what to do as I allowed him to backup? With every step he took away from me the danger to my own person became greater and greater; but, fortunately for me, the guy who was, 'looking for Charlie' had given himself a good scare, and all the fight had drained out of him. I jumped into my new SUV, and got home safe and sound with the groceries!

    The next day I contacted an acquaintance who had lived in the county for many years, told him what had happened to me the other night, and asked if there were any way my LTCF permit could be expedited? Three or four days later I got my new in-state license to carry a firearm; and, with the exception of a few out-of-state trips, from that day to the present time I've never, not even once, left the house unarmed. (A habit which ten or eleven years later most assuredly saved my life - Not once, but twice!)

    Besides always going armed what are the other things I do in order to keep myself out of trouble? Well, let's see?

    1. I'm alert; but, I wouldn't say unusually so.

    2. I'm really a very affable (non-threatening) sort of fellow; and, I consider myself to be easy to get along with; but, at the same time, I never act as if I'm either vulnerable, or invulnerable. (I deliberately avoid these two extremes.)

    3. I suppose that, without really thinking about it, I exude self-confidence; but, quite honestly, I'm not arrogant; and I make an effort to never be deliberately insulting. Nowadays I'm even very careful not to hand anybody money, or anything else for that matter, with my left-hand. (This habit might unintentionally offend certain Muslims, OK.)

    4. I watch people; I watch them all of the time. Why? Because I'm constantly, 'swiveling my neck', or looking all around, or, 'darting my eyes'? No, definitely not! THAT would be a sign of weakness. It's more a matter of where I chose to walk, or which seat I'll take in a restaurant. (I usually face the front door; I stay off of walkways; and I never expose my back to the crowd.) Whenever I do walk somewhere, there's often a wall within 2 or 3 feet of me, as well. (Like a soldier, 'slicing the pie' I prefer to stay a couple of feet off the wall and away from corners.)

    5. If I'm alerted to trouble then I'll watch that trouble; and I don't allow it to ever get either too close, or out of sight. If I have to I'll suddenly change directions, and/or move to more difficult to approach cover. (Like unexpectedly entering into a storefront.)

    6. I once looked up from a restaurant meal to see the leader of a local street gang taking a seat along with his lady directly across from me and mine. Initially, he had his back to me; but he was a, 'sharp dude'; and, before he got comfortable, he turned around to see who might be, 'sharing his space'; and, voilà, all of a sudden like, he saw me. He, then, genuinely surprised me by showing an unmistakable surprise, himself! (He was a thoroughly seasoned, unscrupulous, 'street professional'; and I didn't think showing surprise was in his nature.)

    What to do? I decided that the best thing to do was NOT to avert my gaze; and I began to just watch him - direct eye contact and all. (Direct eye contact is important! The first one to break it shows uncertainty and fear. It can, also, be a sign of either disrespect, or weakness - You'll have to decide.)

    7. He, then, went on to further surprise me by changing seats with, 'his woman' so that he could sit while directly facing me. He ate his meal; and I ate mine. Neither one of us hurried; but my wife and I were the first ones to get up and leave. It's just that I made sure to walk past his table with my strong hand on the opposite side as we passed.

    8 What is my own greatest fear whenever I'm out 'n about? I dread the thought of having someone come suddenly rushing through an open door, or flying around a corner and, then, come rushing straight at me with a weapon in hand! Why? Because there's little or no reaction time, and even less of a mental or emotional, ‘moment of preparation’! Worse, yet, either surrendering or remaining passive is, ‘off the table’ and NOT an option.

    The moment many of today's, 'desperados' discover either your badge, and/or your, 'belt-load', you're most likely going to be savagely beaten or straightforwardly shot! THIS is reality; and the very same, 'belt-load' that protects you can also get you killed! (I know I never want to get caught by the, 'wrong people' with mine!)

    9. Most of today's decent law-abiding people, rather sadly, don't actually know how to adequately defend themselves against violent criminals - Street criminals who prefer and are much quicker to use brutality and/or physical intimidation in order to achieve their goals.

    A caveat? Far too many internet gun forum denizens seem to think that if, 'push ever comes to shove' they're going to be CQB pistol gunfighting at 3 to 5 feet. Hot damn! Have I got an important news flash for these guys! Anyone who thinks that his little, 'pacifier pistol' is going to save him, and/or be a useful self-defense tool at and inside 5 yards is, very sadly, deluding himself. First, you will need to avoid getting caught in a close quarter, 'pistol ambush'; and, second, you're going to need, 'all the gun' you're able to get your hands on - 'all the gun'!

    CQB PISTOL GUNFIGHTING AT AND INSIDE 5 YARDS ISN'T GUNFIGHTING; IT'S COMMITTING SUICIDE WITH A PISTOL IN YOUR HAND(S), INSTEAD!

    10. One of the things my own family did in order to, 'even the odds' is for my wife to become licensed-to-carry, too, and to also learn how to skillfully wield a pistol. Fortunately for me, my wife already knew the basics of pistoleering; and, after receiving additional training, turned out to be very good with a pistol - in fact better than a lot of men I know - and, thereafter, I took her training a step further by teaching her how shrewdly react to a variety of different street ambushes.

    For instance: Were she and I to be confronted we wouldn't stand together. She'd move one way as I moved another while the both of us, acting in concert, 'triangulated' the threat. (Exactly the same sort of street ambush technique that a group of gangbangers once used against me!)

    11. I've, also, found it useful to be aware of any and all useful, 'cover' in whatever area I move through. Come at me with a knife and I'll try to put a: post, chair, or table between myself and an attacker. Come at me with a gun; and, depending on distance, I'll either immediately draw and fire, deflect, or move for, 'hard cover' first, or, 'soft cover', second. (If I can't promptly do better!)

    12. What is the best attack response, or the best, 'cover'? Not being there, unless you absolutely have to, is number one on the list; and, whenever you can, always try to run BEFORE you fight. This means that you might have to change from what are, and long have been, your usual personal habits!

    Modify your, 'comings and goings' by not traveling about, more or less unnecessarily, after dark; and, when you do go out, try to limit your travel to well populated areas during peak shopping and travel times. Be especially wary of any, 'transit area' - Which is any place where you're more likely to be attacked. Places like parking lots, and public parking garages are especially dangerous; and, they're especially dangerous at any time of day, too, and even worse after dark!

    A lot can happen, and a lot can go wrong for you and your family in a, 'big box store' parking lot! In this regard it's been years and years since I've casually walked either to, or from my vehicle; and, in today's world and as I, myself, have had to discover, even when you're located in an affluent neighborhood, a late model car is sure to be a certifiable, 'dirt magnet'. I'm not telling anyone what to do; but at our house we don't go to large public sports events, anymore. Neither do we go out for, 'drinks' in the evening; and we always try to do all of our shopping during the daylight hours.

    Sometimes during the early evening we'll go out to dinner; but that's, pretty much, about it. Years ago when I was still working, I used to spend 3 or 4 nights a week working late at the office; but, today, I wouldn't do that. Why? Well, one reason is that, even back in the, 'good old days', I can still remember two separate events where I was very glad that someone in the office was carrying a gun.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2016
    RightHand likes this.
  15. Tempstar

    Tempstar Monkey+++

    Stay away from areas you don't belong in, avoid crowds, walk with your head up like you rule the world. This told to me by a convict 33 years into his life sentence. I've found it seems to work.
     
  16. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    "Military bearing" means something.
     
  1. Bunker Bob
  2. Tempstar
  3. ED GEiN
  4. Fatum1965
  5. Motomom34
  6. Motomom34
  7. Motomom34
  8. Motomom34
  9. john316
  10. Brokor
  11. Dark Jester
  12. chelloveck
  13. Yard Dart
  14. survivalmonkey
  15. melbo
survivalmonkey SSL seal        survivalmonkey.com warrant canary
17282WuJHksJ9798f34razfKbPATqTq9E7