Complete Situational Unawareness

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Anyways, this horse has been beaten pretty hard so I'll let it go. The one thing I can say for sure the deputy in question is most likely oblivious to the firestorm of debate about his phone call the other day.
 
As sad as it is to admit, we all live in "indian territory" no matter if it's the inner city, the suburbs or rural areas. I am not politically correct. My health and safety, as well as that of the ones I love, is more important than someone else's feelings. I try, every day, to be a kind and decent human being but vigilance and SA is top priority
 
Do you have any idea why he and his partner were there or why he was out of the car and she wasn't? Probably doesn't matter but just curious.
 
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tidebow said:
As sad as it is to admit, we all live in "indian territory" no matter if it's the inner city, the suburbs or rural areas. I am not politically correct. My health and safety, as well as that of the ones I love, is more important than someone else's feelings. I try, every day, to be a kind and decent human being but vigilance and SA is top priority
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I think it is absolutely possible to effectively meld social awareness and situational awareness and achieve a very good result. I have a keen sense of my surroundings, socially and situationally. I pay attention. The guy in uniform talking on his cell phone didn't.
 
Re the discussion about always being on edge, if you live in a high-crime area, you do tend to be always on edge. I thankfully escaped over a year ago and still do things that were absolutely necessary in my old neighborhood but are considered very weird where I live now, like locking the door after letting a repair person inside. As for having a gun in the shower, that was the only place I didn't take one in my old house, I did have my ARK knife with me but the gun was in the linen closet just outside the bathroom door, I didn't want it to be damaged by the steam.

I have two personal issues compromising my situational awareness, if anyone has any constructive suggestions I would appreciate hearing same:
  • One is that I have some hearing loss and do not hear someone quietly walking up behind me. Twice I got scared out of my skin that way, thankfully both turned out to be benign. I try to periodically just turn around and look behind me, also watch for a shadow if it's daytime and the sun is behind me, but it's not a perfect solution. The ENT says my hearing loss doesn't warrant a hearing aid.
  • The other is that due to back problems it takes me a really long time to get out of the car -- the interval between when I look around outside before opening the door until I am out is unfortunately long enough for someone to cover enough distance that I wouldn't see them during my initial check but would not yet be fully outside by the time they arrived. I also can't get back in from being partway out.
 
old lady new shooter said:
Re the discussion about always being on edge, if you live in a high-crime area, you do tend to be always on edge. I thankfully escaped over a year ago and still do things that were absolutely necessary in my old neighborhood but are considered very weird where I live now, like locking the door after letting a repair person inside. As for having a gun in the shower, that was the only place I didn't take one in my old house, I did have my ARK knife with me but the gun was in the linen closet just outside the bathroom door, I didn't want it to be damaged by the steam.

I have two personal issues compromising my situational awareness, if anyone has any constructive suggestions I would appreciate hearing same:
  • One is that I have some hearing loss and do not hear someone quietly walking up behind me. Twice I got scared out of my skin that way, thankfully both turned out to be benign. I try to periodically just turn around and look behind me, also watch for a shadow if it's daytime and the sun is behind me, but it's not a perfect solution. The ENT says my hearing loss doesn't warrant a hearing aid.
  • The other is that due to back problems it takes me a really long time to get out of the car -- the interval between when I look around outside before opening the door until I am out is unfortunately long enough for someone to cover enough distance that I wouldn't see them during my initial check but would not yet be fully outside by the time they arrived. I also can't get back in from being partway out.
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It doesn't seem to hurt a stainless steel gun to keep them in the same room when you're showering, although you should probably be aware that most of the internal parts on a stainless Colt or Smith are really not stainless, and those that are have such a low chromium content that they are subject to some rust.

The best you can do with situational awareness is turn around frequently. Young instructors often like to imply to their students that they live in a state of near perfect awareness, which is, I suspect, a lower state of readiness than someone acutely aware of their own limitations.

The only solution I have to your problem exiting a car is unfortunately an unreasonable expense. Emerging from a low-slung luxury car is slower for me than it is to step out of a higher from the ground SUV. You're correct to realize that sitting in a parked car is vulnerable because turning to look from a car seat is a considerable strain, which means you'll do it less. People who have been hunted, I notice, use mirrors a lot, but they have blind spots.
 
40-82 said:
The best you can do with situational awareness is turn around frequently.
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There is lot to that. And to the idea of using mirrors.

The other thing is to be able to recognize worrisome things. That does not mean trying to divine wether the man with the Caterpillar hat or the person of such-and-such ethnicity might be bad news--in fact, concentrating on any one person can distract one dangerously.

But if someone pulls a cell phone upon seeing you enter a parking lot, and someone else looks at him and pulls his, beware.

A guy who kept checking and rechecking his oil while watching people leave a computer store raised my hackles.

And when someone got off the train from the city where our state prison is carrying only a paper bag, went onto the restroom and came out with toilet paper, took note of my difficulty walking (plantar fasciitis). and started ambling toward me, it was time to get back indoors, pronto.

How about the guy who sizes you up while walking past you, goes around behind you, and turns to come back?

I've been sufficiently aware to notice these things without being at all stressed or "on edge".

All in good neighborhoods, by the way.
 
40-82 said:
Emerging from a low-slung luxury car is slower for me than it is to step out of a higher from the ground SUV.
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My car is a normal sedan. SUV is no good for me, too hard to climb up and down given my physical issues. I'm a fraction of an inch taller than 5'.
 
I told this story before but many many years ago I worked in a group home for troubled kids.

One night during dinner I was having a conversation with one of the kids when another kid asked me a question. I turned to answer the other kid and the first one, feeling disrespected, bounced her Melemene dinner plate off my forehead. That was the beginning of my journey of learning situational awareness.

I also worked in a mental health facility for almost a year. That was an environment where one minute a patient was fine and the next he decided that you were the Antichrist and you had to die. That only has to happen a couple of times before you really start paying attention to what's going on around you.

I honestly don't know if you can teach somebody situational awareness any other way than by putting them in a position where they have to pay attention to what's going on around them or they're going to have to suffer actual consequences.
 
^^^^^ They teach it, of course, but I totally understand what you are saying. It is difficult for me to express in words how I put it into practice without sounding paranoid but it is part of my life now and I accept it as such and and consider it a skill and a tool for better quality of life.

I had to go to a bank yesterday, something I don't do often, anymore. The guard was outside, leaning against a rail and obviously bored to death as only the very young can be. I would not depend on him. Better to depend on myself.
 
Trunk Monkey said:
I honestly don't know if you can teach somebody situational awareness any other way than by putting them in a position where they have to pay attention to what's going on around them or they're going to have to suffer actual consequences.
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^ Truth.

There was a reason the sheriff [I worked for back in the day] made new deputies work the jail for at least a year before he'd let them work patrol: it was the best way to teach situational awareness to the formerly clueless -- usually after the first two or three assaults on one's person by a drunk being booked, one got the hint. Sometimes not.
 
Thibaut said:
I had to go to a bank yesterday, something I don't do often, anymore. The guard was outside, leaning against a rail and obviously bored to death as only the very young can be. I would not depend on him. Better to depend on myself.
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I will bet you that that guard worked for G4S.

I will bet you that he did not have a round in the chamber of his gun.

And I will tell you for a fact that he is under strict orders not to intervene in the event of a robbery
 
Trunk Monkey said:
And I will tell you for a fact that he is under strict orders not to intervene in the event of a robbery
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Remember, sore secturiy guards are paid to watch an report, and to protect their employers property.

A manager of security for a store chain was showing me how he could check, on his laptop, what had been recorded on any of the motion-activated cameras in any of the stores.

I noticed that none of the cameras were focussed very far outside the doors, and none were aimed at the parking lot.

Why?

"Not part of the corporate responsibility."

Not his call, by the way.

Something to think about.
 
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