The Practice of Awareness

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

The ability to observe your surroundings and make detailed assessments about your environment is not just a characteristic of top secret operatives; it’s a skill known as situational awareness, and you, too, can possess it.  As the names implies, situational awareness is simply knowing what’s going on around you.  It sounds easy in principle, but in reality requires practice.  Although it is taught to military and law enforcement, it’s an important skill for civilians (men and women) to learn as well.  In a dangerous situation, being aware of a threat even seconds before everyone else can keep you and your loved ones safe.

Let’s begin by looking at some real life situations and consider how situational awareness may have helped:

Seattle, Washington, March 5, 2017

The jogger had taken a self-defense course a few weeks earlier. She was out for her usual jog in Golden Gardens Park when she stopped and went into the public restroom. While washing her hands, she was aware that something was not right. Turning, she saw a man standing there. Just then the man, a registered sex offender from another state, attacked. She fought back, eventually getting out of the restroom with him inside and securing the door with the help of a passerby, then called 911. [1]

Seattle, Washington, December 11, 2018

A few minutes after noon, a middle-aged man walks into a neighborhood grocery store in West Seattle.  He goes down one aisle clear to the back of the store.  Following the back wall, he looks into the office and other rooms to see if anyone else was there besides the elderly clerk, who is restocking shelves.  Satisfied that she is alone and unaware of him, the intruder comes in behind her and strikes her in the head with handcuffs he holds in his hand.   

She fights back, and he keeps up his assault.  At one point, he leaves her and tries unsuccessfully to open the cash register.  Then he turns his attention back to the victim, resuming his attack.  During the fight, she gets as far as the front door and kicks it open, where a passerby and a delivery driver see what is going on.  The driver intervenes while the passerby calls 911.  The robber runs to the rear of the store and out the back door.  When police arrived, they see him and give chase, capturing him.  The clerk was taken to the hospital. [2]

Manhattan, New York City, March 26, 2020

It was about 1:00am in the morning, when a young woman got off the subway and started up the stairs.  A mugger, waiting in the station, followed her to the stairs where he grabbed her from behind in a bear hug, trying to get her purse.  She fought him off, and he fled on foot without the purse, leaving her with bruises and a cut lip. [3]

In these three news stories, the jogger is the only one who exhibited any awareness of her surroundings.  Sensing the man behind her, she shifted into a defensive mode.  How would this have ended if she hadn't been aware of the attacker and did not turn to face him?

If the clerk stocking shelves had seen the man stalking her, she could have used whatever was in her hand as a weapon.  Would he have attacked her if she had shown awareness of him being there?

If the woman leaving the subway station knew the man was closing in on her, she could have defended herself.  Being higher up the stairs, a kick would have sent him down backwards, in which case he could have been arrested.  As it was, all the police had was surveillance video images.

Many of the resources out there on situational awareness say it can be developed by generally keeping check on your surroundings—“checking your six” and “keeping your back to the wall.”

This definition isn’t wrong.  That’s exactly what situational awareness is, knowing what’s going on by scanning your environment.  But I always found this explanation lacking.  

Here’s my preferred definition: Situational Awareness is the ability to identify, process, and comprehend information about how to survive in an emergency situation.  What exactly am I looking for?  How do I know if I’m paying attention to the right things?  Are there behaviors or warning signs of an imminent threat that I should know about?  It is dynamic, hard to maintain, and easy to lose.

You must always be not only aware of what is in a 360º horizontal circle, but also what is in a 180º vertical arc going from one side up, over, and down to the other side. If you are on an upper level such as in a Shopping Mall, this becomes 720º Awareness, also taking in what is below you. 

360º - 180º

720º Awareness

Jeff Cooper, a retired U.S. Marine, was a firearms expert who developed the Modern Technique of shooting a handgun (holding with both hands at eye level) as the alternative to point shooting. [4] He considered the mental state of the defender as being more crucial to survival than shooting skill.  He formulated the "Color Code of Awareness" to explain the levels of awareness and the roles they play in self-defense. There are four levels, each represented by a color: White, Yellow, Orange, Red, and a fifth level (Black) added by the Marines.

1) White: Unaware and unprepared.

2) Yellow: Relaxed alert. No specific threat situation. Your mindset is that "today could be the day I may have to defend myself."

3) Orange: Specific alert. Something is not quite right and has your attention. Your radar has picked up a specific alert.

4) Red: Condition Red is fight. Your mental trigger (established back in Condition Orange) has been tripped. You are now prepared to take any action necessary against the perceived threat.

5) Black (added by the Marine Corps): This means a fight has started and is in progress. [5]

If you are alert and paying attention you’re at Level Yellow, there will be times you go to Level Orange, then sometimes on to Level Red.  Situational awareness is the first self-defense skill you need.  When you are at Level White, an attacker may be able to strike without you being able to use any of your other self-defense skills.  Now, Cooper's colors are not the same as the threat levels for the Department of Homeland Security.  Cooper's colors measure your alertness, not the threat.  This is not how dangerous the situation is, but how ready you are to act defensively.

In self-defense we put these concepts together.  The 540º/720º Awareness is the range of our situational awareness.  This includes not only what we see, but also what we hear and what we know. Your two-way radio is part of your senses.  You are in Level Yellow, this is not the time or place for Level White.  As situations develop, you continuously observe and adapt.

Let's create a scene:

Over the radio you learn that an oddly-acting person is in an area down the hall, so while you are monitoring all the area around you (540º), you are especially tuned to the hallway.  You have moved from Level Yellow to Level Orange, because you don't know what odd guy will do when he comes into your area.

Based on this knowledge, you think of your options, depending on odd guy's actions when he appears. If odd guy seems to be aggressive, you will move into Level Red.  This does not mean you will take defensive action, but that you are ready to do so if necessary.  Now you hear footsteps, and in a few seconds odd guy appears.  You are very alert, attentive to every motion he makes, anything he might say.  Hopefully, this can end peaceably, not in Level Black, but if it does go there, you can defend yourself.

Situational awareness is the first skill of self-defense.  Almost always, it is the deciding factor.  Be watchful all the way around. Be aware.

Be safe out there!

Integrity Security Consulting

Russ Sharrock

405-762-2471 | integrityseccon@hotmail.com

[1] Kayna Whitworth, Kelly Mccarthy, and Nia Phillips, "Female jogger in Seattle uses self-defense tactics to fend off brutal assault," ABC News, March 10, 2017.

[2] Anon, "FOLLOWUP: Charges filed in attack, attempted robbery at Juneau Street Market; victim's family starts crowdfunding campaign," West Seattle Blog, December 14, 2018.

[3] Anna Quinn, "Woman Fights Off Bear-Hugging Mugger At 96th Street Station," Patch, New York, March 27, 2020.

[4] Wikipedia, "Jeff Cooper"

[5] Rosenberg, Joel (2011), The Carry Book: Minnesota Edition, Elegon, p. 52, ISBN 9781257015948.