Advanced Situational

Awareness
So you want to be able to walk around with the same level of spy craft and skills as say,
Jason Bourne... or some other Special Forces badass.

Well the truth is, it isn’t that hard once you understand how your mind works, and the
mind of those around you. You’ll also need to brush up on some critical skills in order to
elevate your game to that worthy of being in the Special Operations realm... I’ll cover
those in a minute.

The fact is, as with any skill... it is up to you to practice full implementation to turn what
starts as basic knowledge, into a craft.

Advanced Situational Awareness is the ability to identify, process, and comprehend

information about how to survive in a given situation. More simply, it’s threat recognition
and knowing what is going on around you.

It is dynamic, hard to maintain, and what I refer to as a perishable skill. A perishable skill is
one that is easy to lose. Knowing what is going on all the time is very difficult for any one
person, especially during a high stress encounter. Therefore it is important that you know
what behavior is effective in maintaining Situational Awareness.

Mindset

There’s something I have to share with you, which both makes me feel a high level of
compassion and pisses me off at the same time. Many of my brothers and sisters who
remain in Special Operations share my view when it comes to some of their colleagues
who are in a primary response role in police departments or the armed forces.

Many of those who are tasked with protecting our country and our communities no longer
possess the correct mindset for doing so. They have fallen victim to the distractions
intended to lull the mainstream public to sleep. They have become dull and unaware of
their surroundings. Did you know that one of the Al Qaeda and ISIS pillars is to create
“Death By A Thousand Cuts” which means to slowly defeat their opponent. One of the
first tactics in this kind of warfare is to slowly lower the defences of those tasked to
protect the people. It is happening all around us. Our Sheepdogs are becoming fewer and
far between, and it is creating an opening for the wolves.

When we see this kind of person, we say they are “operating in the white”... Which is to say
they are just slightly above being brain dead. I know that seems extreme, but seriously. We
wonder how bad things happen when there are warning signs all around us. Yet we fail to
take notice, or worse, we choose not to.

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I have included a graphic representation that outlines the various conditions of mental
awareness.

We call it “The Five Conditions”.

1. Condition White: You are totally unaware of your surroundings and totally
unprepared for even the prospect of danger. This pains me like nothing else but it is
the current level of the majority of our society. To be completely fair, I suppose if
everyone was skilled it would leave no work for the prepared.

2. Condition Yellow: You are relaxed but alert. You are not expecting trouble, but you
are aware of your environment, so you would recognize a problem if it arose. You
know where the exits are, you know who might provide potential back up, you know
who’s going to drop under their table and start sucking their thumb. You have
scanned the room and the people in it.

3. Condition Orange: You are aware that there seems to be a problem and your body
is reacting (e.g.: Someone has picked you out and you know it.) Ooooooh how I love
this one... this is where you know it’s coming and you are prepared. Your internal
system of arousal is elevating, and you feel that common sensation of ice in your
veins. The lenses of your eyes begin to flatten and the blood flow to your extremities
is slightly less than it was a minute ago.

4. Condition Red: The problem has occurred and you are facing one or more opponents
you reasonably believe might do you harm. You should be taking cover and actively
performing the appropriate defensive tactics. If already under attack you are
prepared to deliver the FIRST STRIKE and you are willing to neutralize the threat.

5. Condition Black: You are in a blind state of panic where you are unable to react to
the situation because you have developed neither the inner tools nor the outer skills

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 with which to react. (e.g.: It happens, you had no raised awareness it was coming, are
unprepared, unaware, untrained, and under their control and influence.) Sadly,
operating in the black is equally as unforgivable as operating in the white. This is
embarrassing and I never want you to operate in this state.

Observation

You may not be aware of this but the process of making a decision is the same for every
human. This process was developed by John Boyd in the 60’s. It refers to the process by
which an entity (either an individual or an organization) reacts to an event. According
to this idea, the key to victory is to be able to create situations wherein one can make
appropriate decisions more quickly than one’s opponent. Observe, Orient, Decision and
Action - this 4 step process outlines the process.

What I want to elaborate on to some degree is the first portion of this model.

So what exactly is observation? According to the Oxford online dictionary, “observation is

the action or process of observing something or someone in order to gain information”.

Our observation skills inform us about objects, events, attitudes and phenomena using
one or more senses. Additionally, being able to observe and gather information about the
world is important because it’s the basis of communicating well.

Improving your observation skills allows you to “listen” with more than just your ears and
make better decisions. When I had recruits who weren’t quite able to pick up a task, it was
often due to the fact they did more talking than listening.

This would usually lead me quietly ask them a direct question... “ Recruit X... I see you have
ears... But are they real or are they just painted on?” or I would quote one of my favorite
stoic philosophers…

“We have two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
~ Epictetus (AD 55 – c.135)

Observation enhances your ability to interact with others and to respond in an appropriate
manner. Both are keys to success at work and at home, but more importantly to elevate
your game to the level of a paid government operative who operates in the shadows using
the knowledge only a select few possess.

Possessing the ability to observe at the elite level requires you to shut off some filters
which occur naturally in your brain to enable you to process multiple channels of
information. The problem with our filters in today’s society is they are now eliminating
critical and even life saving data.

When I first began operations, I used to miss things, and then I began to learn how to shut
off my internal filters so I could accurately process threats, examine layouts and process

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multiple channels of input (visual, auditory and smell) at high speed and address them
accordingly. This almost seems counter-intuitive, however it isn’t. Here’s why...

Filtering helps the brain deal with all the stimuli and information that bombards it. Our
changing culture, values, and beliefs shape our filters and influence how and what we
notice, and how we react.

Filters help focus our attention on linear tasks or a portion of our environment and ignore
everything else. What we filter in or filter out depends on where we put our attention.
Even though the brain can scan 30 to 40 pieces of information (e.g., sights, sounds,
smells) per second, its limited resources mean that most of it is immediately forgotten.
This prevents us from becoming overwhelmed, but it also contributes to our inability to
recognize threats.

This is called, Inattentional Blindness. Inattentional blindness is the failure to notice a fully
visible but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task, event, or
object1. Now doing room entries for terrorists, hostage takers or drug dealers, you might
be looking for and noticing these kinds of things. But what about your everyday life?
What about when you walk through the mall and you see someone only swinging one arm
when they walk. Are they covering a weapon or do they just have an odd gait. What is the
supporting information? Is their hair disheveled, are they dirty, do they have the “thousand
yard” stare?

These are the kinds of details that get filtered out. It happens to all of us. Seeing may
seem like a conscious process, but the truth is, most of it is largely unconscious. Our
senses are bombarded with so much information, sights, sounds, smells, etc., that our
minds cannot process it all.

Observation and Attention is something we have to learn. Through time and practice, we
have taught our brain to recognize which signals are important and to prioritize them first
so we can quickly redirect our attention to them.

Let me share a story with you…

We were doing a drug raid on what was believed to be a small 2 bedroom apartment. I was
a new operator at the time. All of the plans were laid out and rehearsed.

We did a stealth entry into the apartment building and covertly moved to the breach
point. As we prepped to make entry the breacher moved into position with the ram.
It was a single strike and the door blew off the hinges and we rolled into the house in our
stack, shoulder fired weapons at the high ready shouting... “Police, SEARCH WARRANT...”
We flowed through the house effortlessly, like water through the sand, smooth is fast...
we took the bad guy into custody and began our secondary search... and that’s when I
noticed it.

1 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661398012443

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I had completely missed a room that was my responsibility. Inattentional blindness had
set in because of a very small change in the environment. It was halloween and inside the
house, the bad guy had crossed one of the bedroom door frames with yellow tape in a big
X. My brain did not register the room properly but rather it saw it as an area NOT to enter
as we moved through the house. I allowed my filters to take over and process the threats
automatically.

You see processing threats happens in this order... people, open doors, closed doors
(including small rooms or closets etc.) Now when you make entry and clear an entire
residence in just seconds, shit is moving fast so if you don’t pay attention to detail,
important things get missed like I did on that day. During the secondary search we made
entry into the room I missed, fortunately there were no people who could have disposed
of evidence, instead it was just a filled with discarded needles and dirty clothes.

These are skills which you must teach yourself in order to disable the filters you have
established in your own brain.

Observation is what you perceive with your senses. Perception is taking what we observe
and organize it to give it meaning or Orienting yourself to the information. Orientation is
the second part of the OODA loop.

Our orientation or perception is determined by our past experiences, culture, values, and
beliefs. In a hostage rescue situation my experience tells me to be at the high ready for
threats, but if I didn’t practice, the same would not be true in everyday life. My brain would
transition to being average and allow the filters to eliminate what is vital information for
me to remain alert and effective in either role.

Listen, working at the level of an elite operative isn’t easy at first. But the more frequently
you practice the more natural and less mentally taxing it becomes.

Because each person assigns different value to each of these influences, the same object
or event is perceived differently by different people. This is why multiple eyewitnesses
to the same crime often have very different descriptions of the same suspect or event.
Although our eyes may see the same thing, we filter, focus, and perceive it differently.
There has been more than one occasion where I have interviewed multiple different
people who witnessed the same event and after the interview it was a wonder they
were even at the same event. Personally, if all I had were eyewitnesses accounts and no
corroborating evidence to an event, it was very difficult to prove because the people were
so unreliable... filtering!

But you want to operate at an elite level... so in order to do that you must eliminate
distractions. What is a distraction? According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a
distraction is “something that makes it difficult to think or pay attention”.

So a distraction could be anything! It could be thinking too hard about a personal problem,
letting your mind wander, surfing the Web, chatting with a friend, or talking on your cell
phone.

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Despite the limits of our brains, people have a remarkable ability to focus, and that ability
enables us to accomplish our goals. Even when we are focused, we may not see everything
we are focused on. Our misconception about how well we can focus on a task makes us
prone to distractions.

So if you want to operate at a level that is elite you cannot allow yourself to be sucked
in by the all of the temptations available to and around you. Managing your focus and
knowing how to handle distractions are valuable skills that can be easily learned. These
skills improve your focus and prevent costly and fatal mistakes.

Make no mistake about it, it takes practice, but when you get it the results are amazing. As
my skills got better and better over the years, I was able to do things others simply could
not do. They were not able to simultaneously activate multiple senses even though it was
their job to do so... but some people are happy with being average however you’re not.
To share another very brief story of how you can elevate your own skills, this one
happened while I was tracking a bad guy with my Police Dog Rogue.

This jackass had badly hurt someone by striking them with a bottle and causing serious
bodily harm... As we were tracking him I said to my cover officer that the suspect had
been drinking alcohol. He asked me how I knew and I told him because I could smell him.
Now the conditions happened to be perfect for that to occur, but I choose this story to
illustrate the point that when you shut out unnecessary distractions and you tune your
mind and senses into your surroundings, you begin to notice very important details. The
kind that will save your life.

This is such a critically important aspect to operating at an elite level. Eliminating

distractions will open you up to actually seeing what’s around you and allow you to orient
yourself accordingly, make the necessary decisions and plan the requisite action. (the D
and the A portion of the OODA loop).

Moving this thought process into the realm of a physical encounter, even if you can
introduce even the slightest variant such as being aggressive or moving in a manner that
your opponent did not predict, it will cause his OODA loop to be slower by even a quarter
of a second which will open an opportunity for victory.

How To Process The Room Or A Public Area

When you are simply out in public with your family or friends there are some methods you
can use to improve your skills. As you process the area you want to do so methodically and
utilizing the same format each time so it becomes like an internal system for you.

A. Threats
B. Help
C. Cover/Concealment
D. Observation/Fields of View

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E. Entrances/Exits
F. Weapons

For threats, you process your surroundings by checking near and far in that order. You
start looking at people within 5m or closer of your position. This can be difficult in a
crowd, so any separation you can create by moving out of foot traffic flow lines and into
less crowded areas is ideal. When watching people within striking range, your scan should
go something like:

1. Hands: this will be the greatest threat, either because they are holding a weapon or
because they are about to use their hands as weapons. Look for oddities such as
gloves in warm weather, but mostly if there hands are empty and relaxed.

2. Eyes: where are they looking? Are they “mad dogging” you? Are they intentionally
avoiding looking at you? Do they look at you and then look away quickly? Are they
checking your hands or “indexing” your vulnerabilities (eyes, throat, groin)? Are they
giving you the “thousand yard” stare, which appears like someone is disconnected
from reality and you have become the object of their attention but nothing is getting
through.

3. Belt: Most people, not all, will keep their weapons in close proximity to their waist
Are they reaching for something at their back? Are their hands going into their
pockets?

4. Shoes: Are they appropriate to the venue? Are they balancing their weight in
preparation for an attack? Are they pivoting on their toes to deliver a strike?

With distant threats your focus is mostly just looking for weapons and eyes. Maybe check
to see if they are coordinating with others in the area. And if their clothing is appropriate
to the venue/environment/weather.

For Help, you wanted to know where all the bouncers are, event security, management
personnel, law enforcement officers who might be near by and more generally where the
nearest hospital and police station are located in case you need to go for help or wait for it
to arrive.

For Cover and Concealment, know the difference. Concealment hides you from view
but the bad guys can shoot through it. Believe me this is not like Hollywood. Trained
shooters will put holes through glass and walls because they know they can. We would do
demonstrations for new guys at the range and put rounds through mailboxes, tree stumps
and other objects people believe are good cover... they aren’t, they are only concealment.
Most interior walls are concealment, not cover. Most exterior walls are also concealment,
not cover. It takes a lot to stop a bullet. Concealment can still help to know where to
hide from view as many people get tunnel vision during violent actions, so just not being
immediately seen could keep you alive. If you are outside, find a vehicle and tuck in behind
the engine block so if rounds start flying you will have decent cover. Get your belt off and
be prepared to use it as a weapon if needed.

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Observation and Fields of View. Where can you stand or sit to give yourself the best look
at the area? Where can you be to see as many (if not all) of the possible entrances and
exits? Are there ways for you to get a look into areas that you can’t see directly? Such as
mirrors or other reflections? Are there other people in the crowd who appear alert enough
that they may react to something coming from a direction you can’t see? Where possible,
high ground with a nearby exit is ideal.

Entrances and Exits includes not just doors but also windows. Are the doors inwardly
opening? Are the wood or metal? Is the handle a thumb latch or panic bar? In a restaurant,
do you know if there is an exit through the kitchen? There almost certainly is. In a store,
is their an exit out through the employee’s area/storage rooms? Where are the obvious
areas.

For weapons the simple fact of the matter is, when violence starts you want to be armed.
It doesn’t matter how good your ninja skills are its better to have a weapon. If you aren’t
armed, know what in your immediate vicinity can be used as a weapon. A simple way of
identifying what could be used as a weapon of opportunity is to use the “S” concept:

1. Stab: object has a point and can be used to penetrate a target. Aim for the eyes or
the throat, the heart and the kidneys.

2. Slash: object has an edge and can cut. Aim for the eyes or the throat and overtop of
the head.

3. Slam: object is blunt but is long enough for you to swing and maintain distance. Think
a baton or a bat. Aim for the temple/jawline, the knees or the side of the neck.

4. Smash: object is blunt but could add power to your own strike. Think an unopened
Coke can or a book or a rolled up magazine makes an excellent extension. Aim for the
nose, the groin, or the temple/jaw.

5. Swing: A belt with the buckle end out, a cord with the plug end out. These can do
some damage. You can also use these to choke out your assailant.

6. Shield: Something sturdy that may allow you to keep distance between you and your
opponent/their weapon. Shields don’t work against guns but a bar stool or small
ladder might stop an attack from stabbing you, but they are clumsy so shed it as soon
as you have something you can use to drop this guy.

7. Surprise: Something you can throw in their face/eyes to get them to react and give
you enough time to get away. Think hot coffee, handful of change, or dirt.

8. Structure: Part of the environment that you can slam someone into or slam into
them. This could include doors, walls, or sinks, oven grates, bbq grates... you see
where I am going here.

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The weapons are listed in order of recommendation. Stabbing/slashing are more
effective but range is always a good option if the room allows for it. Keep in mind that
not everything will survive being used as a weapon. Hitting someone with a bottle hurts a
lot. Hitting them with a plastic bottle, not so much. Things that break will dissipate energy
which means all the power of your strike will be dispersed into the environment instead of
into your target.

Now, If I see a threat when I walk into a room, I walk right back out, and you should not let
others mindlessly stumble into a dangerous situation. There’s no sense in looking for exits
and entrances if you’ve already gotten yourself into trouble, it’s probably already time to
plan the FIRST STRIKE.

Knowing where to find Help is important because “running” is not a plan. It’s only the start
of a plan. You need to know where you are running to, you need to know where you can
find help. Boba Fett (the star wars character) in the book A Practical Man had the perfect
saying which has been adopted by many special forces operators, “if you run, you’ll only
die tired.”

Now, I need to know where the entrances and exits are so I can get away from the Threat
and make it to Help.

If I can’t escape, then I better know where to hide with cover preferred but concealment
at least a temporary refuge until I can come up with a better plan.

If I’ve identified all these things and I’m still not under attack and trying to survive, now
I can start worrying about seeing things before they happen so I can enact the rest of
my preceding steps. This is where you transition from someone who is operating “in the
black”, who is so shit scared they can’t even breath, to an elite performer who can observe,
orient, make decisions and act with authority.

Escape is better than hiding. Hiding is better than fighting. But if you have to fight, it’s
better to have a weapon. If not a firearm, then something long with a point so you can kill
at a distance.

Additional Mental Training

Stress Inoculation Training enables you to increase your tolerance to the activation of the
stress response and thereby extend the range of optimal performance.

Research shows that individuals vary in their physiological and psychological stress
response. This stress response is malleable and can be reduced with training.

Spec Operators work in extreme stress environments and they understand this fact which
is why members prepare through “stress inoculation training” that exposes and habituates
them to the kinds of stressors that they will likely face in real-world situations.

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The goal of stress inoculation training is to help you perceive stressors as more familiar,
more predictable, and more controllable – which in turn reduces the stress response you
will experience. It is fairly straight forward and simply requires you to visualize any event
through the perspective of your own eyes. You mold your response and mentally rehearse
your actions over and over and over again.

This form of mental rehearsal is particularly useful for lethal force encounters. If you have
already mentally prepared, your brain will react as you have designed it to do when it
comes time for the real thing.

Something I do frequently is visualize my response on airplanes should a situation arise, in

a mall should shots be fired, in a restaurant should someone come in and begin shooting.

On a plane I always try to sit in the aisle and I always have something I can use to choke out
an assailant. In a restaurant I sit near exits with my back to the wall facing the main entry
points. I check for exits, I visualize domination. This is how an operator’s mind works...
Condition Yellow and ready for Condition Orange and Conditioning Red.

Review

Here are a few ways you can improve your situational awareness today before you need it
in a critical incident that could alter your life or that of your loved ones.

1. Learn to Predict Events and Rehearsal

The most effective aspect of Situational Awareness involves the ability to project the
future actions of elements around you.

After you have been able to identify elements in your environment and can
comprehend the situation, it is time to take your Situational Awareness one step
further. Mentally rehearse what you will do. Use this information to think ahead and
determine how it will affect future actions and events in the environment.

2. Identify Threats Around You

The first step in achieving Advanced Situational Awareness is to become aware of the
important elements in your environment. Start by noticing the threats that surround
you. Then expand your awareness to other non-threatening elements.

This is the most basic level of Situational Awareness where you begin to observe,
monitor, detect, and recognize multiple channels of information. These include
objects, events, people and environmental factors.

Basic Situational Awareness also requires you to notice the locations, conditions
and actions of the elements around you... Advanced Situational Awareness requires to
formulate your plan for using them.

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 This may sound overwhelming, but do not worry. These are skills you already use on a
daily basis. This manual designed to help you realize what you need to practice to
expand and improve your perception of what is happening around you.

3. Trust Your Feelings

A gut feeling that things are not right can cause you to lose proper situational
awareness. The feeling or sensation is one of the most reliable because your body is
able to detect stimulus long before we have consciously put it all together. Start
to trust it, and rather than fighting it, let it be the silent alarm that warns you to begin
observing and planning. Is a building too quiet? Has that car been in your
neighborhood before? Is that guy familiar to you? Trust your feelings.

4. Limit Distraction

Overload causes distraction, increased errors, and high stress. Prioritizing and
delegating tasks and minimizing surrounding distractions can improve survival.
Put down your phone and pay attention until you have completely processed your
surroundings.

5. Avoid Complacency

Complacency Kills plain and simple. Assuming everything is under control will affect
your vigilance. You must actively keep yourself in the right mindset. (condition
yellow). Don’t be predictable, rather be consistently inconsistent in your routines and
methods. Vary your routine every once and awhile.

Routine and monotony breeds complacency... Snap the fuck out of it. The worst part
is the slow creep of complacency is hardly ever noticed, like the frog who didn’t notice
the water was beginning to boil and by the time he did... he was cooked.

Continue to challenge yourself and those around you to be prepared for

contingencies. Do a mental check every now and then.

6. Be Aware of Time

Time is an important factor in mastering Situational Awareness. The pace of your

environment is constantly being changed by the actions of individuals, task
characteristics, and outside elements.

When unplanned events begin to arise, be sure to make the necessary changes to
your schedule and goals to help you survive.

7. Evaluate and Understand Situations

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 The next step in involves understanding multiple elements through the processes of
pattern recognition, interpretation, and evaluation. Use this information to determine
how it will effect your goals or in this case your survival. This will help you build a
comprehensive picture of your immediate surroundings and a better understanding
of Situational Awareness. Use the steps I have outlined above, process through
observation and figure out how you will apply any newly acquired skills.

8. Actively Prevent Fatigue

Understand your abilities. If you know you can’t run 800 meters flat out, then figure it
out. If you can’t last 3 minutes inf a full out confrontation then figure it out. We have
the Alpha Program to get you Fit to Fight. If you are going to turn into a bag of shit
within the first 20 seconds, regardless of whether you have the FIRST STRIKE skills if
your heart doesn’t support your body to implement these skills then you are useless.

Fatigue affects your ability to watch for possible danger or difficulties. In addition to
your fitness. Try adjusting your work routine and imposing sleep discipline to prevent
wake cycles longer than 18 hours. Make sure you get at least 5 and preferably 8 hours
per day of sound sleep to minimize sleep deprivation.

9. Continually Assess the Situation

Always be prepared for changes around you. Continually assess and reassess the
situation to determine if you are giving yourself the best possible chance for success.
Learn what the ground (your surroundings), nature, the land, and new tasks are telling
you, before you find yourself in a difficult situation.

10. Monitor Performance of Others

Be alert for changes in the performance of those around you caused by work
overload, stress, and mistakes. When changes are needed, take action by speaking up
and helping out. A weak link could be the difference between success or failure in
your survival.

Conclusion

If you take the time to implement these strategies, improve your ability to observe, avoid
distraction, formulate a plan and use your newly acquired skills at a time when you are
called to do so, you will certainly be operating at an elite level of human performance.

Advanced Situational Awareness is what takes the average ordinary man and makes him...
YOU extraordinary. It’s your turn now.

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