As I mentioned, Situational Awareness is the most important survival skill you can have. Whether you own this skill or could use some help building it, here are some things you can do to practice situational awareness. Pick the ones that work for you and practice them as much as you can.
- The best way that I can think of to practice this skill is using the Coopers Color Code any and every time you are away from your home.
- If you are attacked, it will often come from behind you. Check your six, or look behind you frequently. This is a hard one to get used to, partly because there can be so much to scan in front of you, that looking behind you just doesn’t occur to you. Think of how often you are supposed to check your mirrors while driving; every 5-8 seconds is recommended. Since walking is a much slower pace, I think checking your six every 30 seconds is sufficient. I walk maybe 100 yards in the parking garage at work and I often check my six twice.
- When you are in public, do not use your smartphone or text-message, if at all possible. There have been muggings where the smartphone was violently taken. If you are paying attention to your screen, you are not paying attention to your surroundings.
- When you’re in public and having a conversation, keep your eyes moving at all times. It’s easy to become hyper-focused on a conversation. I worked security at a local high school and watched a teenage boy who was involved in a conversation, walk into oncoming traffic and get hit by a car. In shock, he got up and tried to walk away, we stopped him and called an ambulance. I wonder if he learned as much as I did from the experience.
- It’s easy to get sucked into what you’re doing at work. Because workplace violence is so prevalent, I try to listen to what is going on around me, especially when there is a sound that doesn’t fit. Just because I have seen this person every work day for the last five years, doesn’t mean that he isn’t capable of violence in the work place.
- When we go out to eat, I prefer to have my back to a wall, and always sit facing the door. I continuously scan the room and everyone that comes in the door.
- When you go somewhere, pay attention to the way you’re going. Notice alternate exits and keep track of the fastest way out. This will help ensure that you know how to get back the way you came and give you the closest exit in the event of an emergency of any kind.
- There is a phrase in the Navy that I’ll never forget, “Keep your head on a swivel”. I worked the flight deck at night for two cruises in the Persian Gulf. It’s often been rated as one of the top 10 most dangerous jobs in the world and for good reason. There are literally dozens of things that could kill or maim you on all sides, including above and below. You can’t focus on one thing for long. You have to keep looking around to make sure nothing is headed your direction. I’ve been out of the Navy a long time. Even though I’m not on the flight deck anymore, I still try to keep my head on a swivel.
- Look up and down; make sure you are looking up for possible dangers as well as down. I once read on a forum about a man who climbed up a tree on a fairly popular hiking path. His feet were a few feet above people’s heads. He said he was up there for a good while and not one person noticed him. I have no proof but I think most people look mostly at things at their eye level, unless something obvious draws their attention somewhere else.
- As I mentioned in the article I wrote on Situational Awareness, your gut or intuition or even the Holy Spirit can alert you. You might not even be conscious of why you’re on alert. Women have a much easier time with this than us guys. Pay attention to your gut; if you have a feeling that you should take an alternate route home, do it.
- If you have an uneasy feeling about someone that just walked into your business or church, keep an eye on them. Trust your gut.
If you have any other tips please bless everyone with mentioning them in the comments.
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