Hellion’s Guide to Life
Issue #4 11.30.2005

Situational Awareness and Distance

Disclaimer: These guides are compilations of information that evolved from my own experiences. Your mileage may vary and I take ZERO responsibility for the misuse or misinterpretation of this information. Also, your local laws are probably different from mine, so while the general advice may be applicable it is always wise to check local laws and regulations before coming up with your own standard operating procedure. This guide is not an end-all-be-all, it is to give you some ideas and things to think about, it is nothing more. You may take the advice and ideas presented as just that. Again, I take NO responsibility for your actions based on the information presented here.

The biggest mistake I see when it comes to defense is an inadequate alertness level. This leads to letting people get far too close, which is usually the fatal mistake. Distance gives you time to react. Alertness lets you maintain distance. Situational awareness allows you to prioritize threats and decide how much distance is necessary. This guide will cover these things and provide ideas on how to develop these talents. They play off of each other so each will be mentioned in their respective sections

Distance is something I've started to maintain naturally. I do not feel comfortable or safe when someone I do not know is close enough I can strike them with my elbow. If I can throw a strong elbow strike to any part of their body they are far too close. Ideally I will have at least an arms length in all directions, but sometimes this is not possible. A dangerous environment that is frequently encountered is one where there is a significant crowd and people are very, very close. Your alertness level must be incredibly high and you must be aware of any objects you are carrying. Another consideration for me is my strongest strikes happen at a long melee distance and I shoot better than most at firearm engagement distances. For me the more distance from threats the better.
How to: Next time you are out in the world, take a look at the people around you. Take a good long look. Now what do you think of the majority of them? Are they they kind of people that you want to touch you? I know in my case that is a resounding no. With people I follow that motherly advice of “you don't know where that's been!” People by in large are fairly disgusting creatures and I'd rather they don't touch me, OR have the ability to do so if they wanted to. This helps to keep the alertness up and my awareness going so nobody gets within arms distance and absolutely does not make contact. A bonus effect is I've started to choose courses through places that allow me to be fairly sneaky and go unnoticed. Because people are not constantly bumping into me, when someone does it immediately grabs my attention and allows me to take defensive action if necessary.

Alertness is one of those things that has to do with lifestyle. It's also incredibly important that any sheeple tendencies that you have get dropped. Wherever you are, even at home, you MUST maintain awareness. No more following the herd so you can avoid thinking. Must keep the brain on and running at all times. Even when sleeping you need to get where perceptions of threats wake you up, usually something you hear. But, because sleep is so important to awareness, securing your house and especially your room is very important. This also means taking care of yourself and making sure you do sleep enough so that you are awake and thinking quickly when you are out in public. Remaining sober is also a very good plan, and it aids with the HGL #1 lesson of making yourself a poor target.
How to: Unfortunately, I end up using quite a bit of caffeine to make this one happen. Though my desire to know all that is going on around me helps. Another trick is that I REALLY don't like people in my space, so I have a strong reason to know where people are at so I can avoid them. This is more of a state of mind than it is a technique. You really have to care about your safety and have an interest in what is going on. If you don't you won't remain attentive and you'll be like the rest who just go with the flow and follow the crowd.

Situational Awareness is where it all comes together. Keep yourself alert and look around. Understand your environment and those who exist within it. Apply the lessons from the other HGLs and prioritize threats and know where others may arrive. Situational awareness gives you the ability to maintain distance. Someone you know will be treated differently than a stranger. Understand your tactical situation and how to take advantage of it in case something extraordinary does happen. Remember, it is not the ordinary that will get you. It is the stuff that rarely happens so people don't prepare for it. They usually are not aware, so they are surprised by it. Then they panic and then they have a big problem they are not equipped to solve. All at the same time you must be reasonable so that you do not stand out and draw attention to yourself or remove your ability to function in public.
How to: Go to a public place where there are a lot of people, but not super crowded because you want to be able to see for a reasonable distance. Malls and parks usually serve this purpose well. Find a place where you can take a seat and will not stand out or look odd. Grabbing some food and sitting down for a meal usually helps you look more normal while doing this. Analyze the seat you have chosen. Without twisting your body how many directions can you see? What is your natural easy field of vision? Could someone approach you without noticing? How well can you hear?
Now, take a look at other places you could have picked. Would some cover your six? How would your vision be at those locations? Where is your nearest and best cover or concealment? Are there better locations to position yourself so it is closer? Where are entry points located and how easy is it for you to see them? If you had to fight is your choice a poor one (hard to get in and out of)? How much would you stand out if you chose one of these other seats (ex. excessively detached from the main crowd)?
While you are seated start looking around and observing what is going on. Try not to concentrate on any one person or thing for very long. You can always reacquire those that perk your interest. There are two good ways to get used to looking around all the time and knowing about everyone in your environment.
1) When I was younger I used to practice this skill by looking for all the attractive females in an environment. My goal was to not let a hot one escape my attention. This actually worked extremely well. Really what it did was force my brain to make quick evaluations while keeping me engaged in looking around. As time went on I noticed that I was also checking and evaluating threats simultaneously. But, I'm also a defense oriented individual so some of that threat evaluation comes naturally.
2) The other way is to consciously look around and make a quick analysis of everyone around you. Ask yourself about everyone why you think they are or are not a threat. Articulate to yourself why. Remember that attractive and unassuming people can be the most dangerous. As you move from person to person, ask yourself where someone that you noticed earlier is at. Now look to see if you can find them again. Try to keep people from being able to sneak up on you and keep mental estimations of how many people are in each area of your field of vision. The idea is you should not be surprised about something appearing around you. Likely you saw them when they entered your area. Eventually your peripheral vision starts to strongly notice new movement and draws your attention. An example is it is fairly difficult for someone to walk into a room without me noticing. Usually I hear or see their entry, usually both.
One thing I started to do is look for where I think someone might be hiding a weapon. Then compare what I think the likelihood is they have that weapon based on those observations.
Now, do the same thing while walking around. Try to choose pathways that minimize your exposure, keep safe distance, do not draw attention to you, and maximize your observational ability. If you do things right you'll find that not only are your more aware of what is going on around you but you are also becoming incredibly sneaky because you are reducing the ability of others to observe what you are doing. This happens by staying out of their field of vision and more often not drawing attention to yourself.
The next challenge is being able to maintain situational awareness and keeping a conversation going at the same time. With a lot of people this really taxes their multitasking capability. But, just because you are talking to someone that doesn't mean that things cease to happen around you. Also, you have to evaluate who you are talking to as a threat as well and any potential dangers to your conversation partner.
Do not keep yourself limited just to what you see. I've had people enter an environment and I've smelled them before I was able to see or hear them. Hearing what is going on around me is absurdly useful. Even to some point you can use your sense of touch to sense people violating your immediate airspace.

Conclusion: This all takes practice. The truth of the situation isn't very politically correct either. I distrust everyone around me and expect they will do me harm if given the opportunity. I expect that people are not what they seem and everyone is a potential problem in the making. As such I use my knowledge of my environment to maximize my safety and ability to deal with problems. I just don't let those around me know any of that. Appearing as normal as possible is essential to this working.