Situational awareness and positioning

[harrygunner]

Article related to the two police officers killed in Las Vegas this past summer by the couple wanting to start a "revolution". The main discussions are about situational awareness and "positioning".

http://armedcitizensnetwork.org/our-journal/313-august-2014

I agree with the opening words on situational awareness. Important to have, but won't solve all problems. I've read plenty of posts on gun websites where some throw that out as the solution when another asks about tactics.

In real life, things are normal, then they're not. With full awareness, some bad guys will stop, some will keep coming. One has to train for the case where they keep coming.

I've had one stop and another where I was cursing to myself that I'm going to have to shoot someone. Fortunately that didn't happen. In both cases, I had my eye on them from the beginning. One was textbook and the other reached a serious level.

When it comes to "positioning", that probably is being stressed more now to police officers. There's been a few attacks recently against officers that make one consider if it's a trend.

In Las Vegas, the two officers chose seats along a path patrons took to the rest rooms and to the soda machine. People refilling drinks wind up having their back to the crowd. I imagine the officers weren't worrying about kooks wanting to start a civil war. All fault lies with the two perps.

As a non-LEO, I've noticed chivalry or business settings can make it hard to position myself in restaurants. I don't stress about it whenever that happens, but do keep my ears open.

At any rate, thought the article is worthwhile.

[Pinsnscrews]

An establishment that I used to frequent was run by the wife of a deceased NYPD officer. Officers in uniform had a seperate menu, rates were based on Rank. The officers were also the only patrons who were served refills, all others could get up and get their own soda (coffee was the exception, everyone got coffee refills delivered as the pots refilled). The back of the restaurant was all mirrored, and there were corner mirrors at the front that gave a view down the bathroom hallways. I always thought it excessive at the time, but I was young then (just put of highschool when she opened). Later, after I started shooting, and then again after I quit, I completely understood. If you sat at the tables she reservered for officers, you could see the entire restaurant from the table no matter were you sat at the table. I found out when she was closing up that her Husband had once been shot in the back during a bank robbery while he was standing in line to cash his check from his second job.

[pacapcop]

Weather in law enforcement or not, keep sight towards entry and full view of establishment.

[4949shooter]

Weather in law enforcement or not, keep sight towards entry and full view of establishment.

Yes. Last year when my wife's relatives were here visiting from Scotland, they couldn't understand at first why I had to face the door when we sat down to dinner at a restaurant.

[harrygunner]

'Pinsnscrews' She turned her loss into a benefit for other officers. Good for her.

[harrygunner]

Addressing the article, as opposed to specifically the situation the Las Vegas officers were in ...

My ramblings to get a discussion going about training -

As mentioned, some try to elevate 'situational aware' to the level of 'avoid all trouble'. Situational awareness will help getting you ahead in the reaction/action loop for sure. But, trouble obviously can still show up.

Walking in a city is a complex situation. People are standing in doorways, others are moving away from buildings as you approach, typical city movement. Which movements should one focus on, which to dismiss? I've noticed women are pretty good at gauging these kinds of things. Interesting observing when they decide to cross the street or keep walking. Less brawn demands more use of brains.

I've had the good fortune to experience the "Tueller Drill" in a training class. In the city, whole crowds are within a twenty-one foot radius of you, half behind you. Certainly an eye-opener when it comes to how one views the usefulness of a holstered gun.

To me, the mindset to adapt and continue fighting with everything available is critical. This kind of training is the most expensive and hardest to come by for non-LEO.

I'll always remember, early in my CCW life, standing in an indoor range looking at my nice groupings on paper targets. It occurred to me that surviving a life and death struggle can't be this easy.

So, took classes over years, ultimately leading to crawling in dirt, shooting around barriers in pairings with actual police officers.

Shooting a gun is like learning to use a phone. Tactical and strategic training is like learning to have an intelligent conversation.

What are your training experiences and tips?

[Buckeye 50]

Interesting article - having just started Tactical Training this year (it's on my bucket list, don't laugh), we just started introducing situational awareness into the equation.  Wow, what a game changer.  I am in my early 60's (feel 40, still act 20, except for the knee pain  ) and feel if I am to "responsibly carry" concealed I better get tactical training from pro's to go with it.  Here in Ohio people "passed" concealed carry class who shot for the first time in class (total of less than 200 rounds and now are loose in public  ).

I have been amazed how this complicates things - being "aware" of the situation while responsibly handling and shooting a gun.  Great part of the training but at first it really frazzled me - so many things to keep in mind at the same time.  Gave me a real appreciation for what police, Tactical Operators and those in live-fire situations have to deal with.

Hat's off to the lady who had the restaurant.  People today are more inclined to see how hard they can make an officer's otherwise difficult job worse.

Pat

[harrygunner]

For the non-LEO perhaps a "suspicious person call" or an "officer ambush" come closest to situations where the bad guy does not back off, that has us firing guns. These are the two most deadly situations for LEO, where most lives are lost.

This should give us an idea of how important it is to train.

[Pinsnscrews]

There is another aspect of Situational Awareness that I have not seen taught much in the couple of classes I have taken in the last few years.

It is How You Present Yourself to your surroundings.

Are You the lost tourist gawking?

Are you the outsider who presents himself as someone who lives there?

Do you fit in to your surroundings with your presence, purpose and actions?

Or, do you make yourself a target?

We have the power to do that. Even we can wander as a tourist and still "fit in".

Being confident in that we are armed and know it, isn't always the answer. We can still give the impression we belong, and that we have the right to be where we are without attracting trouble. By convincing our adversary before a fight, that we are going to be more trouble than they want persuades more criminals to go to another target and leave us be.

Never having a reason to draw my gun is what I look forward to every day. I have confidence in my abilities to make it out of a bad area I end up in by mistake, or on purpose due to business. That does not mean, however, that I do not expect trouble. On the contrary, I practice everything I was ever taught. I pay attention to my surroundings, and to how much attention other people are paying me. I do not however, telegraph myself as being trouble, just capable.

[harrygunner]

That reminds me of something we laughed about later. My two daughters and I were in Washington Square in NYC, near NYU one night. My oldest and I knew about walking and acting like we weren't tourists. We both knew the city. This guy steps out of the dark and said something. He looked like he was capable of being trouble. Two of us kept walking and showing we were unfazed by his showing up.
   
But, my youngest, true to her California affluent upbringing, stopped to respond!  It was NYC, so no self-defense tools allowed. I faced him while moving the girls along. The stranger stood there as we moved away.

Later, we both gave the youngest obviously overdue lessons on what you described.

[harrygunner]

This is a link I read years ago. Retrieved it to post. He helps one recognize what might be happening as a perp builds up to an attack. His description of "five stages" of an attack include "positioning" as part of a defense.

http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/five_stages.html

[Pinsnscrews]

I was in Ireland last year, due to some time tables getting messed up, I ended up going to a tattoo shop to set up an appointment for "Travel Ink" well after dark. Unlike in the US, shops there tend to normal hours and not late night hours. The shop also was in a very bad neighborhood (all of the reputable shops surprisingly were in a 4 block radius LOL)

I was alone, well after dark. I not only felt comfotable in my surroundings, I portrayed it well enough people actually crossed the street ahead of me, and crossed back after I passed. One of the artists saw me that night, and when he saw me in the shop the next morning, yes, morning, he was stunned to not only find out I was a tourist, never been there before, but also an American. He thought, truly, I was someone new in the neighborhood. Sasly, he waxed poetic on how bad the neighborhood was after dark, while the boss of the group I was with sat next to me. She chewed my arse out bigtime when we left the shop.