The phrase situational awareness is thrown about frequently these days. So much so that I am concerned it may be losing its importance.
Situational awareness is a heightened state of mind directly related to a particular circumstance one may face or be facing. It’s not general alertness, which we should all possess; it’s caused by something that is happening in your presence or general area, some type of unfolding situation or circumstance that has caught your attention.
Wonderful! I love it when the gun guys assign to themselves hyper-sensitivity, almost super-hero qualities. But here's the best part.
Isn't it hilarious that the same guys who continually make fun of us, suggesting we base everything on feelings and fear of inanimate objects, are now giving credence to intuition and gut FEELINGS.You may have heard it referred to as “the hair on the back or your neck standing up” or a “gut feeling” or maybe even “women’s intuition.”
What do you think? Aren't these guys more fun than a barrel of monkeys?
Please leave a comment.
The author was honored as the Law Enforcement Trainer of The Year last year.
ReplyDeleteI thought law enforcement were the ones that you think should have all the guns?
"I thought law enforcement were the ones that you think should have all the guns?
ReplyDeleteDecember 22, 2011 7:05 PM"
FatWhiteMan:
Why do you keep making nonsensical statements like that one? I know your smart and I don't think of you as being a bloodthirsty "deathwish" sortaguy; statements like that one, which is blatantly false--and you know it to be so--do not increase you credibility.
Democommie,
ReplyDeleteBut you do think that only police officer should carry guns, no? In other words, a few private citizens who pass all of the tests may keep a disassembled gun in a safe--that's your gun ownership idea.
Mikeb302000,
No, it's Dog Gone who gets snippy about basing anything on a feeling. We recognize the importance of paying attention to what our senses are telling us. That doesn't mean that we take only one particular action in response to a feeling. It just means being aware.
The difference is that the anti gun politicians use emotions and feelings to write laws that dictate how others live there lives.
ReplyDeleteDemo,
ReplyDeleteI am sure MikeB got the jab.
Greg Camp:
ReplyDeleteThis:
"
But you do think that only police officer should carry guns, no? In other words, a few private citizens who pass all of the tests may keep a disassembled gun in a safe--that's your gun ownership idea."
is another one of your treasure trove of FUCKING LIES.
I'm sure that you can beat that rap by providing a post that has that sentiment being expressed by me, anywhere.
You're just too fucking stupid, and dishonest, to be anything but a bot.
There is credence to the article. However it doesn't just apply to gun owners. I read a book about how our brains are processing a lot of sensory information on a sub-conscious level. The book listed an example where a firefighter couldn't explain his "feeling" but ordered all firefighters out of a burning home. The floor of the home collapsed just seconds after all of the firefighters withdrew.
ReplyDeleteAn analysis after the fact indicated that there were several cues that the fire was no a "normal" fire. While the commander didn't cognitively think about it at the time, an analysis after the fact made the situation obvious. So he listened to his "feeling" and it was a good thing he did.
What the author of the article is dancing around is the same idea. Your brain processes people's facial expressions, body language, locations, etc. on a subconscious level. If things start adding up, you get an "uneasy feeling" that you cannot explain. I'll find the name of the book and share it. It is good information for anyone to know. The main point of the book was to listen to your intuition: it is right almost every time!
The name of the book is ...
ReplyDeleteBlink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
The author is Malcolm Gladwell.
I predict that dog gone will not like the book because it supports my premise that people can get bogged down in details and make bad decisions. It also talks about how people's biases can lead them to make bad decisions.
"So he listened to his "feeling" and it was a good thing he did."
ReplyDeleteHe did NOT listen to his "feelings". His brain was processing bits of information that he had gleaned, from training or personal experience.
The difference between people like Greg Camp (and for that matter, you) and a professional firefighter, or cop, is that you haven't had the personal experience or training to give you those bits of information.
So, it's agreed then, gun-rights folks are the touchy-feely ones, not us.
ReplyDeleteMikeb302000,
ReplyDeleteWe're more complex than an adding machine, yes.
democommie,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the firefighter's brain was processing information. It was simply happening on a subconscious level. That is why I put the word "feeling" in quotation marks. It wasn't a feeling at all. It was his brain indicating on a very primitive level that there was extreme danger present. He simply couldn't express it in words at the moment it was happening. But he could later upon slowing down and replaying the situation.
While I may not have quite as much training as a police officer, I do have experience with questionable, hostile, and aggressive people. I have also reviewed and studied (both in theory and in videos of actual events) something that people refer to with just about any combination of these words:
pre-attack cues
pre-attack indicators
pre-assault cues
pre-assault indicators
I am not sure to what extent the general public automatically notices pre-attack cues. I know what to look for and that is a huge guide for my version of general alertness as well as situational awareness.
One time a person popped out from behind a gas pump while I was filling my tank and held up three or four gold necklaces and asked if I want to purchase them. I was transfixed on the necklaces and lost track of his hands much less anything else happening around me. For whatever reason, he abruptly left and I learned from that mistake. A similar event happened again at a rest area. I was better that time at watching him. Then a similar event happened at my front door with a supposed solicitor. I immediately scanned the solicitor's hands and body for any indication of anything afoul. I basically ignored his badge and checked the yard briefly. My pistol was also visible in its holster on my belt. He immediately noticed my actions and asked of which police department I was a member. I explained my actions and then he spent 10 minutes telling me about his carpet cleaning service and how he was demonstrating in my neighborhood that evening. Maybe he was legit. Strangely, he never appeared in our neighborhood again.
I honed my observational and situational awareness skills in those events that were harmless. I also developed similar critical skills while hunting for deer. You have to be incredibly observant, be able to function through "buck fever" (the adrenalin dump upon seeing a prospective deer), maintain focus, and keep track of important details after the shot ... details that greatly aid in recovering the deer.
Others can do the same.
"I honed my observational and situational awareness skills in those events that were harmless."
ReplyDeleteLucky you. If ANY of those had resulted in your or the other person's injury or death then you would have either wound up hurt or dead or you would have injured or killed someone else--based on your OJT of reading "cues".
"I also developed similar critical skills while hunting for deer. You have to be incredibly observant, be able to function through "buck fever" (the adrenalin dump upon seeing a prospective deer), maintain focus, and keep track of important details after the shot ... details that greatly aid in recovering the deer."
I've never killed a deer, or anything bigger than a rabbit, on purpose. I feel pretty safe in saying that deciding to shoot an unarmed, non-aggressive animal is NOTHING like shooting a human being. Nothing.
"Others can do the same."
Actually, human nature being what it is, that statement is erroneous on it's face. "Some others can do the same.", would be more accurate, but unquantifiable. The problem is that a lot couldn't do what you suggest and lot have no interest whatsoever in doing so.
This honing of the observational skills is the stuff of fantasies.
ReplyDeleteMikeB wrote:
ReplyDelete"This honing of the observational skills is the stuff of fantasies."
Your reasons?
If your statement is true, then law enforcement officers are no more qualified than anyone else to use their sidearms or service long guns "safely".
Cap'n Crunch:
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for Mikeb302000 but I would posit that he means people whose jobs do not include actually using the skills associated with dealing with criminals MUCH of their working life are not gonna be honing their skills.
I used to watch a lot of tv, when I had one. I would watch, "This Old House" or "Hometime" and, ocassionally learn something. More often than not I'd laugh my ass off at the silly things that people did. Reason? I've done a lot of rough carpentry and home repairs and have worked with some very high level craftsmen and they don't often do things the way that the guys on the tv shows do.
Same thing with cooking shows, I know how to cook and a lot of what people do on cooking shows is not advancing my knowledge.
I also used to watch a little court tv, some war stuff on history channel and, ocassionally a med/surg program. I didn't, don't and won't ever feel qualified to diagnose peoples' diseases, fight for them in court, remove their appendix or lead a division of troops.
Your "honing" is in about the same area, I think. As I said in a previous comment; you MIGHT be that good, because you spend hours and hours training (I have no idea how one really qualifies that sort of thing), but you're not the average person.
Most people don't read owner's manuals until they've broken something. When it's a teevee, it's a pain in the ass; when you've shot somebody unintentionally or found out that you shot them for no good reason--it's an order or six of magnitude difference.
I had a good laugh this morning. Pulling up to a red light in the center of Rome, I was very quickly surrounded by motorbikes. Besides the two or three cars in the other lanes - although no one pays attention to the lanes here, about ten scooters came up to the front swerving around cars and coming to a stop on either side of me.
ReplyDeleteI imagined myself carrying a gun and determined to be responsibly aware of any possible danger or false moves around me. Most of them kept looking straight ahead, apparently waiting for the light to turn green so they could get the jump on the others. But, being extremely attuned to my environment, I realized that could all be an act. I nervously scanned the small crowd for telltale signs and they were everywhere. The guy just a few inches to my left was fidgeting. One of the guys outside my passenger side window went for his cell phone. I would have had to draw down on both of them.
All this while I was distressingly aware of the ones just outside my peripheral vision and those directly behind me.
In the end, about the time the light changed, I laughed out loud at the foolishness of the gun-owning situationally aware guys. Talk about living in a fantasy world, one in which you posses incredible intuition and super-sensitivity. Like ten-year-olds they play pretend and imagine themselves saving the day with a gun.
The sad reality is they make themselves and everyone around them less safe.
MikeB,
ReplyDeleteYou wrote:
"... I laughed out loud at the foolishness of the gun-owning situationally aware guys. Talk about living in a fantasy world, one in which you posses incredible intuition and super-sensitivity. Like ten-year-olds they play pretend and imagine themselves saving the day with a gun."
If that is your perception of some gun owners, I can see how that seems very disconcerting. For what it is worth, I have never run across anyone that fits the description that you described.
It is easy to view violent attacks as something that will never happen to you. (And hopefully it hasn't.) And if that is your paradigm, of course it is silly to go through all the hassle of owning and possibly carrying and using a firearm -- as well as being alert or aware of your surroundings. Life is too grand to waste your energy worrying about an attack that will never happen.
I can tell you from first hand experience that violent attacks do happen and it is almost impossible to describe the horror of being the victim of a violent attack. Please note that when I say "violent attack", I am not describing a scuffle where someone might throw a punch or something. I am talking about a situation where an attacker or a group of attackers ambush someone with weapons, extreme aggression, and no apparent regard whatsoever for human life. And while such encounters may result in extreme bodily injury or death only some relatively small percentage of the time, while it is happening there is no way to know if you will end up in that category.
To put this in perspective, imagine that someone ambushed you, restrained you, and then forced you to play "Russian roulette" with a revolver with a 10 round cylinder. The fact that there is only a 10% chance of that gun going off wouldn't diminish the extreme fear of hearing the cylinder advance and the internal mechanisms of the revolver make their noises as the attacker pulled the trigger.
People that have experienced such an event with no effective options to defend themselves never, ever want to be in that situation again. To someone who has never experienced it, it isn't worth the hassle of being aware. To someone who has experienced it, they cannot help but be aware.
Now that doesn't mean that I am "wound up" all the time. I am pretty carefree in 98% of my daily situations. (Part of the reason that I am carefree is because I have a firearm by the way.) However, if I am walking into my bank for example, I take an extra tiny percentage of my brain power to simply scan the area. Does everyone look "normal" and relaxed? Great. If someone is wearing a trench coat in the summer and looking around constantly while filling out a deposit slip, then I might simply observe them for an extra moment or two or maybe come back another time. That's all.