The Tactical Edge - September

Situational Awareness

Our exciting topic for this month is going to be Situational Awareness. We are going to write the blog in two parts. The first part is this month’s segment. Next month will present the second half of the topic. If you’re watching the current news on TV, you’re seeing a lot of events happening on the East Coast that will make this blog and next month’s blog very important.

Do you ever see people walking down the street and talking on their phone or texting? Do you think they know what’s going on around them? What if there was a bad guy looking for an easy target. Who do you think he would have his eye on? I will give you one guess. Actually, he would probably be looking for anybody who isn’t paying attention to their surroundings. His goal is to make his job quick and with the lowest risk possible. Your job is to prevent him reaching his goal. That’s where situational awareness comes into play.

Situational awareness: the basic definition is the ability to scan the environment and sense danger, challenges and opportunities, while maintaining the ability to conduct normal activities. In other words, to pay attention to your surroundings while not appearing to be paying attention. It is simply knowing what’s going on around you. The late Col. Jeff Cooper developed a color code for situational awareness and states of readiness.

The colors are white, yellow, orange, and red. This color code system is a mental process, not a physical one, and should be utilized whether or not you are armed — though being armed is always preferred. Being alert may help you to avoid a deadly threat in the first place, which is always the best outcome. As Sun Tzu said several thousand years ago "Ultimate victory is in avoiding the fight." That is the primary goal of having a carry permit also. (Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher, who is believed to have written the famous ancient Chinese book on military strategy, “The Art of War” which is used today in mlitary war colleges around the world.)

Situational awareness is not just about avoiding a mugging. It is an unfortunate fact that most people stumble through life, blissfully unaware of the world around them. They remain preoccupied in their own thoughts of work, personal problems, how to get a date, or other mundane issues, with no thought to their immediate environment. By not paying attention to their surroundings, they place themselves in needless jeopardy.

To understand these phenomena, go take a seat in your neighborhood hospital emergency intake area one evening. Observe the unfortunates who come in for treatment and you will get an excellent illustration of this point. About 20% of the individuals are actually sick, ignore them. The remaining 80% are there because they did not pay attention to their environment. These will be the folks who walked off the loading dock, stepped off ladders twenty feet high, backed into running machinery, stepped into the path of a vehicle, or allowed a thug to walk right up to them unnoticed and hit them with a brick.

If you want to understand how situational awareness really works watch a good Jason Bourne movie or a James Bond 007 movie. These guys were the experts at situational awareness. They knew what was going to happen before it could happen. They had an almost superhuman ability to observe their surroundings and make detailed assessments about their environment. That’s where you want to be.

Now that you know what situational awareness is all about, let’s start talking about the color codes. This month were going to cover white and yellow. Remember now that these are states of mental preparedness to prevent an unwanted event.

WHITE

In condition White, you are relaxed and unaware of what is going on around you. Ideally, a person is only in white when asleep, but realistically we often drop our guard when we are at home or in any other environment we assume to be safe. If you are attacked in condition white, you may very well die — unless you are lucky. I prefer to not depend on luck.

YELLOW

In condition yellow, you remain relaxed, but are aware of who and what is around you. This merely means that you are paying attention to the sights and sounds that surround you whether you are at home or moving in society. Condition yellow DOES NOT equate with paranoia or any other irrational fear of persons or places. Instead, you simply have moved your alertness to a level of attention that will prevent you from being totally surprised by the actions of another person. While walking through an area you will loosely keep track of anyone behind you. When choosing a seat in a restaurant, you will position yourself to see the entrance or to minimize the number of people who might be behind you. You don’t need to insist on securing the “gunfighter seat” which will put your back to a dead corner

and your face to the entrance, because you are not anticipating a threat, you are merely conducting an inventory of your surroundings and the other people around you. You will also be running a cursory “what if” mental visualization of where a threat could appear and what your reaction(s) should be. If you are attacked in condition yellow, it should not come as a total surprise. Your response to a threat should have been pre-planned to some extent, allowing you to simply run an existing plan rather than having to make one up quickly while under fire.

 By learning to observe your environment, constantly evaluate it, and react appropriately to what you see, you can achieve a large degree of control over your fate. This requires you to learn to shift up and down a scale of readiness, just like shifting gears in a car, so that you can match your level of awareness/readiness with the current requirements of your situation.

Next month we will talk about the colors orange and red. These are the areas that we are hoping to not get into in a situation by using situational awareness.

Have a great month and takes someone to the gun range or a shooting safety class. It will be good for them and you will feel great about it yourself. In the meantime, keep your gun clean and your powder dry.

                        The Tactical Edge – August

This month, we’re going to talk about what to do after you have purchased that new firearm.  The most important thing to do is to read the Manual before anything else happens.  The Manual is going to explain all of the safety implications concerning your new firearm and also refresh your memory on the general safety requirements of owning and using a firearm.  Even if you are a longtime shooter, it is important to review safety and handling procedures.  I have found that people tend to get comfortable and complacent after they have been shooting for a longtime.  The most important aspect of owning and using a firearm is Safety.  This is especially important for beginners because they have not been previously exposed to the safety issues involving a firearm.  Here’s a quick review of the main points of safety regarding firearms:

* Never point any firearm, loaded or unloaded, at anything you don’t intend to shoot.

* Always treat a firearm as if it is loaded.

* Keep your finger off the trigger until you are actually ready to shoot.

* Always unload your firearm before you attempt to clean it.

* When shooting, be aware of your target and what is behind it.  If the bullet passes thru the backstop, anything behind it is in danger.

* Always load and unload your weapon with the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

* Always check your ammunition to be sure it is the right size and caliber for your weapon and also that it is not dented or defective. 

* If you’re firearm fails to fire, do not pull the trigger, keep it pointed at the target for at least 30 seconds or longer.  You could have a misfire or hang fire.  In that event, the round may still discharge.

* When giving a firearm to someone else, always check that it is unloaded and safe.  When receiving a weapon from someone else, always check it for yourself even if you witnessed them checking it.

NOTE:   If you ever suspect that you fired a round and the bullet did not clear the barrel, unload the weapon immediately and give it to someone who is trained to safely remove the object.  Firing it after this happens can cause the gun to explode and cause serious injury.

When storing your weapon, always make certain that it is in a location that is not accessible by children or other people that should not be handling it.  The best place to store a weapon is in a gun safe or securely locked cabinet.  The alternative is using an approved firearm lock.  Almost all new firearms today are shipped from the factory with an approved locking mechanism in the box.  Make sure you install it in the manner shown in the Manual.  Lastly, make sure you store your firearm separately from your ammunition.

In my experience, I have found that the best way to protect a child from an accidental shooting is to give them an adequate amount of training in gun safety.  That gives them a familiarity with the firearm and takes the awe and wonder out of it.  Teach them what a firearm is capable of doing to a person or object so that they understand why it is so dangerous to touch.  Make them aware that it is their responsibility to immediately notify an adult if they find a firearm not securely stored.  When they’re old enough to do so, take them to an approved range and let them shoot.  This should only be done after they have been thoroughly trained in handling and operating a firearm.  Afterwards, teach them how to disassemble and clean the firearm.  Not everybody will agree with me on this.  I have trained many children to shoot firearms in FFA and Hunter Safety classes.  If done thoroughly, the child can be as safe as any adult.  This also depends on the age and intellectual development of the child.Some children are not even safe at age 40.  We probably all know someone like that.

The next step after all of the safety instructions and procedures should be the cleaning procedure.  All firearms are shipped from the factory with a coating of oil or grease to protect them.  This is not the same lubricant that you would use after cleaning your firearm.  It can cause the ammunition to not feed correctly and also affect the accuracy of the firearm.  A thorough cleaning before the first use will also give you a chance to become familiar with the functioning of the weapon to see if there are any mechanical issues.

And now that we’ve covered all the serious issues, pack up that firearm along with a case of ammo and hit the shooting range.  It’s time to burn some gun powder.  Oh yeah, don’t forget to clean the gun again when you’re done.  It sounds tedious, but in the long run, you’ll be glad you did.  Your firearm will work better and last longer.  Next month, I will try to get some more humor in the blog.  These last two blogs have had pretty serious content that does not lend itself well to humor.

The first installment of our new blog.

The Tactical Edge

Introduction

 

 Welcome to The Tactical Edge, a new blog from Black Mamba Tactical designed for the interests of veteran shooters, new shooters, and all of you wannabe shooters out there who are just getting started.  Shooting sports are at an all-time high level.  One of the fastest growing segments of that is family sport shooting.  There’s no better way to make your children safe, if you have guns in the house, than to teach them how to use them safely and properly.  It eliminates the fascination that children have in guns from watching TV and other media.  They know what happens when a gun is fired and the consequences of the bullets hitting the target.  If taught correctly, the first thing they will think when they find a firearm, not stored properly, is to notify an adult and don’t touch it.

We here at Black Mamba Tactical are more like a family than just another shooting school.  Our staff and our students all work together to help each individual reach their goals.  Our advanced students love working with the new students to help bring them up to speed.  It’s not a competition for them, but a sharing of their skills and ability.  We’re a very diverse group with shooters ranging in age from 9 to 75.  We have housewives, professional people, ministers, schoolteachers, ex-police officers, students and children in our groups.  We have classroom training, live fire training on our shooting ranges, and individual or group training on our state of the art simulator.  Our simulator is the same as what you would find in the most advanced shooting schools and larger police departments around the United States.  A lot of our current shooters are people who have taken our classes and just love to come back and shoot with us to continually improve their shooting skills and techniques.  No matter what your background, experience, or skill level is, we would love to work with you.  Watch for news of our upcoming open house and bring the family to check us out.

We have an awesome working relationship with Bison Arms here in Longmont, Colorado.  They carry a huge line of firearms and ammunition and give us great pricing and fantastic customer service.  If you don’t currently have a firearm or aren’t satisfied with what you have, we can assist you with finding the right firearm for your needs. 

And now for our very first issue of the blog.  Let us know what you think and tell us what you would like to see in future additions of the blog.

The Tactical Edge

For the first issue of the blog, we have to ask you this question.  Why do you have a gun?  That may sound like a really dumb question, but when you look at all the possible answers, it really is a logical question.  There are probably hundreds of answers to that question, but I’m going to stick to the main ones that people normally expect to hear.

1.     I like to target shoot with my friends or with my family.

2.     I’m a hunter and I enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

3.     I want to defend my home and my family from intruders.

4.     I want it for personal protection when I’m out away from my home.

5.     I am a competitive shooter and I want to compete at tournaments.

6.     I’m a collector of firearms or I restore antique firearms.

7.     I’m in law enforcement or other security profession.

With the exception of number 7, you are totally responsible for making sure that you know the safe handling procedures and legal requirements regarding the use of a firearm.  Law enforcement officers all go through a stringent training regimen before they are ever allowed to carry a firearm.  Do you know what’s required to safely secure your firearm at home?  When you take your firearm out to shoot, do you know what the safety requirements are?  Do you know the correct operating parameters for the firearm that you carry?  If you have a firearm for home defense or personal protection, do you know what the law requires before you are legally able to use that firearm on another person?  Do you have the skill necessary to use that firearm effectively?  In a high stress or emergency situation, do you have the knowledge and the skill to stop your attacker?  This is only a small generalized list of the things that you would need to know and do.  Knowledge and skill are acquired through training and repetition.  The more you practice, the better you get.  In a high stress or emergency situation, your brain won’t think.  It will do exactly how you trained to respond.

We hope that we raised some questions in your mind.  If you need help with the answers, come see us and join our family of fun people.  We can train anybody and make it fun for them.  We’re looking forward to meeting and working with you.  Please come back regularly and see what’s new on our web site and on our Facebook and Twitter pages.  We will strive to include training tips, relevant shooting information, and anything that’s currently hot on the shooting scene in future blogs.  Lastly, Be sure to friend us!