Posted by Radio2600 click to view

Einstein never said that.

For situational awareness to work many times means not just being alert but properly prioritizing what needs to be done and when.
Coming home safe is a series of steps; one step at a time. Stay focused on the present.

○Walking, stop at a safe spot before you look at your phone, etc.

♤When sploring stop before you look around, keep your eyes on where and on what you are moving even one step!
At all times.
Stop... if you want to look around.
Keep at least one hand free preferable both when moving. Always keep at least one hand on the rail of stairs and catwalks.
♤Climbing; all your concentration needs to be on your next hand/foot hold and keeping them secure until you move again as you climb.
If a handhold fails or a foot slips, the other 3 points must be planted and ready to bear your full weight. Although this becomes a fluid motion, that chain can not be broken even once.
Stop to look around or to evaluate obstacles or look around at sights!

○Driving, drive the car and avoid collisions, running off the road; that dropped coffee, burning cig, etc can wait.
I know more than one person that totaled cars over a dropped cig or joint.

○Or flying. I cite this as there's crossover to other things many of us do including driving.
Don't get so distracted that you neglect to drive the car or in this case fly the jet!
This jet was savable but the pilot put the flaps down on an aircraft with damaged hydraulics when attempting to configure the plane for landing. He knew there were stability/hydraulic issues on the one wing which could fatally misconfirgure the aircraft. It did.
Had he landed flaps up and come in hot both he (maybe) and many others would still be breathing.
At least it would have crashed on the runway, not into a residential zone. One of a military pilot's highest priorities is not to kill civilians on the ground in a crash. He did.
Panic kills; you can hear it in the pilot's voice.
He had time to take a few seconds even minutes to think.
Use time when you have it to reach a better coarse of action rather than to just plow ahead in an emergency.
https://youtu.be/4LsdCyR8Bqo


-Assumption is the mother of disaster-

panic really does end things in a bad way. I have panicked once in a car and there was nothing I could do about it.

I was on a steep hill on NY 9N/22. Traffic had been stopped as a local teleco was pulling new fiber. I was second car stopped, a parts hauler van in front of me. Deep ditch on the right. The work zone was poorly marked and the flagman kind of a ways from the last sign. This hill goes down into a gulley and then comes up over a rise and then down into the river bed at the bottom. I look up in the mirror and there is a semi bearing down the hill doing at least 65mph (it's a 55mph zone). I panic. He doesn't see the stopped traffic. There I no one behind me and I am about to be smooshed out of existence. I am almost too close to the van to sneak into the 3ft ditch and even if I get into the ditch, the van and truck are going to obliterate me anyway. That's when the utter panic hit me. The truck came over the rise and locked the brakes up and is now sliding pretty much out of control trying to come down from at least 65. I am edging forward trying to get at least next to the van all the while hearing the trucks' tires screaming. When I looked in the mirror, the truck was two inches from the bumper of my Sonic. I get half out of the car and start screaming, 'PAY ATTENTION YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCKER!!!"

he flipped me off because apparently, it was all my fault. And just like that, what do you think he does? he was fucking with his phone the whole time.


but that was panic. I literally had to stop on a sideroad a few miles down the road and get out of the car. it had been literally decades since I had tasted that severe a panic. Anyways, I know, no one gives a fuckaroo.

Always. I carry a G19 with me pretty much every I'm legally allowed and I'm always aware of my surroundings.

Posted by theNomadicHacker Always. I carry a G19 with me pretty much every I'm legally allowed and I'm always aware of my surroundings.

what's a G19?

Posted by Samurai what's a G19?

a plastic pistol made in Austria

that makes me laugh.

Posted by Samurai that makes me laugh.

there is a good documentary about Glock worth watching on Netflix

the laughable part is about 25% of LE agencies have adopted it as their official sidearm, mainly because of it having a double action only i.e. "safe trigger" LOL

Posted by 2Xplorations there is a good documentary about Glock worth watching on Netflix the laughable part is about 25% of LE agencies have adopted it as their official sidearm, mainly because of it having a double action only i.e. "safe trigger" LOL

Never liked Glocks.
Take a double action S&W semiautomatic over them any day.
Redundant safeties with a round chambered but quick and easy to arm/fire.

I never saw the need to walk around my daily life with a weapon on me.
it just smacks of insecurity and other wonderful issues.
if you disagree, well that's all well and swell for you. I don't dislike you for it. And it's pretty damn hard to go on silly rampage with a pistola. So, that out of the way...

I've owned one pistol in my life. It was an M1911A1 clone... .45 automatic with two enlarged capacity clips I bought in a pawn shop in Delano, TN in 2000. It was a cannon. I've fired .44's and .357's when I was a kid. My best friend's father was a local police officer and my mothers' boyfriend at the time was a weapons' enthusiast so don't think I am one of those people that hate guns because. Far from it... I am a damn good shot with a .22 and .30-.30 out to about 300 meters (a little more than a football field- Lincoln always told me that ranges were measured in meters rather than feet or yards- no idea why, but he was a former Marine, so he talked, I listened). But what made this such a wrist bazooka was how fast you could fire it. I mean, sixteen round... pull-pull-pull, gone. Reload. Another mag gone. You can fuck someone up inside of 5 meters with that kind of speed and brute force. I won't lie... it was an absolute blast to fire at my friends place.

But...

I felt less safe with it than without it. Why?
it was too easy to turn around and start firing over little shit. It brought out dark parts of my personality that I felt I would not be able to control should things get moving too fast. I just felt nothing good was going to come from me having a firearm within easy access.

I sold it back to the shop two weeks later.

I guess you could call that a version of situational awareness- knowing your limitations.
that's all.

My friend was in Nam.
He packed because he learned nothing is worse than finding your shit weak and your dumb ass dead.

When you're packing you don't go looking for trouble and avoid places where it is unless it's business.
Packing is just business.

This is a fucking hobby...

Posted by blackhawk My friend was in Nam. He packed because he learned nothing is worse than finding your shit weak and your dumb ass dead. When you're packing you don't go looking for trouble and avoid places where it is unless it's business. Packing is just business. This is a fucking hobby...

this is not Vietnam and it's not 1969.

after writing two paragraphs and then removing it, perhaps its best if you and I discontinue our discussion on the topic at hand because it's just going to bring out animosity and misunderstanding on the topic.

I have my personal opinions on people who walk around twenty-four hours fully strapped thinking that the world is out to get them. You have your opinions. It's probably best to pump the brakes on this one and change the subject.

Posted by Samurai this is not Vietnam and it's not 1969. after writing two paragraphs and then removing it, perhaps its best if you and I discontinue our discussion on the topic at hand because it's just going to bring out animosity and misunderstanding on the topic. I have my personal opinions on people who walk around twenty-four hours fully strapped thinking that the world is out to get them. You have your opinions. It's probably best to pump the brakes on this one and change the subject.

Ummm, I haven't packed in almost 2 decades... so we're probably in agreement.
As strange as it seems

the vast majority of people "packing" have little to no business packing..

Posted by 2Xplorations the vast majority of people "packing" have little to no business packing..

you are fucking 110% right on that one, 2x

Posted by Samurai you are fucking 110% right on that one, 2x

Second that!

This discussion circles me back around to my original thoughts about being situationally aware. To a great extent, paying close attention to what's going on around you and responding proactively, will reduce the need for any weapon. Of course it is no guarantee of safety, but walking around with headphones in and your head down, or having your nose buried in a cell phone makes you an obvious target.

It's so easy to get complacent when we are in familiar settings. The local fast food joint, the parking lot at the grocery store, even the driveway in front of your house. I'm not talking paranoia, I'm talking about staying alert. Simple things like knowing where the emergency exits are at your local grocery store. Knowing where the doors are when you sit down to eat at a fast food restaurant. Most have multiple doors that you could quickly exit if necessary.

In our motorcycle training program we teach a 'Search, Evaluate, and Execute' strategy when riding. Search for potentially dangerous situations. Evaluate what to do if things go wrong and how you could respond. Execute your plan if necessary. The concept translates directly to day to day life as well.

More than anything, I hope this discussion will remind people to stay alert.

Abby Normal

Posted by Abby Normal This discussion circles me back around to my original thoughts about being situationally aware. To a great extent, paying close attention to what's going on around you and responding proactively, will reduce the need for any weapon.

That would depend on what kind of target you are.

I'm the gabbai for my shul (that's Yiddish for synagogue) and in the last 20 years, I've never had to strongarm anyone. I have witnnessed people getting forcefully ejected from services in the past, but not in a very long time.

In light of what happened in Pittsburgh, we're just doing business as usual, but the more visible shuls now have armed security.

Posted by Radio2600 That would depend on what kind of target you are. I'm the gabbai for my shul (that's Yiddish for synagogue) and in the last 20 years, I've never had to strongarm anyone. I have witnnessed people getting forcefully ejected from services in the past, but not in a very long time. In light of what happened in Pittsburgh, we're just doing business as usual, but the more visible shuls now have armed security.

Yeah, that's a completely different situation. Defense against a premeditated attack would be a whole different discussion. Best with actual experts, not those of us who stayed at Holiday Inn last night.

It's tragic that people have to worry about being attacked in their place of worship. Of course as Jews, you have had a long history of persecution. Thousands of years with no end in sight... So sad.

Abby Normal

Too much. When I'm driving my wife yells at me for "gawking off to the left" to see what's happening or being passed by on the roadside. I've seen the bolts that hold highway streetlights to their base go from ornate seashell covered to boring "just bolts." It's pretty amazing what the quotidienne life has that gets overlooked all the time. Months ago I saw a grown woman on a bmx bike, this was awesome to me.