Vigilance: Staying Guarded in a Dangerous World

By Joseph Mayberry

No one expects to be the victim of crime and violence, however these situations occur everyday and generally without advance warning. In our current society, criminals are becoming educated and terrorists are becoming bolder and wiser.

In order to stay ahead of the game, it is vital for the average citizen to learn how to recognize the sig

• Language: English
• Publisher: St. Louis Combat Institute
• Release date: Mar 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387658664

Book preview

Overture

A fortress is only as good as the foundation it is built upon, no matter how impenetrable the walls are. If the foundation is unstable, weak or porous, the entire structure will falter under a brutal attack.

Humans are organic fortresses. We can defend ourselves against a daily onslaught of viruses and bacteria without much effort. We can build up our bodies to prevent other humans from conquering ours and learn to attack others with impunity. But no amount of fortification will matter if the ramparts, battlements and watchtowers are not manned by vigilant sentinels.

This book is laid out in the context of a dangerous situation. First, an individual must know themselves in order to survive. Second, they must truly know their enemy in order to prevail. One is personal, the other is professional.

Vigilance must be maintained within the fortress and on the landscape surrounding it for the structure to prevail.

This book will help create, instill and maintain vigilance in anyone willing to study and learn about themselves and others.

Exordium

When it comes to lawlessness, the old saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is not only true, but a possible life saver.

An extensive majority of the recommendations described in this book are nonviolent and will have minimal adverse impact on your lifestyle.

It all comes down to the fact that, while the ability to defend yourself is important, common sense and preemptive actions are far more reliable ways to ensure your self-preservation, as well as that of your loved ones.

To stay safe, the average individual:

• Does not have to pay an expert to teach them

• Does not have to learn a martial art

• Does not have to buy a weapon

• Does not have to become paranoid

• Does not have to stop leaving their home

• Does not have to learn how to fight

The above points should not dissuade anyone. By all means, if you wish to own a weapon, learn a martial art or take a class in self protection, go for it.

What is required in this context is the expertise in the finer points to the problems you are most likely to face and then use a little common and uncommon sense. After that, it is easy. It is about knowing where you do not want to be, not making the mistake of going there and that someone cannot take you there.

The most difficult part of this will be self-educating yourself before you find yourself in an aggressive and dangerous situation and that is exactly what you are now doing by reading this book.

A Proactive Method to Self-preservation

Crime and aggressive behavior come in a wide variety of forms. And, similar to an active influenza virus, they are constantly mutating. Again, just like the flu, these mutations will resist the latest means of combating their older versions and strains.

Unlike the flu virus however, these current mutations are conscious, cunning decisions made by a would-be attacker to get around your defenses. This makes it difficult problem to deal with. Imagine an intelligent virus that could determine when and where to attack. That is how most criminals operate in the real world. Bad guys watch YouTube videos and they see all the new tricks and techniques. They evolve and become educated.

Due to this aptitude to mutate, there are very few effective you must do this answers. That is why giving simplistic lists of discernible Do and Don'ts, such as carrying your keys sticking out between your fingers, kicking them in the groin, etc., are archaic and dangerous. Such commonly prescribed lists are rarely effective for keeping you from getting killed or injured in a dangerous situation.

While conducting prison sweeps, one of the most common types of literature found in the prisoner’s cells are self-defense manuals. While this field of study might be undertaken for the prevention of shanking and shower rapes, it also gives the convicts an education in what is being taught to civilians. Remember, the viral strains become stronger and wiser with each generation and Amazon delivers to penitentiaries.

Outmaneuvering the Mutants

Just because this is a mutating problem does not mean there is not an effective vaccination.

While mutations inevitably occur, the core components of the virus generally remain unchanged. To effectively challenge the mutations, you must first realize what does not change. Once you understand these basic components you can conceive an effective response to the situation; a response, custom-made to work for that exact situation. And one that, if it turns out to require some final modifications, you can adjust as you proceed.

Martial arts and weapon training are the skills of self-defense. Self-defense is comparable to what you do to prevent an accident when something has already gone wrong. It is more drastic and oriented on immediate damage control. Imagine having to manually press a button on the dashboard of your vehicle to deploy the airbags while you are in the middle of a vehicular accident. This is self-defense.

There is an art to self-preservation and vigilance. It is doing the minuscule, subtle things preemptively to prevent a problem or situation from occurring before it happens.

Vigilance is comparable to getting a flu shot before the flu season begins. It automatically lessens the chances of you getting this year’s mutated flu and might even prevent it. Self-defense is what you do when you have gotten the flu virus and are trying to get rid of it yourself.

In both instances, you are trying to conquer the mutations. It is up to you when you want to fight it and your chances of prevailing in the confrontation.

PERSONAL VIGILANCE

Vigilance

When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail.

Pearl S. Buck

More of a State of Mind than Skill

It is important to note that vigilance, being aware of one's surroundings and identifying potential threats and dangerous situations, is more of a state of mind than a hard skill. Because of this, vigilance is not something that can be practiced only by highly trained government agents or specialized corporate security teams. Indeed, it can be exercised by anyone with the will and the discipline to do so. Vigilance is not only important for recognizing criminal behavior, but it also serves to identify terrorist threats and other dangerous situations.

The primary element in establishing this state of mind is first to understand that threats exist. Ignorance or denial of a threat makes an individual's chances of quickly recognizing an emerging threat and avoiding it highly unlikely. Bad things happen, and bad people make those things happen. Apathy, denial and complacency can be deadly.

A second important element of the proper state of mind is the understanding of the need to take responsibility for one's own security. The resources of any government are limited, and the authorities simply cannot be everywhere and cannot stop every potential criminal action or terrorist attack. The same principle applies to private security at businesses or other institutions, like places of worship and schools and universities. Therefore, people need to look out for themselves and their loved ones.

Another important aspect of this state of mind is learning to trust your gut or intuition. Many times, an individual's subconscious will notice subtle signs of danger that the conscious mind has difficulty assessing or recognizing. Many victims of crime who have experienced these feelings of danger prior to an incident chose to ignore them. Trusting your gut and avoiding a potentially dangerous situation may cause you a bit of inconvenience but ignoring such feelings can lead to serious trouble.

The discipline part of practicing vigilance refers to the conscious effort required to pay attention to gut feelings and to surrounding events even while you are busy and distracted. At such times even the most obvious hostile activity can go unnoticed, so individuals need to learn to be observant even while occupied with other things.

Levels of Vigilance

People typically operate on five distinct levels of vigilance. There are many ways to describe these levels (Cooper's Color Code, for example, which is a system frequently used in law enforcement and military training), but perhaps the most effective way to illustrate the differences between the levels is to compare them to the different degrees of attention most individuals practice while driving. For this purpose, we will refer to the five levels as tuned out, relaxed vigilance, focused vigilance, high alert and comatose.

The first level, tuned out, is similar to when you are driving in a very familiar environment or engrossed in a thought, a daydream, a song on the radio or even by the kids fighting in the backseat. Increasingly, cell phone calls and texting are also causing people to tune out while they drive. Have you ever arrived at a location in your vehicle without even really thinking about your drove there? If so, then you have experienced being tuned out.

The second level of vigilance, relaxed vigilance, is like defensive driving. This is a state in which you are relaxed but are also watching the other cars on the road and are looking at the road ahead for potential hazards. For example, if you are approaching an intersection and another driver looks like he may not stop, you tap your brakes to slow your car in case he does not. Defensive driving does not make you weary, and you can drive this way for a long time if you have the discipline to keep yourself from slipping into tuned-out mode. If you are practicing defensive driving you can still enjoy the trip, look at the scenery and listen to the radio, but you cannot allow yourself to get so engrossed in those distractions that they exclude everything else. You are relaxed and enjoying your drive, but you are still watching for road hazards, maintaining a safe following distance and keeping an eye on the behavior of the drivers around you.

The next level of vigilance, focused vigilance, is like driving in hazardous road conditions. You need to practice this level of vigilance when you are driving on icy or slushy roads. When you are driving in such an environment, you need to keep two hands on the wheel at all times and have your attention totally focused on the road and the other drivers around you. You do not dare take your eyes off the road or let your attention wander. There is no time for cellphone calls or other distractions. The level of concentration required for this type of driving makes it extremely tiring and stressful. A drive that you normally would not think twice about, will totally exhaust you under these conditions because it demands prolonged and total concentration.

The fourth level of vigilance is high alert. This is the level that induces an adrenaline rush, a prayer and a gasp for air all at the same time. This is what happens when that car you are watching at the intersection ahead does not stop at the stop sign and pulls out right in front of you. High alert can be frightening, but at this level you are still able to function. You can hit your brakes and keep your car under control. In fact, the adrenaline rushes you get at this stage will oftentimes assist your reflexes.

The last level of vigilance, comatose, is what happens when you literally freeze at the wheel and cannot respond to stimuli, either because you have fallen asleep or, at the other end of the spectrum, because you are petrified. It is this panic-induced paralysis that concerns us most in relation to vigilance. The comatose level is where you go into shock, your brain ceases to process information and you simply cannot react to the reality of the situation. Many times, when this happens, an individual can go into denial, believing that this cannot be happening to me, or the individual can feel as though he or she is observing the event rather than actually participating in it. Often, the passage of time will seem to grind to a halt. Crime victims frequently report experiencing this sensation and being unable to act during an unfolding crime.

Finding the Right Level

Now that we have discussed the different levels of vigilance, let us focus on identifying what level is ideal at a given time. The body and mind both require rest, so we have to spend several hours each day at the comatose level while asleep. When we are sitting at our homes watching a movie or reading a book, it is perfectly fine to operate in the tuned-out mode. However, some people will attempt to maintain the tuned-out mode in decidedly inappropriate environments, or they will maintain a state of mind wherein they deny that criminals can victimize them. That could not happen to me, so there is no need to watch for it. This results in being tuned out to any potential threats.

If you are tuned out while you are driving, and something happens, for example, a child runs out into the road or a car stops quickly in front of you, you will not see the problem coming. This usually means that you either do not see the hazard in time to avoid it and you hit it, or you totally panic, freeze and cannot react to it, neither is good. These reactions or lack of reactions, occur because it is very difficult to change mental states quickly enough, especially when the adjustment requires moving several steps from tuned out to high alert. It is like trying to shift your car directly from first gear into fifth and it shudders and stalls. Many times, when people are forced to make this mental jump and they panic (and stall), they go into shock and will actually freeze and be unable to take any action, they go comatose. This happens not only when driving but also when some criminal ambushes someone totally unaware and unprepared. While training does help people move up and down the vigilance continuum, it is difficult for even highly trained individuals to transition from tuned out to high alert.

It is critical to stress here that vigilance does not mean being paranoid or obsessively concerned about self-preservation. In fact, most individuals simply cannot operate in a state of focused vigilance for extended periods, and high alert can be maintained only for very brief periods before mental exhaustion sets in. The fight-or-flight response can be very helpful if it can be controlled. When it gets out of control, however, a constant stream of adrenaline and stress is simply not healthy for the body and mind, and this also hinders self-preservation. Therefore, operating constantly in a state of high alert is not the answer, nor is operating for prolonged periods in a state of focused alert, which can also be demanding and completely exhausting. The human body was simply not designed to operate under constant stress. All people, even highly skilled operators, require time to rest and recover.

Because of this, the basic level of vigilance that should be practiced most of the time is relaxed vigilance, a state of mind that can be maintained indefinitely without all the stress and fatigue associated with focused vigilance or high alert. Relaxed vigilance is not tiring, and it allows you to enjoy life while rewarding you with an effective level of self-preservation. When people are in an area where there is potential danger (which, in reality, is almost anywhere), they should go through most of the day in a state of relaxed vigilance. Then if they spot something out of the ordinary that could be a threat, they can switch to a state of focused vigilance and take a careful look at that potential threat (and also look for others in the area). If the possible threat proves harmless, or is simply a false alarm, they can switch back down into relaxed vigilance and continue on their way. If, on the other hand, the potential threat becomes a probable threat, seeing it in advance allows an individual to take actions to avoid it. In such a case they may never need to elevate to high alert, since they have avoided the problem at an early stage.

However, once an individual is in a state of focused vigilance they are far better prepared to handle the jump to high alert if the threat does change from potential to actual; if the three guys lurking on the corner do start advancing and look as if they are reaching for weapons.

Of course, when an individual knowingly ventures into an area that is very dangerous, it is only sensible to practice focused vigilance while in that area. For example, if there is a part of a city that is controlled (and patrolled) by criminal gangs and the area cannot be avoided for whatever reason, it would be sensible to practice a heightened level of vigilance when in those areas. An increased level of vigilance is also sensible when engaging in common or everyday tasks, such as visiting an ATM or walking to the car in a dark parking lot. When the time of potential danger has passed, it is then easy to switch back to a state of relaxed vigilance.

People can hone their vigilance ability by practicing some simple drills. For example, you can consciously move your vigilance level up to a focused state for short periods of time during the day. Some examples of this can include identifying all the exits when you enter a building, counting the number of people in a restaurant or subway car, or noting which cars take the same turns in traffic. One trick that many law enforcement officers are taught is to take a look at the people around them and attempt to figure out their stories, in other words, what they do for a living, their mood, what they are focused on and what it appears they are preparing to do that day, based merely on observation. Employing such simple focused-vigilance drills will train a person's mind to be aware of these things almost subconsciously when the individual is in a relaxed state of vigilance.

This vigilance process also demonstrates the importance of people being familiar with their environment and the dangers that are present there. Such vigilance permits some threats to be avoided and others to be guarded against when you must venture into a dangerous area.

Not everyone is forced to live in the type of intense threat environment currently found in places like Mogadishu, Juarez or Kandahar. Nonetheless, average citizens all over the world face many different kinds of threats on a daily basis; from common thieves and assailants to criminals and mentally disturbed individuals intending to conduct violent acts to terrorists wanting to carry out large-scale attacks.

Many of the steps required to conduct these attacks must be accomplished in a manner that makes the actions visible to the potential victim and outside observers, if people are looking for such actions. It is at these instances that people practicing vigilance can detect these signs, avoid the danger themselves and if necessary, alert the authorities.

As criminals become bolder and wiser and the terrorist threat continues to devolve into grassroots cells and lone wolves, ordinary citizens practicing good vigilance, become more important than ever before.

Mental Vigilance

In a brutal situation, the greatest challenge an individual may face is not their immediate aggressor and what they can or will do to them. There is always an effective solution to that problem.

The issue is: an individual’s state of mind preventing them from implementing a proactive solution to the problem in the time available.

The challenge an average individual will face is conquering their own way of thinking to effectively deal with the threat, and to be able to do it before the attacker is successful in their actions.

While it may seem like a simple and obvious thing, the truth is it is not that simple. Shifting a frame of mind is not something you just do on the spot. The human brain is a marvel of flexibility and adaptability, but it is not that versatile.

If you have not prepared yourself beforehand, the difficulties of getting into the right state of mind always present themselves at the worst possible time. When you are in a fight for your self-preservation and well-being, having these problems unexpectedly materialize, is the last thing you need. In fact, the way these problems appear is like driving across the desert at high speed and suddenly having the wide canyon emerge in front of your vehicle. You can see where you want to go, but that unexpected mile-wide chasm between you and your goal complicates the journey to your desired destination.

That is a good comparison for the average individual who suddenly discovers themselves facing an aggressive situation. They may see where they need to go, but there is a massive abyss between them and that destination. Facing unexpected and previously unknown problems, the odds are against them reaching their goal.

But if you have prepared yourself, those issues are neither unexpected nor impossible. Staying with the canyon allegory; knowledge and pre-consideration of certain issues decrease the problem from the canyon to a mere ravine. You may still have to circumvent it, but by realizing it is there, it is considerably much more manageable.

When it comes to self-preservation, there are well known areas that most people commonly stumble over. The following list is an introduction to those biggest issues. The intent of this list is not to tell you how you must accomplish them, but to acquaint you with the problems, their component parts and issues you must familiarize yourself with if you wish to survive a potentially dangerous situation:

✓ Identification

✓ Acceptability

✓ Time

✓ Response

✓ Adrenaline

Identification

It would be wonderful if crime and violence occurred like does in the movies. In that digital and high definition world, one minute you would be walking to your car, the sinister music would be swelling in the background and the menacing bad guys would be coming out of the shadows. In this heroic fantasy, you could immediately identify what was happening; find time to situate yourself in a perfect fighting stance and position, making sure the lighting was perfect to capture your well-toned muscles and perfect hair. You would be ready for any or all comers. And when the antagonists did attack, you would dispatch them without breaking a sweat.

Violence does not happen that way. It can be difficult to identify when a situation is developing into a criminal act. Realize that crime is a process. Once you know what it looks like, it is obvious when it is evolving. The problem is that individuals become so emotionally involved, that they fail to identify the signs. Often, they are literally blind to them. If you know the danger signals, it is as obvious as if you were watching the events happening on a movie screen.

Being able to identify when someone is trying to set you up for an ambush, is one of the biggest steps in being able to mentally prepare yourself to stop it. The more warning you get, the more you can both prepare for and double check that the threat is real and not your imagination.

Acceptability

Have you ever stopped for a moment and thought about how you think? Do you really understand where many of the ideas that you believe in originated from? Have you ever asked yourself, What don't I know? and how easily you can confuse what you think for what you know? Have you ever wondered how much of what you do is based in logic vs. natural programming? It is hard to think outside of the box, if you do not even realize you are in one.

Most people do the majority of their thinking out of personal habit. They have established assumptions, ideas, ideologies and ways of thinking that they use to function in their everyday lives. These standards not only guide their actions but become self-reinforcing and self-limiting. The more individuals think a certain way, the less able they are to think in other ways. Most people take for granted that their standards and way of thinking are correct. Often, they fail to see the gaping holes, contradictions, limits and application/non-application of how they think. They fail to see how much the way they think limits their options, especially in situations outside