The Coordinator: Managing High-Risk High-Consequence Social Interactions in an Unfamiliar Environment

By Ellis Amdur and Robert Hubal

How should a law enforcement officer manage an encounter with someone who might be mentally unstable or in crisis—but does not appear to pose an immediate threat? How might a platoon commander engage with a foreign civilian who has key information for an intelligence-gathering mission, but is wary of sharing—maybe even being seen&mda

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edgework: Crisis Intervention Resources PLLC
• Release date: Oct 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781087809465

Ellis Amdur

Ellis Amdur received his B.A. in psychology from Yale University and his M.A. in psychology from Seattle University. He is both a National Certified Counselor and a State Certified Child Mental Health Specialist. Amdur has trained in various martial arts systems for the past fifty years, spending thirteen of these years studying in Japan. He is a recognized expert in classical and modern Japanese martial traditions and has authored three iconoclastic books on the subject, as well as one instructional DVD. Since his return to the U.S. in 1988, Amdur has worked in the field of crisis intervention as a pioneering instructor for law enforcement. He has written eighteen books on the subjects of crisis intervention, hostage negotiation and the art of psychotherapy, many with subject-matter expert co-writers, as well as several works of fiction. He is a dynamic public speaker and trainer who presents to people working in a variety of professions throughout the United States and internationally. He is noted for his sometimes-outrageous humor as well as his profound breadth of knowledge. His vivid descriptions of aggressive and mentally ill people and his true-to-life role-playing of the behaviors in question give participants an almost first-hand experience of facing the real patients in question. In addition, Amdur has developed a range of consultation services, as well as a unique style of assessment and psychotherapy. Amdur's professional philosophy can best be summed up as: The development of an individual's integrity and dignity is the paramount virtue. This can only occur when people live courageously, regardless of the circumstances, and take responsibility for their roles in making the changes they desire.

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NOTES AND NOTICES

The Coordinator: Managing High-Risk, High-Consequence Social Interactions in an Unfamiliar Environment 2nd Revised & Expanded Edition

© 2019 by Ellis Amdur, M.A., N.C.C., C.M.H.S. and Robert Hubal, M.S., Ph.D.

ISBN: 978-1-950678-09-9

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PUBLISHED WORKS BY THE AUTHORS

LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES

IN GRATITUDE FOR EXPERT CRITIQUE

FOREWORD: Manny Acosta; John Driscoll

PREFACE

SECTION I: Introduction to the Coordinator

CHAPTER 1:Introduction to the Coordinator

CHAPTER 2:Essential Definitions

CHAPTER 3:Learning Objectives—Essential Coordinator Skills

SUMMARY OF SECTION I

SECTION II: Composure: Standing with Strength in Crisis Situations

CHAPTER 4:Coordination of Self

• Adopting the Right Attitude

CHAPTER 5:Driving on Black Ice: Stillness in Motion

CHAPTER 6:It’s Not Personal Unless You Make It So

CHAPTER 7:No One Will Own Me—‘Check Your Gear’ Before Starting the Mission

CHAPTER 8:Tactical Breathing—Be the Eye in the Center of the Hurricane

• Circular Breathing Method #1—Front to Back

• Circular Breathing Method #2—Back to Front

• How Should You Practice Circular Breathing?

• When Should You Use Circular Breathing?

• Circular Breathing to Ward Off or Even Heal from Trauma

CHAPTER 9:Alternative Breathing Methods

• Numbered Breathing

• Matching Breaths

CHAPTER 10:The Intoxication and Joy of Righteous Anger

• Protecting Your Family and Team from What You Otherwise Would Bring Home

SUMMARY OF SECTION II

SECTION III:Beyond the Basics—Core Elements Necessary to Manage High-Risk High-Consequence Situations

CHAPTER 11:Core Elements

CHAPTER 12:Dynamic Relaxation—Your Physical and Attitudinal Stance

CHAPTER 13:Correct Distance

CHAPTER 14:Eye Contact

CHAPTER 15:Interweaving

• Bracketing

• Scanning

• Entry

• Regulating

CHAPTER 16:A Few Angles on Bias

• My Way Is the Only Way (aka Egocentricity Bias )

• Attribution Bias

• Confirmation Bias

CHAPTER 17:Beyond Personal Bias Is Pattern Bias

• Common Patterns

CHAPTER 18:Positive Cognitive Dissonance (Undermining the Other’s Biases Towards the Coordinator)

CHAPTER 19:The ‘Balancing Powers’—Fire & Water

• Fire

• Water

SUMMARY OF SECTION III

SECTION IV:What to Say and How to Say It

CHAPTER 20: A Strategic Approach to Coordinator Skills

• Flow of Dialog

CHAPTER 21:Tactical Paraphrasing—A Core Communication Strategy to Master from the Beginning

• How to Master Tactical Paraphrasing

CHAPTER 22:Incorporating the Lessons Learned from the Discipline of Crisis Intervention

• Crisis Intervention Principles Applied to Cultural Issues

• Crisis Stages

CHAPTER 23:Pros and Cons of Different Forms of Response

CHAPTER 24:Ten Quick Tips to Help Establish Accord in Potentially Hostile Situations

• Focus on the Future

• Avoid Absolutes

• Stance

• Time Management

• Personalize and Provide Direction

• Open Response, Observe

• Invest

• No Assumption, No Speculation

• Terminology, Just Talk

• Success

SUMMARY OF SECTION IV

SECTION V: Training Methods

CHAPTER 25:Self-Training Methods to Embed Coordinator Skills

• Embodiment

• Putting Oneself Out There

CHAPTER 26:Using an Array of Methods to Teach & Train Coordinator Skills

• The Art of Training

CHAPTER 27:Adaptation to the Student

CHAPTER 28:Situated Assessments Can Evolve and Be Adapted

CHAPTER 29:Recommendations for Different Training Methods

SUMMARY OF SECTION V

SECTION VI: Responding to Things Going Sideways

CHAPTER 30:Be at Your Best by Preparing for the Worst

CHAPTER 31:The Predator

CHAPTER 32:Honor and Shame

CHAPTER 33:Feeling/Emotional Based—No Internal Compass

CHAPTER 34:The Criminal—Pure-Self Interest

CHAPTER 35:The Eccentric/Mentally Disordered Person

SUMMARY OF SECTION VI

SECTION VII: Situated Examples: Coordinator Scenarios

CHAPTER 36:Scenarios for Warfighters

• The Artificial Leg

• Terror

• The Warlord/General

• Survivor’s Guilt

CHAPTER 37:Scenarios for Police

• I Need Medicine

• Terror

• The Ward Boss

• Survivor’s Guilt

SECTION VIII: Putting It All Together

CHAPTER 38:To Trainers—A Review

• Initiation

• Nonverbal Communication

• Sensemaking

• Recognizing Social Affordances

• Perspective Tracking (Empathy )

• Building Rapport

• Decisive Action

• Repair

• Successful Outcomes

• Balancing Integrity, Decisive Action, Trust and Human Respect

CHAPTER 39: Final Word

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

PUBLISHED WORKS BY THE AUTHORS

The Accord Agent: Managing Intense, Problematic Social Interactions Within Business Environments—Ellis Amdur & Robert Hubal

The Coordinator: Managing High-Risk High-Consequence Social Interactions in an Unfamiliar Environment (2nd Revised Edition)—Ellis Amdur & Robert Hubal

OTHER WORKS BY ELLIS AMDUR

On the De-Escalation of Aggression, Crisis Negotiation, & Other Psychological Areas

Body and Soul: Toward a Radical Intersubjectivity in Psychotherapy—Ellis Amdur

Cooling the Flames: Communication, Control, and De-escalation of Mentally Ill & Aggressive Patients. A Comprehensive Guidebook for Emergency Medical Services—Ellis Amdur & John K. Murphy

Everything on the Line: Calming and De-escalation of Aggressive and Mentally Ill Individuals on the Phone. A Comprehensive Guidebook for Emergency Dispatch (9-1-1) Centers—Ellis Amdur

From Chaos to Compliance: Communication, Control, and De-escalation of Mentally Ill, Emotionally Disturbed and Aggressive Offenders. A Comprehensive Guidebook for Parole and Probation Officers—Ellis Amdur & Alan Pelton

Guarding the Gates: Calming, Control and De-escalation of Mentally Ill, Emotionally Disturbed and Aggressive Individuals. A Comprehensive Guidebook for Security Guards—Ellis Amdur & William Cooper

Grace Under Fire: Skills to Calm and De-escalate Aggressive and Mentally Ill Individuals in Outpatient Settings. A Comprehensive Guidebook for Health and Social Services Agencies, and Individual Practitioners (2nd Edition)—Ellis Amdur

In the Eye of the Hurricane: Skills to Calm and De-escalate Aggressive and Mentally Ill Family Members (2nd Edition)—Ellis Amdur

Safe Behind Bars: Communication, Control, and De-escalation of Mentally Ill and Aggressive Inmates. A Comprehensive Guidebook for Correctional Officers in Jail Settings—Ellis Amdur, Michael Blake & Chris De Villeneuve

Safe Haven: Skills to Calm and De-escalate Aggressive and Mentally Ill Individuals. A Comprehensive Guidebook for Personnel Working in Hospital and Residential Settings (2nd Edition)—Ellis Amdur

Safety at Work: Skills to Calm and De-escalate Aggressive and Mentally Ill Individuals. A Comprehensive Guidebook for Corporate Security Managers, Human Resources Staff, Loss Prevention Specialists, Executive Protection, and Others Involved in Threat Management Professions—Ellis Amdur & William Cooper

Shapeshifting for Law Enforcement CNT/HNT: Effective Scenario Training for Crisis/Hostage Negotiation Teams—Ellis Amdur & Ret. Sgt. Lisbeth Eddy

Shapeshifting for Correctional Facility CNT/HNT: Effective Scenario Training for Crisis/Hostage Negotiation Teams—Ellis Amdur & Ret. Sgt. Lisbeth Eddy

The Thin Blue Lifeline: Verbal De-escalation of Mentally Ill and Emotionally Disturbed People. A Comprehensive Guidebook for Law Enforcement Officers—Ellis Amdur & John Hutchings

Threat De-Escalation: How to Effectively Assess and Diffuse Dangerous Situations (Book & DVD). A Publication of the United States Concealed Carry Association—Ellis Amdur

Words of Power: A Guide for Ordinary People to Calm and De-Escalate Aggressive Individuals—Ellis Amdur

Published by Freelance Academy Press, Inc.—http://www.freelanceacademypress.com/

Dueling with O-Sensei: Grappling with the Myth of the Warrior Sage (Revised & Expanded Edition)—Ellis Amdur

Hidden in Plan Sight: Tracing the Roots of Ueshiba Morihei’s Power (Revised & Expanded Edition)—Ellis Amdur

Old School: Essays on Japanese Martial Traditions (2nd Expanded Edition)—Ellis Amdur

Fiction

The Cimarronin: A Samurai in New Spain. A Graphic Novel—Neal Stephenson, Charles Mann, Ellis Amdur, & Mark Teppo

The Girl with the Face of the Moon (A Novel)—Ellis Amdur

SELECTED WORKS BY ROBERT HUBAL

Technology Assisted Learning

Hubal R, Folsom-Kovarik J, Woods A, Jones R, Carbone J. Patterns of life in the foreground and background: Practical approaches to enhancing simulation-based interaction skills training. Proceedings of the Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation Conference (pp 75-83). The BRIMS Society; 2015

Hubal R, Parsons T. Synthetic environments for skills training and practice. In: Lin L, Spector JM (eds.), The Sciences of Learning and Instructional Design: Constructive Articulation between Communities (pp 152-185). Routledge; 2017.

Hubal R, Pina J. Serious assessments in serious games. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations, 2012; 4(3):49-64.

Stress and Social Competency

Hourani LL, Tueller SJ, Kizakevich PN, Lewis G, Strange LB, Weimer BJ, Bryant SP, Bishop E, Hubal RC, Spira JL. Toward preventing posttraumatic stress disorder: Development and testing of a stress inoculation program. Military Medicine, 2016; 181(9):1151-60.

Hubal R, Kizakevich P, McLean A, Hourani L. A multimedia environment for stressing warfighters before they deploy. Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (pp 1688-96). NDIA; 2010.

Hubal R, van Lent M, Wender J, Lande B, Flanagan S, Quinn S. What does it take to train a good stranger? Proceedings of the International Conference on Cross-Cultural Decision Making (pp 5076-83). AHFE International; 2015.

Hubal R. The imperative for social competency prediction. In: Yang SJ, Greenberg AM, Endsley M (eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, & Prediction (pp 188-95). Springer-Verlag; 2012.

Responsive Virtual Humans

Hubal R. Embodied tutors for interaction skills simulation training. International Journal of Virtual Reality, 2008; 7(1):1-8.

Hubal RC, Bonner MJ, Hardy KK, FitzGerald DP, Willard VW, Allen TM. Technical aspects and testing of a program to assess deficits in facial expression recognition in childhood cancer survivors. Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation, 2011; 4(3):363-9.

Hubal RC, Evens NR, FitzGerald DP, Hardy KK, Willard VW, Bonner MJ. Implementation of FACS for synthetic characters for use in studying facial expression recognition by survivors of childhood cancer. Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine, 2008; 6:35-40.

Hubal RC, Fishbein DH, Sheppard MS Paschall MJ, Eldreth DL, Hyde CT. How do varied populations interact with embodied conversational agents? Findings from inner-city adolescents and prisoners. Computers in Human Behavior, 2008; 24(3):1104-38.

Paschall MJ, Fishbein DH, Hubal RC, Eldreth D. Psychometric properties of virtual reality vignette performance measures: A novel approach for assessing adolescents’ social competency skills. Health Education Research: Theory and Practice, 2005; 20(1):61-70.

Emotion and Response

Eriksson EJ, Rodman RD, Hubal RC. Emotions in speech: Juristic implications. In: Müller C (ed.), Speaker Classification I: Fundamentals, Features, and Methods (pp 152-73). Springer-Verlag; 2007.

Fishbein DH, Hyde C, Eldreth D, Paschall MJ, Hubal R, Das A, Tarter R, Ialongo N, Hubbard S, Yung B. Neurocognitive skills moderate urban male adolescents’ responses to preventive intervention materials. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2006; 82(1):47-60.

Fishbein DH, Sheppard ME, Hyde C, Hubal RC, Newlin DB, Serin R, Chrousos G, Alesci S. Deficits in behavioral inhibition predict treatment engagement in prison inmates. Law and Human Behavior, 2009; 33(5): 419-35.

Guinn C, Hubal R. Extracting emotional information from the text of spoken dialog. Proceedings of the Workshop on Assessing and Adapting to User Attitudes and Affect: Why, When and How? User Modeling, Inc.; 2003.

Hourani LL, Council CL, Hubal RC, Strange LB. Approaches to the primary prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder in the military: A review of the stress control literature. Military Medicine, 2011; 176(7):721-30.

Hubal R, Frank G, Guinn C, Dupont R. Integrating a crisis stages model into a simulation for training law enforcement officers to manage encounters with the mentally ill. In: Hudlicka E, Canamero L (eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on Architectures for Modeling Emotion: Cross-Disciplinary Foundations, AAAI Spring Symposium Series (pp 68-9). ACM Press; 2004.

Hubal R, Mitroff SR, Cain MS, Scott B, DeWitt R. Simulating a vigilance task: Extensible technology for baggage security assessment and training. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security (pp 543-8). IEEE; 2010.

LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES

FIGURES

FIGURE 1: Coordinator Skills Involved in an Interaction

FIGURE 2A: Circular Breathing Method #1

FIGURE 2B: Circular Breathing Method #2

FIGURE 3: Coordinator Stances

FIGURE 4: Example Conversational Flow Diagram

FIGURE 5: Part of the Flow of a Game-Like Learning Experience

TABLES

TABLE 1: Coordinator Learning Objective

TABLE 2: Crisis Stage Behavior or Attitude of Other Person

TABLE 3: Forms of Coordinator’s Response

TABLE 4: Performance Questionnaire

IN GRATITUDE FOR EXPERT CRITIQUE OF FIRST EDITION

The following professionals have closely reviewed this book. With each draft, we have corrected errors of fact, added new information, and fine-tuned the manuscript.

All responsibility for this book, however, must lie in our hands. Any errors, in particular, are our responsibility. Given that this work is intended to be directly applicable to the professions of those who put themselves in harm’s way, please do not hesitate to contact us if you believe that any of this book’s content is inaccurate or misinformed, or requires additional material. The book will be revised, if needed, in future editions.

Don Gemeinhardt (Col. USAF Retired) has held various positions in the military from enlisted Base Patrolman to Chief of Police and Unit Commander during both Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield, and later Special Assistant for Security Matters for the European Command Commander in Chief. Dr. Gemeinhardt then served as Director of Security Programs at RTI International’s Engineering and Technology Unit, Technology-Assisted Learning division. He continued to do analytical work in intelligence and anti-terrorism areas also. He holds an MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, CA, an MSS from the U.S. Army War College, and is a Doctorate in Education Technology with the University of Phoenix. He also has been a member of several Department of Homeland Security Centers of Excellence, at Washington State and with the University of Texas at El Paso, was a Senior Fellow with the FBI Behavior Science Unit at the FBI Academy, and is currently a Basic Law Enforcement instructor and a Field Liaison Officer. He has published several papers on applied learning and various law enforcement efforts and continues to work training and educational efforts with both law enforcement and Department of Defense. He is a second-degree black belt in Motobu-ryu, and a black belt in Judo.

Gary Klein, a senior scientist at MacroCognition LLC, was instrumental in founding the field of naturalistic decision making. Dr. Klein received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1969. He spent the first phase of his career in academia and the second phase working for the government as a research psychologist for the U.S. Air Force. The third phase, in private industry, started in 1978 when he founded Klein Associates, a research and development company that had grown to thirty-seven employees by the time he sold it in 2005. He is the author of Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions; The Power of Intuition; Working Minds: A Practitioner’s Guide to Cognitive Task Analysis (with Beth Crandall and Robert Hoffman); and Streetlights and Shadows: Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making.

Stephen Kotev has over twenty years of conflict resolution experience working as a mediator, negotiator, facilitator, trainer and somatic educator for public and private sector clients. Since 2007, he has served as an Adjunct Professor for George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution in Arlington, VA where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on how to better manage the stress of high-conflict interventions. He is the Chair of the Association for Conflict Resolution Taskforce on Safety in Alternative Dispute Resolution, and holds a black belt in the Japanese martial art of Aikido and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Matthew Krueger has been lead security analyst at Deepforest Security for ten years. With prior experience in both software engineering and law enforcement he works closely with the cyber counter-intelligence community, state and federal law enforcement as a part of efforts to protect national critical infrastructure and multinational, U.S.-based businesses.

Brian Lande earned his Ph.D. in sociology from UC Berkeley in 2010. Dr. Lande is currently a police officer with the Richmond, CA Police Department, with eight years’ experience. He has earned several commendations for actions he has taken during his service. He previously served as founding program manager for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Strategic Social Interaction Modules (SSIM) program, and has extensive experience integrating social science research and technology to develop training systems. Dr. Lande is also co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Polis Solutions, Inc., a Department of Justice Training and Technical Assistance provider of de-escalation training to the U.S. law enforcement community. He also served as an expert on the psychology of decision-making during critical incidents for California Peace Officer Standards and Training (CA POST). He supported the training developments Edge of Chaos and Initial Response to Critical Incidents. Dr. Lande continues his academic research as a Visiting Scholar at the Social Science Matrix at University of California at Berkeley.

Corporal Chris LeBlanc has been a police officer for twenty years in Southwest Washington State, serving more than a dozen years on the Regional SWAT team. He has a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Portland State University. He is a long-time trainer in tactical disciplines, and a Certified Force Science Analyst. Chris is the recipient of a Purple Heart, Medal of Valor, and the Washington State Law Enforcement Medal of Honor.

IN GRATITUDE FOR EXPERT CRITIQUE OF SECOND EDITION

Manny Acosta is a retired Special Forces Officer with 25 years of military service. He is a former police officer, and has a B.S. in Criminal Justice. He currently works as a Special Forces coach/mentor, and facilitates Unconventional Warfare exercises for the Department of Defense. He coaches Special Forces Units on a Crisis Management, analyzing decentralized criminal threat networks, military decision-making processes, contingency planning, and synchronizing operations with intergovernmental organizations and foreign governments. He was previously second in command of a forty-five-man detachment of Observer, Coach, Trainers (OCTs), in conducting unconventional warfare, and defeating terrorism and insurgencies.

John E. Driscoll is a retired Special Agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), United States Department of Justice, and former member of the United States Government Senior Executive Service. During his thirty-year career with the DEA, he served in a variety of assignments in law enforcement and law enforcement training, as both a special agent and supervisory special agent. He has more than sixteen years of experience working in cross-cultural environments, which includes a three-and-one-half year assignment with the United States Department of State as the founding director of the International Law Enforcement Academy, Bangkok, Thailand. His final assignment with the DEA included his promotion to the United States Government Senior Executive Service as Deputy Chief Inspector of the Office of Professional Responsibility, which is responsible for all investigations of the violations of law by DEA employees, as well as violations of departmental regulations and policies. After his retirement from the DEA, he became the director of Integrity Assurance, LLC, which provided consultants to metropolitan law enforcement agencies in the areas of internal security, training, and policy. He received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics by the Louisiana State University, New Orleans, Louisiana. He also holds black belt ranks in aikido, karate, and judo.

FOREWORD: MANNY ACOSTA

For half my military career, I served in the U.S. Army as a Ranger-qualified Infantry Soldier. We trained continuously on one thing—how to close in with and destroy the enemy on any terrain: in the jungle, the desert, the mountains, or urban areas. For the second half of my career, I decided to try out for the U.S. Army Special Forces. I wasn’t quite sure what the Special Forces did; I only knew they were the ones who conducted operations that no one heard about.

I retired from the military a couple of years ago and during one of my aikido classes, the instructor recommended that I read Ellis Amdur’s book on the internal strength of the martial arts entitled Hidden in Plain Sight. My instructor also told me that Mr. Amdur participated in a study and, with Dr. Robert Hubal, co-wrote a book entitled The Coordinator, on why Special Operations Soldiers are successful in unknown environments. Of course, I had to read it.

The Coordinator covers a good portion of what’s taught in the Special Forces Qualification Course: the Q-course. As I stated earlier, the U.S Army Infantry is proficient in fighting and is prepared to do so on any terrain. The Special Forces Soldier is also prepared to fight in any environment, but he is primarily trained on how to think. Early in the Q-course, the cadre focuses on the 12 SOF Imperatives, and using them as a tool to guide your thinking and decision making. The 1st Imperative is how to Understand the Operational Environment. Of course, in just about every military school I attended, the instructor would tell the class, We will teach you how to think, not what to think. That wasn’t always true, but it was definitely so for the Q-course. Critical Thinking was taught, and the Special Forces student had to apply it to every scenario or training event in the Q-course. Students were placed in chaotic environments and had to quickly think through a problem, formulate a course of action, and implement a solution in order to deescalate the situation and regain order. The natural decision for most students was to fall back on their early training, and use the kinetic, or heavy-handed approach. Every time that decision was made, the situation would get worse. The cadre would tell the students that they must always be thinking about a solution with the least negative implications. During a training exercise or real-world catastrophic event, your body can sense when a situation is getting bad. During a firefight, you can feel changes in your body along with the increased stress. Adrenaline will surge through your body along with a cortisol dump. If you don’t know how to control this surge, there’s a possibility that some people will shut down. They will freeze. You must understand what’s happening and force yourself to regain control of the situation. Amdur and Hubal explain some things you can easily do to calm your emotions and regain control of the situation. The breathing exercises covered in the book are very effective when coupled with the proper mindset, preparation and training.

Special Forces Soldiers are placed in uncertain and ambiguous environments that can quickly deteriorate. They are taught how to read body language and understanding different cultural values, beliefs, behaviors and norms. Understanding the Operational Environment will determine how you should engage and negotiate with others. There are numerous cases where being situationally aware of the environment prevented a negative outcome. During my time in Special Forces, many of the training and scenarios we went through seemed unrealistic. The training was created by older Special forces guys who have been around for a while. However, though I couldn’t imagine it at the time, every one of those scenarios I thought was unrealistic, I later experienced very similar dilemmas during my deployments. The only difference was that I was facing real locals, not an American role-player pretending to be a foreign national. There are numerous training scenarios in The Coordinator that may seem unrealistic. But I know from 1st hand experience, that they are very realistic and true.

I currently work as a military contractor, facilitating training for the U.S. Military. The Coordinator is part of my library, along with military doctrinal manuals, that I use for reference during training exercises. It took several years in my Special Forces career to fully grasp what I learned from the Q-course. As I told Mr. Amdur when I first spoke with him, I wish that I had read his book before I went through the Special Forces training. I would have understood what the training was designed to do, and how to maintain my composure in a high-tension ambiguous situation much earlier.

Manny Acosta

MAJOR, SF, U.S. Army (Ret)

FOREWORD: JOHN E. DRISCOLL

Ihave known Ellis Amdur as friend and colleague for nearly two decades. We initially met in 2001, when I returned to Washington, D.C., from a three-year assignment in Bangkok, Thailand. Because of my experience working in Asia as a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and prior experience as Chief of the Far East Section of the DEA’s Office of International Operations, I was detailed to the United States Department of State to establish and serve as the first American Director of the International Law Enforcement Academy, Bangkok, Thailand, which was co-sponsored by the governments of United States of America and Thailand.

Ellis and I became acquainted through a series of martial arts seminars he was teaching in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Ellis and I soon realized we had many common interests related to our study of combative arts. Both of us had spent a more than a decade of our adult lives living in Asia, he in Japan and I in Thailand, with each of us training in Japanese martial arts as well as gaining exposure to the martial arts of China. We also had a strong interest in hoplology, the study of the evolution and development of human combative behavior and performance, both from the theoretical perspective and practical experiences we had acquired within our professions. We both found that the principles we studied regarding violent encounters were fully relevant in potentially adversarial interactions between people of different cultures or mindsets. The application of these