“Situational Readiness” by D. Doane So, What is this topic about? It is about drawing out and mastering a basic human instinct that we all have. Most of us do not even realize that it exists. So, what is it called? I call it “ Situational Readiness”. Do you have it ? Sure you do. Can most of us master it? Probably not. So why are we so out of touch with our instincts? It is as simple as this: In this environment that man has created, it is no longer needed, at least not on a regular basis. I can envision early man walking through tall grass, hunting, crouching, stalking his prey when he suddenly realizes that he is being stalked, and he is now the prey. As soon as we realize that we are in this type of situation, our body will respond with certain physiological symptoms that will prepare us to “Fight or Flight”. Blood will migrate to our major muscle groups in anticipated need for strength, our heart rate will increase to accommodate the demand for oxygenated blood, our respiration will increase to hyper-oxygenate our blood, our blood pressure will increase, our pupils will dilate, we will begin to sweat in anticipation for the need to cool our body from the heat output of all these factors. Most importantly, we lose most of our “FINE MOTOR SKILLS”. So what does that mean? That means our ability to respond with precision and execute good decisions has been severely diminished. We all too often miss important data that we need simply because we are on “endorphin overload”. We will get caught off guard and our fingertips will fail us. If you have ever tried to dial a cell phone while under extreme crisis, then you know what I mean. “Ok Sir, what did the suspect have on? What was he wearing?”…….We miss important clues because adrenaline has got us on a “High”. Sometimes our eyes will play tricks on us and we will fill in the blanks with what we think is correct. “He was a HUGE buck, at least 14points and 300 lbs” All those “facts” may be distorted simply because our brain is screaming for oxygen. So how do we counter this? We gain experience. How do we do that, you say? Situational Readiness Training. We can condition ourselves to counter the physiological symptoms through “MUSCLE MEMORY” and creating a training environment that simulates the stressors we encounter. This will condition our bodies to hesitate before unleashing a barrage of emotions and to remain calm under pressure. There is a rumor floating around military circles that a News reporter interviewed a 20 year old USMC Sniper in Afghanistan and she asked “What do you feel when you fire on the enemy?” He looked at her puzzled and said “RECOIL”. Not sure how true that is, but it is a true concept that you can train the anxiety, fear, and hesitation right out of you. After so many times of being used, the “Adrenaline factories” become less likely to dump their potions into you. Some psychologists will label this “Flattened Affect” and will want to prescribe meds to “cure” this. Don’t ask me how I know this, LOL. Having a constant sense of readiness is not such a bad thing. Does it make you uncomfortable to have your back to the entrance door in a crowded restaurant? WHY? Explain that. Do you lock your doors when you see someone walking on the sidewalk and you are approaching a red light? It’s just an old man! Why do you leave the porch light on when you know you will be returning after dark? Why waste the electricity? Most of us do these things already do to some extent. How about this: You hear someone prying open your front door open at 2AM. Are you prepared to deal with it? What will you do? Can you react with a successful response? Can you deal with the grave reality that someone is in your house? Are you ready for this situation? How will you respond, fight or flight? Those questions are better answered during a Training Scenario rather than in a dark hallway facing an armed intruder. If you have trained on this very scenario, then you will have that training to fall back on when faced with this type of encounter. I will be offering this type of scenario based training soon. “Home Defense Shotgun” and “Situational Awareness” training will be geared towards the average citizen who has felt the need and concern to prepare. Unfortunately, there is a need for this type of training, and I feel the need to provide you with the utmost quality of training possible to prepare you. It will not be a “Tactical Operator” SWAT Qualification course. Just regular folks. I hope I have inspired thought with this message to you, and I hope to see you in class soon.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 01:14:59 +0000
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