The members of this site are some of the most well-traveled sportsmen and sportswomen in the world. However, your traveling companions may not have your depth of experience. Reading the RSA crime thread had me thinking that some members might find valuable this article on situational awareness I wrote last year. It covers the basics of how to develop the situational awareness mindset and employ it every day. These are things many of you already do subconsciously but might struggle to articulate to someone not as “switched on”.

Please find the article here: Situational Awareness

I apologize for posting a link to the article, but I don't seem able to attach a PDF file.

Mike

Mike,

Thank you for posting this here.

It is amazing how little most people notice around them.

Thanks for posting.

A little paranoia is a useful tool in new, unfamiliar places. Too many folks go on vacation and drop their guard and common sense. If you stand out in a crowd, expect some unwanted attention.

We arrived at Munich airport, got through immigration and customs and went out waiting for a friend of ours to bring the mini bus he hired to pick us up.

Everyone had they bags on trolleys, and the ladies stupidly put their hand bags on top of the suitcases.

I immediate noticed two individuals eyeing the hand bags. I walked up to the bags, and looked the two individuals straight in the eyes, smiled and waved at them.

They took off like they had been scolded!

They were followed by another one who was standing further out.

No sure if he was supposed to creat a diversion or something.

He is correct.

We were in Spain a year and a half or so ago. At some point, my wife asked what I was looking at. My response was that I was looking for a way out should anything happen. She scoffed. Several months later, a terrorist attack occurred at this very spot.

She no longer scoffs at my precautions.

Saeed,

Very true. But it is also amazing how fast people can become more aware of their surroundings when they're taught how.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Mike,

Thank you for posting this here.

It is amazing how little most people notice around them.

Opus,

When I teach this I tell my audience that they won't become paranoid, but they will learn to live in a heightened state of awareness, hopefully for the rest of their lives.

You're spot on about standing out in a crowd. For my US students I have a section called "Spot the American". It consists of pictures I've taken in different parts of the world showing Americans looking, well, like Americans.

quote:

Originally posted by Opus1:
A little paranoia is a useful tool in new, unfamiliar places. Too many folks go on vacation and drop their guard and common sense. If you stand out in a crowd, expect some unwanted attention.

I have had the privilege to live in 4 different countries and have traveled to about 45.

I have also spent time in most of the larger cities in the US to include the tenderloin district of San Francisco, Detroit, and non-touristy parts of Wash, DC.

Just a couple days ago, my wife and I was driving through a seedy part of a big city, and saw a dead body laying on the sidewalk. This was about 9:00am on a Sunday morning.

I learned at a very early point to always keep an eye on what is happening around you.

Be wary of strangers who try to get too friendly or offer you help.

If driving, make sure you know where you going. Getting lost in a big city can put you in the wrong neighborhood.

I try to do most of my travel through large cities during daylight hours, as more and more predators come out at nightfall.

I have a concealed carry permit, and try to arm myself if I am going into a bad neighborhood.

Just the facts of life in today's world.

BH63

quote:

Originally posted by Mike O':
Opus,

When I teach this I tell my audience that they won't become paranoid, but they will learn to live in a heightened state of awareness, hopefully for the rest of their lives.

You're spot on about standing out in a crowd. For my US students I have a section called "Spot the American". It consists of pictures I've taken in different parts of the world showing Americans looking, well, like Americans.

quote:

Originally posted by Opus1:
A little paranoia is a useful tool in new, unfamiliar places. Too many folks go on vacation and drop their guard and common sense. If you stand out in a crowd, expect some unwanted attention.

If you sit outside of the international arrivals terminal at Johannesburg, you can easily spot the American tourists. Then if you watch the crowds at the airport, you can pick out the ones who are also paying a lot of attention to the American and Oriental terrorists. Orientials pose a problem as they travel in packs making them a more difficult target but when one gets separated from the herd, it's game on. Typical Predator/Prey behaviour. Americans however are easier targets as we tend to travel singularly or in smaller groups.

If it is bright and shiny and not welded to an immovable object, the locals believe it's a moral imperative to take it. Through the years I have had to fire a number of staff that absolutely could not comprehend the idea of ownership. They saw anything lying around for more than 30 seconds as abandoned and therefore was fair game.

Was that Barcelona? Glad you weren't there when it happened.

The Mrs. might be a good candidate to read the posted article.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
He is correct.

We were in Spain a year and a half or so ago. At some point, my wife asked what I was looking at. My response was that I was looking for a way out should anything happen. She scoffed. Several months later, a terrorist attack occurred at this very spot.

She no longer scoffs at my precautions.

quote:

Originally posted by Opus1:

quote:

Originally posted by Mike O':
Opus,

When I teach this I tell my audience that they won't become paranoid, but they will learn to live in a heightened state of awareness, hopefully for the rest of their lives.

You're spot on about standing out in a crowd. For my US students I have a section called "Spot the American". It consists of pictures I've taken in different parts of the world showing Americans looking, well, like Americans.

quote:

Originally posted by Opus1:
A little paranoia is a useful tool in new, unfamiliar places. Too many folks go on vacation and drop their guard and common sense. If you stand out in a crowd, expect some unwanted attention.

If you sit outside of the international arrivals terminal at Johannesburg, you can easily spot the American tourists. Then if you watch the crowds at the airport, you can pick out the ones who are also paying a lot of attention to the American and Oriental terrorists. Orientials pose a problem as they travel in packs making them a more difficult target but when one gets separated from the herd, it's game on. Typical Predator/Prey behaviour. Americans however are easier targets as we tend to travel singularly or in smaller groups.

If it is bright and shiny and not welded to an immovable object, the locals believe it's a moral imperative to take it. Through the years I have had to fire a number of staff that absolutely could not comprehend the idea of ownership. They saw anything lying around for more than 30 seconds as abandoned and therefore was fair game.

You obviously know what to look for. The predator-prey behavior occurs outside many international airports. I prefer people have a definite plan before they arrive. Know where the baggage area is. Have transportation prearranged with a driver to meet you. If the driver is going to hold a sign, it should not have your real name.

When carefully made meet & greet plans fall apart, like they did for me in Kabul last year, it’s an attention getter.

link no worky.....got another one?
or am I just the only one who can't get it to work?

quote:

Originally posted by ftg767:

link no worky.....got another one?
or am I just the only one who can't get it to work?

The link seems to be working. But you can also find the article on our company website's news page: AOC News.

The article in question is first on the left in the 2nd row. Fingers crossed it works for you this time.

Mike

Interesting stuff.

One needs to face and be prepared for some of these risk or one will end up living a very cocooned life and not Travel, hunt and fish much.

I have always found heavily police states like Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong safe.

I have found places with gambling casinos and organized crime very safe - Macau.

zim is very safe if you have the right outfitter

You need the right local person on the ground. I am not a big fan of adventure local tourism. If you want to back pack around do it in a tourist place like Thailand and not in Indonesia.

In Brazil for some work stuff 10 years back i was required to have professional security. I simply choose not to go - if I need someone as a bodyguard with a gun protecting me - I choose not to go to that place.

If you travel to any major city - London, NYC, Paris, Mumbai or anywhere else you are going to have to deal with risk of terrorism. You can stay away from some major sites but then you may not get to see and experience the places you went there for. Best to be situationally aware in those places.

When I travel abroad I normally have nothing on me like watches jewelry ect. I carry a old wallet with expired credit cards and many $1 bill. That is my throw/give away wallet. I normally wear columbia roc pants with zippered pockets in which I keep my cash and a credit card.

Most places check you for knives ect - most large malls in India, malls in Thailand, Mueseums in London ect. I would not carry a knife.

Mike

https://youtu.be/89UQqPuR4Q4

What about just walking your dog with your wife in a decent neighborhood in Dallas? There’s no answer, really.

Sometimes I’ll put my G23 in a clip holster on my body while walking my dog at night, but the juvenile with the shotgun likely would’ve won that gun fight. There’s no real answer, as no situations are the same.

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:
https://youtu.be/89UQqPuR4Q4

What about just walking your dog with your wife in a decent neighborhood in Dallas? There’s no answer, really.

Sometimes I’ll put my G23 in a clip holster on my body while walking my dog at night, but the juvenile with the shotgun likely would’ve won that gun fight. There’s no real answer, as no situations are the same.

Terrible

only time I have had burglary/theft in the last 25 years was when someone broke into my car at a gun show

On second thoughts I have had a lot of 1 percenters try and steal money from me via financial frauds (tenet healthcare for one in 2002)

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
We arrived at Munich airport, got through immigration and customs and went out waiting for a friend of ours to bring the mini bus he hired to pick us up.

Everyone had they bags on trolleys, and the ladies stupidly put their hand bags on top of the suitcases.

I immediate noticed two individuals eyeing the hand bags. I walked up to the bags, and looked the two individuals straight in the eyes, smiled and waved at them.

They took off like they had been scolded!

They were followed by another one who was standing further out.

No sure if he was supposed to creat a diversion or something.

Saeed, the third guy was probably a lookout watching for the police or any other 3rd party threats to their planned heist. Your actions told them to find a softer target elsewhere.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike O':
Was that Barcelona? Glad you weren't there when it happened.

The Mrs. might be a good candidate to read the posted article.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
He is correct.

We were in Spain a year and a half or so ago. At some point, my wife asked what I was looking at. My response was that I was looking for a way out should anything happen. She scoffed. Several months later, a terrorist attack occurred at this very spot.

She no longer scoffs at my precautions.

Yes it was. She has seen the article. I sent it to her.

I'm kind of on scan each time I leave the USA and in any unfamiliar place. Perhaps that's from being in some less than safe places often when I was younger and dumber. As has been suggested a little paranoia is not a bad thing and if your gut tells you something isn't right it probably isn't. Don't be a target. Dress down, don't draw attention to yourself and be alert when traveling.

I just returned from Australia where I felt pretty safe but that did not stop me from crossing the street when I saw that the sidewalk was blocked with street people on my side.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
I'm kind of on scan each time I leave the USA and in any unfamiliar place. Perhaps that's from being in some less than safe places often when I was younger and dumber. As has been suggested a little paranoia is not a bad thing and if your gut tells you something isn't right it probably isn't. Don't be a target. Dress down, don't draw attention to yourself and be alert when traveling.

I just returned from Australia where I felt pretty safe but that did not stop me from crossing the street when I saw that the sidewalk was blocked with street people on my side.

Mark

Mark,

You posted good advice, and you are correct about trusting your gut. Too many people fight that gut feeling at their own peril—it’s the modern brain/primitive brain battle. Yet each has its own job to do, and they’re both rather good at it if we just let them get on with it.

I’ve found are often two types of people who are on the right path but haven’t fully committed to the situational awareness mindset. The first is “switched on” at home but throws caution to the wind when traveling. The second flips that around and is tuned in only when away from home. Since being situationally aware is a conscious act (at least at first), and a perishable skill, I encourage everyone to start at home then take that show on the road.

When people drive in their own neighborhoods, they’re usually on a form of mental autopilot. Yet, they subconsciously are watching for children to dart into the street, cars backing out of drive ways, etc. In other words, they are driving defensively.

Situational awareness is the defensive driving of everything.

Mike

Culturally speaking, Americans are non confrontational especially when traveling. We pretty much become a women in a parking lot - head down, don't make eye contact, look at phone, don't confront anyone. It's a recipe for disaster.

We are all hunters and we all know the animal that gets ambushed at the waterhole is the one with its head buried in the water not paying any attention to what's happening around it.

As Saeed pointed out, all you have to do is look up, make eye contact, acknowledge that you are not to be messed with and they will move on to the next target. They don't want to get caught anymore than you want to get robbed, however some act like they do...

Good article, interesting and a worthwhile reminder. Thanks for sharing.

I'm going to give a copy to my significant other, as she'll be traveling alone to Africa, to meet up with me. She's traveled internationally a fair bit, but never to Africa. We will be at Lusaka airport to greet her on arrival.

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
Good article, interesting and a worthwhile reminder. Thanks for sharing.

I'm going to give a copy to my significant other, as she'll be traveling alone to Africa, to meet up with me. She's traveled internationally a fair bit, but never to Africa. We will be at Lusaka airport to greet her on arrival.

If she has any specific questions on the subject, have her reach out through our website, https://adopcon.com.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike O':

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
Good article, interesting and a worthwhile reminder. Thanks for sharing.

I'm going to give a copy to my significant other, as she'll be traveling alone to Africa, to meet up with me. She's traveled internationally a fair bit, but never to Africa. We will be at Lusaka airport to greet her on arrival.

If she has any specific questions on the subject, have her reach out through our website, https://adopcon.com.

Thank you! I'll keep that in mind.

I think travelers are often aloof because they are so filled with giddiness that they are “leaving their cares behind.” I can’t turn it off. We were walking in downtown Seattle late one night after a show and I abruptly changed sides of the street. My wife was like, “what was all that about?” I said, did you see the creepy guy in the trench coat walking toward you?” She said, “what guy ?” He couldn’t have been more than 30 feet from us when i swapped sides. She was too busy taking in the lights...

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
I think travelers are often aloof because they are so filled with giddiness that they are “leaving their cares behind.” I can’t turn it off. We were walking in downtown Seattle late one night after a show and I abruptly changed sides of the street. My wife was like, “what was all that about?” I said, did you see the creepy guy in the trench coat walking toward you?” She said, “what guy ?” He couldn’t have been more than 30 feet from us when i swapped sides. She was too busy taking in the lights...

Yup. I have a few interesting incidents.

I was in Queenstown, New Zealand with a (now) ex significant other. We were walking back from a very nice dinner. I saw these guys that got my attention. As we got closer, I thought I heard them speaking Russian. That really got my attention. Then I saw a gun. Now all alarms were going off. I grabbed her arm and said let’s walk over here. She wanted to f’ing argue with me. I politely but a little more firmly tried again. No luck. I grabbed her and told her if she didn’t come with me I was going to knock her the fu@k out. At this point, she knew something was wrong . Regardless, she still balked. I grabbed her arm and drug her away.

She was absolutely clueless as to what had come down. This woman was not an idiot. In fact, I would put her at genius level. She was simply oblivious.

Most woman does not have a clue or understanding of these things. They are normally observing totally different things than men in such situations. And they find it often difficult to decide out of what they see and observe because they are not prepared in their heads…

However… regarding fireworks - good point. Most people would probably react slowly to that sound... and not think of arms being fired …


Morten

quote:

Originally posted by The Norwegian:
Most woman does not have a clue or understanding of these things. They are normally observing totally different things than men in such situations. And they find it often difficult to decide out of what they see and observe because they are not prepared in their heads…

However… regarding fireworks - good point. Most people would probably react slowly to that sound... and not think of arms being fired …


Morten

In my experience, it isn't a person's gender but rather their previous experiences that determine how alert an untrained person will be. After situational awareness training, we have found practically no difference between men and women in similar circumstances.

Fascinating what some people wear while travelling!

Last week at Stockholm's Arlanda airport.

One lady who was well passed it, was wearing see through trousers!!

Honestly, it was embarrassing even looking at her!

One old man, who was so suntanned, was unshaven for a few days, very long mustache, was wearing extremely short shorts, shredded to pieces, you could not see the top part of them due to his ginormous belly!

Lots of young girls were wearing what really looks like underwear, leaving not much to the imagination!

I find most flights too cold, so tend to wear more clothes to keep warm!!

Met another passenger in a coffee shop, who looked to be just as amazed as me at some of the passengers.

I said "I think these people forgot that they travelling"

He said "You are being too generous. Some of these people forgot how to even think!"

He was from Finland!

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:


On second thoughts I have had a lot of 1 percenters try and steal money from me via financial frauds (tenet healthcare for one in 2002)

Mike

Mike, I think you need to re-evaluate that Telsa stock and your S Model deposit. You've been ripped off and haven't realized it yet!

Todd, if you're anywhere around me, I'm VERY much aware of that :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Fascinating what some people wear while travelling!

Last week at Stockholm's Arlanda airport.

One lady who was well passed it, was wearing see through trousers!!

Honestly, it was embarrassing even looking at her!

One old man, who was so suntanned, was unshaven for a few days, very long mustache, was wearing extremely short shorts, shredded to pieces, you could not see the top part of them due to his ginormous belly!

Lots of young girls were wearing what really looks like underwear, leaving not much to the imagination!

I find most flights too cold, so tend to wear more clothes to keep warm!!

Met another passenger in a coffee shop, who looked to be just as amazed as me at some of the passengers.

I said "I think these people forgot that they travelling"

He said "You are being too generous. Some of these people forgot how to even think!"

He was from Finland!

Some people always want to make a fashion statement when they travel. Through my eyes, that statement reads, "target me first!"

We teach people to blend in as much as possible. Standing out at wrong time and place can be much more than embarrassing. Attracting attention, especially advertising wealth, is like sporting 100lb ivory on both sides. Every “hunter” wants a shot.