Situational Awareness (SA) is a skill that most people possess on different levels. It is a skill that is essential for survival, or when pursuing any goals or objectives. When talking to people about SA, I have found there is conciderable confusion about what SA means, and how we use it in day to day life or in a survival situation. There are three categories of awareness that people fall into; Paranoia, Normalcy Bias (NB), and Situational Awareness(SA). First, I will discuss Paranoia and Normalcy Bias so I can better illustrate what SA is and how we use it.

Paranoia [ˌpar.rəˈnoɪ.ə] ( paranoid [ˈpar.rə.noɪd]) is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself. Making false accusations and the general distrust of others also frequently accompany paranoia. For example, an incident most people would view as an accident a paranoid person might make an accusation that it was intentional. That's the definition of paranoid according to wikipedia, but to be paranoid when discussing SA you dont have to be clinically insane. Paranoid, for sake of this discussion, means that the person has an unreasonable fear of something going wrong or that someone/something is going to harm them whether it is intentional or unintentional. The paranoid man reads the news about a murder and is afraid that it could happen to them, or they see a food recall and now they are afraid to eat pork. They take activities and events that are completely normal and focus on what could go wrong or how it could hurt them.


Normalcy Bias (NB) refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster situations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. This is the little old lady living on a mountain cabin knitting a blanket while the volcanos spewing lava everywhere and you cant tell if she is oblivious to her impending doom or if she just doesn't care. We all know people who have NB, people who don't understand why we store food/ammo or have a BOB. They just don't seem to understand that SOMETHING could go wrong and live their lives completely unprepared for anything. In many ways, the USA was suffering from NB in the years before 9/11.

So what is Situational Awareness? Situation awareness involves being aware of what is happening around you to understand how information, events, and one's own actions will impact survival goals and objectives, both immediately and in the near future. The most clear way to demonstrate SA is to compare it to responsible driving methods. When you get into a car, what do you do before you drive off? Buckle your seatbelt. Why? Are you paranoid that something bad is going to happen? That a cop will give you a ticket for not wearing one? No. You wear the seatbelt because you are not niave and know that something CAN go wrong and by simply being prepared with a seatbelt you just mitigated any possible injures. You are not afraid to ride in the car, and you are not an idiot either. You are aware of what CAN happen but probably wont. So, now you're driving through town and other cars are driving by. Are you afraid that those cars are going to hit you? Are you behind the wheel eating a sandwich and sending a txt message? No, and No. Because, you are not paranoid or NB. You are an intellegent, situationally aware person who pays attention to your surroundings and understands that bad things can happen but probably wont.

Everybody uses SA awareness everyday, but take it for granted. Its a skill that is very useful for survival, and day to day living. One time I was at Walmart putting my groceries in the truck and out of nowhere this guy comes up from behind me and scares the hell out of me. He was trying to bum a ride, and I told him no. That event, which was a nonevent, made me realize that I should stay aware of my surroundings. If he meant to stab me and take my stuff he would have done it easily as my back was turned and I was in my own little world day dreaming. (probably about zombies)

Situational Awareness Exercises

Ask any law enforcement or military weapons trainer and they will tell you that the best way to master a new skill is to PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. SA is a skill like any other and you should have it mastered so you wont have to stop and gather lots of information in a matter of seconds to make a decision. You need to practice that skill daily so when SA is needed the most you will be able to leap into action and make those decisions. Here are some exercises that anyone can do 15 minutes a day to stay on top of things.


KEEP UP ON YOUR LOCAL AND NATIONAL NEWS. This one isnt the most exciting exercises, but it is very useful. A few years ago, I moved to South Carolina and noticed that the crime in the Charleston area was much greater than what I was used to in my hometown. Over the last few years I have studied the local news to see where all the crime was happening and what sort of crimes were common. I noticed almost all of it happen in a certain city in the area, and most of it was domestic crime. This told me that my neighborhood and most of the towns around me were pretty safe to be in, and that the crimes in my area were mostly between individuals who were close like friends, family, neighbors etc and that crimes between complete strangers was rare. Taking that away from my local news, I carry a CWP, I dont travel to the city in question, and I am careful about how I deal with my neighbors because people down here are quicker to get violent when theres a problem.

One word of warning about the National news, there is a heavy bias (be it liberal or conservative) in our national news. Always understand the bias of the national media you tune into and know that they are trying to make you think the way they want about the subject. If you watch ABCnews talk about a shooting, be sure to note how they try to make guns look scary and always have someone talk about banning guns, or if you watch Foxnews understand they will lie about politics no matter what reality is. Understanding the bias is very important, just because they are reporting the news it doesnt mean they are telling the truth.

STUDY HISTORY. An old proverb thats worth repeating "Those who dont know history are doomed to repeat it". From studying history I am able to see patterns in todays events, and it helps me understand why the world is the way it is today. There is a long history behind the war on terror that the world is living with today, and its more complicated than "some bastards hijacked some planes and crashed them into some buildings".

TOOLS FOR SA

Scanners are a very important tool for SA. You should buy a scanner, contact your local police and ems for their frequencies or if they wont give them out you can find it here: http://www.radioreference.com/

then program all the appropriate frequencies into your scanner. Scanners are king in SA. You can listen to local LEO and EMS in real time and learn about whats going on long before it makes it to any news report.