Sound tactics are often the only thing that stands between a glorious and spectacular victory and the cold anonymity of death and defeat. Study these principles, incorporate them into your tactical "bag of tricks," and be prepared to win!
Gabriel Suarez, 1998
Santa Monica, California
ONE
TACTICAL MIND-SET
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" Then said I, "Here I am. Send me."
Isaiah 6:8
Every student of weaponcraft who has followed the discipline of arms for any length of time knows that shooting skill alone is not enough. The mental attitude, or mind-set, you have when you are faced with violence has as much, and probably more, effect on the outcome as any other factor. Those of you who've read my other books know that I am a vociferous proponent of an aggressive state of mind when the "flag flies."
The only problem is that the flag doesn't fly every day, does it? Even a man who lives in a very hostile environment rarely faces more than two or three deadly confrontations in his life. The problem really becomes one of situational awareness, of actually knowing when a fight is either in progress or about to start. A properly conditioned mind and a fighting attitude will go far in this department.
The first step is the realization that everybody in the world is not a polite, hard-working patriot like you. There are predators out there in the concrete jungle, just as in any jungle. These predators have no regard for your life, your family, or your possessions. They will kill you for the Rolex watch on your arm with as much afterthought as they'd give to eating a cheeseburger. They will cut off your child's finger just to steal her ring. They will not show you or your family any mercy, so do not expect any… or give any.
The mental attitude you have when faced with violence has more effect on the outcome of the incident than anything else. (Photo courtesy of Chuck Taylor.)
The second step in the mental development of a nonvictim is the willingness to defend oneself when offered violence. An old gunfighter once said that it wasn't enough to be accurate or fast, one had to be willing. Simply stated, you must be willing to kill any man who would harm you or your family. You must be willing to offer greater violence for violence offered. That attitude must precede all else, so develop it.
Fine, so we know that there are very bad people out there, and we are willing to deck them flat when they confront us. Also, to facilitate our combative responses, we've developed our martial abilities to match our willingness. The question remains, however, how will we know when to act? We simply cannot go through life poised to draw and shoot everyone who we suspect might be a predator. We cannot anticipate specifically, so we must anticipate generally. We must develop a state of mind founded on environmental awareness where the sudden appearance of a hostile adversary doesn't surprise us. When confronting an assailant, our thought should not be, "Oh my God, is that awful man really breaking into my house? Is that a real gun in his hand?" Instead it should be, "I see him breaking into my house, he has a gun, and I'm ready for him. Boy, has he made a big mistake!" Attitude makes all the difference.
We must develop a state of mind in which the sudden appearance of a threat is not unexpected.
Most 20th-century human beings, however, are extremely reluctant to harm another person, even when that person has taken clearly overt hostile actions toward them. There are various cultural reasons for this phenomenon, one of which is simply the disbelief that another person would really want to hurt us. Such a mind-set must be overcome if we want to live to tell about it when we have to shoot for our lives.
To do this, you must develop an escalating state of alertness and, subsequently, an awareness of the environment in which you operate. This will provide you with the ability to respond without hesitation when you are confronted with violence. Additionally, such a heightened state of environmental awareness will prevent some of the tragic overreactions that the media like to showcase as reasons for unilateral public disarmament.
The best method I know to obtain such a combative and aware mind-set is through intense study of the color code of readiness. During the research for this book, I learned that the concept of the color code of readiness dates back to the 82nd Airborne Division during World War H. The code was subse quently modified and applied to the realm of personal combat by Jeff Cooper some years after the war.
The first mental state is simply unreadiness. In this condition, all your focus is within yourself on your private thoughts and problems, and you are completely oblivious to your surroundings. This mental state is characterized by the color white (it was originally characterized by the color green). Criminals love to cone across people in condition white… they make such easy prey.
The next ascending level of alertness is characterized by the color yellow. A man in condition yellow is mentally relaxed, but he is aware of his surroundings. He knows what is behind him, as well as anything that appears unusual or out of place. He watches people as he moves throughout his day, whereas a man in condition white will often have his eyes on the deck. Almost all fights are preceded by subtle clues that a man in condition white will miss. A man in condition yellow will always notice them, because he is paying attention. Chances arc good that these clues may be harmless, but he is on guard in the event that they arc a prelude to combat. A man in condition yellow realizes that he might have to fight to defend his life, but he doesn't know when this will happen or who his enemy will be. The main difference between a man in condition white and a man in condition yellow is that the latter is paying attention to his immediate surroundings.
After condition yellow, we come to a condition of specific alert, characterized by the color orange. A man in condition orange has noticed one of those prefight clues and is specifically alert to its source. He realizes not only that he may have to shoot, but that he may now have a specific target. Condition orange brings us one step closer to the shooting decision. It is relatively easy to shift mental gears from yellow to orange, but not from white to orange. In terms of conducting a tactical building search, we hunt in yellow (general alert) and go to orange (specific alert) when we close in on specific danger areas. We may not have an actual human target, but the time and place of the fight may very well be in the next few seconds, even if we haven't actually seen the enemy yet.
If we locate anyone concealed in that danger area, we move up the ladder of alertness with subsequent ease in the decision to shoot. This final level is condition red, which means that a fight is now quite likely. We haven't decided to shoot yet, but we've located a specific individual who may be hostile and who may require shooting, depending on his reaction to us. The determining factor to your response is the personal establishment of a mental trigger. This is simply your perception of the subject's intent based on his actions. This may include perception of a weapon of any sort in his hands or an aggressive move toward you, or in some extreme cases, an actual shot fired at you. The mental trigger that you establish is limited only by your legal and moral rules of engagement. You must establish your mental trigger long before the fight so that when the event unfolds, you will not require a personal debate about whether you should shoot. Although the response is a. conscious decision, it is almost instantaneous, like a conditioned reflex.