Originally, this school was called the American Pistol Institute (API). Later, when the program of instruction expanded to include rifles and shotguns, the name was changed to Gunsite. Cooper ran Gunsite until 1992, when ownership changed hands. Today, this school is known as the Gunsite Academy and is owned and operated by Buz Mills who, unlike the previous owner who came on after Cooper, was wise enough to embrace Cooper’s vision of the school while maintaining the high standards of operation Cooper had demanded during his reign.
Cooper was the recipient of the 1995 Outstanding American Handgunner Award and was the author of a variety of books and many, many magazine articles. Colonel Cooper is considered the Dean of Pistol Shooting. He passed on September 25, 2006, in his home at Gunsite, with his family by his side.
In Principles of Personal Defense, Cooper presents an understanding of what being responsible for your own safety is all about. The seven principles Cooper covers in the book are alertness, decisiveness, aggressiveness, speed, coolness, ruthlessness, and surprise. Cooper essentially explains how having the proper mindset is the foundation to winning. Mindset is one of the elements of what Cooper called the “Combat Triad,” which was also made up of Marksmanship and Gun Handling.
Any attempt here at conveying the message Cooper presented in Principles of Personal Defense would do nothing but fall short of the mark. It is the definitive study on the proper mindset for surviving a lethal confrontation. Principles of Personal Defense is a short book with a big message. You can read it in an evening while you sun on the veranda, drinking an Arnold Palmer, sipping fine Irish whiskey or beer, whatever your pleasure demands and budget allows.
Let me go on record now as having given you the best advice I can to save your life: read, consume, and absorb Principles of Personal Defense. The book costs less than 20 rounds of good defensive handgun ammunition. For those of you who will not take my advice on this matter, whose wallet is as tight as a barrel bushing on a 1911, who are probably reading this book because someone gave it to you, and with apologies to Col. Cooper, I will outline his message:
Alertness: Be aware, be ready. Bad things can happen at any time. Live by the Gunsite (Cooper) Color Code.
Decisiveness: Counterattack now! Do not tarry. To ponder is to perish.
Aggressiveness: Go at it like you mean it.
Speed: Be sudden, be quick. Be first.
Coolness: Keep your wits. Don’t lose control of your emotions.
Ruthlessness: Strike with all your strength with every blow. Shoot them to the ground.
Surprise: Do not wilt, do not cower, and don’t be predictable. Fight back.
This, in brief, is the mindset you must have. A close friend of mine believes in luck and, if such a thing exists, it would be a wonderful thing to believe in. But luck, if it does exist, seems to have a way of showing up at random, and while randomness might be acceptable in sports, love, and hunting, is not acceptable when your life is on the line. As it has been said, luck is when opportunity meets preparation. Prepare your mind — get the combat mindset — and when opportunity or bad timing puts your life on the line, preparedness will be there waiting.
I don’t have Cooper’s command of the English language, nor can I present a discussion with his eloquence. My simple hillbilly upbringing leaves me with mostly analogies to describe the mindset Cooper espoused. I can see elements of these principles when I read about Lt. John Chard’s coolness in the preparation and defense of Rorke’s Drift. And when I watch Peyton Manning get behind his center and the football finds his hands, I see many of these elements represented in high definition right on my television. When I think about the right mindset I think of men like Rudeclass="underline" “Only he is lost who gives himself up for lost.” Men like Yeager: “Rules are made for people who aren’t willing to make up their own.” Like Patton: “Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.” And of men like Nathan Bedford Forest: “Never stand and take a charge. Charge them, too.”
I also think of my grandfather, a farmer turned moonshiner turned entrepreneur and, later, a member of the local board of education. He never got past third grade, but, when I was growing up, he was the smartest man I knew. When Grandpa wanted you to get after a job with dedication, he would say, “Get at it like you’re killing snakes.” I can think of no better way to describe the response that should answer a violent attack.
It’s true there has been almost no talk of gunnery in this chapter, and that is by design. Marksmanship is, as a point of fact, a physical act. You do not have to be especially smart to be a good marksman. You don’t even have to be all that worldly or, necessarily, an adult. To be a marksman, you must understand the secret and apply it accordingly.
However, to survive a gunfight, a lethal confrontation, an attack by a troll, or any other wickedness, you’ll need more than marksmanship. You’ll need the right mindset. There’s no shortage of gravestones that rise above those who could shoot but who could not or did not act. The deadliest weapon on Earth is the human brain. Combine one that’s hitting on all eight cylinders with a good defensive handgun and the skills to employ it, and good luck and Col. Cooper will be on your side.
In addition to his wisdom on the principles of personal defense, Cooper also devised a color code, a four-color categorization of personal awareness that provides a clear and simple mechanism for gauging the level of perceptiveness the situation requires. Color codes to represent levels of awareness or preparedness are nothing new or novel, but Cooper was, it seems, the first to marry this system with personal protection and a mental state. The four colors are white, yellow, orange, and red.
In condition white, you are relaxed, on your sofa watching Dancing with the Stars or on the deck, sipping a cold beer and listening to a coyote sing longingly as the sun finds other lands to shine on.
Condition yellow is relaxed awareness. You are on the sidewalk, headed to your favorite eatery, with a lady’s arm in yours and a smile on your face. You are not nervous or worried, but you know there is another well-dressed couple behind you, light traffic on the street, and that just around the corner there are generally teenagers riding skateboards and, on occasion, a wino looking for a handout.
A specific alert, one that will startle you in condition white but only elevate your awareness if you are in condition yellow, drives you to condition orange. You have smelled, heard, seen, or felt something you do not like, something that is not right — a ruckus across the street, a shifty look from a stranger, a car stopping abruptly on the curb. Something has won your full attention and will hold it until the balloon goes up or the box is shut.
In condition red, you have identified a specific threat and it is time to react. It is time to exercise every element of the principles of personal protection. Fight or flight.
Chapter 3
Psychological Preparedness for Combat Survival