I am a huge fan of mental exercises to keep us sharp and focused in matters relating to security. I equate these drills to dry firing with our weapons: it does not cost us a dime and we maximize our time in the process, cementing the fundamentals. The exercise I will describe below can be thought of as the “What If” mentality on steroids.
As we go about our daily lives, sometimes we can lose focus of the things that really matter. Necessity dictates that we have to work, put up with people we do not care for, make money, pay bills and repeat. But somewhere in all that the most important thing we have, the innate, God-given drive to survive, the ferocity to destroy anybody that would try to harm us or our family can get diluted or all together lost. Just because we choose to separate ourselves from the violence of the world does not change the fact that you can be either a wolf or a sheep (to quote Denzel Washington from Training Day). We must habitually sharpen that mental blade lest we become dull and in the worst case, another sheep being led to the slaughter. This exercise along with helping you to prepare for the worst, will also help develop that Mental Trigger to act with violence of action when the time comes; I will discuss this topic at length in a future piece.
I propose in addition to having a regimented, all-encompassing training program, pursuing ancillary training and learning as much as we can from whatever sources we can find, that we add to our repertoire a “Mental Dry Fire” exercise I call Mental Freelancing. This exercise draws upon a technique found frequently in military training; Reverse Engineering. When we study how to do something intimately and efficiently we can at the same time, reverse our findings and figure out how to counter it in the most efficient manner. This phrase is most often applied in all strains of engineering obviously, but has an equal value in guerilla and insurgent/Counter-Insurgent warfare.
I will tell you, upon first reading this, you may find it some what disturbing. The US military in developing counter-insurgency techniques in Vietnam felt the same way. The methods of the Viet-Cong and NVA disgusted and scared the hell out most of the conventional, upper echelon leadership in Washington. But ultimately, they found they could either adapt quickly or start learning to eat soup with a knife (to quote a book from the same title by John A. Nagl). Unfortunately, the US Military in Afghanistan is still learning this painful lesson by trying to just use a bigger knife to eat the soup. But, I digress; Always remember this: In order to defeat your enemy, you must first learn to think like him; Guerilla Warfare 101.
So, as we go about our daily lives this is how you apply this drill. Since there are in-numerable way ways to apply it, I will give you the broad strokes and you fill in the details. These bullet points are in no certain order.
Mapping
- Start trying to memorize the layout and floor-plan of buildings and houses you enter. Identify exits and fire escapes, elevators and stair wells.
- Get a mental picture in your head of where these exits come out at; street locations, subways, etc.
- Do daily memory exercises. There are tons of books on this and tons of ways to do it, find what works for you.
- Apply those memory tricks to practical things in everyday life; license plates, descriptions of people, etc.
Meetings and Interactions with People
- Put yourself in a Terrorist shoes: ask yourself if you were a terrorist where would you put a bomb to attain maximum casualties? If you were wearing a bomb vest, where would you go to detonate it without being detected first? Approach it from the viewpoint of a calculated killer.
- Evaluate the surroundings, ask yourself how you could exploit them to rob, assault, murder or kidnap that person. For each scenario, run a quick sketch in your mind of how you would do it; ask yourself how you would plan for contingencies..the list will be long, but that is OK, jot them down if you can.
- Evaluate the persons mannerisms, how he holds himself, is he aware of his surroundings or totally oblivious? Does he appear armed? Is he carrying a pocket knife that you can see? Does he hold himself in a way that would denote martial arts training? Law Enforcement Training? This of course can be disguised, but most people do not have the discipline too.
- When you enter a place of business, ask yourself how you could rob the place; consider the “strong arm” and “on the prowl” approaches. Identify weak points in their surveillance and physical security. Plan your getaway routes.
Vehicles & Driving down the Road
- Slide your mind into The Mentality of a car jacker. Ask yourself, what would draw a carjacker to me? When would be the best opportunity to get the car? What ploys and cons would you use to try to stop the car and catch yourself off guard?
- Make a habit of looking in your back seat and floor boards when coming back to your car, not just at night, but 24/7.
- Make a mental note that whenever you stop at a red light, stop sign, etc., to always allow yourself enough room to manuever and escape, even if that means ramming your way out.
These are some broad strokes to get your mind in the right gear. Just remember, nothing is off-limits, never box yourself in when preparing to go to War!
In closing, I wanted to comment on something that has been bothering me:
I see a trend in the civilian training community that I can only describe as “PC Sissy”..it is like the trainers are afraid of offending somebody, most especially the bad guys!! An example that takes the cake IMO can be seen most recently in what equates to the ACLU of the Muslim World, the CAIR (Council on American Islamic relations which is funded by the Muslim Brotherhood btw) putting political pressure on the Navy to STOP using a cardboard target depicting a muslim woman wearing a jihad headband in the SEAL’s Killhouse! I would like to know what PC Govt. wimp leaked this? It had to be somebody inside, it isn’t like any joe blow can come into a Navy SEAL Kill House! Just another sad example of our Government bowing to the demands of our enemies.
(Authors Addendum: Speaking of PC, here is the report on The Fort Hood shooting, which cites “Political Correctness” as the main culprit for the FBI and other LE in not being able to prevent Hasan from killing 13).
Free tip: Stand up for what you believe in and apologize to nobody! PC is another word for coward.