- This topic has 90 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I was having a discussion with a co-worker of mine this morning and her daughter happened to be in the Omaha Mall trying to get job applications for the holiday rush. Luckily all was well and she wasn’t involved in the shooting there but it brought up a good point about situational awareness. I have two girls myself and I have taught them about being alert and judging areas/people like I was taught in my military training. KM teaches this and focuses on walking away from altercations. The best way to be successful in a fight is not to get in one.
These situations seem to either be happening more often or the media is feeding on them and making it look worse than it is, I am not sure.
Has anyone in KMWW approached schools or anything about teaching these fundamental mental foundations to children? While children shouldn’t HAVE to be taught this, the way things are going I think it would help minimize the fatalities and pain these things cause.
Pete
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
I think this would be a good topic for one of our KMX instructors to go over. I know that it is taught as Iíve seen it at seminars but Iím not familiar enough with the children specific material to make a well educated statement.
I look forward to hearing the replies!
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
Just so we are clear:
******Not A KMX Instructor******
We spend a great deal of time in our traditional martial arts classes going over this with kids. We have even included the idea and some ways to train it in our kids fitness classes.
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
Yeah I really didn’t think about it too much until this situation brought it up. I have done this with my girls since they were 10(they are 21 and 22 now) and routinely ask them awareness questions when we are out together to make sure they are staying sharp. It has already come in handy once in which one of my daughters was able to call in a robbery before it happened where she works because she noticed a guy casing the place. I just think it is a great thing for kids to learn and goes well with out training.
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
We stress that people should trust their instinct. This point is hammered home in all Krav Maga and km-X classes. That sense is an important part of our survival skills. The situation where Raneman’s daughter trusted hers enough to call the police shows how accurate this sense is. A high percentage of crime victims that I speak with will say something like, “I knew something was wrong, but I wasn’t sure enough to call 911…”
Not to hijack the thread, but it bears mentioning that this crime happened in a gun-free zone… Our Second Amendment rights are being trampled and we citizens are being placed at risk.
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
Steve,
You make some great points about following instincts and trusting and acting on that intuition. My daughter pointed out to me that she wouldn’t have even noticed the guy if I hadn’t been “training” them to observe their surroundings. When asked by the police what made her notice him she said..he came by the store from the grass on the side..no one ever does that and he has walked back and forth a couple times in the smokers area and he isnt smoking. Again, emphasis on what he is doing and where and if it is normal for those surroundings. Many, many people do not have this because we are normally “trusting” pf our surroundings.
Memory games work very well to train this.
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
I think everyone should work on situational awareness, not just kids. You could do it just walking down the street, force yourself to look around, notice little things.
Not sure how much situational awareness would have done in this case, at least for the victims. Wasn’t the guy shooting from a roof? There wouldn’t be much you could do, other than to take cover. But if someone had noticed him climbing up there, before the shooting, that could have made a difference.
_________________
GiantkillerRe: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
We posted a series of articles in our Kids magazine regarding this. The articles discussed Gavin DeBecker’s book “The Gift of Fear”. A must read I believe.
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
GK,
From my understanding he cased the area and was carrying a rifle wrapped up in a hooded sweatshirt. Considering it is Christmas shopping time that would probably go unnoticed by many. The easiest way to hide in in plain sight kind of effect.
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
Still, something long like that, wrapped up in a sweatshirt… If someone (at least a security guard, whose job it is to look for potential troublemakers) would have noticed… But you are right, it’s Christmas time and the last thing people think about while being in a mall is a crazy guy going on a shooting spree.
_________________
GiantkillerRe: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
Sad to say, but most mall security guards are looking for perky teenage girls and / or free pizza.
We all must turn our situational awareness radar up from condition white to at least condition yellow at all times. I think it’s safe to say that anyone frequenting this forum is going to be there already. Being armed simply takes self-defense to the next level.
Beware of gun-free zones!!! These are the soft targets of our society!
(Um, that concludes my rant for today. Thank you.)
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
From what I heard, the guy had the rifle, preped it in the elevator, and then opened fire as soon as the doors opened, spraying randomly. Even if the weapon (an ak-47 as per the news) was well concealed, there are still a lot of points where situational awareness, attention to detail, common sense, and a little bit of initiative would have stopped this attack in its tracks.
1) The news reported that the 19 y/o attacker had just lost his job at McDonalds and had his girlfriend leave him. He was staying with a female friend who reported that she knew the kid was suicidal, but didn’t think he was capable of murder. BIIIIIG mistake. If someone says they are suicidal, that is a cry for help whether or not they seriously have plans of commiting the act. Don’t leave the person alone, don’t accept the person saying that they were just joking (unless it’s extremely obvious), and don’t be affraid of getting that person the help that they need. If the person isn’t really serious about it, the worst thing that will come from getting them some help imediately is that their problems will be addressed which is the first step to solving them. If the person is serious, that call could be the difference between life and death for the suicidal individual and anybody else that may fall into his plans. Think about what would have happend if people got involved and forced the issue with the kid that went postal at Virginia Tech?
2) Security is far too lax in public areas such as shopping malls and parks. I would love to live in a society where I can walk down the street and know that I’m going to come out the other side in the same condition. The fact is, this isn’t the case (as this incident has proven). True… It’s the holidays and people are carrying large packages around INSIDE of the mall. Who walks into the mall with a gift under their arm? Some security at the entrences would have been a good idea. Even just someone to inspect bags that are entering the mall would have made it not such a soft target. No one wants to feel like they are being monitored by security everywhere they go, but how many people do you hear saying that security at the airports after Sept 11th is too strict even when the delays make them get to the airport 2 hours early? Not too many with common sense…
3) Though I wasn’t there, I’m sure an upset, untrained, suicidal 19 year old didn’t just walk in looking like joe shopper coming in for Christmas shopping. I can almost guarantee that he was probably pacing, sweating, gripping the concealed rifle with a kung-fu grip, and looking around like everyone in that mall was on the local SWAT team. If you see someone acting suspicious, TELL A SECURITY GUARD!!! Maybe you’ll get a shoplifter busted, maybe you’ll get some poor innocent kid harassed, or maybe you’ll prevent a masacre. Consiquences vs rewards.
4) Situational awareness would be useless in this situation if there wasn’t anybody on hand equiped to deal with it. In these times, security guards in locations where large amounts of people gather should be armed and should be specialy trained to deal with terrorist threats. I went through the California Guard Card class and it was a joke. We need to really take a look at having a federal qualification course for security guards in such locations and really pumping up the training.
Put all this stuf together. Even if the first couple of suggestions don’t stop a potential masacre or terrorist action, think about the mindset of someone planning such an action. In all my years of combat experience and training, the main thing I’ve been told is that the best way to fend off an attack is to look squared away. NO ONE WANTS TO ATTACK A HARD TARGET!!! If an attacker realizes that people are paying attention to their surroundings, they may call off the attack. If there are countermeasures in place, that means there is much less of a chance of having to actualy use them.
Common sense replaces hindsight.
Rant ending…… now.
J-
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
My two girls are teens and my son is 8yo. My wife and I are very aware of our surroundings. Usually we are together and if one of notices something we will direct the family away or make the other aware.
If we are walking my kids will fall in between us and not go very far.
At 3yo my son walked off and was lost for about 10 minutes. He couldn’t find us and walked to our car and waited on the hood crying. I was running out to our car to see if he had gone while the family and police were looking around for him.I just believe it has 90% to do with the way kids are brought up. If the parents are very aware and bring these things to their childs attention, then the child will become more aware as an adult.
Some of these people aren’t aware of a moving vehicles. They are trapped in their own little world covered in Prada.
Security guards in South Florida are limited by language and common sense. You have people who are minimum wages employees, with a firearm, and are more interested in watching girls or talking on cell phones.
You would be amazed at how many malls have no security and the ones that do don’t allow firearms. My brother was asked to leave the mall because he had a small knife clipped to his pocket. We both just sorta laughed and couldn’t believe it.
I feel better, thanks.
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
quote downforlife76:…2) Security is far too lax in public … security everywhere they go, but how many people do you hear saying that security at the airports after Sept 11th is too strict even when the delays make them get to the airport 2 hours early? Not too many with common sense…
…
The problem with airport security is all the PC-paralysis/Lawer-phobia causing the 80 year old grama’s with thier nail clippers to be a major concern instead of using awareness and common sense.
Re: Best way to win a fight..situational awareness
“Gift of Fear” IS a must-read. And yes, the ignorance on the part of the people surrounding him is pretty astounding. One article said that the neighbor woman saw the gun and said it looked “too old to work.”
But relying on the mall security guards? Does that seem to be a tad bit naive to anyone else?
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
