Guys I'm looking for some stories on how Situational Awareness allowed you to avoid potential danger or prepare sooner to defend yourself from an attack. I'm also looking for SA failures. Let your guard down and got caught good or bad, tell us.
Please lets keep it to the stories and not a debate on the effectivness of SA.
I'll go first.
I was leaving the Walmart near my home through the lawn and garden department. As I exited the store, I scanned left and right very quickly to make sure no one was hiding around the corners. As I took a few more steps out, I looked up and out in front of me toward my truck. I see a shady looking young man (with a hoody on) walking down the middle of the driveway. He wasn't aiming for the store but just walking looking around suspiciously and just following the driveway basically in the middle of the road/driveway. He was in a position that would have me pass him at arms length as I walk to my vehicle. I spotted him a good 75 yards away so I had plenty of time to change my path and did so immediately. I changed my course slightly to the right putting a row of vehicles between him and I. Sure enough as we pass each other, with a car between us because I changed direction slightly, this guy asks me for money. I tell him politely that I don't have any money and keep walking. Now he turns back in the direction he just came from and begins to keep pace with me. He says to me in a nasty tone, what did you say. So I say in a not as friendly tone, I said I don't have any money. He then says next time speak up. I said next time leave me alone. Now he continues to move in the direction he had just come from only not quite as fast as I was moving. I'm near my truck and seeing that I have enough of a gap to cross this guys path, I cut across toward my truck. He is cursing and threatening and making wild gestures with his hands and slowly moving in my direction. I look at him as I cross the driveway and told him to leave me alone and that he is not going to like what happens to him if he continues threatening me. He made the right decision and I made my escape.
What would have happened if I didn't see him in advance and we did indeed pass each other at arms length?
Now for my "I got caught" off guard story.
I was headed to Tarpon Springs for a few hours out on the flats hammering Speckled Trout with my boys. Murphy being the evil monster that he is decides to give me a nice flat tire to get my juices flowing early. I pull into a church parking lot to change the tire on the boat trailer. As my boys stand guard LOL, I begin changing the tire. I'm partially under the boat when the jack slips allowing the boat to come down quickly, slamming into my bald head. Instantly an egg formed on my head and the curse words began to fly. My kids, after discovering that I'm ok, begin to laugh so I send them back to the truck. Now the last thing I'm thinking about is SA. I'm ticked, my head has a heart beat in it, and I have a Fred Flintstone sized egg on top. I get back to the trailer tire completely oblivious to the man walking up behind me. Thankfully he was just asking if I needed help.
If he was a bad guy I was a gonner.
Please lets keep it to the stories and not a debate on the effectivness of SA.
I'll go first.
I was leaving the Walmart near my home through the lawn and garden department. As I exited the store, I scanned left and right very quickly to make sure no one was hiding around the corners. As I took a few more steps out, I looked up and out in front of me toward my truck. I see a shady looking young man (with a hoody on) walking down the middle of the driveway. He wasn't aiming for the store but just walking looking around suspiciously and just following the driveway basically in the middle of the road/driveway. He was in a position that would have me pass him at arms length as I walk to my vehicle. I spotted him a good 75 yards away so I had plenty of time to change my path and did so immediately. I changed my course slightly to the right putting a row of vehicles between him and I. Sure enough as we pass each other, with a car between us because I changed direction slightly, this guy asks me for money. I tell him politely that I don't have any money and keep walking. Now he turns back in the direction he just came from and begins to keep pace with me. He says to me in a nasty tone, what did you say. So I say in a not as friendly tone, I said I don't have any money. He then says next time speak up. I said next time leave me alone. Now he continues to move in the direction he had just come from only not quite as fast as I was moving. I'm near my truck and seeing that I have enough of a gap to cross this guys path, I cut across toward my truck. He is cursing and threatening and making wild gestures with his hands and slowly moving in my direction. I look at him as I cross the driveway and told him to leave me alone and that he is not going to like what happens to him if he continues threatening me. He made the right decision and I made my escape.
What would have happened if I didn't see him in advance and we did indeed pass each other at arms length?
Now for my "I got caught" off guard story.
I was headed to Tarpon Springs for a few hours out on the flats hammering Speckled Trout with my boys. Murphy being the evil monster that he is decides to give me a nice flat tire to get my juices flowing early. I pull into a church parking lot to change the tire on the boat trailer. As my boys stand guard LOL, I begin changing the tire. I'm partially under the boat when the jack slips allowing the boat to come down quickly, slamming into my bald head. Instantly an egg formed on my head and the curse words began to fly. My kids, after discovering that I'm ok, begin to laugh so I send them back to the truck. Now the last thing I'm thinking about is SA. I'm ticked, my head has a heart beat in it, and I have a Fred Flintstone sized egg on top. I get back to the trailer tire completely oblivious to the man walking up behind me. Thankfully he was just asking if I needed help.
If he was a bad guy I was a gonner.
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