What Condition Are You In Daily?

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fastmover

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I am usually in between yellow and orange but catch myself in white many times when I am in more of a comfortable situation...How about you?


CONDITION WHITE- White is the lowest level on the escalator. In Condition White one is unaware, not alert, oblivious. This state can be characterized as "daydreaming" or "preoccupied". People in White tend to walk around with their heads down, as if watching their own feet. They do not notice the impending danger until it literally has them by the throat.


CONDITION YELLOW- This is a relaxed state of general alertness, with no specific focal point. You are not looking for anything or anyone in particular; you simply have your head up and your eyes open. You are alert and aware of your surroundings. You are difficult to surprise, therefore, you are difficult to harm. You do not expect to be attacked today. You simply recognize the possibility.


CONDITION ORANGE- This is a heightened state of alertness, with a specific focal point. The entire difference between Yellow and Orange is this specific target for your attention. Your focal point is the person who is doing whatever drew your attention to him. It might be the fact that he is wearing a field jacket in August. It might be that he's standing by a column in the parking garage, instead of going into the building, or getting in a car and leaving. It might be that you have been in five stores at the mall, and saw this same guy in every one of them. His actions have caused you to take note of him, so you must assess him as a potential threat, just as the fighter pilot assessed the blip earlier.


CONDITION RED- In Red, you are ready to fight! You may, or may not, actually be fighting, but you are MENTALLY PREPARED to fight. In many, or perhaps even most, circumstances where you have gone fully to Red, you will not actually physically do anything at all. The entire process of escalating from Yellow, to Orange, to Red, then de-escalating right back down the scale as the situation is resolved, occurs without any actual physical activity on your part. The key is that you were mentally prepared for a conflict, and thus could physically act if the situation demanded.
 
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What people say on gun fora is driven by the demand characteristics of being a tough guy.

Easy to say that you are always in yellow and constantly scanning the environment, etc.

Without some empirical tests of behavior, self-report is rather useless and that's been well-known for years.

It's also well-known that you can't maintain high levels of alertness and vigilance for long periods.

Let's have some secret video of us internet warriors and we probably are just wandering around clueless most of the time. It is probably punctuated by a scan or two when entering someplace or something catches your attention.

Saying you are always in yellow due to your training or reading or posturing is most likely not the case.

Attention is more complicted that the codes indicate and they probably should be redone to take into account modern attention and vigilance models.
 
Every self defense instructor I have ever met that claimed to not be in condition white, except maybe in the safety of his/her own home, has been self delluded. I think they wish to convince themselves of just how vigilant they are. I really despise the instructors that like to play the cheap trick of doing something like calling drills, pulling a knife, and then telling us how poor our situational awareness is when nobody turns around during drills to see the instructor with a knife. And what if we did. Assuming he wasn't moving aggressively, what is the friggin' problem. The jerk also had a gun. If he was smart, he would shoot us from behind, give the stupid example of "What if I would have attacked you?" Well, moron, the 9 of us on the line not being stabbed would have turned and shot you, assumed the 10 behind the line and doing reloads were not already shooting you.

What they really don't like is when they are speaking with one student, such as at the end of class, surrounded by people with things like guns, and you walk up behind them, draw your imaginary knife, and plunge two fingers in their ribs, giving them a goose. Nothing like a good amount of shock, surprise, horror at seeing the attacker's grin, and then showing the expression of being pissed off as the attacker puts the imaginary knife back in the imaginary scabbard, the attacker being the guy in class who questioned just how realistic it was to to claim to be in condition yellow "all the time" or "all the time" when not at home...the same guy the instructor then spent time explaining how highly trained he was when asked about keeping himself in Condition Yellow all the time.

By the way, Dane Burns claimed to us that he was so far above 'conditions' that his martials arts training with some of the best dojos had helped him to develop a 6th sense and that he could sense things that he didn't even see and while it may seem like he was in Condition White, his 'sense' kept him totally aware. That was at a Rangemaster class in Dallas. It sucked.

Yes, I am the guy that gooses instructors. Probably the only decent reaction I ever got was from one guy who immediately moved to cover his gun, that was under his vest. It was a good move, but too late if I had stabbed him while he was chatting in Condition Yellow and completely wrong move given I was not going for his gun, something he would have realized if he was truly in Condition Yellow. He actually wasn't mad and had the maturity to note that it had been a long day and maybe he wasn't fully on his toes as he should be. To be honest, none of us were.
 
I believe that I have the ability to quickly change the level of my alertness based on current conditions and surroundings; but to say that I, or anyone else for that matter can walk around in a constant state of anything other than condition white is completely silly. Even soldiers in heavy combat zones go into condition white when the heat is off. YOU HAVE TO. Your body and mind will demand you stand down over time. Besides, complete and total situational awareness is impossible. You can't see, hear, and correctly interpret EVERYTHING at all times.

One of the absolute oldest tricks we were ever taught is to cause a mildly alarming (yellow to orange) threat elsewhere for the target of focus on, then hit 'em somewhere else. Works suprisingly well....even on computer rambos...
 
Depends where I am, who I am with and any of the 'buzz' going on. I go to school in a fairly inner city school but I feel confident in myself that I don't have to worry too much so usually 'white' or possibly yellow. If I hear people getting mugged in a certain area I'll be on constant alert for myself and others. I don't let my guard down unless I feel absolutley comfortable (say at a party with friends in their house), and I don't allow my 'guard' to get in my way or make my ego...

-Max.
 
What people say on gun fora is driven by the demand characteristics of being a tough guy.

Easy to say that you are always in yellow and constantly scanning the environment, etc.

Without some empirical tests of behavior, self-report is rather useless and that's been well-known for years.

It's also well-known that you can't maintain high levels of alertness and vigilance for long periods.

Let's have some secret video of us internet warriors and we probably are just wandering around clueless most of the time. It is probably punctuated by a scan or two when entering someplace or something catches your attention.

Saying you are always in yellow due to your training or reading or posturing is most likely not the case.

Attention is more complicted that the codes indicate and they probably should be redone to take into account modern attention and vigilance models.
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To each his own and do not have to prove anything to you otherwise but I know where you are coming from.

never claimed to be a tough guy or internet warrior and I beleive these conditions are pretty much well-known and this is a tactical and training board correct?

There are also internet know it alls that try to dispell any posts others may post to help others on here...Hope this is not the case :D
 
I believe that I have the ability to quickly change the level of my alertness based on current conditions and surroundings; but to say that I, or anyone else for that matter can walk around in a constant state of anything other than condition white is completely silly. Even soldiers in heavy combat zones go into condition white when the heat is off. YOU HAVE TO. Your body and mind will demand you stand down over time. Besides, complete and total situational awareness is impossible. You can't see, hear, and correctly interpret EVERYTHING at all times.

One of the absolute oldest tricks we were ever taught is to cause a mildly alarming (yellow to orange) threat elsewhere for the target of focus on, then hit 'em somewhere else. Works suprisingly well....even on computer rambos...
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Good post and Yeah I should change it to "I try not to be in white"

I am in white in my house and such and out in public I try to stay in yellow but at times do fall in the white catagory.
 
It depends on the situation. During daylight, if I'm walking around my college campus, or in a store I'm familiar with, I try to stay in yellow, but I don't put a lot of effort into it and frequently slip in and out of white. On campus after dark, or in a place I'm only slightly familiar with, and I'm in yellow. Here at my computer, I admit I am in condition white, concentrating on nothing but typing.
 
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I'm in Condition Albino:D

But then again I'm just a normal guy who enjoys life whos got nothing to prove on Gun Boards....Hey my name is Ken and I'm not a tough guy!

WildgunsarefunbutnotalifestylechoiceAlaska
 
I beleive you just proved your point and again I apologize for the post I thought it was interesting to discuss without trying to prove a specific point.....
 
Yellow / Orange but frequently white. I have been attacked while in all four conditions but drifting alond in white when attacked, invariably caused much recrimination in my mind, education and many prayers of thanks.
 
Just from my own experiences - most people have no idea what it is really like to walk around for days at a time in orange... I'm glad some of the posters have freely admitted to being in white more often than not. This is simply the way things are, and anyone who claims otherwise is most likely deluding himself.
I'm not trying to call anyone out or invalidate anyone else's experience. If one honestly DOES walk around constantly in orange then you are a freaking superhero. Right or wrong, my experience suggests differently.

I spent a year moving through cities, towns, houses, markets, highways, and byways in condition orange and I'll tell you that it's mentally EXHAUSTING. The longer you walk around in that hightened state of alert the more numb your mind becomes to it - as your mind realizes that you are in less danger in certain places you invariably become more complacent in those areas. It takes a decent amount of discipline and willpower to overcome that complacency - and I'll say that I have encountered very few people without LE or military backgrounds who can pull it off. Hell - even a larger percentage of people than you would think from military/LE get complacent.

Me? I'm shades of white/yellow. Like some others do, I rely on a sort of "sixth-sense" to warn me of when things don't feel right, but I also consider that to be a product of my subconscious as it absorbs and processes things going on around me. I've been doing it for so long that it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to maintain a reasonable yellow level. Honestly, I think that's where a LOT of people who have been playing this game for a while live, shades of white/yellow, with occaisional momentary forays into orange.

It's impossible to maintain consistent orange over a long span of time, and anyone who says they do is lying.
 
I am in condition purple 110 percent of the time, especially while sleeping. That's when they try to get you. (bats are nocturnal)

Its hard when I'm at parties, because if I hear a balloon popping, my catlike reflexes respond instantly with a thrown knife, or whatever is at hand such as a book or cat. It's the training, it shapes you into a lethal instrument, you react without thinking.

I base my alertness loosly on the governments homeland security threat level color for the day.
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I used to do that, but their scale simply doesn't go high enough. On a scale of one to red, bats are purple.

Like it or not folks, this is bat country.

DON'T DRINK THE ETHER
 
i'm in condition milkshake. or frosty, if i hit wendys instead of mcdonalds on the way home. mmmm, brain freeze!

i used to be condition red. i walked around with my hand on my gun, ready to draw it out and issue 8 demons of death on any potential tangos in my visible sector.
now the only time i hit condition red is when wildalaska approaches the all-you-can-eat buffet line ahead of me. i throw chopsticks at him to slow down his approach to the shrimp, crab legs, and mussels. and god forbid he try to cut in line at the ice cream machine! i can gut a man 31 different ways with a plastic spoon!
 
On a scale of one to infinity, red is somewhere around 999 to the 666th power, and purple is infinity plus one.

i can gut a man 31 different ways with a plastic spoon!
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Mexican doctors make a lot of money doing that to fat people, what do you charge?
 
I'm back from dinner and waiting to give an exam. At dinner, I read coincidentally an article about how poor people are at judging their own competence.

For example, 80% medical residents estimated they were able to teach new residents how to do a procedure. None of their instructors said they were.

Thus, estimating our own competence to sit their as alert warriors plugged into the Force is rather suspect. :D

Condition Yellow: You are alert and aware of your surroundings. You are difficult to surprise, therefore, you are difficult to harm. You do not expect to be attacked today. You simply recognize the possibility.

Almost reads like a singles ad for the young ninja as he walks on the beach.

The estimation of own's own abilities is interesting. I've seen people proclaim their martial arts prowess such that they could leap on an armed bank robber. The article mentions that the less able are the most over confident.

I have a friend. We went hunting. I took an iron sights shot at a turkey in a group of four birds. At the crack, three birds just looked up. My target bird jumped into the air and flew away. If not impacted, it should have just kept strolling around, don't ya think? Later that week a buddy found a turkey walking around with a wound to its breast. It was reasonable that was the bird I shot at. Maybe not. My friend denied that I could have even shot the bird.

However, said friend is in his blind and shoots at a big pig. Said pig doesn't move or flinch and continues walking away. No blood trail or hurt pig is every seen. Friend insists it was a good solid hit on the pig.

I think what the condition really represents is not a state of sustained conscious vigilance as we know we can't do that. We do learn how to process cues unconsciously and thus we probably pick up somethings. Studies show that you pick up about 30% of important things that you aren't consciously looking for. People can miss tons of stuff even when looking for it, BTW.

Every once in awhile, the trained person may decided to do a more conscious scan and deploy more attentional resources. That's a better description of being in 'yellow' than the current one. Feel free to disagree, I won't be paying attention. :eek:
 
now the only time i hit condition red is when wildalaska approaches the all-you-can-eat buffet line ahead of me. i throw chopsticks at him to slow down his approach to the shrimp, crab legs, and mussels. and god forbid he try to cut in line at the ice cream machine! i can gut a man 31 different ways with a plastic spoon!
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Nice. Half chewed green salad spewed on screen. You clean it up.:D

Wildnobuffetsforme13poundsandfallingAlaska
 
CONDITION YELLOW- This is a relaxed state of general alertness, with no specific focal point. You are not looking for anything or anyone in particular; you simply have your head up and your eyes open. You are alert and aware of your surroundings. You are difficult to surprise, therefore, you are difficult to harm. You do not expect to be attacked today. You simply recognize the possibility.
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How on earth does one plan to deal with a threat using your chosen carry gun if you aren't going to at least pay attention to your surroundings? I will freely admit to lowering my guard while at home, at the range, maybe while focusing on a specific task (like weed whacking the yard or changing the oil in the car or the kids flag football game at the YMCA). During these types of activities I still occasionally condition yellow the area. When I am out on the town I am in condition yellow with only the occasional (hotrod or hot chick distraction). I have only been snuck up on once since 1992 when I got my permit. The angle the bum used coincided with my blind spot. I saw him but not until he was almost on me.
 
.....you walk up behind them, draw your imaginary knife, and plunge two fingers in their ribs, giving them a goose.

the attacker being the guy in class who questioned just how realistic it was to to claim to be in condition yellow "all the time"
......the same guy the instructor spent time explaining how highly trained he was when asked about keeping himself in Condition Yellow all the time.
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Now that is funny......good for you!
.
 
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