I wanted to share a 5-part video series on defensive awareness and other related strategies for staying safe. Pat McNamara, who is a former Army Special Forces Delta Operator, did this video series. He is a former Tier 1 operator and instructor – the best of the best, and now owns his own training and fitness company called TMACS (Tactics-Marksmanship-Adventure-Concepts-Security). I am guessing that the man knows what he's talking about here.
What struck me most about this video series, besides the excellent tips for staying safe, is that he repeats three key phrases over and over that should resonate with anyone who is concerned about their own safety and that of their loved ones:
“As the Agent in Charge of your own executive protection detail…”
YOU are the one in charge of your own safety. Not the police. The United States Supreme Court has ruled in a number of cases that the police have no duty whatsoever to protect you as an individual. The job of the police is to enforce laws and investigate crimes. In other words, they show up to draw the chalk line around the dead body. So is the dead body going to be you and/or a loved one? Or, is it going to be that of the violent criminal who came to do you harm? You decide.
And if you have little ones placed in your charge, then you better have the attitude that they deserve the top level of executive protection. YOU are the agent in charge of that executive protection detail. No one else is responsible for your safety or that of your loved ones. And those little ones are counting on you to put foot to ass on their behalf if someone tries to harm them.
“Make it Habitual!”
Yes – awareness and self-defense are a combination of creating good habits and breaking bad ones. Get training. Practice techniques. Build that muscle memory. War-game possible threat scenarios that might happen when you are at church, out shopping, at the park, or even at home.
See my article on my other blog, “The War-Gaming Sheepdog,” for more information about this. Think of how you will avoid being a target when you can. And for the times when you have no way out, think of how you will destroy your attackers ahead of time, and then be ready to do it when the time comes. Stay aware, and stay safe.
“We are so connected that we are disconnected…”
I can’t argue that smartphones and computers have made us so unaware of our own surroundings that we have become sitting ducks to violent attacks. As Pat says in one of the videos, we humans cannot multi-task, even though we like to think that we can. We can task-stack or task-switch, but we can only do one thing well at a time.
I’ll let the videos say the rest. Enjoy!
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:
