I saw that this book was briefly mentioned on the forum in a few places and after reading it I thought it was worthy to give it at least a broad outline here. Its ideas are practically useful for increasing situational awareness and providing an interesting and informative structure to the immediate environment that, I believe, encompasses but transcends the self defense mindset. It is also a series of useful ways of reading and discerning information from the environment.
Overall I highly recommend reading it in full.
Left of bang therefore refers to all of the activities that an individual can engage in to ensure that they are not the victim of an adverse event.
Below is the spark notes version of the main points of the book, starting with the general states of situational awareness that individuals may find themselves in when out and about and moving through to the broad heuristic categories used to build a threat model.
These changes are broken down into the following broad categories:
The basics:
Some practical details:
Three anomalies are not required and in some incidents only one anomaly would be required. However, barring an obvious threat, this number should be taken as the utmost maximum amount of “red flags” one accepts before making a decision.
For the Marines the decision options run from violent to violent-lite. Obviously, ordinary people will make a decision more appropriate to civilian life - like alerting loved ones and likely leaving the area. But the key is that, after three anomalies, you need to respond to what's happening and you need to do it with a clear and level head.
In this exchange I can easily see the following anomalous behaviors upon the kid's approach and others probably see more:
Iconography: Individual is wearing clothing clearly designed to mask his face and likely signal his belonging to a group. The clothing does not appear appropriate to the weather
Proxemics: Individual is moving towards them quickly with a sort of tunnel vision
Biometrics: The individual appears to me to be a bit wide-eyed and wobbily, signaling he may be nervous about the course of events he is initiating
Kinesics: Where is the kid's hands? And he is bobbing up and down as if to make himself appear larger and more dominant than he is.
With this many clearly anomalous signs Fred makes physical contact and tells the kid repeatedly to "chill" in order to reassert his and his client's boundaries.
Instead of backing off the kid begins the "smuggling behavior" of patting inside his pocket, and may even take something out of his pocket. At that point the situation had escalated. Fred makes the decision to act and smack the kid down with an open-hand slap and a body kick. The kid is easily dispatched and clearly overwhelmed emotionally, suggesting he really wasn't that "into" what he was doing. I get the impression the kid could have been coaxed (maybe even hormonally) into the altercation, possibly by the shocked girl that he faces as he stands back up after being knocked down (proxemics).
Watching this video it makes intuitive sense how and why things played out. But it's also clear that Fred has been trained to deal with this type of interaction, knowing that a scared, masked teen with his hands in his pockets can easily get pushed emotionally into initiating an "event", and having the ability to start with a request and then quickly execute an efficient maneuver to remove the potential threat.
Having the general situational awareness as outlined above it makes it much clearer on a conscious level why it played out the way that it did.
Hope that some people find this information as interesting as I did.
Overall I highly recommend reading it in full.
Overview
The book is written for individuals in the profession of preventing dangerous situations, whether they're police officers or soldiers on patrol. The concepts revolve around the role of "combat profiling", which the authors explain as a method used to identify potential threats by analyzing human behavior and environmental patterns, establishing a baseline of normal activity, and then detecting anomalies that suggest hostile intent.Left of bang therefore refers to all of the activities that an individual can engage in to ensure that they are not the victim of an adverse event.
Below is the spark notes version of the main points of the book, starting with the general states of situational awareness that individuals may find themselves in when out and about and moving through to the broad heuristic categories used to build a threat model.
Situational Awareness Color Code
Developed by Retired Marine Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper. A system of awareness that categorizes the psychological states of individuals during any given situation in which danger could be present.Condition White
- Unprepared and unready to take action
- Low state of psychological and physiological arousal
- Likely to be a victim
Condition Yellow
- Aware of potential danger
- Prepared to take action
- The ideal place for normal people to be to pre-empt an “event”
Condition Orange
- Aware of a specific threat
- Focused primarily on that threat
- Lower state of awareness than Condition Yellow
Condition Red
- Individual is either “in the event” or is on the verge of taking it to that level
- Even lower level of awareness than Condition Orange
Condition Black
- When person’s heartbeat is above 175 bpm
- Can no longer process information and may shut down
Baselines and Anomalies
Over time an individual develops a baseline of what is normal in the environments that they are accustomed to. Any time that something changes that something should be noted, regardless of if this change is deemed threatening or benign.These changes are broken down into the following broad categories:
- Things that are happening that shouldn’t or don’t normally happen
- Things that are present that shouldn’t be or aren’t normally present
- Things that are not happening that should happen or normally occur
- Things that are not present that should be or normally are present
- Kinesics - the study of conscious and unconscious body language
- Geographics - understanding people via their relationship to the immediate environment
- Biometric cues - the body's normal and automatic responses to stress
- Proxemics - understanding people via their distance to others
- Iconography - understanding people through the message that their tattoos, clothing, or belongings give to the viewer
- Atmospherics - understanding people by the general mood and how they fit into it
Kinesics
- Smuggling Behavior
- People pat their pockets and belongings to make sure that important items are still with them
- Individuals with concealed weapons will often do the same in the lead-up to an attack
- Check hands
- First piece of business is always to observe hands, for obvious reasons
- Checking your Six
- Good guys and Bad guys check their six (periodically check behind them)
- Good guys check behind them to make sure there are no threats
- Bad guys do this to make sure the “coast is clear” to perpetrate
- "Sheep" do not “check their six” in any determined fashion, so this is a clear sign that something is a bit off
- Good guys and Bad guys check their six (periodically check behind them)
- Three Clusters for Observing Anomalous Individuals
- Questions to ask - are the individual(s) appearing:
- Dominant vs Submissive
- Comfortable vs Uncomfortable
- Interested vs Uninterested (in the person or object they are interacting with)
- Keep eye on Legs / Torso / Upper body
- Are legs crossed to block others
- Are feet flat on floor to make one appear larger
- Is torso pointed towards you or away, or towards an exit
- Are hands gesturing, crossed behind back, crossed on chest in comfort or in a protective way
- Questions to ask - are the individual(s) appearing:
Biometrics
This is for understanding physiological symptoms of the stress response, keeping in mind that some criminals may lack the neurophysiology needed to feel fear or stress while doing something others would deem dangerous.The basics:
- Signs of fight / flight / freeze responses in the body and their emotional expressions
- People blink more when under emotional distress
- People blink much less when in “mission focus”
- Individuals will be flush if angered
- People will become pale if afraid or going on the defensive
- People will run into objects if experiencing tunnel vision / mission focus
- People will swallow more often when experiencing emotional distress
Proxemics
The study of people’s proximity to one another and the movements that disturb this proximity. Proximity and movement together signal relationship statuses as well as interest / danger. People move for a purpose, and the way that they move can reveal their intentions.Geographics
The study of geographic areas and people’s algorithmic traversal of these areas. The paths people typically travel, the areas they congregate, and why some people avoid certain paths or areas can provide useful information.Iconography
- Tattoos, clothing and graffiti
- May require significant interpretation
- Can be hidden - notice when it gets hidden can tell you something about the individual
Atmospherics
Atmospherics refers to the collective mood or feel of an environment. It is the collection of proxemics, kinesic and biometric cues referred to above.Some practical details:
- Moods are contagious
- Every place has an emotional atmosphere, either positive or negative
- Once the emotional atmosphere is determined to be either positive or negative, profilers consciously identify the behavioral indicators creating that atmosphere
- Biometrics and Kinesics
- Proxemics
- Iconography
- Noise level
- Order or disorder
- Determining anomalies
- An immediately negative atmosphere should be taken as an indicator that something is wrong
- Individuals whose behavior or demeanor does not match the atmosphere
- Sudden change in atmosphere
Deciding to Act
After all is said and done there is still the question of what to do, and when to do it. This is where the “Combat Rule of Three” comes into play. When you observe three anomalies or indicators the authors argue that you must make a decision.Three anomalies are not required and in some incidents only one anomaly would be required. However, barring an obvious threat, this number should be taken as the utmost maximum amount of “red flags” one accepts before making a decision.
For the Marines the decision options run from violent to violent-lite. Obviously, ordinary people will make a decision more appropriate to civilian life - like alerting loved ones and likely leaving the area. But the key is that, after three anomalies, you need to respond to what's happening and you need to do it with a clear and level head.
Playing with the Heuristics
Below is a useful exchange between a trained fighter / bodyguard (Fred the Bodyguard, to be precise) and an individual that appears to approach him and his client in a threatening manner. I'm going to use this video like it's a training video to play around with the heuristic categories.In this exchange I can easily see the following anomalous behaviors upon the kid's approach and others probably see more:
Iconography: Individual is wearing clothing clearly designed to mask his face and likely signal his belonging to a group. The clothing does not appear appropriate to the weather
Proxemics: Individual is moving towards them quickly with a sort of tunnel vision
Biometrics: The individual appears to me to be a bit wide-eyed and wobbily, signaling he may be nervous about the course of events he is initiating
Kinesics: Where is the kid's hands? And he is bobbing up and down as if to make himself appear larger and more dominant than he is.
With this many clearly anomalous signs Fred makes physical contact and tells the kid repeatedly to "chill" in order to reassert his and his client's boundaries.
Instead of backing off the kid begins the "smuggling behavior" of patting inside his pocket, and may even take something out of his pocket. At that point the situation had escalated. Fred makes the decision to act and smack the kid down with an open-hand slap and a body kick. The kid is easily dispatched and clearly overwhelmed emotionally, suggesting he really wasn't that "into" what he was doing. I get the impression the kid could have been coaxed (maybe even hormonally) into the altercation, possibly by the shocked girl that he faces as he stands back up after being knocked down (proxemics).
Watching this video it makes intuitive sense how and why things played out. But it's also clear that Fred has been trained to deal with this type of interaction, knowing that a scared, masked teen with his hands in his pockets can easily get pushed emotionally into initiating an "event", and having the ability to start with a request and then quickly execute an efficient maneuver to remove the potential threat.
Having the general situational awareness as outlined above it makes it much clearer on a conscious level why it played out the way that it did.
Hope that some people find this information as interesting as I did.
