Situational Awareness

…then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head.  Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves.

Ezekiel 33:4-5

I know, I talk about this all the time, but the events of the last 8-9 days have me thinking it’s time to revisit this. Let me be frank:

WE MUST SEE THE WORLD AS IT IS, NOT AS WE WANT IT TO BE OR AS IT SHOULD BE.

In the days following the assassination (stop calling it MURDER, it was an assassination) of Charlie Kirk, everyone wanted to debate which small fringe group the shooter belonged to….was he trans, was he ANTIFA, was he a furry, as so on. The hard truth is the it DOES NOT MATTER ONE BIT. Charlie is still dead. I tried to explain that the point isn’t which small fringe did it, it was that there is a concerted effort by LARGER class of people (far left extremists of many stripe) to kill anyone to the right of Mao Tse-Tung. That is the REAL threat.

People WANT it to have been a member of some extremely small subset, because that absolves them of the need to maintain situational awareness. “If it’s just trans people, they won’t target me, because I don’t give speeches against them.” No response needed.

The truth is far darker and requires people to actually take responsibility for their own security. The truth is that you live in an insurgency and regardless of your political beliefs, you need to step up and pay attention.

Since it’s the topic du jour, let’s talk about the lack of situational awareness on campus that day. Even after the shot was fired, no one paid any attention to their surroundings. Not one person saw a man danlging from the roof of the building the shot came from. Sure, someone caught him on video running, but no one called to report a man dangling from the roof, jumping down, and then running away. That’s crazy. When I hear gunfire, I immediately start looking for anomolies. Sure, that comes from a few decades of experience and being around gunfire, but still.

You need to start raising your awareness levels and accepting responsibility. Pay attention to planning demonstrations (they are usually posted to Facebook or Twitter) in your area by known agitators on the left and on the right. Plan your day to avoid them. Learn about your neighbors and who might be allies, as well as who might be threats. I track unusual vehicle activity by writing it down (I live very rural now so most vehicle activity is unusual). Pay attention to who is in your neighborhood. Read your police or sheriff’s department website and learn where their crime map is posted or where they put out press releases. Join Facebook neighborhood groups.

The Nextdoor app (which I call the Karen app), as annoying as it is, is a WEALTH of intelligence and situational awareness information. Instead of having to visit the neighborhood busybody for gossip, she can know broadcast it all to the world and you can just read it without having to talk to her. Use it.

Sign up for a service like Everbridge/Nixle. These are texting apps where local police and fire agencies put out alerts.

Whenever you are in public, stop every so often and look around. If you watched the video of Iryna’s murder, the lesson is to PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY. Trust me, you will live without seeing every like instantly. You won’t miss anything, that’s what notifications are for. Please stop being so engrossed in your phone, you miss a real threat to your life.

On that note, try to sit so that you can see all around you. I know, sitting against the wall is cliche, but it’s cliche for a REASON. Anytime you enter somewhere, note where the exits are. Many places also now have “stop the bleed” or “bleeding control” stations set up – learn where they are. In Walmart, they are generally in the front end, right at the restrooms.

Stop being so engrossed in your virtual, online life that you miss dangers or enjoying your real life.

Be situationally aware.

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