Personal Safety, Awareness, Self
Defense and Firearm Training

Image by mr.smashy via Flickr

Dear Sealed Mindset Students,

In continuing honor of our upcoming Emerson Defensive Knife Skills class on 10/22 and 10/23, we have another excellent guest blog by none other than Mr. Emerson himself! Enjoy, and if you want to join the ranks of those who can see and avoid the predators out there, email us to take the class. We only have two spots left! anne@sealedmindset.com.

The Attributes of the Sociopathic Predator

“Wherever you are, death will find you, even if you are in towers strong and high!  So what is wrong with these people, that they fail to understand these simple words?” – Mohammed (Qur’an: 4:78)

How do you prepare yourself for an attack by your enemy?  Lets’ first take a short look back in history.

Prior to World War II the French Military built a line of defenses, a wall in effect, called the Maginot Line as a bulwark defense against an attack by the German Military.  The Germans simply went around using a different route, and over the line via the Luftwaffe.  My point?  The French strategic planners and military advisors failed to anticipate technological advances made by the German military.  They failed to realistically evaluate all the possible strategies that an enemy could employ to subvert the defense and they also ignored the fact that the way wars would be fought had evolved and changed.  In short, they did not know their enemy and as a result could not prepare an effective defense.  Their efforts were futile and useless.

The simple lesson here is; Unless you “know” your potential enemy you cannot prepare effectively for his assault.

The principle here as it applies to self defense and hand-to-hand combat is the same.  You need to “know” your attacker so you are ready and properly prepared should that attack ever come.

Who is Your Enemy?

“I didn’t feel nothin”, said Tommy Lynn Sells – when asked what he felt as he cut the throats of two ten year old girls.

With all of our training, our technology and our knowledge, why do the bad guys win?  Let’s take a look at answering that question.

Do you know what a sociopath is?  In simple terms, I would define it as someone who has no empathy, no feelings for others –no conscience.  We’ve been aware of, and perhaps have had contact with sociopaths our entire lives, ranging from the grade school bully all the way to the serial killer with all degrees of sociopathic behavior in between.  In fact, (Many bullies actually grow up to be adult sociopaths).

We on the other hand are the good guys.  We have a conscience.  We care about what happens to others, we do not want to cause pain or suffering, let alone death to anyone.  In this contrast lies the bad guys biggest advantage.  My question earlier to you was, “Why do bad guys win?”  Let us see if I can answer that.  There is a phenomenon called “hesitation shooting”, an all too real scenario in which a police officer has his gun drawn and pointed directly at the bad guy.  The bad guy also has a gun pointed at the officer.  The bad guy pulls the trigger.  The officer dies.  How does this happen?  Forget about your training.  Forget about department policies about justification of force.  Forget about rules of engagement.  Putting yourself in the officer’s shoes, it happens because you’re not a sociopath, even at the expense of your own life.  But the even bigger reason is this; The bad guy is a sociopath and he’s done this before.  You have not.  A sociopath will stove you’re head, in grab your sandwich and wonder what flavor the cheese is.  His behavior started with pulling the wings off flies, kicking dogs or beating kids on the schoolyard, he’s done this before, a thousand times before.  The only difference was that this time he had a gun.  Tomorrow he might beat the hell out of an 85 year old grandma just to get her eight dollars and change.

In simple terms they are a product of their environment and we are a product of ours.  You might say, Good Vs Evil.

This is your enemy.  Understand, I’m not talking here about a bar fight over a girls honor.  I’m talking about a stone cold killer who will climb through a window into your house, crush your head with a hammer and rape your wife next to your dead body.

“This is the enemy you must prepare for.  If you are prepared, truly prepared, mentally prepared, to face an opponent like this, then all lesser opponents will pale in comparison.

“Let him who desires peace, prepare for war.” – Publius Flavius Vegetius

How do you prepare for the sociopath, perhaps a gang member who will kill you just so he can tattoo a tear drop under his eye for status in the gang?

Unfortunately to beat this opponent you have to become a sociopath.  This is the point where most (a majority) of people fall short in the totality of their preparation.  Will you gouge someone’s eye out?  Will you tear their throat open with your teeth?  Will you smell his stale breath as his eyes glaze over from your arm around his throat?  If you’re not willing to answer yes, hell yes, to these questions then the day you meet one of these guys is the day you are going to die.

Are you a Sociopath?

I am a sociopath.  Well, let me soften that a bit, by saying a, “justified sociopath.”  What I mean by that description is; My decision, my mind set, my foregone conclusion is simply this.  If you threaten my life or the safety or the lives of my family, I will do anything and everything to prevent you from doing so.  No restrictions – no conditions.  Period.  You also, better be able to be that “justified sociopath”, when the time comes.

It is with this singular clarity of purpose that you must approach the reality of true life or death combat.  The SAS often describe it as the switch.  You’ve got to be able to turn on the ruthlessness when you need it and turn it off when it is not needed.  That is what separates “us” from “them”.  I’m going to talk in much more detail about the “switch” and also the psychological / physiological response to such extreme violence in upcoming articles.  But for now I want you to consider how you stand when it comes to a “what will I do to survive?” moment.  Otherwise if there is any part of you or your conscience holding you back when a bad guy is bent on your destruction you better be able to turn that switch off and the other switch on.  If you don’t, you may personally find the answer to the question I asked early on; “Why do the bad guys win?”

1, 100 words

Copyright 2010 Ernest Emerson

Image via Wikipedia

Hello SM Students!

Again, we are honored to have Ernest Emerson as our guest blogger this week to bring more exciting insight to the warrior mentality and the warrior spirit. Also, if you click on his name, you can visit his page to see the NEW Memorial Knife he designed for those who were killed in the recent helicopter crash.

For those of you who will be attending our Emerson Defensive Knife Skills class on 10/22 and 10/23, this is REQUIRED reading!

“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.” – Vince Lombardi

Since time immemorial warriors have always held a revered honored and respected place in society.  In spite of all political meanderings and the ebb and flow of societal values, this has never changed and it never will.

In terms of exposure to a spontaneous dangerous threat, it has been my observation that in general, society breaks down into two groups.  Those who run to danger and those who run from it.  This is not a matter of courage or cowardess and I place no judgment upon it.  I believe in the idea so eloquently explained by my friend and colleague Lt. Col David Grossman that, “there is the flock and there are the protectors of the flock, the Sheepdogs,” as he puts it.

Now, if you are reading this article because it is of interest to you then chances are you are a protector, a warrior.  Otherwise this would be of no interest to you.

Mind you, a warrior is not necessarily the 220 lb football quarterback or the professional wrestler.  In fact the physical aspect of strength or size, or sex has little if anything to do with the bearing of a warrior.  Many times in hostage situations it has been the petite middle age woman who has stepped forward, into the fray.

Do you know who is the toughest son-of-a-bitch to walk the face of this earth?  Any guesses?  Well, I’ll tell you who it is.  It is a 120 lb Marine just out of Boot Camp.  How can this be?  Does he think he is tough?  No, he does not.  He knows he is tough.  He knows he is the toughest son-of-a-bitch to ever walk the face of the earth.  There is not one shred of doubt in his mind.  He has the resolve of invincibility.  If any of you who are reading this are former marines then you know what I am talking about.

Every time I teach a hand-to-hand combat class the ever anxious students expect to grab weapons and start training in knife fighting tactics right out of the gate.  They expect that to happen but, that never happens.  Why not?  Because after 2 or 3 days of training what I’ve got is 30-40 weak fighters with knives in their hands.

My god, my methodology, is that that I must train them to be fighters first, before we ever put any weapon into their hands.  Once I have turned them into fighters – hard-core, fight to the death warriors, then I can put any weapon I want into their hands be it a rock, club or knife, and they will prevail.  Because now, even without weapons, they are Warriors, not just athletes.  Now, at the end of a training evolution I’ve got 30-40 warriors willing to fight to the death if necessary, to stop the bad guy.  And it doesn’t matter whether they have a weapon or not.  They’re going to win.

Once upon a time I was working with members of the British SAS.  In the middle of an edged weapons training block we were practicing how to punch as hard as humanly possible.  I asked one of the instructors why we were training in punching when we were dealing with edged weapons.  In a thick Scottish Brogue he answered bluntly, “If I can hit you so hard, that I’ll knock you into next Sunday then, if I have a knife in my hand, I’ll drive it through your chest and right out of your back.  The only reason I’m in this fight is because the bad guy’s try in’ to kill me.  I’m not about to let that happen.” What is the key point in his reply?  The one you should lock onto?…  “I’m not about to let that happen.  That is the Warrior speaking. Not the punching. Not the drills. Not the SAS.  It is the man who is a warrior.  In simple terms it embodies everything I’m trying to describe.  It is the attitude.  The resolve.  The Mentality of the Warrior.

“Get Tough or Get Beat” – SAS Maxim

In 1876 the citizens of Northfield Minnesota rallied together to route a daring bank robbery by the James Younger Gang.  Cole Younger was shot 13 times.  While recovering in the hospital a newspaper reporter asked him how he could survive being shot 13 times.  His answer was simple and direct.  “We’re tough men used to tough ways.”

The warrior’s spirit is conceived by need, driven by a cause and fueled by inspiration.  It is learned and earned and is not something anyone is born with.  As it is with a leader, the Warrior is not born into the role.  It is made by hard effort, determination, resolve, selflessness and a dedication to a moral and ethical ideal, a sense of justice and a willingness to defend your convictions.

A warrior is one who takes a stand and will give 100% of himself, even unto death to protect those who depend on his shepherding.

“Until the end of time, as the last sun sets upon this earth, in that blackest night, somewhere a warrior still stands his lonely watch.” – Ernest R. Emerson

For inspiration I submit to you the following, taken from The Order of the Black Shamrock;

“The Medieval Knight and the Royal Orders represented the ultimate warrior class of western civilization mirrored only in the East by the Samurai of Feudal Japan.  The Knight represented the ultimate culmination of skills and the epitome of human development.  Fearless in battle, heedless of death, driven by a cause and held to a strict set of moral standards.  To the common man, they represented the ultimate in human achievement.  And they represented the protector, their bulwark against evil.

These knights also represented the idea that someone possessed of such deadly skills and destructive force could at the same time be held accountable by an adherence to a code of strict moral, ethical, and honorable standards.  Standards held higher for them than any others.  Such was the definition of chivalry.

And this definition stands true today.  We are warriors.  We are warriors in the fight for justice, for truth, for freedom.  We are warriors against tyranny, against oppression, against evil in all its forms.  We are warriors for what is right and good.  We are warriors who protect those helpless, from harm.  We are warriors who fight to protect our way of life.  We are warriors who carry on the legacy of those who have gone before us, those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and the safety of our families.  We carry on the legacy of the warrior class, those who have always stepped to the frontline to place themselves as the last wall of defense between the evil that would destroy it and the precious things that we hold so dear.

This legacy has been borne true since the time of the noble knights and it is now held forth by those who heed to its calling to this day.  Those who stand watch over our neighborhoods and city streets.  From the dirt swept planes of Afghanistan to the front doors of our very homes where our families sleep at night, a warrior stands at the ready.  Whether you are a Soldier, Police Officer, Fireman, or a guardian, we are the brotherhood of warriors, the protectors, those who will not run from danger, but run to it, to seek its source and with shield and sword, strike it dead to stop its terrible spread.  We are the noble knights who will, without hesitation, and against fear, enjoin the battle to protect and guard the safety of those who lay their trust in us.

Not every man is a warrior, but for those that are, know that you are the steel that runs through the foundation of society and civilization and that without you there would be no liberty, no freedom and no justice for all.

The warrior is held to a higher standard.  The highest standard.  The greatest heroes in the history of the world have been warriors.  You are counted among those heroes, those times, those events that have shaped human history, that have built the greatest civilizations on this planet.  Count yourself among the ranks of those brothers and know that you stand shoulder to shoulder with those who have shaped the destiny of the world with steel, blood, fists, and glory.

You know who you are.  Carry the pride and bearing that befits the status that you have earned and that you hold.  Be proud that you have chosen to walk the path taken by few and revered by many.

And know also, that as warriors, we will never perish from the face of the Earth.”

The responsibility of a warrior does not merely necessitate the taking up of arms against an enemy.  It is more, much more and it is such that you become an example, a role model of ethical and moral behavior to all others who may look to you for guidance or protection.  If this is the path in life that you have chosen to walk then know that it is a path well worn by the footsteps of those who have walked here before you.  Others, who have willingly said; I will endure the hardship, the pain, the sacrifice and the risk of death so that those who sleep soundly in their beds can do so in the warm embrace of safety and peace.

If this is your choice then know that your road will be fraught with adversity and you will be assailed by many, but in those times, remember that you are in the company of the noble souls who have also faced such adversity and prevailed.  And know also that your legacy shall be that until the end of time, as the last sun sets upon this earth, in that blackest night, somewhere a warrior still stands his lonely watch.

Coming next week… Know Your Attacker – The Attributes, Strategies and Tactics of a Sociopathic Predator

1,701 Words – Copyright 2010 Ernest R. Emerson

Image via Wikipedia

Dear Sealed Mindset Students,

It is our great honor to introduce you to Ernest Emerson of Emerson Knives as our guest blogger this week! Larry and I were humbled to meet him a few years ago,  and now he is coming all the way out to Minnesota to offer the best defensive knife skill training to you! Larry has carried his Emerson Commander knife since his days at the U.S. Naval Academy, across the Middle East, through South East Asia and even in our own backyard. Larry is never without it. This very fact intrigued me the first day I met him, and now you will be able to learn, just as I did, about the meaning of the Emerson blade.

To give you better insight into why Larry always carries his Emerson Commander knife, Mr. Emerson has put together a series of blogs that we will be posting for the next few weeks. This is a terrific opportunity for you to learn what you may be in store for at the upcoming defensive knife skills class, should you accept the challenge to attend, on October 22nd and 23rd at Sealed Mindset. Enjoy!

“One who stands with his convictions never stands alone”

Surviving the Deadly Attack: The Twelve Principles and Strategies That Will Save Your Life by Ernest Emerson

Over the next few weeks I will be discussing 12 basic principles applied to the most intimate and deadly of all human interactions, Hand-to-Hand combat. These principles are distilled from decades of experience and thousands of analysis of deadly attacks. Out of all of this study, I began to see patterns and commonalities that manifest in both outcomes of these scenarios, those where the victim of the attack survived and those in which the attacker prevailed and severely injured or killed the victim.

This is the first installment in a series of articles, a course, on the strategies and tactics, the principles and concepts that you must know, that you must use, that you must embody, in order to insure your survival when you are against the odds.

These are the same subjects that I teach in seminars and courses to civilians, law enforcement and elite military units all over the world.

“There is great moral satisfaction when, in a decisive moment in time one is able to mete out clear justice without hesitation or debate” – Ernest Emerson

The Bottom Line

The true bottom line of this series of discourses is to teach you how to survive a violent, deadly attack. It is a survival fighting course; it is not for sport or tournament fighting. It is not designed to beat or defeat your opponent (although that is most often the outcome). It is designed to give you the tools to survive. This does not mean that you will not get hit, cut, broken or even severely injured. What it does mean is that everything you will learn is geared to enabling you to survive a violent attack. You must enter into the study of this course from the point of view that the end result of any attack could be your death. It is only with this clarity of purpose that you can, without hesitation employ the techniques and embody the concepts so that they give you the best use of the tools to survive. A photo cannot convey the intensity and violence with what they must be delivered to be most effective. If you think you can hit hard you must hit 10 times harder. If you think you are fast, you must be 10 times faster.

Forget the dojo, forget sparring, and forget the tournament or ring. Forget the teacher, the rules or referee. Imagine that it is 1:30 am on a Saturday and your car has broken down in the worst part of the worst city in the world. As you step out of your car, you see the three predators that are going to rape your wife and daughter and then kill all of you. They’ve done this before and totally without conscience they are about to do it to you. At this time, there is nothing else in your life that matters. There are no safeguards. It doesn’t matter if you are the most powerful CEO in the world or a gas station attendant. The only thing that exists in your world now, is you and them. The only tools that you have now are your physical skills, your wits and your most powerful natural weapon; the will to survive. In most cases, it is the only advantage you posses. Out manned and out gunned, your resolve may be the only deciding factor. You may even need to sacrifice your life to save your wife and daughter. This is the mentality that you must draw upon and develop during the study of these discussions.

And, this is the violence that, God forbid, you may have to confront some day and if you do, you must be prepared for this level of pure evil, both physically and mentally, in order to survive it when, and if, it ever enters your world.

Saving Yourself: You’re the Only One You Can Count On

In a time of real crisis, when your life is truly on the line or if you are ever involved in a life or death struggle with an armed attacker, a fight to the death, you will immediately come to the realization that it is just you alone against the attacker, nothing more and nothing less.

Even if you are protecting loved ones, teammates or innocent bystanders, where others may be involved, it will still boil down to just you and the bad guy. And if you are attacked in a parking lot or outside of some dive bar, you will really be alone, very alone.

Human beings are in general, by nature, social creatures. We congregate; we surround ourselves with friends, family and even strangers because it is comforting. In nature it is the stragglers who are singled out as potential prey.

Our society further supports this comfort zone with safeguards such as Police Departments and Fire Departments who will come to our aid in a time of need. They form our safety nets. As a whole we as a society have off-loaded our personal responsibility for safety to someone or something else. And as a result, psychologically, we have let down our guard and exposed our soft underbelly. We have come to rely on all of these factors for security and we know they will come to our rescue when we are in trouble.

Or so it would seem. In reality, it is highly unlikely that a serial killer, rapist or mugger is going to attack you in a crowd. In reality, a serious attack or fight is started and finished in less than 8 seconds. How long is 8 seconds? Just ask any Bull Rider and he’ll tell you just how long 8 seconds can be. Actually, most of the time a fight is over in less than 4 seconds, but most people won’t believe that. They’ve just seen too many movies. In reality, there is not going to be a police officer standing across the street. In reality, if you are attacked no matter what the circumstance, you are going to be on your own. Consider this scenario. You’re walking down the street with your buddies and out of the blue you pass some guy, he starts wailing on you. How many punches, could he throw in the 3-4 seconds it would take for your buddies to pull him off of you? How many knife strikes could he have thrown?

Does any of this change in a combat environment? Hell no. In fact it is worse. Not every mugger has the preliminary intent to kill you. But, if you have to go hands on with any enemy soldier in a combat environment, you better know he is trying to kill you.

I hope that you are coming to the realization that your survival in a deadly attack scenario ultimately rest squarely on your shoulders alone. You are solely responsible for your own survival. Safety nets, buddies, teammates or police responders will not be there to help you. If you are currently of the mindset that someone or something will be there to save you in your time of need, to come to your rescue, then you’re going to get hammered.

But, if it is true that you are responsible for your own survival, and that you believe it so, then you can start to do things to change the circumstances in your favor. You can start to manipulate the environment of a conflict. You can change the dynamics of a violent encounter and you can affect the sequence of events to sway them in your favor.
As you may have surmised by now, I am describing a mentality, or a mindset more than anything else and it is the first step in a progression of steps you must take in a readying yourself to react correctly when faced with the imminent threat of extreme physical violence.

I will be discussing, and you will be learning, that there are certain ways you can think, certain ways you can conduct yourself and certain things that you can do which will give you the tools to survive if and when you ever come face to face with the most terrifying of all experiences, mortal combat with another human being.
If you are now decided that yes, you are solely responsible for your ability to survive, which is the essential first step, then the next question is; What is the next step? What are all of the steps? What are you going to do about it? Take heart, for there really are certain things you can do…

Stay tuned for the next installment:

The Warrior Mentality – Developing the Warrior Spirit
To register for the Emerson Class on 10/22 and 10/23, please call Sealed Mindset: 1.877.723.7573.

Image by York College of PA via Flickr

Even though I have a Navy SEAL as a husband, a Rottweiler as a personal bodyguard, and a fair amount of defensive firearms training, my parents still tell me to be safe every time I’m about to head out on a work trip. My parents know what I do for a living, but they are still my parents. They naturally will always worry that they haven’t told me everything and that I haven’t listened to what they’ve been telling me all these years. But, it makes them feel better to tell me to be safe, so I tell them I will. The benefit in my parents’ case is that I have been proactive to learn how to be safe past what they have known to tell me. This gives me a distinct advantage when I am out there alone, and I want to give this advantage to other people who go to school alone, travel alone or work alone.

Every single parent has these same worries when they leave their child alone for the first time on a college campus. To address this concern and in honor of National Campus Safety & Awareness month coming up in September, I wanted to write a blog to help parents who are sending their children off to college for the first time and who already have their children on a campus: 17 million young adults nationwide.

I’ll never forget the day that my parents dropped me off at Georgetown. I’ll never forget it because front page on the Georgetown University paper was a story about a young nursing student who had been found dead in the woods near the university. My mother saw the title and immediately wondered what she may have forgotten to tell me about safety that she could squeeze in to our last few minutes together. I’m sure she left with a nervous knot in her stomach rather than a relaxed feeling of ease that she had prepared me with the very best knowledge.

Most parents do not like to think that the unexpected might occur at college – their child being hurt, assaulted, raped, mugged or attacked. But the unfortunate reality of the college campus is that it is not as secure as many parents believe.

While most university rules require all dorm room doors to be locked and non-residents of a dorm to sign in when entering campus buildings, there are always loopholes. In fact, the most recent statistics show that there are more than 35,000 crimes on U.S. college campuses in one year.

SO, WHAT CAN YOU AS A LOVING PARENT DO TO BEST PREPARE YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER?

Here are my top 10 points of learning for parents to help prepare their children for the ultimate college experience: a safe one.

The first 5 points will be covered this week and the next 5 points will be covered next week, so stay tuned!

(1)   Enroll your daughter or son in a DEFENSIVE FLASHLIGHT CLASS: Why a Defensive Flashlight class rather than mace, pepper spray or a rape defense class?

We as human beings are limited, which means we need tools to help us stay safe. But, we need tried and true tools that work with our lifestyles, not aggressive tools that do not fit who we are as students. A defensive flashlight (NOT from Costco!) is the best tool my Navy SEAL husband and I have found to stay safe for those individuals who do not feel comfortable carrying a handgun, but want more distance and security than mace/pepper spray provides.

A flashlight is easy to learn and use, no matter what age or physical size.
A flashlight can be carried on a plane, train or anywhere in the U.S.
There is no prior self-defense training needed to be effective.
It creates distance better than pepper spray and mace.
You can momentarily blind, distract and confuse from a distance.
NO legal repercussions for its use!

If you would like to know what flashlight I carry, call me at: 619.302.0262 and I can tell you what I’ve found to be the best of the best and why.

(2)   Explain TRANSITION AREAS to your daughter or son and why these are the areas where they need to be more aware.

Transition areas are areas in between safe locations where your risk is higher, for example the area between your office and your parked car (the parking lot), the area between your class and your dorm (side streets), or the area between the mall and your parked car. In these situations the only priority should be personal safety, so no talking on the cell phones, no texting friends, no earphones with music.

(3)   Teach them how to SEE A THREAT FROM A DISTANCE

The only way to tell from a distance if someone is a threat is to figure out ahead of time if a person has the capability to do you harm and the intent to do you harm. But how do you recognize this in others? Sealed Mindset has a list of more than 20 different criteria within our “15 Seconds to Safety” online program to recognize capability and intent from a distance, but the two best ones I use every day are to look at someone’s hands (window to capability) and their eyes (windows to intent). If someone’s hands are large, calloused, scarred, holding something and/or hidden from view, that allows me to notice possible capability. If someone’s eyes are shifting away from mine or shifting away when a person of authority walks into a room, that allows me to notice possible intent. If you have both at work, you can see a threat.

(4)   Teach your son and daughter how to SEE DANGER AT NIGHT when they walk back to their dorm rooms.

What this means is that your child should learn how to use his or her natural night vision (and some other night vision skills too!) to reduce risk when moving from a well-lit area to a darker area and visa versa. I have used these easy night vision skills at least once every day since I learned them 7 years ago. I use one of the skills each evening when I leave my office to walk to my car. Before I leave the office, I turn out the lights in the hallway and I let my eyes adjust to the dark for 5 minutes before walking out into the night to get to my car. I do this because I want the added advantage of seeing better in the dark (when your eyes adjust) so that I will be more likely to notice something lurking in any shadows than if I had not taken those important five minutes to let my eyes adjust.

These night vision skills are the single most important skills young adults can learn to stay safe after they learn how to use a defensive flashlight. Lesson 6 in our 15 Seconds to Safety online course teaches this, so check it out:

http://www.sealedmindset.com/awareness-training/online-course

(5)   Teach your son or daughter the 7 aspects of normal life that limit their security and then help them learn how to BREAK BAD HABITS so that they can limit their risk when they are alone.

Learning how to break myself of the 7 aspects of normal life (what we refer to as “social conditioning” at Sealed Mindset) that negatively impact my ability to stay safe, has changed my life more than anything else I have ever learned from my Navy SEAL husband. The first one I will mention here, but if you would like to know the other 6, shoot me an email and I will share them with you: anne@sealedmindset.com.
1 – How We Think About Our Environments

We limit ourselves in how we look at environments, everything from a coffee shop to a gym to an office space. We see signs that say “Employees Only” and tell ourselves we cannot go into those areas. Rather than seeing signs and reiterating the negative limitations that those signs impose on us, look at signs and think, “If something bad happened right now, where could I go to stay safe? What could I use to give me an advantage?” I always look at “Employee Only” signs as guidance rather than the rule, because if I can use those to my advantage to stay safe, I will.

When you enter a new place, look for the entry and exits, look for the safest place to sit, look for what you can use to create a barrier between yourself and someone else so that you have avenues of escape wherever you are. This is not paranoia; this is prior planning, and it makes you SMART. If you are a college student who knows this, it gives you the ultimate safety edge.

In my mind, 2 hours of online prevention to reduce the risk for a young adult is a small price to pay for peace of mind and to quiet those nervous knots. If my mother could have given me that gift when she dropped me off at Georgetown, she would have without hesitation. What are you waiting for? Now’s the time!

ADDED BONUS:  For any young adult who takes our online course, we give him or her the direct number to SEALED MINDSET so that they have a Navy SEAL on their speed dial for any safety questions they might have when they are away from home – how many kids can say that these days?

Those are the first five techniques, but the best five are to follow in NEXT week’s blog! Make sure you check it out on Friday, August 19^th.  For more information on Sealed Mindset’s pre-college safety training, please email me: anne@sealedmindset.com.

FAMILY COLLEGE SAFETY RESOURCES

Security On Campus (Non Profit) Information on Sexual Assault, Homicide, Assault, Robbery, Weapons Violations, Threat/Alerts, and Other Crime on College Campuses:

http://www.securityoncampus.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=89&Itemid=63

Campus Safety Magazine:

http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/Channel/University-Security/Articles/2011/04/Clery-Reporting-Whose-Job-Is-It-Anyway.aspx

NEWS

Michigan Campus Attacks:

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-29/justice/michigan.fbi.probe_1_michigan-campus-attacks-composite-sketch?_s=PM:CRIME

ABC Primetime Special: http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1319608

Image via Wikipedia

When people meet me and learn I like to shoot handguns or that I carry a defensive flashlight, I hear many of the following questions:

What are you afraid of?

Why on earth would you carry a gun?!

What happened to you that made you want to carry a defensive flashlight?

You must feel SO SAFE with Larry and Fluffy, why do you need to carry something?

Many of those same people are shocked when they discover that NOTHING bad has ever happened to me, that I am not paranoid, that I have never been attacked, never been mugged, never had any safety related issues – even when I am by myself without Larry or Fluffy to protect me.

The reason why I believe I haven’t experienced anything traumatic (other than very protective parents), is that I am proactive when it comes to my safety. Never have I wanted to say to someone that I wished I had learned more or done something different. Never did I want to have to tell my parents that something bad had happened to me because I didn’t listen to what they told me about safety.

But, how confident and informed I am now is not always how I was when it came to daily safety skills. Before Larry, I walked around with my head in the clouds a bit, running through my “to do” list in my mind, thinking about everything else I had going on with my day. Most women are just like me and do this too!

When I looked through blogs I had written years ago when we first started Sealed Mindset’s online awareness training to help families be more proactive with their safety, I found this – my first experience in a self defense class.

For other women out there who want to know what a self defense class is like before you attend one, here is my story. But remember, the class you attend is only as good as the teacher’s practical experience and whether or not the tools they give you have been passed through the filter of actually being used in the real world.

Before I arrived at the first self-defense course I ever took, I was aware of the following statistics:

• 1 out of 6 women will become a target of sexual assault.
• Eighty-seven percent of women who fought back when they were assaulted said it made the circumstances BETTER.
• 75% of sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim
  

I went into the self-defense course wondering what someone could teach me in three hours that might do more than just boost my confidence. The course was well executed, engaging, and the instructor had invited two women doctors to provide emotional support to all of the ladies attending.

Sitting in the class, I learned something I had not previously considered about criminals:  a criminal would know how to protect himself from a woman’s initial reactions because when a criminal strikes, it is rarely the first time he has done it. He is practiced, he has planned and he is prepared. More likely than not, he has been watching you and your habits, which is why it is so integral to change up when you go to the gym, when you go to the grocery store, etc.

We also learned the following tips:

• Sit on the outside seat on planes, trains and buses with your belongings on the inside seat – much easier to escape from a bad situation if you can reach the aisle
• Don’t travel without your cell phone in your car
• Keep contact information, but not personal information in your wallet
• Carry the bulk of your money in your bra
• Always have ¾ of a car length in front of you and another car so that you are never boxed in.

We learned the following skills to try to prevent us from being taken to the ground:

• How to pinch effectively in the most tender places
  
• How to get out of a grabbed wrist
  
• How to back away at a 45 degree angle
  
• How to get out from under a man if he was sitting on top of you, pinning your wrists
  
• How to get out of a choke hold
  
• How to get out of a bear hug grab

We learned that predators typically look for the following in a victim:

• PASSIVITY:  How passive are you? How close can a criminal get?

  What will you allow a criminal to get away with?

  How you react judges what will come next!

• LOW SELF ESTEEM:  How do you carry yourself?

• ASSERTIVENESS: How easy is it for you to say no and move away from unwanted attention?

THE BOTTOM LINE

The bottom line for everything I learned was that a woman must become more aware of her surroundings.  But, no one explained how I could become more aware – just that it was important to do so. Also, the focus was on “acting confident.” What I discovered from watching the other women in the class when they practiced “acting confident” was that you can’t fake confidence. Despite all of these good first learning points, I wanted more. This class inspired me to develop a class that taught more than tips and quick skills. Where this class stopped, the Sealed Mindset curriculum begins.

PRACTICING WITH LARRY

When I returned home and went to practice my new found protective skills on my husband, I was in for a bit of a shock. Not knowing what I had learned, he immediately picked me up in a big bear hug (with my arms at my sides since it happened so fast!) and threw me down onto the couch, pinning my arms with his forearms and my body with his body. He was not up in the position we had practiced in the self-defense course; instead, he was lying prone against me. My special ‘trick’ to put pressure on his knee to get out of a ‘man on top’ situation was useless, but I felt better knowing that I could fight. This mental strength made me determined not to give up. That didn’t mean that I eventually won, just that I knew I had more in me than I had before the class. I also realized very quickly how FAST an attack can occur, if you don’t know how to see it coming to avoid it.

KNOWLEDGE

At the end of the day, I was more confident in my ability to protect and defend myself  because I had gained knowledge.

Knowledge made me understand that I was stronger than I thought. It made me realize more than ever that ALL women need more knowledge, more techniques and the specialized skill sets that can typically only be found in the military or federal training world. The most important thing I learned that day, however was that learning about being safe is a lifelong journey and a progression. It is also nothing to be afraid of! We have reserves of energy inside us that we barely ever use – gaining knowledge helps us tap into these reserves so that they are ready when we need them.

So, remember when it comes to personal safety or self-defense, there is always another tool to add to your personal safety tool kit and always something new to learn. Find a trusted resource for your questions, find an experienced instructor with real world defensive experience who integrates role playing to help you develop the right skills, and if you ever have questions, CALL ME.

And, after you make that first call to learn more, give yourself a congratulatory HUG. You have made the choice that will set you apart from all others as a stronger, more independent and prepared woman.

Now that is a woman I want to know.

Image via Wikipedia

Everyone wants to know the name of the SEAL who shot Bin Ladin. People cannot believe that he is not being honored on every news channel. Others cannot imagine being that man and having to keep it a secret when you were the one to finally bring justice to the world’s worst terrorist.

Unfortunately, unless you have been one of these warriors, it will never make sense why there must be silence, and more importantly, why that is exactly what you as a SEAL would want.

The need for silence comes from two places: operational security and family safety.

Operational Security or OPSEC refers to the efforts that must be taken to ensure that the enemy does not gain any knowledge that can benefit them. The public may see this as one of the biggest military victories of recent history, but to the SEALs on this mission, it was just another effective day at work.

These warriors will return to their base to debrief the After Action Report (AAR), which will go over every detail of the operation, both good and bad. Each member (both senior and junior) will share their point of view of the events and offer criticisms of each other’s actions. All of these lessons will be collected and distributed to as many other SEALs as possible, so that all of us can benefit from the lessons learned to never make the same mistake again.

Then these warriors will go back to work to train for the next mission. The training is never ending. This training is what enables these warriors to perform the impossible. They will be itching to get back into the fight to continue to make a difference. In order to continue deploying and protecting this country, these good men must remain anonymous. If their identities were to be paraded about on television, then their operational careers would be over.

This ties into the next reason why identities of these men must remain a closely guarded secret. The enemies that we are fighting against are evil people that will go to any means necessary to hurt us. In our modern society of social media and public identities, it would not be hard to take a name and find the families of these warriors. These terrorists would not think twice about targeting a school or an elderly care facility to kill the family members of the warrior or warriors who finally brought Bin Ladin to justice.

But, the most important point to keep in mind is that this secrecy is exactly what these warriors want.

We are not like you. That is obvious by the fact that the majority of individuals never try to become a SEAL and of those few that try, 80% will not make it. If you go to BUD/s (Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL) training because you want outside recognition, you will not last long.

The only men who make it through training must be motivated from deep inside. It must be a calling; you must be a sheepdog through and through. All SEAL training accomplishes is to sharpen the teeth you already had.

SEALs pride themselves as being “Silent Professionals.” Unless you know what to look for, it is very difficult to pick out a Navy SEAL in the crowd.

We do not leave our loved ones for an average of 300 days a year for a mention in the paper.

We do not sacrifice our bodies and our souls for medals or commendations.

We do not suffer the loss of our friends and teammates for an appearance on television.

We do savor the respect given to us by our fellow teammates for our actions in combat. We do thirst for the feeling of excitement and accomplishment that comes from a successful mission.

But, most importantly every day we feel a hollowness deep within us that reminds us that we have still not done enough to protect our teammates, our families, and the country that we love.

This feeling is what drives us to remain anonymous and to throw ourselves back into the breach, ready to fight against evil in whatever forms it takes.

As always, thanks for reading.

Larry Yatch

Image via Wikipedia

I often get questions about the very popular AR-15 Rifle. This happens even more often now that Sealed Mindset is coming out with a completely custom, hand-built  rifle.

Just as the popularity of this weapons system rises, so do the questions and the confusion.

With this post, I will give you a basic understanding of the history of this rifle and the naming conventions, so that the next time you are at a dinner party and conversation shifts to sporting rifles, you can be the star.

The AR-15 is a fully automatic or semi-automatic, magazine-fed rifle.  The AR-15 traditionally shoots a .223 caliber round.

I can imagine the comments already!  “Larry you are wrong, the AR-15 shoots a 5.56 round!”

Actually, the .223 caliber round and the 5.56mm round are the same thing.  Both refer to the diameter of the bullet that leaves the rifle, one is a standard (caliber) measurement and one is a metric (mm) measurement.

Image via Wikipedia

There are now many different AR-15 style rifles that shoot calibers from .22LR to .308 caliber / 7.62 mm.

Traditionally the AR-15 was a gas blow-back, direct impingement design.  This means that the gasses that are pushing the bullet down the barrel are redirected and used to directly push the bolt of the rifle toward the rear.

Some AR-15 rifles are now gas pistol or operating rod designs.  This means that instead of the gasses hitting the bolt directly, the gases are used to press a gas piston to the rear.  This design can improve reliability by not pushing dirty, hot gasses into the bolt.

Let’s get into naming confusion now…

The name AR15 comes from orig manufacturer ArmaLite and stood for ArmaLite Rifle model 15. Colt bought the rights from Armalite around 1959.

The CAR-15 designation was a reintroduction by Colt to try to associate the name of the rifle to their brand – hence Colt Automatic Rifle : CAR15. It didn’t really stick.

Now a CAR15 is generally understood to refer to a carbine version of the AR15.

The term carbine traditionally refers to a shorter / smaller variation of a full size rifle.

There are no official specifications as to what separates a AR15 from a CAR15.

What I mean is that if you have a 20″ barrel on your rifle, that does not mean it is a CAR15, and if you have a 21″ barrel you now have an AR15.

Then to muddy the naming waters even more, enter the U.S. Military.

When Colt first sold AR-15 rifles to the U.S. Military, their designation was M16.

The main difference between a AR-15 and a M16 was that the military version had selective fire from semi-automatic to fully automatic.

The M16 is being replaced with the M4 which is a carbine (shorter) version of the M16.  There are a number of other upgrades that have occurred over the years to improve the M4 over the M16.

There you go, a beginner’s course in the awesome AR-15 rifle. If you have one and want to learn how to use it, let us know. Sealed Mindset is considering hosting an AR-15 course in July, but we want your feedback on interest levels.

I’m lucky enough to be the person at Sealed Mindset who receives emails from our past clients who are willing to share their stories about how our training has affected or changed their lives. Many write in to tell me that they no longer live with nagging concerns or the feeling of vulnerability that can arise when we walk from our offices to our cars at night. Their emails inspire me every day because I see the impact and proof that what we teach builds a stronger, more aware person who isn’t fearful or paranoid.

One of our first clients ever has taken the time to share her story with us. She doesn’t worry anymore that she wouldn’t know what to do if something unexpected were to happen.

Here is her story.

Jeanine, Online Student in our 15 Seconds to Safety Course

I didn’t even notice that it was that dark until a chill ran through my spine and my “Sealed Mindset” switch flipped on almost simultaneously.

I pulled back my hoodie and looked around.  Two men were approaching me from the left.  I turned right and started walking down the sidewalk.  I kept moving my head so I could see them.  Then I stopped at a corner in the path and turned to look at them directly.

They stopped, turned away and went up the street.  All the while talking in soft voices to each other.  I decided to walk a little further along the cliff to where there are some parking spaces.  They were empty of course, and so was the beach (beach patrol was not allowing people on the beach).

Again I was alone, now just a little further away from the harbor.  The men were gone and I tried to go back to looking at the ocean waves and relaxing with the sunset.  My gut seemed uneasy though and I thought I should probably head back.  As I was thinking this over, a large SUV sped into the space closest to me and jammed on the brakes.  I took off in a full sprint when the car sped into space.  Four men jumped out after me, two of them were the same men as before.  When I turned my head to look, the guy closest to me was almost  6 feet away with a long pipe of some sort in his right hand.

I ran as fast as I could.  I have never run that fast in my whole life and I didn’t turn around again.

I got to the down slope part, hoping that I would see some people.  No one was there.  No one was in their houses along the cliff either b/c of evacuation warnings.  As I approached the upward slope part, I heard one of them yell “forget it, forget it” and it sounded farther away, but I didn’t stop.

I thought it best not to believe their words, so I kept running.  I didn’t stop until I got to the other end of the beach. On that farthest cliff side were some folks hanging out by their cars.  We didn’t see the men who were chasing me from where we were standing.

The training I did in your online class has saved me from many potentially bad situations – this one just the other day.  I am very grateful to you and to all of the Sealed Mindset staff for that.  Not only has it made me a safer person, but it has also made me a more confident person.  Words could not fully express my gratitude. Please thank everyone at Sealed Mindset for their hard work and dedication to making us all safer here in the States.  If I hadn’t been practicing my “Sealed Mindset” for over a year now, it wouldn’t have kicked in almost unconsciously that night to save my life.

Image via Wikipedia

How do you plan the mission to kill Bin Laden?

As much as it pains me to admit it, SEALs are not super human. Short of having a higher pain tolerance than most and an over developed need to protect, we are not that much different.

What separates us and what helps us to successfully pull off incredible operations, is our specialized training and planning. This type of training and planning was seen in the SEAL Sniper’s at sea rescue of Capt. Phillips and in the Osama bin Laden raid.

The planning process that is used by Navy SEALs was developed in the muddy jungle during the Vietnam War and has constantly evolved since then. This planning process is referred to as contingency planning and is used to varying degrees across the corporate world as well.

Most planning processes focus on the “perfect operation.” A plan is put together that describes the operation as you would want it to unfold in a perfect world. Once this plan is developed, than you practice it and conduct many dry runs. As SEALs we view this traditional contingency planning process as only the very beginning of the planning process. For those of you who have attended a Sealed Mindset Date Night and have seen our emergency plan, you know what I mean….

In contingency planning we as SEALS not only plan for the “perfect operation,” but we also spend a great deal of time planning for contingencies. Another word for contingencies would be problems. Everyone has heard of Murphy’s Law, “What can go wrong, will go wrong.” As SEALs we want to make it as uncomfortable for “Murphy” as we can.

We do this by breaking the mission down into individual sections. Each section represents one part of the overall plan. For example, we may break a mission down into insertion, actions at the objective, and extraction. In layman’s terms, this means getting there, what you do when you are there, and getting home.

After the mission is broken up into phases, we discuss (as a team) every problem that may come up during that section of the mission. The top three most likely problems (contingencies) will be decided upon and assigned to individual team members. Each person will them be tasked with preparing three plans that solve his assigned problem. After all of these “contingency plans” are finished, the plans are presented to the team as a whole. At that point, responsibilities are assigned and the required equipment is prepared.

Interestingly enough, most of the time the problems that occur during a mission are rarely the same as the problems planned for during this contingency planning process. But, one of the most important benefits of this process is that by working together as a team to find and plan for expected problems, the entire team truly understands the overall intent of the plan. This understanding of mission intent allows the operators to seamlessly work though any problem that may arise.

The effectiveness of this planning process was seen in action during the bin Laden raid. Even with the loss of a helicopter, the SEALs were able to instantly adjust and complete the mission.

This planning process is just as effective in any environment where there is a potential for problems to arise. If you are interested in learning more about the SEAL contingency planning process, or how you can learn to implement this process across your organization for mission success, please contact us at info@sealedmindset.com.

Navy SEAL Larry Yatch

Many of you have emailed, called and written to ask me this question after the recent targeted operation against Osama Bin Laden:

“What was going through the minds of the SEALs as they assaulted Osama Bin Laden’s compound?”

Here is my answer to your question:

The silent darkness of night is violently disturbed with the pounding sound of MH-60 Blackhawk helicopter blades cutting through the thin mountain air.  Within the next instant, 24 black clad figures are silently and purposefully gliding through the darkness with weapons held at the ready.

The minds of America’s most elite warriors at this very instant are clear and prepared.

As a 10-year combat veteran of the Navy SEALs who was lucky enough to be involved in many high risk missions similar to the Bin Laden raid, I wanted to use this post to describe what went through my mind at these moments to give you a glimpse into the emotions and thoughts of a warrior in action.

One emotion that is not present in this high risk moment is the emotion of fear, but not for any of the reasons that you might expect.

A tenant that we live by in the SEAL Teams is: “Courage is not the absence of fear, rather it is the mastery of fear.”  It is true that only crazy men or dead men have no fear.  Even the world’s most elite warriors feel fear.  What separates us from others is the ability to continue to operate effectively despite feeling fearful.

I remember very distinctly a time when I was preparing for a mission where the expected casualty rates were 50%.  This means that I had a coin flip’s chance of surviving.  This knowledge caused me to be fearful in the weeks and days that preceded the operation.  Yet, I was confident in my teammates’ abilities and I knew that I needed to continue to lead them to keep them safe.

As we started the operation, we reached what we refer to as the “drop dead point.”  This point is considered the point of no return, where we are fully committed to the operation and to any danger that might lie ahead.  I noticed that any fear I had felt initially had at this moment been completely transformed into anger.  The anger I felt rose from that fact that I had knew that these bad men that we had to confront were the reasons that my closest friends and my own safety was at risk.  Their choices and actions were the cause of this situation, and that made me upset.

The other reason that my fellow warriors would not be feeling fear is due to the years of intense training we experience.  In these types of operations, I have found that you are in a dynamic, 360-degree environment.  In this type of environment, threat levels are constantly changing, enemy and friendly positions are changing, and this is occurring all around you, above and below you simultaneously.

In that type of situation, you cannot rely on your mind’s ability to make conscious decisions.  You must have been trained to a level that allows you to instinctively react.  With our level of training, I have found that my mind actually becomes very quiet.  All of the background “noise” that usually exists in our minds is shut off.  There are no thoughts of cause or effect, just action and reaction.  It is the ultimate example of being in the moment.

This “in the moment” feeling is unparalleled in life.  I have jumped out of airplanes, surfed monster waves, flown aerobatic airplanes, and mountain biked down mountainsides in search of that single, powerful feeling, yet none even come close.  It is one of the most addictive feelings on earth and part of the reason why operating as a Navy SEAL, where I could protect the country I love, was the best calling I have ever had.