Many years ago in another life and another country I had this experience. I was with two guys transporting by hand as much 7.62 ammo we could carry to some other guys who desperately needed it. We were going through a series of high berms and walked almost right into an enemy patrol of 9 guys. If it was not for some situational awareness, I would not be writing this. My family is tired of me talking about situational awareness. They have heard it from me so much that they are really good at rolling their eyes. But because of my own harrowing experience, I’ve come to rely on situational awareness to save myself and others from their own harrowing experiences. It’s been said that wise people learn from their own experience, but Super-wise people learn from OTHERS experience. I’ve tried to teach others with my own harrowing experience.
I’ve written much about it and here I go again.
The OODA loop is the decision cycle of observe, orient, decide, and act, developed by military strategist and United States Air Force Colonel Joh Boyd. Boyd applied the concept to the combat operations process, often at the operational level during military campaigns. It is now also often applied to understand commercial operations and learning processes.
The OODA loop works. We see that evidence every day when we take the same route to work, and don’t even have to think about it. We are barely awake, we’re thinking about everything else but driving, and we still make all the turns, and arrive to work in one piece. That’s the OODA loop having done its job. The Observation, orientation, and decision have been done long ago, as has the initial action (your first few drives to work). Now, the action can be taken without having to devote time or energy to any of those other steps. Another reason that I vary my routes to and from work. To not be so oriented so I will have to pay more attention.
The first “O” in the OODA Loop stands for “Observe”. This means you have to have your wits about to see what is happening. Otherwise the enemy will be in their “Act” of their OODA Loop putting you in danger.
. Effective observation is one of the most important aspects of keeping yourself safe, so it makes sense to find ways to be as observant as possible.
While not everyone can have amazing powers of observation, you can get a lot better and develop a talent for noticing what others don’t. Some key ways to improve your observational skills include:
Make mindfulness a habit. You should continually be alert to your surroundings, whether you are at work or otherwise. By training yourself to notice what is going on around you, you’ll become better at noticing when something is amiss. Practice makes perfect when it comes to spotting oddities and unusual occurrences, so the more you make it a point to pay attention, the more honed your observational skills will become.
Watch body language. As you talk with and interact with people, practice paying attention to their body language as well as the words they are saying to you. Doing this with people you know can be beneficial because you can start to see patterns in body language that can help you to assess people’s mood and intent.
The Israelis have learned to recognize that behavior profiling is the key to recognizing and identifying not only the potential of terrorist activity, but criminality and violence.
Unfortunately, in our country we have made the word “profiling” synonymous with stereotyping.
Due to political correctness, we have thrown out the baby with the bathwater in our efforts to avoid civil rights violations based on racial, ethnic, gender, age or religious stereotyping of individuals.
Yes, profiling if equated with stereotyping is wrong, illegal, and not useful, but behavioral assessment is a valuable tool.
What is valuable are behavioral clues that individuals display. These clues, if detected and further investigated, may lead to the probability of a future act of terrorism, criminality, or violence.
Increasing observation and critical thinking skills are the key and foundation to see and learn behaviors.
In other words, we need to rapidly observe and access the totality of circumstances as we study behaviors. When researching this area, it became apparent that there was little or no training available.
An important point that must be recognized: if you can’t see it… you can’t deal with it! Therefore, observation and cognitive skills are the most important assets we can possess.
It is estimated that approximately 80 percent of what we perceive comes to us through vision.
A long held false assumption is that individuals joining law enforcement or professional security have some innate capacity to observe unfolding situations faster and better than anyone else. In fact, the term “trained observer” has been bantered around these professions for years. Yet, where is the training?
Observation skills can be increased.
The ability to tell the difference between a cell phone, a wallet, a tool, and a handgun fast and with accuracy can make the difference in a wrongful shooting, saving your life or the lives of others.
Of course, increasing these skills is not the be all and end all to solve the complex problems of terrorism or violence. Nor is the ability to rapidly assess behaviors, but this is the ground work of critical and essential training that can and will make us more effective in protecting our own lives and the lives of the people around us.
Improving your observational skills pays off in making you safer because you can spot problems quickly and address them before they escalate.
Use Kim’s Game to improve your observational skills
The name Kim’s game comes from Rudyard Kipling’s book called “Kim” published in 1901. “Kim” is the story of an Irish orphan who grew up in India. Kim was being trained to be a spy by the government’s intelligence agency. This spy training involved many things but one was a way of improving his observational skills. To do this the trainers showed Kim a tray of gems and other stones and he was allowed to memorize them for one minute. After the minute had elapsed the covered the tray and asked Kim how many stones he saw and what kind of stones and gems they were.
This process has been adapted by military units and even the Boy Scouts as a way to train and improve your observational skills. According to Wikipedia World War I British Major Hesketh-Prichard developed many techniques in art of sniping, including the use of spotting scopes, working in pairs and using Kim’s Game to train observational skills, many of which are still used today by law enforcement counter-sniper teams.
The basic process is as follows:
It takes two or more people to play
Put twenty or more objects under a cloth or handkerchief
Allow the players up to one minute of time to memorize the objects
After the objects are covered again ask the players to list as many as they can remember
Change and vary the objects and repeat the process over and over to build memory skills
Advanced Variations
Remove or replace one object and have the players name what was removed or inserted.
Ask them to completely describe each object. For example in the photo above: What suit is the playing card? How long is the pencil? What does it say on the business card? What number is showing on the die? What color is the crayon? What is the brand name of the battery?
You can also use PowerPoint to show photos of objects or complex scenes from the real world to add realism to your training.
Use the game regularly to improve memory and your skills of observation.
The Observation part of the OODA loop is very important. It is the foundation of the Loop.
Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn
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