Levels of Situational Awareness
4 level color code
Author: Steve Hanafi (Silat Sharaf Practitioner, Malaysia)
There’s this motto that says “Always be ready”, but let’s face it and let’s be real, you can’t ALWAYS be ready. Being ready and prepared takes conscious effort and consumes mental energy, and if you think that you can ALWAYS be prepared and ALWAYS be ready, you’re fooling no one but yourself, and sooner or later you’re gonna get overwhelmed by trying to do so.
Thing is, that’s not how the human mind works. Even the most trained and elite agents of MI6 or CIA or FBI aren’t ALWAYS ready. That’s not how it is. As human beings, we need time to unwind, watch our favorite shows, play with the kids, to do past time activities, socialize and recharge ourselves. You can’t stand guard at the door holding a Benelli M2 Super 90 all the time looking for possible threats, aiming at anyone who’s passing by in case they are “possible threats”. Speaking of which, how does one differentiate when is the time for them to be aware, or to rest, or to go full blast attack mode? Lucky for us, a color code chart was developed by Colonel Jeff Cooper to teach situational awareness based on 4 different categories:
Jeff Cooper’s 4 level color code chart
CODE WHITE
Distraction kills awareness
Represents a state of being unaware of the surrounding, most likely because you feel safe. You’re at home, chilling in front of the TV, your kids are in front of you, the gates are locked, alarms are set, the lights are on, nothing much, where you feel and believe to be safe. However, this state is where one is most vulnerable and exposed to attacks and ambush. It is acceptable to be in code white at your home, your parents' home, work, given that you know well the people and the layout. However, one should not be in this condition in public surroundings such as at the mall or the bus stop, yet we still see people watching movies and shopping on their phone in public when they should attend to the environment and be in condition yellow.
CODE YELLOW
Actively scanning the environment
This is the next level of awareness. You’re being aware, being alert but in a relaxed state. You’re not turning your head 540°, but you are actively scanning, trying to sense anything that can be either a threat or anything that can be used to your advantage while maintaining the ability to do daily activities or routine. You’re at the store, you notice the entrance and exit points, the workers, the people walking, you notice how people dress, talk and behave, and you’re just casually looking around. There are no specific or obvious threats present, but you’re just being aware while looking for possible threats because one has to be aware to be able to react accordingly.
A good game that can be used to exercise to be in this state is “How many?”. When I go for a run I’d ask questions like “How many houses are there along this road?”, “How many houses have a red car?”, or at a restaurant “How many workers are here? How many are male/female?”, “How many people are wearing black/Nike/sports shoes?”. Just questions of things that you can observe anytime, anywhere, to build the habit of scanning around and being in Code Yellow while in public spaces.
Maintaining condition yellow while driving
CODE ORANGE
Something’s off
A heightened level of awareness. This code is where you have spotted and identified something that breaks your baseline, someone that portrays abnormal behavior, one that makes your gut uneasy.
Trust me, you’d want to trust to your gut when it tells you that something’s off, your gut can sense very well if something isn’t right, so it’s wise to listen to it.
It can be someone across the street who’s been eyeing on you and your kid for the past couple minutes, or someone coming too close and invading your personal space trying to make small talk, a guy who’s wearing a raincoat when it’s scorching hot, someone who has been fidgeting, hands clinched, walking back and forth, nervously looking side to side, either waiting for something to happen or waiting to initiate something, a car that has been tailing you since the last 2 corners, these are among the telltale sign that something is off and you better start to identify whether it is a threat or not. By now, you should be visualizing “what if” situations in your head, finding solutions should an attack takes place.
You don’t want to spend too much time in this condition for two reasons;
It is exhausting, and
It can be too late by the time you’re shifting to code red. Once you have identified and confirmed the target as non-lethal or not a threat, you can go back to code yellow, however, if it doesn’t…
CODE RED
Shift to code red, the final condition level. This is where you MUST take action. It is where things have escalated to a point where you need to move away or to engage in order to protect what’s important to you. Note that red DOES NOT NECESSARILY mean you can go into a rampage and kill what’s in your line of sight, no. It simply means to move out of the danger zone, and if you are attacked or ambushed, then you should be fully prepared to engage, deescalate the threat and move to safety. If you are attacked, make sure that the attacker is unable or unwilling to cause further harm to you or your loved ones with you.
The rule of thumb is to RUN, HIDE and FIGHT.
If unable to run, then FIGHT first, so you can
RUN, HIDE, and FIGHT.
Code red is the most physically and mentally demanding of all color codes as you have to dedicate 100-percent of your energy to the danger at hand. This is where all of your training and preparation comes in hand. In this situation is where most of us will be pushed into making hard decisions, unless you have been preparing and have asked yourself those questions multiple times, playing the scenario over and over again until you’re used to it.
Regardless of the situation, you have to be ready for whatever comes, an active shooter, a mugger, snatch theft, an intruder, the most important thing here is preparing yourself physically and mentally. We train for one sole reason; to increase our odds of surviving a violent encounter. Our goal is to maintain a Condition Yellow. It does take some conscious effort, but in time it will be a habit, a good one. Higher awareness means better protection from threats.