Are You Deep Scanning Your Environment or Just Looking Without Thinking?

Yes, we’ve talked about situational awareness (SA) in the past and as you know, it is the most important tool that you’ll ever need that can save your life.  But ask yourself this, are you using it all the time while you’re in a crowd or when no one is around?  Are you using SA properly?  Has it now become a mechanical movement without thinking about what you’re doing?  Let’s discuss the deep scanning method to fine tune your SA skills.

I have noticed that when I do situational awareness when I am out and about, I find myself scanning quickly and moving on.  One day, at the same place that I usually visit, I found a new object I never saw before during my usuaul scans.  I was curious so I asked my friend “How long has that been there?”  They replied “Oh, its been there for years”.  I was perplexed.  It’s been there for years?  So this really made me think.  Am I properly using SA?  And if so, all the times I have visited that same location, how did I miss this?

It’s like being the driver of the car.  You drive the same route day after day, the same scene a thousand times over and you notice the same things over and over again.  But that one day you’re the passenger looking out the window, you discover new things.  “Hey honey, is that something new, I have never seen that before.  When did they put that up?”  Her response, “oh, its been there for years.”  What the hell?!  Have a drilled the same routine in my head that my environment has not changed and I haven’t noticed the actual changes?  How am I missing it?

With the car, I am so focused on where I am going that I am missing other things around me.  But when I sit in a different spot in the vehicle, I get a different view of my environment and my awareness changes.  Then I start noticing new things.  So with SA, I just look around my environment and over a period of time I have conditioned myself in seeing the same thing over and over again.  But if I can heighten my awareness and actually start paying attention, I begin to spot more and more things that have already been in plain view of which my mind hasn’t pick up on.  So I decided to amp it up.  I started to do a deep scanning of my surroundings.

To deep scan your situational awareness while looking around, lock onto an object or person very briefly, take note of what it looks like (color, shape, size, etc) and move onto another object or person.  This helps you collect more data on the environment you’re in and not Willy Nilly things while just looking around.  You want to make sure you’re getting the full picture and getting your mind involved to really examin what’s going on around you. I quiz myself after a deep scan and ask myself, what did I see and what details can I remember?  How many people were in my view?  Were there pets or children?  Change it up to keep your mind sharp.

I now do the same thing while I practice my draw and returning my sidearm to its holster.  I deeply scan around while my firearm is in the holster and my hand is still on the grip, but I lock on objects around me for a brief millisecond as I look around.  Then when I feel that it’s safe, I take my hand off my firearm.  If I don’t feel safe, my hand remains on the pistol grip just in case I have to unholster it right away because of another threat.  Remember, your criminals usually work in teams.  The reason why you need to deep scan is to make sure its safe and you don’t get ambushed.

So try this deep scanning method and quiz yourself on what you saw.  Do you remember the words on the t-shirt of the person? Do you remember where their hands were?  Could you give a complete description of them?  Were they with others and could you also describe them?

Continue practicing your situational awareness, but try not to do it mechanically, you may miss something important that will help you if you need to defend yourself or become a good witness.

By the way, how many animals in the picture above had horns?  How’s your situational awareness?

Be safe out there, be the responsible firearm owner and always follow the “Concealed Carry Creed”!!!