CHESAPEAKE Va,- September 26th is National Situational Awareness Day.
Situational awareness is all about our personal safety, focusing on being aware and paying attention to our environment.
Redback One combat training systems, director of training and former Australian special forces, Jason Falla, says the first seconds of an attack is meant to create fear. If you become frozen with fear the attacker has the upper hand because you lose your will to want to fight back.
He encourages having a rifle in the home that parents and children are well trained on.
Falla says if you decide not to have a weapon in your home, making sure you have a strong security system is important.
“Preventing access to your property is key right and the longer you can prevent that access the better so if you wake up in the middle of the night and someone is attempting to gain access to your house then obviously the time is ticking, secure your loved ones barricade up, get on the line with 911," Falla said
Falla says at that point, you're hoping someone will get to the home before the intruder gets to you. He said since you know someone is in the home, have an escape plan to get your family outside.
When it comes to situational awareness in public places Falla says complacency can be deadly.
Falla says when we become complacent in public places we can put our family and ourselves in harm’s way. He said to help us stay alert while we are out, there are five color codes to follow. White, yellow, orange, red and black. Falla says staying in the yellow code is best.
“Always operate in condition yellow which is alert and aware that means surprise is unlikely is we have our head on a swivel looking around at where we are going and understand if any pre-attack warning signs or anything like that then we can see them and observe them from a distance rather than being right up on them," Falla said
Falla said every location can call for a different strategy or plan but the best option is to always stay calm and get away from the attack right away. do not wait to react.
Finally, your place of work.
Falla says have a plan for both someone outside the office trying to get in and a situation where the shooter is already inside the building.
Falla said the next step is identifying which employees will fight and who won't.
At Redback One, they have created a program to separate those people. Falla said it doesn't matter which category you fall under, but it's important to know where employees fall naturally.
He said one thing everyone needs to know is first aid.
“Pass either the running end or the working end over this because we've got two hands we go through both buckles and synch it down nice and tight. Once it's down Velcro to Velcro contact and then we are doing up the windless bar again high and tight into the groin because we don't know where the artery has been effected, Falla said.
Falla also recommends everyone carry a go-bag with protective measures and life saving measure they can grab in the event something happens
Learn more about Redback One
