We’re fortunate in the BKMA to be surrounded by some very experienced people in the security industry and in the forces, and of course the two often overlap. I’d like to share with you today a lesson I learned during my Close Protection training, a lesson delivered by Mark Edwards. Mark is a quiet, humble chap who won’t make a lot of noise about his achievements, but let’s say he’s got a lot of both military and security experience behind him and is extensively respected in both Bootneck and Close Protection circles as well as being a great Krav instructor. Far as I’m concerned, what Mark has to say about Security gets written in stone. He knows his shit.
The lesson is this. Build a bubble around yourself and keep it up all the time as a way of life. It becomes habit which you can then use effortlessly to protect others.
People who aren’t in the Krav or security industries listen to comments like this and their reaction is often the same: “Isn’t it really stressful going around being paranoid all the time?”
This comes up all the time so I’m going to address this point now.
Violent crime happens at rates that are small but significant. It can happen. It does happen. And if you are unaware, that is living in a state of unawareness, you are already in a class of people more likely to fall victim to crime. Victim Selection rituals are designed to find people like you. People who, when attacked, will be so surprised and unprepared that you will react with immediate and total paralysis and capitulation. Criminals don’t want fights, they want victims. Easy, predictable, safe victims.
Secondly, it isn’t stressful to be aware. Security Awareness, as it’s known to the professionals, is not a stressful state of being. It’s just awareness. It means being present and awake and aware of what is happening around you. When it’s practiced regularly it becomes natural and unthinking.
Cooper, in his now industry standard theory on Colour Codes, talks about the levels of threat awareness…
White: Code White means you are asleep. No trained professional is ever in this state, even in their own home. Code White means you have absolutely no awareness of anything occurring around you. If this sounds dangerous, it’s because it is. Think of all the near misses you see on the roads because a driver has not looked or seen a hazard or a pedestrian, texting away, has stepped in front of a car. That’s Code White.
Yellow: Code Yellow is the relaxed state of awareness we are talking about here when we mention the Security Bubble. Yellow means you are chilled out but very aware of your surroundings. When you first switch on and begin to learn security either through law enforcement or military/intelligence work, close protection work or simply as a civilian learning a reality based system such as Krav Maga, this will be an effort as you make habit all the observations. After a time, all these observations become automatic and happen as easily as breathing or blinking. You don’t have to try, the information is just there:
- Where are the exits?
- Are there any intoxicated and potentially violent people around me?
- Can I see this guy’s hands? If not, why not?
- Why is this group of three splitting up and forming around me?
- The car behind me has been present through two roundabouts and three turns. (Surveillance awareness.)
- Etc.
Orange: Code Orange occurs when something elevates to the level of threat. Someone is eyeballing you; the vehicle described above follows you through three sides of a square (a standard counter-surveillance maneuver); footsteps quicken behind you when walking at night; someone steps too close to you at a cashpoint.
Red: The threat becomes immediate and aggressive. There is physical contact or the immediate threat of physical contact and/or verbal aggression, typically profanity.
Black: Black isn’t on Cooper’s list, but it basically means it’s on, you’re fighting for your life.
Clearly, being in code Yellow is the best way to prevent things escalating to Red or Black. And equally clearly, if you are in White and suddenly you are in Black, you’re screwed. Your adrenal 
system will hit you harder than any punch and you’ll flounder in utter, hysterical paralysis while someone dances the tango on your head.
When you ask professionals about security awareness, or OPSEC, and people’s lack of it, the professionals are always amazed at how people can be so whimsical about their lack of thought. Of course it’s all about ignorance and bliss, but to a security aware person, they can see the threats everywhere and can’t understand people’s ignorance of it. That guy over there is twitching, suggesting he’s come off antipsychotic medications or is otherwise unbalanced. That guy over there walking directly towards me has his hand just behind him so I can’t see it. Or he’s repeatedly checking a pocket or back of belt. I’ve crossed the street twice and the guy behind me has done the same. There’s a guy in a bar eyeballing everyone. It’s only a matter of time before he chooses to engage someone and I don’t want it to be me. When you see all this, all this potential threat, you make different choices. It’s not stressful, it’s just awareness. But it keeps you safe and you wonder at the fact that so many live in such total oblivion. And it becomes easy to see how terribly easy it is to select a victim from amongst all these Code White people and attack them without fear of any reprisal or fight.
The Bubble.
Once you have security awareness, you extend a bubble of habitual security protocols around yourself, your property and, by extension, your loved ones. This means, in practice, such everyday things such as:
- Parking the car front out every time.
- Checking rear seats before entering vehicle.
- Locking car doors when travelling. Even before car start or seatbelt on, doors get locked.
- Have safe places in mind to drive to in the event of hostile surveillance or action (road rage is included here).
- Don’t drive home if you think someone is following you. Go to a safe place.
- Avoiding known trouble spots. If you have to walk through them, keep head up, aware, walking briskly and with purpose. No headphones or mobile phone use.
- Keep aware of your exact location at all times so you can report it promptly to emergency services, for example mile markers which appear every 0.5 miles on British Motorways.
- Never opening car windows more than two inches, less in traffic or stationary.
- Drinking moderately when out and keeping an awareness of immediate threat, being prepared to stand up and walk to another place if there is threat or hostility.
- Avoiding obvious or known trouble spots or bad routes for foot.
These are just some of the very many things a security aware person does to keep their safety managed. This is the bubble. And the fact is, professionally, if you come to a place where you’re asked to protect another individual, or personally, when it comes time to protect your own, your habits can simply be extended to protect the other, without any work on your part. Your protection will be thorough, practiced and solid. Contrast this with someone who only thinks about this stuff when they’re working. I know who I’d want protecting me if my life were in danger.
To learn more about security awareness, consider a good Close Protection course, if you are a professional, choosing one that puts heavy emphasis on fieldwork rather than classroom time. Or, if you are a civilian wanting to protect your family or simply yourself, learn a good reality based fighting system such as Krav Maga from a reputable and experienced teacher. Ask questions, of the teacher and yourself. Watch the world. Open your eyes and start to see how it works. Ignorance isn’t really bliss; it’s putting your life in some scumbag’s hands and hoping they won’t end or seriously alter your life.
Stay safe. Happy training.
Will Bayley, Close Protection Officer and Krav Maga Instructor, Krav Maga Swindon, Krav Maga North Bristol, Bristol University Krav Society.
Tags: Personal Security, Close Protection, Awareness.
TL;DR: Put a good security bubble around yourself and when the time comes to step up and be responsible for someone else’s security you’ll be able to simply extend your bubble and be much more effective than a person who only practices security on a need-to basis.
The Commander, British Forces Brunei Talks Krav Maga
We asked Lt Col Charlie Crowe to discuss his reasons for introducing Krav Maga to The 1st Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, his views on Krav Maga as a tool for the armed forces, and his experience working with British Krav Maga’s Will Bayley…
Why did you want to bring Krav Maga to the Battalion?
Training in Krav Maga in Swindon over the past year I learned that it is an excellent tool for the intelligent and judicious application of effective violence; this is core business for fighting units like 1 RGR. The training also develops high levels of anaerobic fitness, determination and resilience. These are all qualities required of soldiers in 1 RGR.
What was your opinion of the training outcome?
I am delighted with the outcome of the training. I now have PT instructors who are able to deliver Krav-based physical training to the Battalion on an enduring basis. We are very aware that we do not possess the experience or qualifications to deliver wholesale high intensity Krav Maga training, but we do now have the means to develop basic drills and test them under stress in a safe environment.
Do you see Krav Maga as a useful skill for today’s soldier?
The operating environment we can expect to deploy into requires all ranks to be highly disciplined in how and when to apply violence. But when the time comes for aggressive action it must be decisive, and our own recent operational experience is full of examples of lethal threats at close quarters. Krav Maga is an excellent tool for developing the right responses to this and is, in my view, highly relevant to modern soldiering.
Do you see Krav Maga as being a continued future part of training with the Regiment?
It is my firm intention to pursue Krav Maga as a basic skill set and training discipline across the Battalion.
How was your experience working with Will Bayley?
Will Bayley has a thorough knowledge of the psychology and physiology that underpins close quarter fighting. This gave real depth to the practical training he delivered, which he had painstakingly tailored to the particular requirements of this unique unit. His instruction was excellent throughout and he very quickly gained the respect of my experienced PTIs. A highly impressive professional.
Krav Maga and 1RGR
In January of 2017, I was asked by the Commanding Officer of The 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles and the British Forces Brunei to travel to Brunei and introduce Krav Maga to the Battalion personnel. Lt Col Charlie Crowe had trained with Krav Maga Swindon for 18 months while posted to Shrivenham, and is a keen and skilled Kravist. When the time came for him to change station to Brunei, he wanted to take Krav Maga with him and introduce it to the soldiers and officers of the Gurkha Rifles.
The brief was simple: come to Brunei and spend a couple of weeks teaching Krav Maga. Obviously, in the time we had, it was not going to be possible to create experts, but the intention was to introduce it as widely as possible both to ingrain some good basic skills and also to begin the Krav Maga journey for as many people as possible, complementing their skillset with proven hand to hand capabilities.
The Royal Gurkha Rifles are a legendary Regiment, with a long-standing reputation for being fierce and indomitable warriors. All soldiers in the Regiment have experience in the more traditional martial arts, with Tae Kwon Do being taught to them during basic training at ITC Catterick. However, very few had previously trained in Krav Maga, which is something that the Colonel wanted to change. Doing so meant blazing a trail as one of the first Regiments of the British Army to take up the practice of Krav Maga.
Methodology
After some planning, we decided that the best way to achieve a good exposure throughout the Battalion was to run a five day, twenty-hour series of sessions with the Physical Training Instructors of the Battalion. The idea was to drill them thoroughly in four or five basic Krav Maga fundamentals, so that they could effectively and safely begin to involve basic combative drills in their daily physical training sessions with the three companies of the Battalion. That way, the whole of the Battalion would be able to have sustained and regular exposure to the basics of Krav, preparing them well for further training with us when they return to the UK. Long term, it is our hope that several members of the Battalion will take the British Krav Maga instructor course, enabling them to provide continued, in-house training, furthering the skills of the personnel.
The PTIs took to the training with incredible focus and skill. It was immediately clear that not only were they incredibly physically fit, but also skilled and competent fighters with a good deal of martial arts experience between them. Their ability to take on new skills and patterns of movement was remarkable, their learning curve almost vertical. We were able to skill them in good basics easily within the 20 hours available.
At the end of the 20 hours, we worked with the PTIs to deliver Krav Maga focused physical training sessions to the companies. These sessions were a marriage of basic Krav Maga drills and murderously tough PT. The men flew into them with total focus, made even more impressive when considering the intense heat and humidity present in Brunei. Of course, it wasn’t possible to ingrain any advanced skill in that one hour, but we did manage to introduce them to Krav Maga and create in them a desire to train further. And of course the PTIs will be able to satisfy that desire with a new routine of daily Krav focused Physical training sessions.
Ultimately a deeply satisfying trip, accomplishing what we set out to do, and a real honour to work with such dedicated and incredible warriors. I look forward to working with them again when they return to station in the UK.
A Commander’s View
We asked Lt Col Charlie Crowe to discuss his reasons for introducing Krav Maga to the Battalion, his views on Krav Maga as a tool for the armed forces, and his experience working with British Krav Maga’s Will Bayley…
Why did you want to bring Krav Maga to the Battalion?
Training in Krav Maga in Swindon over the past year I learned that it is an excellent tool for the intelligent and judicious application of effective violence; this is core business for fighting units like 1 RGR. The training also develops high levels of anaerobic fitness, determination and resilience. These are all qualities required of soldiers in 1 RGR.
What was your opinion of the training outcome?
I am delighted with the outcome of the training. I now have PT instructors who are able to deliver Krav-based physical training to the Battalion on an enduring basis. We are very aware that we do not possess the experience or qualifications to deliver wholesale high intensity Krav Maga training, but we do now have the means to develop basic drills and test them under stress in a safe environment.
Do you see Krav Maga as a useful skill for today’s soldier?
The operating environment we can expect to deploy into requires all ranks to be highly disciplined in how and when to apply violence. But when the time comes for aggressive action it must be decisive, and our own recent operational experience is full of examples of lethal threats at close quarters. Krav Maga is an excellent tool for developing the right responses to this and is, in my view, highly relevant to modern soldiering.
Do you see Krav Maga as being a continued future part of training with the Regiment?
It is my firm intention to pursue Krav Maga as a basic skill set and training discipline across the Battalion.
How was your experience working with Will Bayley?
Will Bayley has a thorough knowledge of the psychology and physiology that underpins close quarter fighting. This gave real depth to the practical training he delivered, which he had painstakingly tailored to the particular requirements of this unique unit. His instruction was excellent throughout and he very quickly gained the respect of my experienced PTIs. A highly impressive professional.
The Security Bubble
We’re fortunate in the BKMA to be surrounded by some very experienced people in the security industry and in the forces, and of course the two often overlap. I’d like to share with you today a lesson I learned during my Close Protection training, a lesson delivered by Mark Edwards. Mark is a quiet, humble chap who won’t make a lot of noise about his achievements, but let’s say he’s got a lot of both military and security experience behind him and is extensively respected in both Bootneck and Close Protection circles as well as being a great Krav instructor. Far as I’m concerned, what Mark has to say about Security gets written in stone. He knows his shit.
The lesson is this. Build a bubble around yourself and keep it up all the time as a way of life. It becomes habit which you can then use effortlessly to protect others.
People who aren’t in the Krav or security industries listen to comments like this and their reaction is often the same: “Isn’t it really stressful going around being paranoid all the time?”
This comes up all the time so I’m going to address this point now.
Secondly, it isn’t stressful to be aware. Security Awareness, as it’s known to the professionals, is not a stressful state of being. It’s just awareness. It means being present and awake and aware of what is happening around you. When it’s practiced regularly it becomes natural and unthinking.
Cooper, in his now industry standard theory on Colour Codes, talks about the levels of threat awareness…
White: Code White means you are asleep. No trained professional is ever in this state, even in their own home. Code White means you have absolutely no awareness of anything occurring around you. If this sounds dangerous, it’s because it is. Think of all the near misses you see on the roads because a driver has not looked or seen a hazard or a pedestrian, texting away, has stepped in front of a car. That’s Code White.
Yellow: Code Yellow is the relaxed state of awareness we are talking about here when we mention the Security Bubble. Yellow means you are chilled out but very aware of your surroundings. When you first switch on and begin to learn security either through law enforcement or military/intelligence work, close protection work or simply as a civilian learning a reality based system such as Krav Maga, this will be an effort as you make habit all the observations. After a time, all these observations become automatic and happen as easily as breathing or blinking. You don’t have to try, the information is just there:
Orange: Code Orange occurs when something elevates to the level of threat. Someone is eyeballing you; the vehicle described above follows you through three sides of a square (a standard counter-surveillance maneuver); footsteps quicken behind you when walking at night; someone steps too close to you at a cashpoint.
Red: The threat becomes immediate and aggressive. There is physical contact or the immediate threat of physical contact and/or verbal aggression, typically profanity.
Black: Black isn’t on Cooper’s list, but it basically means it’s on, you’re fighting for your life.
Clearly, being in code Yellow is the best way to prevent things escalating to Red or Black. And equally clearly, if you are in White and suddenly you are in Black, you’re screwed. Your adrenal
system will hit you harder than any punch and you’ll flounder in utter, hysterical paralysis while someone dances the tango on your head.
When you ask professionals about security awareness, or OPSEC, and people’s lack of it, the professionals are always amazed at how people can be so whimsical about their lack of thought. Of course it’s all about ignorance and bliss, but to a security aware person, they can see the threats everywhere and can’t understand people’s ignorance of it. That guy over there is twitching, suggesting he’s come off antipsychotic medications or is otherwise unbalanced. That guy over there walking directly towards me has his hand just behind him so I can’t see it. Or he’s repeatedly checking a pocket or back of belt. I’ve crossed the street twice and the guy behind me has done the same. There’s a guy in a bar eyeballing everyone. It’s only a matter of time before he chooses to engage someone and I don’t want it to be me. When you see all this, all this potential threat, you make different choices. It’s not stressful, it’s just awareness. But it keeps you safe and you wonder at the fact that so many live in such total oblivion. And it becomes easy to see how terribly easy it is to select a victim from amongst all these Code White people and attack them without fear of any reprisal or fight.
The Bubble.
Once you have security awareness, you extend a bubble of habitual security protocols around yourself, your property and, by extension, your loved ones. This means, in practice, such everyday things such as:
These are just some of the very many things a security aware person does to keep their safety managed. This is the bubble. And the fact is, professionally, if you come to a place where you’re asked to protect another individual, or personally, when it comes time to protect your own, your habits can simply be extended to protect the other, without any work on your part. Your protection will be thorough, practiced and solid. Contrast this with someone who only thinks about this stuff when they’re working. I know who I’d want protecting me if my life were in danger.
Stay safe. Happy training.
Will Bayley, Close Protection Officer and Krav Maga Instructor, Krav Maga Swindon, Krav Maga North Bristol, Bristol University Krav Society.
Tags: Personal Security, Close Protection, Awareness.
TL;DR: Put a good security bubble around yourself and when the time comes to step up and be responsible for someone else’s security you’ll be able to simply extend your bubble and be much more effective than a person who only practices security on a need-to basis.