Battlefield conditions versus street threat

Another reason why the study of self-defense is so frustrating is the fact that a law-abiding, peace-loving citizen is expected to act civilized and expect civility from other people in street situations. This translates to a relaxed emotional state while being dangerously exposed to possible threats. You have your psychic defenses down because you expect to be treated kindly and with respect. This is a false and dangerous assumption. 

A soldier on foot patrol, on the other hand, is expecting to be ambushed and therefore has his weapon deployed and ready. His eyes are keen, observing the minutest detail of the sorroundings trying to pick out hidden enemies. At the slightest provocation he can unleash hell on anybody.

If a civilian acts like a soldier he faces possible law suits, worse even get a ticket to the death chamber. The courts use the term "use of reasonable force" and "use of deadly force" to differentiate justified self-defense from manslaughter or homicide.

A mugging is actually an ambush and soldiers know how to deal with ambushes by having their firearms and ordnances ready. But a civilian on the other hand cannot just deploy his knife or gun. The mugger will always therefore be one step ahead. The fastest, most-coordinated, athlete will have a response time of at least 2 seconds to a simulated attack.  So if the house-weary housewife who is thinking about bills to pay, etc. goes into an alley she becomes easy prey. Her dulled awareness hardly notices the guy in the shadows. With no weapons deployed and a baggage of a spaced-out mind she is literally cold turkey.

Street smarts requires soldier-like perception and battlefield heuristics. So what do we have to do? We need to balance legal parameters with life and death choices. And its a thinline between deadly force and reasonable force. If  a guy enters your safety zone with a drawn knife you can not be expected to be half-hearted about it. You respond with equal brutality. Anyway, when you are dead the courts can't bring your life back. 

As we often say in this blog, efficient threat management lessens your chances to encounters of the ugly kind. Don't act macho and tempt fate by going to dark alleys and crime-infested neighborhoods. Blend with the crowd and appear common. Avoid conflicts and deescalate macho situations. But if you are caught in a place not of your own making be ready to show the stuff you are made of. Make them pay for messing up with you.