[Richard Beels]

Force Continuum
The varying levels of force employed against another person.  Scale ranges 
from yelling, grabbing & holding, striking with fist, striking with small 
blunt object (e.g. kubota or nightstick) on lower extremities, striking 
with large blunt object (e.g. baseball bat or car) on lower extremities, 
using a knife, using a firearm.  There are more (these are just off the top 
of my head). Not all of them are deadly.  A corollary to employing deadly 
force is that you have to have to use an appropriate level of force to the 
threat.  If someone just starts yelling at you, you can't just stab them or 
shoot them; you have to have a graduated and sliding response.

OODA Loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act
This is the process your mind goes through when you make a decision; when 
you think.  This is the one reason why the goblin ALWAYS has the advantage 
- he knows what he wants to do and controls the situation.  You're always 
reacting.  As a result, you have ZERO TIME to think about what to do when 
the situation goes down.  You need to have trained yourself to act 
reflexively (not reactively) so that your mind can be thinking about all 
the other stuff that is happening during the encounter rather than "OH 
S%#(&$!  What the %(*&(%&#  do I do know?!?!?"  on average, it takes time - 
1.5 seconds to process the OODA loop and another 1.25 or so to actually 
start doing the "I just figured it out" action.  These numbers are for 
virtually everybody.  Training brings this down to a reflex and saves half 
the time (no OODA loop to process).  An analogy would be driving:  on 
snow/ice and you start to slide - after a few hundred/thousand reps, you 
just know what to do when the rear end starts to wag out there  -or-  how 
to use a stick shift...

Living Your Life in Yellow
There is a code called the "Color Code" that basically describes your 
awareness level.  The levels are:
Condition White: Also called "Clear".  Not a clue about what's going on 
around you, someone can touch you and you're not aware of it until they 
actually do touch you.  E.g. Walking around with a walkman on, "zoning" 
out.  The only time you should ever be in Condition White is when you are 
sleeping (but even then.... :-).
Condition Yellow: How you should be all the time, especially in 
public.  Aware of your surroundings, where people are, how they are moving, 
are they doing anything "funny", "if that weird looking guy at the cash 
register decides to rob the place, where would I run for cover or 
concealment" (And if you train yourself in this, there is no OODA loop to 
do, it becomes reflexive), "it seems like that man is following me, where 
is a good place to cross the street?" (again, reflexive), etc...
Condition Orange: Something isn't right in your immediate vicinity, "the 
hairs on the neck start to prickle", you start moving towards the 
cover/concealment you have identified, "that' guy _IS_ following me, I need 
to cross the street NOW!" (yep, you guessed it, reflexive), you reach in 
and grab the kubota, knife, flashlight, firearm, whatever you feel like 
trusting your life to (remember, you've got only one life and it's worth 
defending).
Condition Red: The S)(*& Is About To Hit The Fan, the guy follows you 
across the street and accosts you, the force continuum is about to be used.
Condition Black: TSHTF, the pepper is sprayed, the trigger is pulled, force 
is used.


>I followed you until: "...There's more to it, of course. Force continuum, 
>the OODA loop, living your
>
>life in Yellow, etc..."
>
>Just a bit of explanation is all I ask.  Everything up to that was excellent!


Cheers!
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