Many of the people who’ve encountered me leading a hunt or teaching at Gunsite have wondered about how I got into shooting. I’ve heard variations of the question over the years, and I understand why – as a small Asian woman, I don’t fit in with an inaccurate and outdated, but lingering, stereotype.
To me, it all comes down to mindset, as with most things in life.
My mindset has been deeply shaped by my parents’ – and their parents’ – own battles, literally. My mother’s father was a general in China. He was part of Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist army and fought both Mao Tse Tung’s communists and the Japanese, trying to save his homeland. He was fighting battles and wars, in one form or another, from 1918 to 1949. Even after being relegated to Taiwan, he never lost his love for his homeland, and I don’t think he ever gave up hope that it could be won back. I never knew him as anything but a warrior.
One of the most widespread and effective defensive tools we have today is the Color Code. This concise and efficient way to gauge—and engage—our own, individual, levels of awareness, was introduced by the late Col. Jeff Cooper, founder of the Gunsite Academy and “Father of the Modern Technique.”
His concept is simple. “White” is code for our being unaware and thus unprepared; clueless. “Yellow” means we’re observant and alert, casually processing what’s going on around us. We should try to live in Yellow.
When something has gotten our attention—and not for good reasons—we enter “Orange.” In Orange, we’ve noted specific potential threats, we evaluate and assess. From Orange, we may quickly enter “Red.” In Red, we are focused and ready to act; whether that means we cross the street to avoid a problem, or we engage in a more defensive behavior if necessary.
Armed with just these definitions, those who use the Color Code to stay vigilant to the world around them can prompt themselves and their companions. The Color Code is a standard of preparedness and thus an enhancement of our ability to avoid or face threats.
My college years were spent in a tough, crime-ridden town. During freshman orientation week, a friend a was robbed by what he insisted was “a gang of nine-year-olds!” These young hoodlums somehow managed to take my friend’s bicycle, camera, and wallet. After I stopped laughing I couldn’t help ask how this “gang” managed to ambush him. “Well,” he said, “I was taking some cool photographs of the neighborhood….”
I immediately realized he wasn’t paying attention. Not having situational awareness explains how most people get mugged. When people don’t pay attention to their surroundings, they have no chance to see bad guys coming until it’s too late.
Though psychologists tell us keeping ourselves safe is a basic human instinct, I have found that surviving is something we have to learn how to do. Also, if you chose to carry a gun concealed, you certainly want avoid that worst-case scenario of having to use a gun to defend your life. Actually you have taken on added responsibility to pay attention.
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