For years I’ve looked for some sort of training, some secret ninja mojo to spot the bad guys in a crowd. I mean, in lieu of decades of combat or police experience, how can a layman know what to look for in a crowd? How can we learn who’s a threat, how can we be better prepared, to ensure that we go home safe?

I’ve had some stress-based training (I’m a Krav Maga level 4 fighter, a blue belt) so I’d like to think that when shit goes down I’d at least partially keep my wits about me. But wouldn’t it be nice to be ready before the shit went down, and have your wits already sharpened?

Or let’s stick to civilian life, maybe you were about to get on an elevator with another person but got a funny feeling and took the stairs instead. Perhaps you were at the negotiating table and your counterpart’s body language tells you he’s not giving you the best deal. These all represent “Left of Bang” situations. In any event timeline, ‘Bang’ is the incident. The roadside bomb. The armed robbery. The mass shooting. Traditional military and law enforcement are trained to react after the bang. On a timeline, this is to the right of bang. But there are signs, behaviors, and even situational indicators to warn a perceptive person so they can be ready left bang, or before the incdident.

This is where the book Left of Bang by Patrick Van Horne and Jason A. Riley comes in. This book (see Amazon link in the right margin) is a fantastic read, and in my mind one of the closest things we have to Jedi mind tricks. It outlines different involuntary behaviors in all humans, and physical characteristics of surroundings, as well as indicators in the behavior of bystanders. This book is a building block to understanding what strangers around you may be thinking, when it’s a good time to get the Hell out of Dodge, and how to know the best way to get there. This article will be the first in a series of my explanations of the book. I will do my best to paraphrase the book and do it justice, but honestly if you’re interested at all in this just buy the book from Amazon (or your favorite bookstore) and learn it yourself. It will definitely take multiple reads to digest.

Left of Bang is based upon the Marines Combat Hunter program, developed at the request of General James Mattis (you may have heard of him) during the height of the Iraq insurgency around 2006 or so. American servicemen were being badly maimed and wounded by IEDs, and something had to be done. In the beginning, better body armor was developed and put into the field, armored vehicles such as Bradleys got upgrades. But these weren’t even enough to stand up to IEDs. Men had to be better prepared to notice attacks ahead of time, to react Left of Bang.

The first thing a person can do, even before learning about his enemy’s suspicious actions or paths of travel, is to change his mindset. Being prepared to react (or act)with lethality could mean the difference between life and death. Here they introduce Cooper’s Color Code.

Cooper’s Color Code

Cooper’s Color Code has four levels of awareness: White, Yellow, Orange, and Red.

Condition White means being unprepared and unready to take lethal action. A person in Condition White is in a low state of psychological awareness and physiological arousal. If attacked they will likely be the victim.

Condition Yellow means a person understands that his or her life is in danger and is therefore is psychologically prepared to do something about it. Remember my allusion to my Krav Maga training earlier? It is good stress-based training because even though it’s training it is more reality-based and a good instructor will put students in simulated stress situations, which will help them be psychologically prepared and ready to defend. It helped me reach Condition Yellow mentally. Once a thread is recognized, this person advances to Condition Orange.

Condition Orange is the mindset which a person is focused on a specific threat and is prepared to take action against it. Usually this person is in a lower state of psychological awareness than in Condition Yellow, but in a higher state of physiological arousal. This person is usually creating a plan for how to deal with the threat.

Condition Red is called “Lethal Mode” it is the psychological willingness to kill if circumstances warrant that action. Condition Red in military terms is being “in the fight” and executing the plans created in Condition Orange. This person is in a much lower state of awareness due to being focused on one specific threat and has a very high degree of physiological arousal. When a person is in this state his awareness of his physical surroundings dwindles further as his mental capacity is focused on the personal challenges of survival. Have you noticed how you rarely remember a fight? Or have you heard the term “fog of war”? This describes Condition Red.

The Marines have added a final color to this code called Condition Black. This is where the heart rate climbs to a level that is counterproductive – above 175 beats per minute. They can lose awareness of surroundings completely and can no longer cognitively process information. In short, they shut down.

Acting Left of Bang requires we remain in Condition Yellow normally. To say it another way, we must remain in Condition Yellow during our daily routine.

Part of staying in Condition Yellow is trusting our intuition. Intuition isn’t some black-magic ninja skill. Intuition is simply a person’s sense about a situation influenced by experience and knowledge.  

How are Marines (or cops, or even YOU) supposed to be expected to make life or death decisions in split seconds, while simultaneously taking in stimuli from multiple sources? How can some people “size the situation up” very quickly, and react correctly within seconds? People with lots of experience (we’ll call them experts) often can react this way. Sometimes they are gang-bangers recruited right out of high school, or others from a more high-risk backgrounds. These people’s early life – sometimes even their very survival-depended upon reading situations quickly and sizing them up. In his book “Talent is Overrated“, Geoff Colvin points out studies that show that for amateurs, taking time to concentrate on a task made them perform the task better. (He studied golf putting) But for seasoned pros, forcing them to take time before putting actually made them perform worse. The deliberate action interfered with the muscle memory they’d developed over the years. Intuition works the same way. Use these techniques to practice staying Condition Yellow and eventually it will become second nature.

I hope this has been a good intro into the Left of Bang mindset and how it works.

Join Us Next Week When We Delve Into Human Behavior

I wonder why they wouldn’t publish this study?

Gun experts said unpublished study showed that guns were used for protection far more often than to commit crime.

Read More Here: CDC Buried Study Showing Guns Are Used More Often For Protection Than Crime – Blue Lives Matter

Only Killers Use AR-15s, Right?

In today’s over-exposed world of twenty four hour news cycle, it would be easy for someone who’s never seen or used a firearm to fear the AR-15 style rifle. If the news media is to be believed, these black rifles are instruments of death. Capable of killing hundreds of people with a single pull of the trigger, only a murderous madman would want one. I mean, the right to bear arms is only about hunting, right?

Without getting into all that, I want to honestly give you the pros and cons of this great weapon system, so you can make the best decision should you decide to buy one. Or two. Trust me, the addiction is real!

History Of The AR-15

Designed by Eugene Stoner, and manufactured by the Armalite Corporation, the AR-15 began life in the mid 1950s as the AR-10, chambered in 7.62mm, which itself was spawned from the AR-5 survival rifle. Until this time most rifles were 30 caliber variants of one sort or another. One innovative design characteristic of the AR 10/15 was its straight-line barrel and stock design. This, coupled with the pistol grip, form a very ergonomic gun. They are easy to learn and use, but more on that later. With the phenolic composite stock and forged alloy parts, it was lighter and easier to control on automatic than other infantry rifles of its day.

The Armalite Corporation rescaled and modified the AR 10 to accommodate the smaller, high-velocity .223 Remington cartridge, which allowed single soldiers to carry much more ammo. Armalite licensed the AR-15 to Colt Firearms in 1959 due to financial difficulties. Colt marketed the redesigned rifle to several military services around the world, and finally it was adopted by the U.S. Military as the M-16 rifle, beginning production in 1964.

Many military commanders wanted to keep the .30 cartridge in whatever automatic rifle was to be adopted. Many soldiers didn’t like the smaller round. My late father, a Vietnam vet, used to chastise the HELL out of me about my AR. He snidely commented to me one day “They took away our M1 and gave us this little twenty two. You could shoot a man 3 times with it and not kill him.”

There were also widespread issues of malfunctions in Vietnam, where the rifle was originally introduced. As it turns out, the ammunition was to blame. The Ordnance Corps’ decided to use Ball powder instead of the IMR powder it was designed for, and without testing it. Both Eugene Stoner and Colt warned the government about this.

I repeatedly refer to the AR-15 as a weapon system. That system is comprised of the weapon, cartridge, propellant, primer, and bullet. If one of these items is changed, the entire system must be tested to ensure integrity hasn’t been compromised. It was not tested in the case of the M-16 in Vietnam.

The faster burning Ball powder increased the cyclic rate (how fast the gun shoots) from 700 to 800 rounds per minute to over 1000 rounds per minute. This coupled with the lack of chrome plating in the chamber and barrel caused numerous failures, which were corrected.

Many novices and forum-hounds still believe this myth and perpetuate it. No automatic weapon will operate flawlessly, but with proper care and maintenance the AR platform is very reliable.

Modern AR 15 rifles are robust, and with modern ammunition are one of the most effective rifles available.

Ease Of Use And Reliability

Many would have you believe that the AR 15 is not good for self-defense. Hollywood and brainless news anchors would lead many people to think that shotguns “don’t need to be aimed, and the sound of the pump being racked will cause bad guys to vanish”.

But NRA spokesman and former Navy Seal Dom Raso said it best: “For the vast majority of people I work with, there is no better firearm to defend their homes against realistic threats than the AR-15 semi-automatic. It’s easy to learn and easy to use. It’s accurate. It’s reliable.”

The aforementioned ergonomic benefits of the rifle have become the industry standard for fighting rifles. Because the rear stock and the barrel are aligned, using the pistol grip the operator can bring the rifle up for a good cheek weld quickly, and the body is in a natural position to hold the weapon system.

This alignment makes getting a sight picture quick and effortless. The head doesn’t have to be lowered into shooting position to acquire a target. As with other activities, comfort equals control.

The pistol grip allows the weapon to be carried one-handed when necessary, and I’ve learned through many hours of hunting with an AR-15 that this can be a big help.

Magazine replacement couldn’t be easier. Unlike other rifles, like the SKS and the Ruger Mini 14, there is no pivot or rotating of the magazine. It is just inserted straight into the magazine well, pushed firmly or smacked, and it’s seated.

A blind man in a cave could swap the AR -15 magazine in seconds. Coupled with the amount of ammo that can be carried this makes the AR force multiplier. I’ve never been under fire, but I’ve walked up among 8 wild hogs in the dark. That 30 round magazine came in handy that night!

The AR-15 also has very little to almost no recoil. It is a great beginner rifle, as my 9 year old son can shoot one.

My 9 Year Old Son Unafraid!

As mentioned before, the AR of today is reliable. I personally am a man of function over form, and I need a rifle that will work after being dropped down a rocky Texas cliff in the dark. I can’t afford to carry a weapon that I have to worry about getting scratched. I need tough equipment that gets the job done. I’ve even ran over my AR-15 with a Kawasaki 500 ATV while fur trapping, and all function was still 100 percent. Not even the scope was off target!

It’s Definitely Worth A Look

If given the chance to try out the AR-15, don’t hesitate to take one for a test drive. I think with proper instruction you’ll find they are rugged, reliable, and a whole lot of fun.  Let’s not forget, these rifles also look cool.   In the book American Sniper by Chris Kyle, Kyle quips “The first part of  being cool is looking cool.”