Sheepdog Tip of the Day, Before Combat tip 258
"Situational awareness" is as valuable as a loaded weapon. Operations in a hostile environment are always exhausting. It's times like this when leaders at all levels earn their keep. As an instructor at the Canadian Forces Infantry School, Keith spent some of his time training officer cadets and junior NCOs. When in the field, he would continually push one of his combat-learned points. While moving forward, just about everyone would spend most of their time looking at the ground just in front of their feet. Now, looking where you're putting your feet is important, but so is looking around you as well. He would often let them walk into their first training ambush and then take that opportunity to make his point--the unaware die unaware. He would continually coach them to "look up, look around." If he spotted wildlife, he would announce to the group, "You're under observation! Who will find it first?" In combat, survival is doing the little things that swing the odds in your favor. Having situational awareness improves those odds.
Linda K. Miller and Keith Cunningham, Secrets of Mental Marksmanship
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