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Skill Set: Condition Pink
By Tiger McKee
Whenever in the presence of strangers, at least be in Condition YELLOW scanning for potential threats.
Everyone is familiar with Jeff Cooper's Color Code - conditions White, Yellow, Orange, and Red. In condition White, you are completely unaware of anything that is going on around you. This is a dangerous way to go through life, and since predators are looking for the weakest member of the herd to attack, you're sort of volunteering to be a victim. Condition Yellow is an alert but relaxed state of awareness. You're paying attention to what the people around you are doing, and keeping an eye out for possible trouble. Recognizing trouble before it begins is the key to not being involved, or stopping it if necessary. Orange is a state where you have identified a potential problem, and you're mentally formulating a response to that trouble in case it does occur. In Orange you may already be moving towards cover or creating distance. In Red, you are mentally on ready, you know a fight is coming, and you're just waiting for the threat's action that will free you up to initiate your response.
While discussing the color code in a recent class one of the students, who is a law-enforcement officer, mentioned that he had come up with another addition to the color code - condition Pink. "People in condition Pink," he explained, "are those who wear 'rose-colored' glasses and refuse to acknowledge that there are dangerous predators out there, and that we must be prepared to defend ourselves from these creatures at all times." After thinking about it for a while this made perfect sense to me, and I realized that even the vast majority of people who own weapons live in condition Pink.
Condition Pink crosses all social and economic boundaries. I have friends that own pistols for self-defense but live in condition Pink. Their view of things, behind the rose-colored glasses, is that trouble won't ever happen to them, yet just in case they have their weapon. But they won't get training, and when they need that weapon, unless they happen to get lucky, it probably won't do them any good.
Armed professionals are also guilty of living in condition Pink. They have to carry a weapon, it's part of their uniform, but they don't know how to use it, and they don't believe they'll ever need to use it. The problem here is that they will end up being responsible for someone else being injured, or worse, because they don't know how to use their duty weapon.
If you know someone in condition Pink you need to help take those rose-colored glasses off so they can see things as they truly are. The world is full of wonderful things, yet at the same time there are predators to be aware of. Help your family, friends, or co-workers understand that trouble can occur anytime, at any place. If they have a weapon they must be prepared to use it properly. After all, the life they save may be yours.
Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms Academy, located in northern Alabama, author of The Book of Two Guns, a staff member of several firearms/tactical publications, and an adjunct instructor for the F.B.I. (256) 582-4777 www.shootrite.org