Bangkok Dangerous....

BANGKOK DANGEROUS
By Terry James

Bangkok, Thailand. 2006.


On the night of September 19th whilst working a protective assignment Hans van Beuge was closely watching his client walk along a darkened street in downtown Bangkok.
All of a sudden, several shadowy figures, all carrying AK 47’s emerged from a laneway and moved rapidly towards his client. As they started to initiate their attack he approvingly watched his Principal draw a Glock pistol, transition into a modified weaver stance and terminate the threat with several rapid, well aimed shots.

Hans was calmly observing the proceedings and not participating because his client, a well known actor, was performing in a scene for an action movie being filmed on location.
Hans was satisfied that through extensive planning and preparation his client was safe and secure.

A few minutes later the presence of many other heavily armed men on the streets of Bangkok would put this confidence to the test.

Protecting a client traveling abroad presents challenges to a security operation. When it is a third world country that is also politically unstable you are faced with additional considerations.

Hans says, “Thomas A. Taylor the author of ‘Dodging Bullets’, the definitive work on Protection methodology and philosophy, recalls in his book an interview with Lewis Merletti the former director of the United States Secret Service. Merletti was asked where the President was safest. His response was “everywhere he goes because of what we do”.
Taylor recounts that Merletti explained that although most people would expect the President to be safest at the White House, by taking a holistic approach to security the Secret Service replicated that security level wherever the President was.

This is the protective philosophy and mindset you have to bring to the planning phase of an operation says Hans. “No matter where your client goes you have to ensure that the environment around the Principal has been made safe for him to travel through.”

“Protecting a famous individual amongst crowds in a third world country does present some unique challenges” says Hans. “After conducting an initial threat assessment, our team put a lot of time into implementing ways to avoid or manage any hazard posed to our client.

In Personal Protection, the Threat/Risk Assessment is the foundation of all aspects of the protective effort. “ We are in the risk reduction business, our objective is to assess all potential risks posed to our client and implement strategies and apply tactics to negate them” says Hans.

“The Threat Assessment takes into consideration political and socio-economic factors from a current and historical context right through to terrorist threats, organized criminal activity, street crime, accommodation, transportation, health, hygiene, emergency medical facilities and the availability of essential goods.”

“We are concerned with anything that may impact the total wellbeing of our client and the smooth running of his daily routine” says Hans.
“The client’s safety is reliant on the decisions you make and the advice you give him, so it’s very important to have done your research. “

In regards to this assignment Hans was particulary concerned about the increasingly frequent terror attacks in the south of Thailand.
Since 2004, separatist in Thailand‘s south had carried out daily attacks including road side bombings and drive by shootings from motorcycles.

“We made the decision that we would definitely not be traveling to the south of Thailand due to the increase in insurgent activity” says Hans.
A decision that proved prudent when in late August, twenty-two banks were bombed in a coordinated attack in the Yala province.

‘Thailand is also regarded as a holiday spot for members of Jemaah Islamiyah. Several high ranking members have been arrested in Bangkok. We felt it would be important for our client to maintain as low a profile as possible so as not to be a target of opportunity” says Hans.


There had also been growing unrest in Bangkok against the perceived corruption of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his ruling Thai Rak Thai party.

“We assessed that given the growing dissent against the Prime Minister and considering that Thailand has had 18 Military coups d’etat (a sudden forced change of government) since 1932, military intervention seemed imminent”.

“When a coup happens there can often be a clash between opposing armed factions and violence can spill out into the community. However, in Thailand, most coups have been non-violent affairs so we felt as long as we had certain contingencies in place the risk was acceptable.”

Hans engaged the Thai Special Branch Police in the protection of his client. The hiring of Police in Thailand for private protection is an accepted part of the system there. “We had three Special Branch officers and two Police Motorcycle officers working with us around the clock. Apart from the obvious help in providing added security layers to motorcade and location security they also greatly facilitated moving us through Bangkok’s congested traffic. This not only saves an enormous amount of traveling time but also reduces the vulnerability that a stationary motorcade poses.”

Hans also developed contacts within the Thai Military Directorate of Intelligence. As in most third world countries real power tends to lie in the hands of the Military rather than the Police. The Police are a valuable asset to have but having contacts within the Military gives greater dimension to your intelligence gathering capabilities.

Hans claims that whilst traveling abroad making contact with friendly Western Embassies will also greatly assist the protective effort. Making contact with the duty officers will reward you with updates on the political situation of the country involved and developments within the region in general.

“A couple of weeks after we arrived there was an assassination attempt against Prime Minister Thaksin. We were still confident there would be no major civil unrest but we certainly increased our options to help facilitate any unscheduled departure”.

“We had obtained Sat phones so that we had communications in case of a breakdown in the telecommunication system. Arrangements had been made for the client to be immediately taken to one of several safe havens (including Embassies) if the situation warranted. We had air, land and water options on standby for an immediate evacuation if needed.

On the night of the 19th September, filming had only just started when Hans received a phone call from a Thai military contact. His contact informed him that tanks and heavy armor were moving out of their barracks and into the city which was a likely precursor to a coup.

Hans immediately briefed his client. He advised him against being out in the streets especially as they were filming scenes that involved firing weapons.

“With a large number of troops and armor descending into the city, all of whom would be apprehensive about encountering opposition, I didn’t want my client running around with a gun in his hand while stuntmen were firing full auto weapons at him .Although I was only concerned about my client’s safety, my client was more concerned about the safety of the film crew and the other actors.”

The client requested that the production cease work for the evening and instructed the crew to return to the safety of their homes.

“After my client was satisfied that the crew were going to be safe, I managed to finally evacuate him back to his accommodation.”

Hans had been utilizing both vehicular and boat transportation whilst in Bangkok, varying the means for security and convenience.

As their Hotel fronted onto the main river in Bangkok, anytime the film set happened to be near a waterway they had a boat on standby as an additional option.
“We were filming on streets adjacent to the river that night so we utilized the boat to avoid the military presence on the streets.”

After consultations with the duty officers at several embassies Hans decided it was prudent for his client to leave the country. Less than three hours after the tanks rolled into Bangkok the client and his family was safely on their way to a politically stable neighboring country.
Hans determined the risk of civil unrest to be low but had other factors to consider including the possible disruption to the client’s and his families future schedule.
We had to consider the possibility of the Military junta shutting down airspace and as my client had commitments in Europe in the next fortnight
it was imperative to have his travel options under our control


As events unfolded over the next 24 hours it seemed that General Sonthi’s coup would be bloodless.
The highly revered constitutional monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej gave his blessing to the military junta.
“The Kings word carries the weight of divine mandate as far as the Thai people are concerned”, says Hans.’’ Once he endorsed the actions of the coup leaders the chance of violence happening was extremely remote.”

Hans advised his client that it would be safe and convenient to return to Thailand and for the production to resume work. Filming finished uneventfully four weeks later.

Hans advises that a Threat Assessment is not static. It has to be a fluid entity changing and evolving as more information comes to hand and as situations change.

“When in a foreign country it is essential for a protective agent to take the time to cultivate local contacts. The ongoing intelligence gathering and liaison building with local authorities really pay’s off. Good, on the ground human intelligence greatly assists you with monitoring and predicting potential problems within the local environment.”

“As my colleague Paul Jordan, one of the worlds most experienced HRE specialists always emphasizes, when faced with any obstacle, you must adapt and overcome”. Comprehensive planning makes it easier to adapt to any event as you have already anticipated it happening.

Prepare, prevent and protect it’s as simple as that”, say’s Hans

Adaptive Mental Health Theory...

The Tomorrow Man Theory.

Today, you are who you are.

Tomorrow you will be who you will be.

Each and every night we lay down to die, and each and every morning we arise, reborn.

Those who are in good spirits with strong mental health, they look out for their Tomorrow Man.

They eat right today, they drink right today, they go to sleep early today, all for Tomorrow Man, so when he awakes in his bed reborn as Today Man, he thanks Yesterday Man.
He looks upon him fondly as a child might a good parent.
He knows that someone – himself – was looking out for him.
He feels cared for and respected. Loved. And now he has a legacy to pass on to his subsequent selves.

But those who are in a bad way, with poor mental health, they constantly leave messes for Tomorrow Man to clean up. They eat whatever they want, drink like the night will never end and then fall asleep to forget.. They don’t respect Tomorrow Man because they don’t think through the fact that Tomorrow Man will be them. So then they wake up new Today Man, groaning at the disrespect Yesterday Man showed them. Wondering why does that guy – myself – keep punishing me? But they never learn and instead come to settle for that behavior, learning to ask and expect nothing of themselves. They pass along these same bad traits tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and it becomes psychologically genetic, like a curse. They are constantly trying to fix what Yesterday Man did to them but you can’t fix the mistakes of Yesterday Man. Yesterday Man is dead, he’s gone forever, and blame and atonement aren’t worth a damn. What you can do is help yourself today. Eat fresh food, drink plenty of water, exercise, meditate and go to bed early. Leave Tomorrow man with something more than a headache and a jam-packed colon.

Do for Tomorrow Man what you would have wanted Yesterday Man do for you!

Courtesy to Chuck Hogan.

Post Traumatic Stress V's Post Traumatic Growth...

One of my favorite affirmations has always been Nietzsche’s well-known quote,” That which does not kill us makes us stronger”.

One cannot deny that life-threatening experiences may lead to psychiatric conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
However, psychopathology only occurs to some of those exposed to such events and although this condition was denied and ignored up until the early 1970’s,I believe in the past 20 years or so Psychiatrists/Psychologists etc. have viewed those who haven’t developed PTSD after a traumatic incidence as slightly sociopathic.

Now at last Mental Health Professionals are agreeing with Nietzsche that positive psychological changes (such as: improved relationships with others, openness to new possibilities, greater appreciation of life, enhanced personal strength and spiritual development etc.) are more likely to happen following potentially traumatic events.

I think the study and expectation of this ‘Posttraumatic Growth Syndrome’ is more interesting and positive than dwelling on PTSD.

To me the most interesting question is whether the exposure to and experiencing of life threatening situations develops positive character traits, or whether some individuals are just ‘hard wired’ to be more resilient and positive.

Below are a couple of interesting articles on the subject.

Why do some suffer PTSD, others don’t?

By Gretel C. Kovach, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Saturday, April 10, 2010.


When Sgt. Michael Blair awoke from a drug-induced coma four years ago, doctors gave him a choice.

Blair’s legs had been blasted by a roadside bomb in Iraq. The physicians could amputate both limbs, or they could try to save them through a series of grueling medical procedures. More than 60 surgeries later, the Marine, formerly stationed at Twentynine Palms, still struggles with chronic pain as he continues his care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

With the help of a cane, though, Blair walked amid the cherry blossoms at the White House this week with his wife and 4-year-old daughter. He has piloted his first solo flight, kayaked through the Grand Canyon, used a hand cycle to finish several marathons and dreamed of opening a therapeutic recreation center for wounded troops.

Blair relies on a strong support network that includes his family, sports organizations and the Marine Corps. But he also may be genetically predisposed to withstand physical and mental trauma.

“I am just so freakin’ grateful to be alive,” said Blair, 35, who will be a featured speaker next month at the Naval Center for Combat & Operational Stress Control’s conference in San Diego.

Researchers are just starting to understand what gives some service members the mental hardiness, or resilience, to fend off post-traumatic stress disorder. Is it innate, a matter of training or a complex interaction between the two?

The answers could help inoculate both combat veterans and civilians against potentially debilitating bouts of trauma-induced stress.

“It’s a really exciting time. This idea of resilience — we are just starting to scratch the surface,” said Steven Thorp from the Post-traumatic Stress Disorders Clinical Team at the San Diego VA Healthcare System and a research psychologist with the University of California San Diego.

The new focus on resilience comes as about 17,000 troops from Camp Pendleton and supporting bases are deploying to Afghanistan between now and fall.

As many as one in five veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffers from PTSD, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD. High suicide rates among service members also are causing deep concern among Pentagon leaders and commanders at bases nationwide. The number of suicides among combat-experienced Marines doubled from 2006 to 2007, the Navy reported, and a record number of Marines and soldiers took their lives in 2008.

Scientists have developed some treatments for PTSD, which was once called shell shock or battle fatigue. The condition was recognized as a disorder in 1980, largely because of attention paid to affected Vietnam War veterans.

Last year, researchers published one of the first studies — by Robert H. Pietrzak and colleagues — about resilience against PTSD among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.

The biggest unknown is “what’s trainable and what’s hard-wired,” said Chris Johnson, a clinical and research psychologist in the Warfighter Performance Department at the San Diego-based Naval Health Research Center.

The center’s staff is using computerized rehabilitation environments and neuro-imaging to study how the brain functions under stress. It’s also evaluating the mental effects of immersive, or simulation-based, combat training at Camp Pendleton.

“We know a lot about effective treatments, how units function and how important biology and behavior are in terms of responding to it,” Johnson said. “But there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of prevention.”

Thorp focuses on “post-traumatic growth,” the phenomenon where some walk away from a traumatic experience — such as a car accident or deadly firefight — with better attitudes and behaviors.

“There is a point where just about any of us would get PTSD given a traumatic event,” he said. “But when exposed to combat, some get PTSD, some don’t, and some have an enhanced life. They value life even more.”

While resilience research gestates, controversy over the use of psychotropic medications to treat combat stress is being debated in Congress.

Bart Billings, a retired military medical officer from Carlsbad and founder of the longest-running combat-stress conference in the nation, submitted testimony for a Feb. 24 hearing on the issue by the U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Billings said he was troubled by “a surge in the number of suicides among service members and their family members that appears to correlate directly with the increased use of psychiatric medication.”

“Would you want your daughter or son who is carrying a loaded weapon in battle to be given a medication where the first warning on the label is suicidality?” he asked in an interview.

But Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, a doctor and director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, testified that the Pentagon supports psychopharmacological treatments as a key component of mental health care.

“Scientific evidence over the past several decades points to the role of medications in limiting the severity and duration of illness, as well as for preventing relapses and recurrences,” she said.

The Marine Corps and Navy will present a new doctrine about combat and operational stress during the Navy conference in San Diego next month. Commanders have already rolled out the program, which teaches troops to identify signs of stress among their ranks, intervene before a crisis and reach out to a sailor or Marine overwhelmed with stress, for instance when a fighter under attack freezes.

The goal is to codify operational stress management, but “this is what a really good leader already does instinctively,” said Capt. Paul Hammer, a former enlisted Marine and a Navy-trained psychiatrist. He directs the Naval Center for Combat & Operational Stress Control, which began operating about two years ago at San Diego Naval Medical Center.

“I don’t think anybody thinks we are going to completely prevent everybody from getting PTSD,” Hammer said. “But we can minimize the impact. It is much like how we have better helmets, better surgical procedures.”

Once home from the war, Blair, the wounded sergeant, was buoyed by camaraderie among wounded Marines, the aviation community, kayakers and many others. He agreed to speak at the upcoming conference because he hopes his experiences will inspire others nursing physical and mental wounds.

“It is easy for guys to fall through the cracks, but you don’t have to sit around in your room,” he said. “You can get out and do things.”

Blair recently took a ride in a vintage Russian propeller plane. The pilot treated him to barrel rolls, half-Cubans and upside-down loop-the-loops.

For someone who still has trouble walking, soaring in the skies was a rush.

“It is great for the mind, body and spirit,” Blair said. “It is nice being up there, close to God.”


Psychiatric Times. Vol. 21 No. 4

Posttraumatic Growth: A New Perspective on Psychotraumatology.
By Richard G. Tedeschi, Ph.D., and Lawrence Calhoun, Ph.D. | 1 April 2004.

Dr. Tedeschi is professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Calhoun is professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Both authors have written three books and numerous articles on posttraumatic growth.

There is a long tradition in psychiatry, reaching at least back to World War I, of studying the response of people who are faced with traumatic circumstances and devising ways to restore them to psychological health. The main focus of this work has been on the ways in which traumatic events are precursors to psychological and physical problems. This negative focus is understandable and appropriate to the requirements of these contexts. However, only a minority of people exposed to traumatic events develop long-standing psychiatric disorders.

Although not prevalent in either clinical or research settings, there has been a very long tradition of viewing human suffering as offering the possibility for the origin of significant good. A central theme of much philosophical inquiry--and the work of novelists, dramatists and poets--has included attempts to understand and discover the meaning of human suffering (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1995). In the 20th century, several clinicians and scientists have addressed the ways in which critical life crises offered possibilities for positive personal change (e.g., Caplan, 1964; Frankl, 1963; Maslow, 1970; Yalom and Lieberman, 1991). However, the widespread assumption that trauma will often result in disorder should not be replaced with expectations that growth is an inevitable result. Instead, continuing personal distress and growth often coexist (Cadell et al., 2003).

In the developing literature on posttraumatic growth, we have found that reports of growth experiences in the aftermath of traumatic events far outnumber reports of psychiatric disorders (Quarantelli, 1985; Tedeschi, 1999). This is despite the fact that we are concerned with truly traumatic circumstances rather than everyday stressors. Reports of posttraumatic growth have been found in people who have experienced bereavement, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV infection, cancer, bone marrow transplantation, heart attacks, coping with the medical problems of children, transportation accidents, house fires, sexual assault and sexual abuse, combat, refugee experiences, and being taken hostage (Tedeschi and Calhoun, in press).

The Domains of Posttraumatic Growth
The kinds of positive changes individuals experience in their struggles with trauma are reflected in models of posttraumatic growth that we have been building (Calhoun and Tedeschi, 1998) and in a measure of posttraumatic growth that we developed based on interviews with many trauma survivors (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1996). These changes include improved relationships, new possibilities for one's life, a greater appreciation for life, a greater sense of personal strength and spiritual development. There appears to be a basic paradox apprehended by trauma survivors who report these aspects of posttraumatic growth: Their losses have produced valuable gains.

We also find that other paradoxes are involved. For example: "I am more vulnerable, yet stronger." Individuals who experience traumatic life events tend to report--not surprisingly--an increased sense of vulnerability, congruent with the experience of suffering in ways they may not have been able to control or prevent. However, these same people also may report an increased sense of their own capacities to survive and prevail (Calhoun and Tedeschi, 1999). Another experience often reported by trauma survivors is a need to talk about the traumatic events, which sets into motion tests of interpersonal relationships--some pass, others fail. They also may find themselves becoming more comfortable with intimacy and having a greater sense of compassion for others who experience life difficulties.

Individuals who face trauma may be more likely to become cognitively engaged with fundamental existential questions about death and the purpose of life. A commonly reported change is for the individual to value the smaller things in life more and also to consider important changes in the religious, spiritual and existential components of philosophies of life. The specific content varies, of course, contingent on the individual's initial belief system and the cultural contexts within which the struggle with a life crisis occurs. A common theme, however, is that after a spiritual or existential quest, philosophies of life can become more fully developed, satisfying and meaningful. It appears that for many trauma survivors, a period of questioning their beliefs is ushered in because existential or spiritual issues have become more salient and less abstract. Although firm answers to the questions raised by trauma--why do traumatic events happen, what is the point to my life now that this trauma has occurred, why should I continue to struggle--are not necessarily found, grappling with these issues often produces a satisfaction in trauma survivors so that they are experiencing life at a deeper level of awareness. It should be clear by now that the reflections on one's traumas and their aftermath are often unpleasant, although necessary in reconstructing the life narrative and establishing a wiser perspective on living that accommodates these difficult circumstances. Therefore, posttraumatic growth does not necessarily yield less emotional distress.

Cognitive Engagement and Growth
A central theme of the life challenges that are the focus here is their seismic nature (Calhoun and Tedeschi, 1998). Much like earthquakes can impact the physical environment, traumatic circumstances, characterized by their unusual, uncontrollable, potentially irreversible and threatening qualities, can produce an upheaval in trauma survivors' major assumptions about the world, their place in it and how they make sense of their daily lives. In reconsidering these assumptions, there are the seeds for new perspectives on all these matters and a sense that valuable--although painful--lessons have been learned.


As the individual comes to recognize some goals as no longer attainable and that some components of the assumptive world can not assimilate the reality of the aftermath of the trauma, it is possible for the individual to begin to formulate new goals and to revise major components of the assumptive world in ways that acknowledge their changed life circumstances. The individual's cognitive engagement with and cognitive processing of trauma may be assisted by the disclosure of that internal process to others in socially supportive environments. At some point, trauma survivors may be able to engage in a sort of meta-cognition or reflection on their own processing of their life events, seeing themselves as having spent time making a major alteration of their understanding of themselves and their lives. This becomes part of the life narrative and includes an appreciation for new, more sophisticated ways of grappling with life events (McAdams, 1993).

Facilitating Posttraumatic Growth
The changes that trauma produces are experiential, not merely intellectual, and that is what makes them so powerful for many trauma survivors. This is the same for posttraumatic growth--there is a compelling affective or experiential flavor to it that is important for the clinician to honor. Therefore, the clinician's role is often subtle in this facilitation. The clinician must be well-attuned to the patient when the patient may be in the process of reconstructing schemas, thinking dialectically, recognizing paradox and generating a revised life narrative. What follows are some general guidelines for this process. More extensive discussion and case examples can be found in Calhoun and Tedeschi (1999).

Attention to elements of posttraumatic growth is compatible with a wide variety of approaches that are currently utilized to help people who are dealing with trauma. Initially, clinicians should address high levels of emotional distress, providing the kind of support that can help make this distress manageable (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1995). Allowing a distressed patient to regain the ability to cognitively engage the aftermath of the trauma in a rather deliberate fashion will promote the possibility for posttraumatic growth.

Clinicians must feel comfortable and be willing to help their patients process their cognitive engagements with existential or spiritual matters and generally respect and work within the existential framework that patients have developed or are trying to rebuild in the aftermath of a trauma. Further-more, although individual patients may need additional specific interventions designed to alleviate crisis-related psychological symptoms, listening--without necessarily trying to solve--tends to allow patients to process trauma into growth (Calhoun and Tedeschi, 1999). In fact, one way of insuring that clinicians practice this sort of approach is to relate to the trauma survivor's story in a personal manner. Being changed oneself as a result of listening to the story of the trauma and its aftermath communicates the highest degree of respect for the patient and encourages them to see the value in their own experience. This acknowledged value is a short step away from posttraumatic growth.

The immediate aftermath of tragedy is a time during which clinicians must be particularly sensitive to the psychological needs of the patient. Never engage in the insensitive introduction of didactic information or trite comments about growth coming from suffering. This is not to say that systematic treatment programs designed for trauma survivors should not include growth-related components, because these may indeed be helpful (Antoni et al., 2001). A posttraumatic growth perspective can be used even in critical incident stress management (Calhoun and Tedeschi, 2000). However, even as part of a systematic intervention program, matters related to growth are best addressed after the individual has had a sufficient amount of time to adapt to the aftermath of the trauma.

Caveats About Posttraumatic Growth
In order to clarify the clinical perspective on posttraumatic growth, we offer these reminders. First, posttraumatic growth occurs in the context of suffering and significant psychological struggle, and a focus on this growth should not come at the expense of empathy for the pain and suffering of trauma survivors. For most trauma survivors, posttraumatic growth and distress will coexist, and the growth emerges from the struggle with coping, not from the trauma itself. Second, trauma is not necessary for growth. Individuals can mature and develop in meaningful ways without experiencing tragedy or trauma. Third, in no way are we suggesting that trauma is "good." We regard life crises, loss and trauma as undesirable, and our wish would be that nobody would have to experience such life events. Fourth, posttraumatic growth is neither universal nor inevitable. Although a majority of individuals experiencing a wide array of highly challenging life circumstances experience posttraumatic growth, there are also a significant number of people who experience little or no growth in their struggle with trauma. This sort of outcome is quite acceptable--we are not raising the bar on trauma survivors, so that they are to be expected to show posttraumatic growth before being considered recovered.


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References
1. Antoni MH, Lehman JM, Kilbourn KM et al. (2001), Cognitive-behavioral stress management intervention decreases the prevalence of depression and enhances benefit finding among women under treatment for early-stage breast cancer. Health Psychol 20(1):20-32 [see comment].
2. Cadell S, Regehr C, Hemsworth D (2003), Factors contributing to posttraumatic growth: a proposed structural equation model. Am J Orthopsychiatry 73(3):279-287.
3. Calhoun LG, Tedeschi RG (1998), Posttraumatic growth: future directions. In: Posttraumatic Growth: Positive Changes in the Aftermath of Crisis, Tedeschi RG, Park CL, Calhoun LG, eds. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, pp215-238.
4. Calhoun LG, Tedeschi RG (1999), Facilitating Posttraumatic Growth: A Clinician's Guide. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
5. Calhoun LG, Tedeschi RG (2000), Early posttraumatic interventions: facilitating possibilities for growth. In: Posttraumatic Stress Intervention: Challenges, Issues, and Perspectives, Violanti JM, Paton D, Dunning C, eds. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas Publishers, pp135-152.
6. Caplan G (1964), Principles of Preventive Psychiatry. New York: Basic Books.
7. Frankl VE (1963), Man's Search for Meaning; An Introduction to Logotherapy, Lasch I, trans. Boston: Beacon Press.
8. Maslow AH (1970), Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed. New York: Harper & Row.
9. McAdams DP (1993), The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self. New York: W. Morrow.
10. Quarantelli EL (1985), An assessment of conflicting views on mental health: the consequences of traumatic events. In: Trauma and Its Wake: The Study and Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, vol. 1b, Figley CR, ed. New York: Brunner-Mazel, pp173-218.
11. Tedeschi RG (1999), Violence transformed: posttraumatic growth in survivors and their societies. Aggression and Violent Behavior 4(3):319-341.
12. Tedeschi RG, Calhoun LG (1995), Trauma & Transformation: Growing in the Aftermath of Suffering. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
13. Tedeschi RG, Calhoun LG (1996), The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: measuring the positive legacy of trauma. J Trauma Stress 9(3):455-471.
14. Tedeschi RG, Calhoun LG (in press), Posttraumatic growth: conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psych Inquiry.
15.Yalom ID, Lieberman MA (1991), Bereavement and heightened existential awareness. Psychiatry 54(4):334-345.
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Dealing with the Ultimate Bad Boy's...

Recently reflecting on what have been some of our more challenging assignments, we unanimously agreed that protecting a client for several months who was working on a project a few hundred kilometers up the East Alligator River in Arnham Land (tropical far north Australia) would be at the top of the list.

This assignment was conducted on the crocodile infested water ways of a very inhospitable, unforgiving environment.

Although it was a relief not to have the usual rogue’s gallery of innapropriate/obssessed/emotionally disturbed fans, stalkerazzi and politically/financially motivated criminals to consider, we had to deal with a far more experienced and lethal predator who is indisputably at the apex of the food chain.


Crocodiles are believed to be about 200 million years old, other dinosaurs became extinct only 65 million years ago which give you an idea on not only how long crocodiles have been able to refine their predatory skills but how good they are at it to have survived the great extinction events.

Unlike sharks which are predators of opportunity crocodiles are the ultimate stalker assassins. Because of their size, an adult male will be up to 20 foot long and weigh around 3000 pounds, they conserve their energy and only assault after careful surveillance of their target.

They study patterns of behavior and then lie in ambush, patiently waiting for their target to be where they calculated them to eventually appear. To repeat any activity in the same vicinity of the river/flood plains in Croc territory is inviting an attack. They are the masters of concealment and stealth movement, being completely invisible and undetectable in as little as three feet of the muddy waters of the rivers of far north Australia.

Crocodiles can hold their breath for an incredible period of time, so rarely are air bubbles detectable and can slow their heart rates down to three beats per minute. From this state they can, with incendiary speed, launch an attack and pull a full grown steer into the water and death roll them.

They are heavily armour plated and could be described as an amphibious Abrams tank!



On our assignment, we had protect our client for several months whilst daily, they and we, were in small aluminum boats with a very low draught line to the water amongst numerous 14 to 18 foot Croc’s. Because of the remoteness of the location, the boats had to be launched and beached, boarded and un-boarded directly from the river banks.

As with mitigating the threat posed by any other assailant, applying the time proven strategies and tactics of surveillance detection, anti surveillance measures, evasiveness, speed of movement, respect for your opponents capabilities, understanding their SOP's,eternal vigilance and superior firepower carried they day !

DANGEROUS PLACES....

Baghdad and Kabul are well known Hostile Environments but there are also equally if not more dangerous lesser known Capitols of Violence...



Grozny, Chechnya.

Law enforcement agencies are unable to cope with rampant crime in Russia. The epicenter of the crime epidemic is Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.
Grozny, the capital of Chechnya has for many years been regarded by K&R experts as the worst place in the world in regards to not only the number of kidnappings but also for the brutality of the kidnappers.
Unexploded mines and munitions are widespread, frequent militant violence, organized crime, clan rivalry and corruption all fuel the ongoing violence.




Caracas, Venezuela.

Venezuela’s official murder rate has soared by 67 per cent since Mr Chavez took control in 1998 and Caracas’s true homicide rate is estimated to be about 160 per 100,000 residents.Caracas has become far more dangerous in recent years than any South American city, even beating out the once notorious Colombian drug capital, Bogotá.




Cape Town, South Africa.

Any nation described as the ‘rape capital of the world’ should be one to take extra special care in. Although rape had shown a declining trend to 113.7 in 2004, it increased in 2005 to 118.3 per 100 000. Another damning statistic for South Africa is its appallingly high murder rate. Most crime is confined to poor areas but it hasn’t stopped gated communities springing up all over South Africa and armed guards protecting wealthy tourist groups. Farming in South Africa has become one of the most dangerous professions in the world. The murder rate for farmers is 313 per 100 000 – about 8 times the national average. And like anywhere, sex can be very dangerous in South Africa, where more than 10 million people are infected with HIV.





Karachi, Pakistan.

Karachi is one of Asia’s lowest scoring destinations for personal safety. Repeated terror attacks and have hit Pakistan’s financial capitol in recent years. In February more than 30 people lost their lives in a dual bomb attack




Juarez, Mexico.

At the traffic lights in this city, only the killers look at other cars. Everyone else looks straight ahead, afraid of ticking off potential assailants. By nightfall, vehicles disappear from the roads. In Juárez, Mexico, crime is so pervasive that the people are leaving, cowering, avoiding the streets -- or getting kidnapped and killed.
Already this year, 686 people have been murdered here. Residents hunker in trepidation. Most answer cell phone calls only from people they know to avoid random extortion attempts. Instead of going out on the town, they hold private parties -- and only with close friends.
Crime in Juárez also threatens to bleed across the border. Criminal gangs working for drug cartels already operate on both sides of the border, and in a sign of the growing risks, on March 13 gunmen killed three people linked to the U.S. consulate in Juárez. The sky-high murder rate is driven by two rival groups -- the Juárez cartel and the Sinaloa cartel -- and their battle for control of drug smuggling into the U.S.
Murder is only one of Juárez's problems. Ambitious cartel underlings have diversified into extortion, kidnapping, carjacking and robbery. When President Felipe Calderon sent 10,000 soldiers to Juárez in March 2008 to bolster security after a purge of corrupt police, the army largely ignored other crimes to focus on the cartels, and crime has taken off.




Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Port Moresby, with 54 murders per 100,000 population, might seem a surprising inclusion, but in August last year the entire city police force was confined to barracks for three months because officers were believed to be behind a wave of deadly bank robberies and killings
Gangs called ‘Rascals’ control the city centre, while the island nation's unemployment rate of 89 per cent, and the emergence of Chinese crime syndicates make things worse.




Mogadishu, Somalia.

Somalia is a failed state known for its anarchy, corruption, lack of government, and starvation. Travelers are warned against entering Somalia, the self-proclaimed “independent Republic of Somaliland” or even sailing near the Horn Of Africa. Pirates patrol these waters armed with AK-47s and will seize craft and hold crews to ransom. Inter-clan fighting has claimed thousands of lives in the north of the country, while territorial control in the capital, Mogadishu is carved up between many clans and warlords.
Pervasive and violent crime is an extension of the general state of insecurity in Somalia. Serious, brutal, and often fatal crimes are very common. Kidnapping and robbery are a particular problem in Mogadishu and other areas of the south.




Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rates of crime have also soared in recent years in Rio de Janeiro. Street crime is rampant and whilst many victims are left unharmed, having a broken bottle put to your throat for your bracelet is not pleasant. The incidences of “quicknappings” has risen in major cities throughout Brazil. This involves being abducted and taken to an ATM to pay your ransom. If you can’t pay, thanks to mobile technology, your family is only a call away. Along with street crime, organized criminal groups have waged wars against police and public institutions that were unable to be bribed. Drugs dealers and narco-terrorism claim civilian casualties as well.

Are The Paparrazi Becoming Too Dangerous??

Are the Paparazzi Becoming Too Dangerous?
An article that appeared in 'The Circuit' Magazine.2009.

By Hans Van Beuge & Elijah Shaw
NABA Members.

Celebrity worship seems to be the fastest growing religion in the world. In our secular society it seems the need for traditional worship has been displaced and replaced with an obsession for idolizing celebrities.

Publications, TV programs and internet sites such as People, The Star, The National Enquirer, The Globe, US Weekly, OK!, In Touch, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Access Hollywood, TMZ, Hollywood. TV, Splash and about another 1,200 celebrity news sites in the US alone, all feed our insatiable addiction for celebrity culture.

And if keeping with the religious allegory then the apostles of celebrity worship -- ones that fuel this aggressive, global, billion dollar industry-- are the Paparazzi; The freelance photographers who relentlessly and intrusively pursue the famous, record their every move, and supply the avalanche of banal and insignificant details to the media outlets.

Roaming worldwide, the paparazzi have had few legal restraints imposed upon them. They justify their often-illegal activities by citing the rights of freedom of the press and free speech. Rights guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States by the First Amendment as well as similar laws (or lack thereof) in other nations.

The paparazzi first gained notoriety in those La Dolce Vita days (the term paparazzi originated in this famous Fellini film) of the late 1950’s when Italian snappers were racing around Rome’s Via Veneto on Lambretta motor scooters, photographing the rich and famous.

These early paparazzi soon discovered that provoking a celebrity and having a colleague take a photo of the celebrity’s reaction was worth more money than the traditionally posed glamour shots. The concept of the more invasive paparazzi photographers replacing the old school photojournalists soon followed in the US, UK and France.

In 1997 the authorities and the general public finally realized how out of control the paparazzi had become. Although cleared of culpability, the paparazzi were clearly complicit in the fatal car accident that caused the death of Princess Diana. This incident also affected the public perception of protection agents and divided members of our community on how it could have been prevented.
As Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, poignantly expressed the day after her death,” I always believed the press would kill her in the end, but not even I could imagine they’d take such a direct hand in her death, as seems to be the case. It would appear that every proprietor and editor of every publication that has paid for intrusive and exploitative photographs of her, encouraging greedy and ruthless individuals to risk everything in pursuit of Diana’s image, has blood on his hands to-day.”

After Princess Diana’s death, limited laws protecting the rights to privacy for individuals were enacted in France and Germany. The tabloids and the paparazzi avoided controversy for a while at least until the outcry over Diana’s death passed.
However, over the past few years a new breed of aggressive and intrusive paparazzo has evolved, and they are responsible for escalating the degree of danger into the duel between celebrities and those who photograph them for profit.
Technology, competition, profits and a lack of industry regulation are the reasons why the paparazzi started to behave like something out of the Wild West.
With the new generation of digital cameras and video recorders literally any one can take a professional shot. The photographic skills of the older generation of paparazzi became redundant.

In the past few years the number of paparazzi has increased enormously. Los Angeles for instance had a couple of dozen consistently working paparazzi about five years ago. Now there are be over two hundred. The tabloids are willing to pay six figure pay-offs for a “unique” shot. By “unique” they mean something that portrays the celebrity negatively such as having a car accident, appearing drunk, overweight, angry, unattractive or disheveled.

The lucrative money resulted in an increase in the numbers chasing the big payday, which in turn made it more competitive. To succeed now as a paparazzi you need to be far more aggressive, not just in pursuing your subject but in also in beating the competition. With no licensing or accreditation necessary to operate, we have seen an increase in the number of people with violent criminal records working as paparazzi.

In the US one particular paparazzi agency is named after an L.A. street gang the owner of the agency belonged to as a teenager. He trains other ‘reformed’ gang members in the business. Other agencies use foreigners working on questionable visas. Photographers are hired less for their camera skills than their ability to navigate the rough-and-tumble of the celebrity chase.

A much more accurate term to describe the newer breed of paparazzi is ‘stalkerazzi’. They usually work in teams and will stay hunting their celebrity targets 24/7. Often driving rental cars, obscuring their license plates or using aliases to hide their identities or connections to the big agencies that control much of the market, these stalkerazzi are willing to run red lights or force celebrities off the road to get a photo, with a total disregard for public safety.

It seems as if the lesson of Princess Diana’s death has been forgotten.
The vehicular pursuit of celebrities, which are called ‘follows’ often devolve into dangerous high speed convoys and are certainly the most reprehensible activity the paparazzi commit. Follows become especially dangerous when competing teams are after the same quarry. Often there can be up to thirty SUV’s (the vehicle of choice) involved, all jockeying for the best position. The desire to get the money shot leads to a flagrant disregard for any road rules including speed limits, red lights and driving on the wrong side of the street. When they have followed their target to the destination, they generally discard their vehicles on the roadway and swarm all over the target vehicle ‘hosing’ down the target with cameras on full auto. The rights of passage are denied to both the target and any passers by and they will frequently start fighting amongst themselves like sharks in a feeding frenzy.
When this ‘hosing’ is done at night in conjunction with a camera flash, the effect is like having 30 Surefire flashlights shined in your eyes. It’s painful and you completely lose your night vision and it is obviously extremely dangerous to the driver, passengers and any other vehicle or person near the vehicle they have surrounded.
(The term ‘hosing’ is one the paparazzi proudly use and is deliberately meant to convey the sense of indignity and helplessness a naked prisoner feels when they are hit by a high-pressure hose.)

Recently in Los Angles, the paparazzi have been involved in several car accidents with celebrities including Nicole Ritchie, Brad Pitt and the late Michael Jackson’s family whilst on the ‘follow’. They were also implicated in providing information to a gang that was burglarizing celebrity’s homes and one paparazzo got into a punch up with Mike Tyson at LAX after he was harassing Tyson’s family.

Meanwhile in Italy, the owner of paparazzi agency was put on trial for blackmailing politicians and celebrities with the photos his agency took.
It’s obvious that the Paparazzi industry is completely incapable of self-regulation or establishing an effective code of ethics. Authorities need to enact legislation to protect the safety and privacy of both the public and famous individuals from their irresponsible behavior. The question of how to balance freedom of the press versus the basic right to a reasonable degree of privacy needs to be addressed and defined.

There needs to be a clearer definition of what is ‘newsworthy’ and what is just intrusive gossip. Virtually all paparazzi photographs and video are of high profile people doing very mundane, everyday activities – taking the children to the park, shopping, eating, walking or driving. None of which could be reasonably defined as newsworthy or having social value.

Last month, California Governor Schwarzenegger signed a new law, Assembly Bill 524, to discourage paparazzi misconduct by allowing tabloid or other publishers to be sued for using images or sound recordings that they knew were obtained violently or illegally.
California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, who proposed the new law, was quoted as saying, "Out-of-control paparazzi are an increasing threat, not only to the celebrities they stalk but to the public at large if they happen to get in their way."

The following are quotes from the text of the new law:
“The Legislature finds and declares all of the following,
*Individuals and their families have been harassed and endangered by being persistantly followed or chased in a manner that puts them in a reasonable fear of bodily injury,and in danger of serious bodily injury or even death, by photographers, videographers, and audio recorders attempting to capture images or other reproductions of their private lives for commercial purposes.
*The ligitimate privacy interests of individuals and their families have been violated by photographers, videographers, and audio recorders who physically tresspass in order to capture images or other reproductions of their private lives for commercial purposes…
*Such harassment and tresspass threaten not only professional public persons and their families, but also private persons and families for whom personal tragedies or circumstances beyond their control create media interest.
*There is no right, under the United States Constitution or the California Constitution, to persistently follow or chase another in a manner that creates a reasonable fear of bodily injury, to trespass, or to constructively trespass through the use of intrusive visual or auditory enhancement devices.
*The right to privacy and respect for private lives of individuals and their families must be balanced against the right of the media to gather and report news.


The right of a free press to report details of an individual’s private life must be weighed against the rights of the individual to enjoy liberty and privacy.
Opponents of the bill say that it violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, the law does not target the content of free speech; rather, it targets the conduct used to gather information when performed in an illegal manner.

This law is certainly a positive step in curtailing the illegal and intruisive activities of the paparazzi. One that with positive support might lead other States and indeed Nations to enact similar legislation.

The drafting of legislation, or establishing legal precedent as to a persons legal right to where their likeness can be used is the most effective way to curtail the power of the paparazzi.This already exists in commercial law where the right to use someones likeness for commercial purpose must be granted by that individual.

Tabloids only publish photo’s of famous individuals in their magazines so they can sell them for monetary gain so commercial law should be applicable.
Legislation needs to ensure that:

*No photos or videos of children should be taken or broadcasted without the written consent of the parent.
*No photos or videos of individuals clearly participating in a non newsworthy private matter such as a vacation, exercise, eating, at school, at home, at a funeral or wedding should be taken or broadcast without the written consent of the individual involved.
*There should be ‘no go’ areas for paparazzi around certain instititutions where reasonable privacy should be expected. This would include but not be limited to schools, hospitals, cemeteries,residences and places of worship.

Other methods that could be implemented to bring the paparazzi under control include forcing them to be licenced by reputable agencies with uniform standards and Codes of Conduct in the State or Country they are operating in.The Code of Conduct should be enforceable by law or a public entity.

To be accredited would entail having a background check to ensure no serious criminal convictions, proof of proper legal documentation and insurance to cover public liability.

They should also have to wear official accredition/licence whilst working and provide such identification to any member of the public when requested and all vehicle’s they are in whilst working must have number plates attached.
Ironically, providing services that protect famous individuals from aggressive media intrusions and protecting them from the pathalogically fixated individuals whose fantasies are fueled by their products,is a major source of revenue for those of us in the private protection sector.

With that said, many an encounter with the paparazzi,-- and the actions taken from security personel to shield the VIP has resulted in even more negative attention being produced for said celebrity.
A YouTube search for “… versus paparazzi” will yeild you a laundry list of videos, with over half of them invoving close protection staff who often use approaches that, were they off camera, might just be a control tactic, but under the harsh glare of the photo lenze or edited down to a 20 second clip make the bodyguard look thugish and unprofessioinal.

Bad press and public perception aside, what happens when the protection agent has comitted all his resources to “paparazzi watch” on behalf of his client, when our mandate should be protection of the client from any and all threats? Does that narrow our focus so much that at the moment of truth our attention is on a money hungry cameraman that we miss the knife of the assalant in the crowd? One hopes the answer is no, but unfortunatlly the current state of affairs the likelyhood of that increases exponentially.

In the end, security professionals have a duty of care for our clients and in a broader sense, the public. Advocating restrictions being placed on the way the paparazzi industry operates to ensure public safety and a more civilised society helps stengthen our circle of client protection.

Self Defence Or Self Delusion?

Although the discipline of self-defense should be important to every-one, it must be of paramount importance to Bodyguards. A Bodyguard has by choice decided to potentially put him self in harms way. He may have to fight for his life, or to defend the life of his Client.

Experts such as Robert Redenbach and John Ellery have written excellent publications in relation to the tactics, mind set and training needed to prevail in ‘non sport’ violence.
However, there is a much over looked area in the art of self-defense.

In over thirty years of working in Protection, I can only personally recall a few operators who have died or were seriously injured through targeted or random acts of violence. In addition, most of those were working in hostile, high risk regions.

I have known many more that have died from other causes, far more insidious, deadly causes.

Imagine compiling a Risk Assessment for a client and let’s say you could identify three or four factors that they would be exposed to that in combination killed in excess of 100,000 people per year. Wouldn’t it be foolish and negligent not to implement strategies to avoid or minimize the risks from those factors?

Well those factors are not imaginary. They are very real and also very avoidable. I’m sure you have realized by now, those deadly factors are;
Heart disease, Cancer, Hypertension and Obesity related illnesses.

All of them very preventable and far more likely to cause you harm than a violent encounter.

It has always confounded me to see morbidly obese Bodyguards (who often combine obesity with smoking) working assignments.

These people are walking contradictions. They are choosing to ignore the very things that are most likely to harm them. They are jeopardizing not only themselves but those they are tasked to protect.

In an aircraft emergency you are instructed to affix your own oxygen mask before assisting any one else.
Bodyguards should likewise ‘secure their own borders’ first before taking on the responsibility of protecting anyone else.

There’s no way around it. Being overweight and unfit is bad for your health. It is also a reflection of the flawed character of the person afflicted.
It is hard to convince others that you have a professional attitude towards duty of care when you obviously lack the desire to look after your own health.

Image projection is a very important aspect of the Bodyguards profession. The officer’s presence is the first stage in the force continuum. A fit, vigorous looking Bodyguard is going to have great deterrent value which greatly assists counterpredation.
A soft, unconditioned Bodyguard looks vulnerable, this causes an increased risk factor in relation to victimology.
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I know of competent Bodyguards who are overweight. However, I would argue that they would even be far more effective at their job if they got into condition. Their excess weight also limits the variety of tasks that they can perform.

‘Vertx’ the tactical clothing outfitters have come up with the term ‘Operational Athlete’. I think this perfectly defines what a Protection Agent should aspire to.
‘Vertex’ defines the Operational Athlete as “like no other athlete on earth. They receive no preparation time before their event. They become aware of the physical requirements of that event as they unfold. They have little information for the ground that event will be played on, the temperature it will be played at or the duration of time it will cover. But what does that mean in terms of how they prepare?
It means that the operational athlete has to prepare for literally everything. All the traditional athletic avenues: strength, power, endurance, flexibility and agility. The difference is the proportion. A marathoner does not have the same physical requirements as a football player, therefore while there may be some crossover in their training methodologies, the proportionate times are relative to the activity of choice.
The Operational Athlete has no such specificity. The Operational Athlete must be agile and powerful, with a high strength-to-mass ratio. He or she must also have good cardiovascular endurance. Both are requirements of the job and both may aid in a life-saving situation (be it someone else’s or their own). They must be concerned with injury prevention and reactivity to ensure career longevity. They must be able to come out of long periods of idle behavior without fear of their body failing them. The Operational Athlete must have the work capacity to perform a variety of tasks successfully in order to do their job well. He or she must be able to cover ground quickly and efficiently, jump, climb, dive, crawl, duck, evade, grapple, pursue and any number of other movement descriptions at any given time.
Training methods commonly learned early on or through traditional mass-media are not as effective for the Operational Athlete. Training for them is not about look or performance (though both are side benefits), but about lifestyle. Excess bulk will only serve to slow them down, but minimal mass will not allow them a level playing field with heavier opponents. The ability to maneuver with equipment and kit must also be a concern, so solid core strength must be included in training. The creation of strength and power can be achieved without the addition of excess mass by improving the body’s ability to overcome force from a variety of angles and overcoming instability in body position or contact points.”


Health, fitness, correct diet and adequate sleep also assist in promoting cognitive function/reaction, an area of vital importance to the Bodyguard.

There is no great mystery as to how we can remain healthy and increase our longevity. The important components are; nutrition, aerobic conditioning, resistance training, flexibility, stress management, avoiding smoking and limiting alcohol and caffeine intake.

Nutrition is vital in preventing premature bad health and disease. Approximately 75% of weight loss or gain is dependant on dietary intake. Currently, obesity is ballooning in the Western World.
We are suffering an epidemic of overweight children and adults People are finding comfort in the overwhelming presence of others of a similar structure and countenance. They try to convince themselves about the normalcy of corpulence.
However if you are obese you are three times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease and have a higher rate of contracting serious illnesses such as diabetes and certain cancers. The solution to this epidemic is in what and how much we eat.

The precious fresh fruits, vegetables and hearty proteins that nourish our bodies have lost their appeal and have been replaced by sugar, fat, worthless carbohydrates and chemicals in take-away packaging.

If you are confused consult a dietician and work out an eating plan. Take the time to learn about nutrition. Most people know more about running their car than they do about their body. However your body is the vehicle that you travel in through life’s journey.
If you don’t look after your body where are you going to live?

Don’t just focus on how much you weigh but rather on what your weight is made up of. Have a body fat test. See what percentage of your weight is muscle and what’s fat. A healthy range is 15% body fat for males and 25% for females.

Aerobic Conditioning is achieved by running, power walking, swimming, cycling, skipping or any other activity that gets the heart pumping at about 70% maximum (approx 170 beats per minute minus your age) for at least 30 minutes three to four times per week. This greatly improves your cardio vascular system and helps reduce body fat.

Resistance Training is achieved by doing weights or exercises such as chin-ups, dips, push-ups and hop drops that use your own body weight as resistance. They increase muscle tone giving you more strength and aid in preventing osteoporosis of the bones.
Consult a personal trainer who can help you work out a simple but effective programme .You don’t have to work out with the intensity of a chemically enhanced mirror athlete. A thirty minute session three times a week will give you a functional increase in core body strength.

Flexibility is essential for maintaining range of movement and correct posture. Yoga or simple stretching exercises achieve this in 10 minutes daily.

Compare your fitness level with those recommended by the Cooper Institute. The Cooper Institute has developed a scientifically valid battery of physical tests that relate to an individuals ability to perform essential functions within a Law Enforcement or Public safety job.
(web: www.cooperinst.org/lawenf.asp )

In the United States their standards are used by many Federal and State law enforcement agencies and some larger private security firms, in the selection and annual physical evaluation testing of their officers. Doing so protects the Agency or company from litigation ensuring that some-one who is physically incapable of adequately performing L/E or security related tasks is not employed. This not only helps protect the public but also the candidate. Being physically capable of performing all job related tasks obviously reduces the amount of risk an officer would face..
The tests are scientifically based yet simple and are non age or gender specific.

Stress management is finally being recognized as a health preserver. The hectic pace of modern life impacts our health by lowering our resistance to disease and making us more vulnerable to illness. Hypertension, heart disease, chronic fatigue, certain cancers and ulcers have all been linked to stress. Our body responds to emotional stress the same way it reacts to physical danger. When we feel the effects of stress our health is compromised by the primitive flight or fight response that produces stress hormones even when we are not in immediate danger.
Our bodies are not designed to be flooded with the toxic chemicals produced, by the constant state of sympathetic nervous system activation..

Meditation is wonderful for relieving stress as is yoga and exercise.
Exercise burns off stress hormones helping us to relax. It is a healthy alternative to alcohol and drugs which only mask and eventually exacerbate the problem.

Cigarette Smoking is responsible for more deaths per year than anything else. View it as a slow and painful form of suicide and totally avoid it.

Minimize Alcohol Consumption. It has a detrimental affect on the liver, kidneys and central nervous system. It is also a major factor in accidental deaths.

Caffeine is a drug found in coffee, tea, soft drinks and chocolate. Limit your daily intake. Caffeine can cause behavioral problems such as irritability, nervousness, headaches, sleeping disorders and depression. Physiological problems include doubling the risk of bladder cancer and increasing the growth of tumors caused by other carcinogens.

Self defense can really be viewed as self preservation. Although we cannot preserve life itself, we can preserve extra time in life.
Defensive tactics, martial arts and weapon craft are all essential skills that the Bodyguard needs to master.
In the High-Risk areas of Protection, developing and maintaining these skills almost becomes a full time job in itself.
However these skills must first be built on a foundation of health and fitness.

Good health protects us from our most likely enemies and should be the first priority in any Protection Specialists skill sets

Situational awareness is a mindset that can — and should — be practiced by everyone. All criminals and terrorists follow a process when planning their acts and this process is visible at certain times to people who are watching for such behavior.
When one considers these facts, it inevitably leads to the question: “What in the world am I looking for?” The brief answer is: “warning signs of criminal or terrorist behavior.” Since this brief answer is very vague, it becomes necessary to describe the behavior in more detail.

Surveillance
It is important to make one fundamental point clear up front. The operational behavior that most commonly exposes a person planning a criminal or terrorist act to scrutiny by the intended target is surveillance. Other portions of the planning process can be conducted elsewhere, especially in the age of the Internet, when so much information is available online. From an operational standpoint, however, there simply is no substitute for having eyes on the potential target. In military terms, surveillance is often called reconnaissance, and in a criminal context it is often referred to as casing or scoping out. Environmental activist and animal rights groups trained by the Ruckus Society refer to it as “scouting.” No matter what terminology is being used for the activity, it is meant to accomplish the same objective: assessing a potential target for value, vulnerabilities and potential security measures. Surveillance is required so that criminals can conduct a cost-benefit analysis.

The amount of time devoted to the criminal surveillance process will vary, depending on the type of crime and the type of criminal involved. A criminal who operates like an ambush predator, such as a purse-snatcher, may lie in wait for a suitable target to come within striking distance. This is akin to a crocodile lying in a watering hole waiting for an animal to come and get a drink. The criminal will have only a few seconds to size up the potential target and conduct the cost-benefit calculation before formulating his plan, getting ready and striking.
On the other extreme are the criminals who behave more like stalking predators. Such a criminal is like a lion on the savannah that carefully looks over the herd and selects a vulnerable animal believed to be the easiest to take down. A criminal who operates like a stalking predator, such as a kidnapper or terrorist, may select a suitable target and then take days or even weeks to follow the target, assess its vulnerabilities and determine if the potential take is worth the risk. Normally, stalking criminals will prey only on targets they feel are vulnerable and can be successfully hit, although they will occasionally take bigger risks on high-value targets.

Of course, there are many other criminals who fall somewhere in the middle, and they may take anywhere from a few minute to several hours to watch a potential target. Regardless of the time spent observing the target, all criminals will conduct this surveillance and they are vulnerable to detection during this time.
Given that surveillance is so widely practiced, it is quite amazing to consider that, in general, criminals and terrorists are terrible at conducting surveillance. There are some exceptions, such as the relatively sophisticated surveillance performed by Greenpeace and some of the other groups trained by the Ruckus Society, or the low-key and highly detailed surveillance performed by some high-end art and jewelry thieves, but such surveillance is the exception rather than the rule.

The term “tradecraft” is an espionage term that refers to techniques and procedures used in the field, but term also implies quite a bit of finesse in the practice of these techniques. Tradecraft, then, is really more of an art rather than a science, and surveillance tradecraft is no exception. Like playing the violin or fencing with a foil, it takes time and practice to become a skilled surveillance practitioner. Most individuals involved in criminal and terrorist activity simply do not devote the time necessary to master this skill. Because of this, they have terrible technique, use sloppy procedures and lack finesse when they are watching people.

Although everybody planning a criminal or terrorist attack conducts preoperational surveillance, that does not necessarily mean they are good at it. The simple truth is that these individuals are able to get by with such a poor level of surveillance tradecraft because most victims simply are not looking for them. And this is where we tie the discussion back into last week’s Security Weekly. Most people do not practice situational awareness. For those who do, the poor surveillance tradecraft exhibited by criminals is good news. It gives them time to avoid an immediate threat and contact the authorities.

Demeanor Is the Key
The behavior a person needs to outwardly display in order to master the art of surveillance tradecraft is called good demeanor. Good demeanor is not intuitive. In fact, the things one has to do to maintain good demeanor frequently run counter to human nature. Because of this, intelligence and security professionals who work surveillance operations receive extensive training that includes many hours of heavily critiqued practical exercises, often followed by field training with a team of experienced surveillance professionals. This training teaches and reinforces good demeanor. Criminals and terrorists do not receive this type of training and, as a result, bad surveillance tradecraft has long proved to be an Achilles’ heel for terrorist and criminal organizations.

Surveillance is an unnatural activity, and a person doing it must deal with strong feelings of self-consciousness and of being out of place. People conducting surveillance frequently suffer from what is called “burn syndrome,” the erroneous belief that the people they are watching have spotted them. Feeling “burned” will cause surveillants to do unnatural things, such as suddenly ducking back into a doorway or turning around abruptly when they unexpectedly come face to face with the target. People inexperienced in the art of surveillance find it difficult to control this natural reaction. Even experienced surveillance operatives occasionally have the feeling of being burned; the difference is they have received a lot of training and they are better able to control their reaction and work through it. They are able to maintain a normal looking demeanor while their insides are screaming that the person they are surveilling has seen them.

In addition to doing something unnatural or stupid when feeling burned, another very common mistake made by amateurs when conducting surveillance is the failure to get into proper “character” for the job or, when in character, appearing in places or carrying out activities that are incongruent with the character’s “costume.” The terms used to describe these role-playing aspects of surveillance are “cover for status” and “cover for action.” Cover for status is a person’s purported identity — his costume. A person can pretend to be a student, a businessman, a repairman, etc. Cover for action explains why the person is doing what he or she is doing — why that guy has been standing on that street corner for half an hour.

The purpose of using good cover for action and cover for status is to make the presence of the person conducting the surveillance look routine and normal. When done right, the surveillance operative fits in with the mental snapshot subconsciously taken by the target as the target goes about his or her business. Inexperienced people who conduct surveillance frequently do not use good cover for action or cover for status, and they can be easily detected.
An example of bad cover for status would be someone dressed as “a businessman” walking in the woods or at the beach. An example of bad cover for action is someone pretending to be sitting at a bus stop who remains at that bus stop even when several buses have passed. But mostly, malefactors conducting surveillance practice little or no cover for action or cover for status. They just lurk and look totally out of place. There is no apparent reason for them to be where they are and doing what they are doing.

In addition to “plain old lurking,” other giveaways include a person moving when the target moves, communicating when the target moves, avoiding eye contact with the target, making sudden turns or stops, or even using hand signals to communicate with other members of a surveillance team or criminal gang. Surveillants also can tip off the person they are watching by entering or leaving a building immediately after the person they are watching or simply by running in street clothes. Sometimes, people who are experiencing the burn syndrome exhibit almost imperceptible behaviors that the target can sense more than observe. It may not be something that can be articulated, but the target just gets the gut feeling that there is something wrong or odd about the way a certain person behaves. Innocent bystanders who are not watching someone usually do not exhibit this behavior or trigger these feelings.

The U.S. government often uses the acronym “TEDD” to illustrate the principles that can be used to identify surveillance conducted by counterintelligence agencies, but these same principles also can be used to identify criminal and terrorist surveillance. TEDD stands for time, environment, distance and demeanor. In other words, if a person sees someone repeatedly over time, in different environments and over distance, or someone who displays poor surveillance demeanor, then that person can assume he or she is under surveillance. If a person is being specifically targeted for a planned attack, he or she might be exposed to the time, environment and distance elements of TEDD, but if the subway car the person is riding in or the building where the person works is the target, he or she might only have the demeanor of the attacker to key on because the attacker will not be seen by the observer over time and distance or in different environments. Time, environment and distance are also not applicable in cases involving criminals who behave like ambush predators. Therefore, when we are talking about criminal surveillance, demeanor is the most critical of the four elements. Demeanor will also often work in tandem with the other elements, and poor demeanor will often help the target spot the surveillant at different times and places.

In a situation where a building or subway car is targeted for an attack rather than a specific person, there are still a number of demeanor indicators that can be observed just prior to the attack. Such indicators include people wearing unseasonable clothing in warm weather (such as trench coats); people with odd bulges under their clothing or wires sticking out from their clothing; people who are sweating profusely, mumbling or fidgeting; people who appear to be attempting to avoid security personnel; and people who simply appear to be out of place. According to many reports, suicide attackers will often exhibit an intense stare as they approach the final stage of their attack plan. While not every person exhibiting such behavior is a suicide bomber or shooter, avoiding such a person rarely has much of a downside.

One technique that can be helpful in looking for people conducting long-term surveillance is to identify places that provide optimal visibility of a critical place the surveillant would want to watch (for example, the front door of a potential target’s residence or office). These optimal observation points are often referred to as “perches” in surveillance jargon. Perches can then be watched for signs of hostile surveillance like people who don’t belong there, people making demeanor mistakes, etc.

This principle can also be extended to critical points along frequently and predictably traveled routes. Potential targets can conduct simple pattern and route analyses to determine where along the route they are most predictable and vulnerable. Route analysis looks for vulnerabilities, or choke points, on a particular route of travel. Choke points have two main characteristics: They are places where the potential target must travel and where rapid forward motion is difficult (such as sharp, blind curves). When a choke point provides a place where hostiles can wait with impunity for their victims and have access to a rapid escape route, the choke point becomes a potential attack site. These characteristics are found in attack sites used by highly professional kidnap/assassination teams and by criminal “ambush predators” such as carjackers. While the ideal tactic is to vary routes and times to avoid predictable locations, this is also difficult and disruptive and is warranted only when the threat is high. A more practical alternative is for potential targets to raise their situational awareness a notch as they travel through such areas at predictable times in order to be on the alert for potential hostile surveillance or signs of an impending attack.

The fact that operatives conducting surveillance over an extended period of time can change their clothing and wear hats, wigs or other light disguises — and use different vehicles or license plates — also demonstrates why watching for mistakes in demeanor is critical. Of course, the use of disguises is also an indicator that the surveillants are more advanced and therefore potentially more dangerous. Because of a surveillant’s ability to make superficial changes in appearance, it is important to focus on the things that cannot be changed as easily as clothing or hair, such as a person’s facial features, build, mannerisms and gait. Additionally, while a surveillant can change the license plate on a car, it is not as easy to alter other aspects of the vehicle such as body damage (scratches and dents). Paying attention to small details can produce significant results over time.

As we noted last week — and it is worth repeating here — paying attention to details and practicing situational awareness does not mean being paranoid or obsessively concerned about security. When people live in a state of paranoia, looking for a criminal behind every bush, they become mentally and physically exhausted. Not only is this dangerous to one’s physical and mental health, but security also suffers because it is very hard to be aware of your surroundings when you are exhausted. Therefore, while it is important to watch for the watchers, watching should not involve feelings of fear or paranoia. Knowing what is occurring in the world around them empowers people and gives them a sense of security and well-being, allowing them to spot the good things in life as well as the potential dangers.

"This report is republished with permission of STRATFOR"