Blew my SA down my legg...or did I???

[First Sgt]

Welll...had a lil incident this morning, that proved to me, no matter how good you think your SA is, there is always room for improvement.

Let me set the scene...About to depart my house, front door, with wife (taking her to physical therapy) and two year old granddaughter. Front porch is approximately 10x20, about 3 feet high, with steps at the end toward my drive and about 20 feet from my front door. Surrounding the front of my porch are thick flowering bushes approximately 8 feet high, about two foot opening between each bush. Directly in front of my porch, approximately 10 feet out, is a huge weeping willow tree. Trying to say, lots of cover, even in broad daylight.

Okay, out the door we come, I turn my back to the yard and face my front door, and as my wife and granddaughter walk towards the steps at the end of the porch, I double lock my front door. By the time I turned around, wife and granddaughter are helping each other down the steps (four steps). I laugh and made a remark about the blind leading the blind, with my attention on both of them going down the steps. I am now directly behind them, about to take the first step down, as they get to the bottom step and step on the sidewalk. I am a split second behind them and as my feet hit the sidewalk, a male voice comes from behind me saying "How's it going?!?"...Well now, here is where I'm right proud of myself as I immediately swept my cover garment while turning and was JUST ABOUT to clear leather when I recognized the Water Meter Man. I'm not sure who was surprised the most....him as his eyes went to my hand about to draw...my wife as she saw how I was reacting...or me as he spoke, I jumped, and I turned and began my presentation. I give myself credit for instantly recognizing him and stopping my draw. I kick myself in the derriere because I was totally focused on my wife and granddaughter, OBVIOUSLY in condition WHITE (baaa baaaa baaaa) because I was at my home/porch (trying to justify Condition White), and because I DID NOT see him behind one of the big 8 foot flowering bushes until I turned at the sound of his voice.

My wife about fainted. She said "Pat, I saw him come across the yard and thought you did too so I didn't say anything to you or him". The Meter Man fell all over himself apologizing for scaring me. I apologized for almost shooting him. And we all proceeded on our way.

Things learned: 1. No matter how good you think your SA is, there is ALWAYS room for improvement, ALWAYS the remote possibility of a lapse in SA. 2. There needs to be better communication between my wife and myself. 3. The draw training using/wearing my conceal garments paid off. 4. My mind was still sharp enough to stop the process once the target was recognized.

Although I can laugh somewhat at the events of this morning, it was a wake up call to me to continously work on all aspects of my SA and my communications with my spouse and vice versa.

Comments are welcome when you finish laughing!!!!

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[archer51]

As much as we'd like to be, no one is going to be on their "A" game all the time. You recovered and everything worked out for the good. Bet you'll be doing a scan when you step out the door from now on. Just hope the scare you gave the Meter Man doesn't reflect on your next water bill!

[Hiram25]

Happy everything turned out ok! Good communications between you and your partner (wife) is a very good idea and something that the rest of us should consider. They are an extra pair of eyes and they know that we are armed, might just save a really bad incident as you described in your post.

[WHEC724]

'Concur with Archer51. I'm not a highly-trained operator, so I catch myself oblivious in my SA probably every week. Of course, that doesn't include the times that I'm oblivious to being oblivious.

1. You were armed. 2. You reacted well.

No need to go busting yourself down for that ;-)

[Stubborn]

You did fine First Sgt, don't beat yourself up too bad. We don't know things until we learn them. As long as you learned from the experience, and start scanning before stepping out the door in the future, it all turned out for the good. Looks to me like it was a pretty cheap or easy lesson to learn.

[adric22]

This comes right home to me. I've been preaching SA for years and years and I actually caught myself committing one of the worst offenses a few days ago. I was walking through the parking lot of Wal-Mart towards the store and my wife sent me a text message. I pulled the phone out and began to read it. Then I realized I'm now walking through a parking lot reading a text message and not paying attention to anyone around. At least it was during daylight. But that is such a dumb thing to do and I've criticized others for it in the past. For me, I try to stay in condition orange when walking through Wal-Mart parking lot, especially at night. I try to stay in condition yellow when inside the store doing my shopping. But here I was in condition white.. anyway, hopefully I won't do that again.

[Guantes]

First Sgt,

We all have lapses, it is impossible not to. What we hope is that when we do, there is no penalty attached. Yours was such a case. Be happy of that.

[BugDude]

I'm betting that's the last time the meter reader "sneaks" up behind you.

[Inspector71]

And just imagine if you will, the story that old boy is going to tell when he gets back to the water company

[gottabkiddin]

Quite a thought provoking, eye opening experience to have happen right outside the front door for sure. I'm pretty relaxed around my house too, and your post has got me taking a look at that. But, like Guantes said, It's impossible not to become relaxed and lower your guard when you're around loved ones, and in you own environment. Glad you can laugh about it. I got a chuckle outa it when you told the guy

I apologized for almost shooting him

I guess the up side of it would be, now at the least you know how you'd react to a situation like that in the future under similar circumstances, except instead of "how's it going" replace it with, "Gimme your wallet!".

[dukalmighty]

I got a chainsaw,Just gimme directions,make sure you take your wife to dinner,act surprised when she asks where all the trees and bushes went

[GoBigOrange]

maybe I'm way off base here but it seems very strange to me that you would react that way to someone saying "how's it going"....

I can understand being startled but I'm surprised that you would instantly begin drawing your weapon. What if it was a girl scout?

[noway2]

Saying "How's it going" or some other innocent statement is probably how IT would begin. First Sgt, you learned something today that may save your life or one of your loved ones, so consider it a good day and don't beat yourself up over it.

[dtox]

OBVIOUSLY in condition WHITE (baaa baaaa baaaa) because I was at my home/porch (trying to justify Condition White)

One thing for everyone on here to consider is that when crime starts to get really bad, one of the most dangerous times for citizens is either entering or leaving their home. This info came from Fer Fal who lives in Argentina where crime has skyrocketed since the collapse of their economy in 2002.

[RKM]

Not sure I would have immediately reached for my firearm over "how's it going".... But regardless, you're right. Nobody's SA is perfect. I find myself in condition white a lot. The good thing is, realizing and quickly becoming alert. We can't be 100% alert all the time. We can't see everything, we can't hear everything, we're only human. Just do the best you can.

When I'm in public alone, I'm like Jason Bourne. When I'm out with friends, I tend to pay more attention to them and stay in the conversation then paying attention to my surroundings. I need to work on being able to do both at the same time.