I’ve become hooked on Jack Carr’s novels. The plots are typical ‘save the world’ themes found in the political thriller genre, but it’s the element of realism and attention to detail that keep me coming back for more.
Jack Carr’s protagonist is former Navy SEAL Commander James Reece. Carr is able to create such realism and attention to detail in his novels due to his 20 years experience as a Navy SEAL.
In the book, Savage Son, James Reece recalls a bit of wisdom he’d learned from a SEAL mentor. During critical, dangerous incidents, you need to “take a breath, look around, make a call.” That’s how you mentally process and make your way through high stress, life threatening situations.
During a violent attack, your mind and body will experience things you've never experienced before.
The most stressful event a human being can experience is a violent attack from another person. The most dangerous experience people commonly have is a vehicle accident – and the other driver wasn't intentionally trying to hurt or kill them. It was an accident.
When someone intentionally tries to hurt or kill you, it's a whole other level of stress. On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace, by Lt. Col. David Grossman, is a groundbreaking look into what really happens to the human body and mind when faced with life or death situations.
It's prevalent for people to experience one or more of the following phenomena during a life-threatening, high-stress experience. I typically experience auditory exclusion, tunnel vision, and slow-motion time, but it varies from person to person.
- Auditory Exclusion – sounds are muffled are not heard at all
- Tunnel Vision
- Automatic Pilot – Responses occurring without consciously thinking about them
- Heightened Visual Clarity
- Slow Motion Time
- Memory Loss for Parts of the Event
- Memory Loss for Some of Your Actions
- Dissociation or detachment from the situation
- Intrusive Distracting Thoughts during the situation
- Memory Distortions
- Fast Motion Time
- Temporary Paralysis
Take a Breath
Consciously making yourself take a deep breath, slows your heart rate and increases oxygenated blood flow to your brain. Under high stress situations, blood flow to your brain is restricted - which is one of the main causes of the problems listed above. Take a breath and start taking mental control of the situation.
Look Around
Tunnel vision is very common to people involved in life threatening situations. Forcing yourself to look around helps you better assess the situation and break up the tunnel vision. We tend to hyper focus on the threat… but there may be additional threats that we can’t see because of tunnel vision. Look around and see what you might be missing.
Make a Decision
Once you’ve slowed your heart rate, started thinking more clearly and assessed what’s going on around you, decide what you need to do next.
WIN
In law enforcement we use the acronym WIN; What’s Important Now. But I like ‘Take a breath, look around, make a call’ better. I say that to myself and the mere thinking it makes me do it.
Your ability to think, problem solve and make decisions is what saves you in a life threatening situation. You can have the best gun in the world, but it’s just hardware. It’s just a tool. Your mind is the software that controls the hardware. The final weapon is the brain. Everything else is supplemental.