Self-Defense: It Starts with Situational Awareness, and Rule One is...

It's both useful and comforting to have a protection means such as
Pepper Spray available in one's back pocket, so to speak. However,
protecting yourself doesn't always involve actual use of a device such
as pepper spray, effective though that can be. Many times, protecting
yourself involves preventive means.

Here's advice from one subject-matter expert on Security who has served
and led on the highest levels for our country:

"If I've said this once, I said it a thousand times, in briefing both
attachés on their way to overseas assignments... and to all of my
aircrews flying all over the world: to me, self-defense starts with
Situational Awareness....and that starts with Rule One...DON'T set up a
routine!"

* Purposely change the time you leave your residence and your work
place. Don't drive the same way each time -- even drive extra distance
once in a while if necessary.

It sounds so simple. It IS so simple. Yet it is also considered so
important, that a seasoned and battle-tested leader has named it his
Number One Rule to impress upon all of hundreds he has trained and taught.

Most of us may have only thought of the advice to "vary your routine" to
apply to our personal workout routines. Even there, it's good advice. In
the potentially life-and-death realm of personal security
considerations, however, it's not just good advice, it's essential.

Interview 6/16/2010 with Col. Robert Freniere.