Personal Security Test: Warrior Poet Edition

How would you rate yourself for security and preparedness? A passing grade on John Lovell's 10-category security test may not be as easy as you think. For starters, in the words of Ron Swanson, "Any dog under 50 pounds is a cat and cats are pointless."

Of course we all have areas where we need to grow when it comes to security. Anyone who can make a perfect score on this test is either lying, delusional or they're one of those rare operators whose discipline and genetics and lifestyle choices are uniquely aligned for impromptu battle.

Don't get me wrong. They do exist. But they're pretty rare outside the constantly training special operations guys.

Security Category #1: Home Security

A 5 out of 5 means you've made your home a fortress: security cameras, security lighting, door braces, an alarm system, security dog, etc. Do you have staged guns and other defensive preparations positioned around the house with a plan that's understood and practiced by everyone in your family? If you have all of those, give yourself a 5 out of 5. If you have none of those, give yourself a negative 2 and go slap yourself.

Security Category #2: Defensive Weaponry

How would you rate yourself in the area of guns and knives–your access to them and ability to use them in a variety of setting. Do you carry a gun on your person every day and train with that gun regularly? How well can you implement a fighting knife in a life and death pinch? Do you have a stockpile of guns and ammo, along with all the necessary accessories, to defend your home? If you have all that stuff, give yourself a five.

Security Category #3: Hand to Hand Skills

This means you are trained for a standup fight, and you're also ready if a fight ends up on the ground. Can you defend and counterattack when guns, knives and other weapons enter the mix. This means you can proficiently and consistently disarm other people and deploy your own weapons. In other words, you're sort of a Jedi Master Samurai Warrior

Security Category #4: Wise Lifestyle Decisions

You completely avoid all stupid places at stupid times with stupid people. You are never in common, dangerous places where crimes typically happen. Unfortunately, though I try hard at this one, I have to give myself a four because of some of the things we face while traveling.

Security Category #5: Well-rounded Functional Fitness

You have a high level of fitness with strength, speed, endurance, agility and flexibility all balanced so you're ready to respond to a variety of situations. So if you're a powerlifter and watching someone else run gets you out of breath, you're going to give yourself a two or three. We want to be able to smash someone but also outrun an attackers if needed. So while you probably don't want to be just a hulking mass, you also don't want to be a 90-pound person who will break like a twig.

Security Category #6: Self-Reliance

Have you stockpiled food, cash and bullets? Are you a self-sufficient farmer, a homesteader on well water along with alternative sources of water and energy at the ready? The question is, if everything went to crap tomorrow, could you go home live and support your family without leaving for a very long time.

Security Category #7: Medical

This means you are trained in lifesaving emergency medical techniques and you carry medical supplies with you wherever you go.

Security Category #8: Situational Awareness

Be careful how quickly you score yourself favorably on this one. This means when outside your home, you maintain a high level of situational awareness. You're well versed in criminal psychology, reading specific threat indicators and crime statistics. You are never seen in public looking at your phone or with your head down and absorbed in a task.

Security Category #9: A Fighter Mindset

You have been in multiple near death experiences before and have found yourself to be able to control your fear and to think clearly and respond proactively. You have been in fights before and feel confident you can hold your own. There's probably very few people who should give themselves a five in this category. Never underestimate fear and its ability to just absolutely shut you down. Just because I've responded well in the past, doesn't mean I won't play the coward in the future. Mastering fear with a fighter mindset requires vigilance and ongoing work and training.

Security Category #10: Tactics

You have war-gamed out clever ways to beat violent attackers in the common ways in which they frequently attack. You realize that bad guys are ambush hunters and you're ready and can maximize a lot of the different skills required to avoid and even counter ambush an attacker. You've trained and practiced this so that your automatic responses are down cold, even if you're caught by surprise.

This of course is not an exhaustive inventory of all the elements that go into security preparedness, and even if you scored decently or even perfect that's still the ongoing work to remain sharp. The only way to do that is to Train Hard. Train Smart.