Just 2 Seconds (8 page)

Everything you've read thus far about reaching the attacker in time applies equally to reaching the protectee in time to shield, cover, move, or evacuate.

Which of the two actions -- protective or projective -- is most likely to defeat an attacker? Like a parent reluctant to name a favorite child, we might want to say that both of these important roles are equal, but that's not quite true. Assuming equal proximity (protector-to-attacker and protector-to-protectee), the actions of bodyguards in the Projective role are the actions most likely to be decisive during an attack. When seen through the rapid shutter of an attack, a protector who acts projectively (against an assailant) is more effective in the time available than one who acts to move or shield the protectee. Though many people view the bodyguard's role as primarily defensive, the fact remains that actions against the attacker will usually be the most important. Just as in sports, the game cannot be won through defense only.

During a handgun attack, for example, protectors acting projectively have to reach the assailant and then disrupt aim. That's all they have to do. During the same attack, those responsible for protective actions have to reach the protectee, then move the protectee somewhere (away, down, out), or move themselves in front of the protectee. Any of these actions takes much more energy and time than, say, moving an attacker's arm one inch. When an attack is underway, the admirable (and almost never reached) goal of intentionally placing one's body between the protectee and an attacker will be relevant only if the protector is already very close to the protectee -- and even then, someone would still have to stop the attacker from continuing to do harm. All things considered, when we can choose where to be during an attack, being at an attacker will usually get better results than being at a protectee.

In the case of most rifle attacks, which usually occur from some distance and without warning (i.e., the gunshot is the first event that stimulates the Moment of Recognition), then protective responses are all you've got.

Of course, having protectors in both projective and protective roles affords the best situation of all, and few cases make this clearer than the assassination by sword of Inejiro Asanuma, Socialist Party Chairman in Japan (Compendium
Case #69
).

(c) NHK Television/Japan

In the photo you can see the attacker about to stab the Chairman with a sword. He has already stabbed him once, but this will be the mortal injury. Everyone is moving except the protectee. Four people are courageously intervening to grab the attacker -- and yet at this instant nobody is seeking to block or move the protectee. Had Chairman Asanuma been moved even slightly in any direction, the outcome might well have been different. And, had the attacker's aim been disrupted in any way, he'd likely have failed to kill the Chairman. We see that projective and protective actions are both important -- and combined, they are likely to be decisive.

Moving Is Usually Best

The Compendium cases show that even in situations less obvious than the Asanuma attack, protectees are almost always safer being moved from wherever they are when an attack starts to somewhere else. This might mean moving them a short distance (down, to the side, back) or a great distance (to the cars and away).

Among many reasons to move rather than stay put:

• Attackers lose accuracy when required to track, so moving the protectee will reduce the chances of injury.
  
• Protectors cannot know in the instant of attack what other hazards might be present or about to happen. The attack might not be over; it might have only just begun.
  
• Even if the attack itself has ended, order is usually difficult to maintain after an incident (due to the emotion and reactions of people present). You can always bring the protectee back if things normalize quickly, but you cannot always easily leave if you've waited too long.
  
• After an attack, even an unsuccessful one, protectors themselves need time to regroup, to assimilate what's happened, and to regain readiness for their job. An attack (or even a scare) takes much of the energy protectors have got.
  
• An injury might not be immediately apparent, as in the case of President Reagan's shooting.
  
• Out of public view, it will be easier to assess the impact of the incident (embarrassment from a pie in the face, wrestling with a paparazzi photographer, the attacker's gun turns out to be a starter's pistol, for example), and develop a PR posture in response to it.
  

Attackers understandably want as much time as possible to transpire between their Moment of Commitment and your Moment of Recognition. Since most attacks involve noise (gunshots, screams, grunts), it's difficult to attack without drawing any attention at all, but there have been some notable exceptions, cases in which nobody -- not even injured victims -- was immediately aware that an attack had occurred. Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and his Vice-president Annette Lu were both shot while standing in an open car. (Taiwan has the awful tradition of igniting celebratory fireworks as the Presidential motorcade rolls by, so nobody can really discern the sound of gunfire.) The Vice-president felt some pain in her knee and the President felt wetness on his stomach area that turned out to be blood, but the attack wasn't recognized by targets or protectors until it was long over (Compendium
Case #399
).

This case demonstrates the obvious: Protectors can begin their response only after they recognize an attack is underway -- and that recognition is a mental process stimulated by physical events. In this chapter, we've seen how effectively the body can react when thought is removed from the process. Though it might sound paradoxical, we'll next explore how effectively the mind can react
when mind is removed from the process.

"Not being tense, but ready. Not thinking but not dreaming. Not being set but flexible. Liberation from the uneasy sense of confinement. It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come."

Martial Arts Master

Essential Lesson of this Chapter:

All attacks happen at the same time: Now. If you intend to meet the attack, you must be there mentally, not just physically. Readiness exists only when both mind and body are prepared.

Walking into the campaign event with the Governor and his wife, you overhear snippets of their intense conversation. It seems he's forgotten something; no, she's forgotten it. She's sorry, she needs it, left it behind, on the sink, in the suite, nobody's fault. The Governor turns to you and says, "Hey, do me a favor: During dinner, ask somebody to get Elaine's makeup case from the suite. Just be sure somebody grabs it and gets it to the car before we go. Thanks."

An innocent-seeming request, but the Governor has just given you a mental virus. Because of this bug, everything in the Now will become a distraction from Operation Makeup Case. More importantly, Operation Makeup Case will become a distraction from the Now. You imagine pulling up to the airport in two hours and realizing you forgot the makeup case. You imagine the Governor judging your entire worth on the basis of this one oversight, saying, or at least thinking, "The guy can't even remember the simplest thing!"

All the while, as you stand near the elevated platform where the Governor and his wife are sitting down to pretend they're having dinner, your mind is fighting with itself -- and losing:

"Isn't that the same guy who made the big disturbance at that rally, the guy who wouldn't let go of the Governor's arm? Keep an eye on him. Hard to imagine he's got the money to buy a ticket for this reception. Does it look like he's here alone, or with someone?
Makeup case, makeup case, makeup case.
He seems to be keeping his distance; he's joining people at that table. Good time to radio somebody to call the front desk. No, better not rely on anyone with the hotel; I'll send one of our guys up to the suite. He'll have to get a key. That is the same guy, something about the Governor invading his privacy via computer. I knew we'd see him again. Who can I spare to go to the suite? I'd hate to take Steve off the car. What if we have to leave early? I'll ask Anne. No, she may think I chose her because she's a woman. He's up from his table... headed this way? No, toward the back, maybe the bathroom or something.
Makeup case, makeup case.
My wife carries her makeup in her purse; she doesn't need a whole case. It sounds so professional: makeup case. I guess being the Governor's wife is a sort of a profession. He's coming this way. No, it's not the same guy -- unless he's gained weight. OK, Steve goes to the suite, hands me the car keys as he passes by so I can drive if it comes to that. Anne can stay on post. Steve can take the makeup case right to the car. I could ask one of the staffers, but the last time I asked Bradford for something, he said, 'Hey I'm doing my job -- I'm here to meet people.' Well, I'm here to meet people too, the kind of people who can cause serious problems, the kind Bradford wouldn't want to handle. Where'd that guy disappear to?
Makeup case, makeup case.
Where's that guy? Oh shit, that's him grabbing the Governor's shoulder right now. I wish I'd..."

"I wish I'd ..." are three words you never want in a protection story.

Since peripheral assignments like this derail our focus, one solution is to handle them immediately, and then get back to the Now as soon as possible. But even after the makeup case is handled, that hardly solves the other 60,000 distractions a day we create on our own.

You see, your mind, like everyone else's, doesn't care what it's chewing on -- as long as it's chewing. The mind doesn't need the Governor to distract you. Threat case or makeup case, it's all the same. The mind is built to pose and answer questions, to tell and re-tell stories, to explain things, to figure them out, to divide them, to put them in categories, to turn them over, to compare them, to grind everything down to its smallest particle, to attach each experience to a memory, to draw some conclusion, to treat irrelevant, unconnected facts as if they are great clues, and then use the manufactured clues to solve mysteries, as if they are great mysteries. The undisciplined mind is a constant assembly line that painstakingly produces thousands of useless gadgets every hour, and only rarely puts together something of value.

Come to Your Senses

When a protector is
lost in thought,
he is literally lost to the present moment. To be there in space is one thing, but to be there in time is the main thing. To be present means to be pre-sent, to already be there when it happens. Since the nature of the mind is to wander, it must somehow be coaxed into the current moment, tamed specifically for protective work.

The big question, perhaps the biggest question in protection, perhaps the biggest challenge in any important endeavor is How to stay in the present moment. The answers: Commitment, physical readiness, conditioning of the mind, and practice at seeing each new event as really new. This will all require freedom from craving.