Massad Ayoob’s Priorities of Survival
In order to provide some structure for the analysis, the incident will be evaluated with respect to the “Priorities of Survival” model espoused by noted law enforcement trainer and author Massad Ayoob.2 Ayoob’s model includes the following survival priorities, in order of decreasing importance:
• Mental Awareness and Preparedness
• Proper Use of Tactics
• Skill with the Safety Equipment
• Optimum Choice of Safety Rescue Equipment.3
The first priority, Mental Awareness and Preparedness, addresses the state of mind of the individual. The individual must be aware of his environment to detect threat cues in a timely manner and allow enough time to formulate and initiate a response. Absent this kind of awareness, the individual has a significantly reduced chance of surviving a violent attack, because his first sign of attack will be the blow of his enemy.
Similarly, if the individual has not mentally prepared himself to deal with a violent attack, he will probably fail to respond properly when under duress. An individual can be completely aware of his environment and can recognize an attack is imminent, but if he has not mentally prepared himself to deal with the attack and made the decision beforehand to use violence in self-defense, he may be frozen with fear, confusion, or indecision at the moment of truth.
Ayoob’s first priority recognizes the simple truth that the primary weapon in every officer’s arsenal is his brain, and if it’s not kept in a state of readiness, then it doesn’t matter what kind of equipment is on his belt or what kind of training he has received.
Proper Use of Tactics encompasses the methods and processes used by officers to confront and engage a threat, and it is the second priority in Ayoob’s model. Officers who employ good tactics increase their advantage and quickly attain superiority over their opponents, often making the employment and selection of their equipment (the third and fourth priorities in the model, respectively), less important. The proper use of tactics may even make these latter priorities irrelevant, if the confrontation can be resolved without firing a shot.
If the situation deteriorates to the point that shooting is required, the previous use of good tactics will ensure the most advantageous shooting environment for the officer (i.e., from behind cover or as part of a group with superior firepower), and lead to the greatest opportunity for success.
The third priority, Skill with the Safety Equipment, is not to be downplayed. It is critical that officers are able to properly and expertly use the equipment they are issued to achieve maximum effect. In the present context, this means they must be able to do things such as handcuffing a suspect quickly and skillfully. Similarly they must be able to shoot quickly and accurately and must be competent in the skills necessary to keep the gun in operation (i.e., malfunction clearance and reloading).
The last priority, Optimum Choice of Safety Rescue Equipment, takes a back seat to the other three, but still remains a priority. A competent shooter with less capable equipment is sure to fare better in combat than an unskilled shooter with top-drawer gear, but that same skilled shooter will be much more effective in combat if armed with equipment suitable and optimized for the task.
There is an interesting conundrum inherent in Ayoob’s model: Understanding and mastery of the priorities at the top of the ladder are the most difficult to achieve, while those at the bottom are much easier to achieve, and these bottom priorities may be more interesting and entertaining, as well. As a result, the most important priorities in Ayoob’s model are the ones that are often the most neglected in training, while the less important, low-hanging fruit at the bottom of the tree gets more attention than it probably deserves.
For example, the task of mental awareness and preparation is a very difficult one for the instructor and student to tackle, because it’s hard to define, teach, attain, and evaluate. Improving one’s mental state requires intense concentration, hard work, and a long-term commitment to the task. It’s not fun or sexy or dramatic or entertaining. For a student, it can be hard, exhausting work, and for an instructor, it can be extremely frustrating, because there is no universal method that will guarantee results, and because it’s hard to measure progress and get meaningful feedback. Truly changing the mental habits of a person and training them to think and operate differently than they already do is a very individual, difficult, time-consuming, ethereal task, but it’s also the most critical matter to attend to from a survival standpoint.
In contrast, and at the opposite end of the spectrum, the task of selecting equipment such as a firearm and ammunition is much less arduous and infinitely more objective. Failure rates, accuracy, and muzzle velocities are easy to define and measure. Physical, mechanical objects you can see and touch are easier to understand and evaluate than elusive concepts like awareness and preparedness. It’s also a lot more entertaining—for most trainers and students, it’s much more exciting, dramatic, and fun to shoot guns than it is to work on mindset. Picking the right gun for duty is certainly an important task, but having good situational awareness, mental toughness, and tactical competence is infinitely more critical to an officer’s survival than whether he has a Glock or a Smith & Wesson in his holster.
Fortunately, Ayoob’s Priorities of Survival model takes these considerations into account and provides a sound tool for the planning, execution, and evaluation of law enforcement training. It will also work equally well to provide structure for an evaluation of the Newhall gunfight. Using Ayoob’s model, the entire incident will be viewed through this lens to identify the core lessons of this encounter, arranged by priority.