Any plans made and/or skills practiced before a fight can generally be categorized as your strategies. Alternatively actions taken during a fight are generally considered your tactics. Among my most practiced strategies (i. e. pre-fight exercises) is to practice relaxed alertness. Relaxed alertness can be developed by observing people and trying to identify and/or locate their WPNS. WPNS is a mnemonic device developed by firearms trainer Eric Edgecomb and is derived from the word “weapons” with the vowels removed. WPNS stand for: Weapons, Physical size or conditioning, force of Numbers and Special knowledge or skills.
Everyone you see or meet possesses some, most or all of these WPNS capabilities. Pick an individual at random and see how many of his WPNS attributes you can identify. How many weapons or objects convertible to weapons does he have ready access to? How larger (or smaller) physically is he compared to you? How physically fit does he appear to be? How many of his friends are near enough that he can call to them for immediate support? Is there anything on his person that offers clues to his martial abilities? Is he wearing a belt of a width or of a style you would normally be associated with holding up a concealed handgun? Does he have a tactical folding knife clipped to a pocket? Is he wearing a hat, jacket or shirt with a name or a logo indicating his possible firearm, martial art or military interests?
After sizing up your unknown volunteer and listing his WPNS, add one more to the total. This Plus One Rule accounts for that extra item that you missed. Whenever adding up an individual’s WPNS attributes always add one for that inevitable hidden item you did not spot. Now consider also how many of these WPNS indicators you are displaying. Check your own WPNS count in the mirror. How many of your WPNS attributes are visible to a potential attacker? How many unnecessarily visible WPNS attributes are you offering to a determined bad guy as a free information give-away in his assault against you?
