Blog – Page 27 – SemperVerus

Defending Yourself Against Mobs and Riots

What would your immediate reactions be if you found yourself suddenly surrounded by a large crowd of people who are disorderly, loud, angry, and intent on causing trouble and violence? Mobs and riots happen; sometimes with planning and sometimes without warning. As SemperVerus believes, it’s best to be ready in such situations.

What follows is a bullet point compilation of key ideas taken from several self-defense sources. Click the source links to read the articles in full.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Why Use and How to Choose Pepper Spray ]

■ Active Response Training: Surviving the Mob

Be aware of your surroundings and have a plan to stay one step ahead of possible mob formation.
Resist the urge to stand around and watch the mob’s display.
Always have an evacuation plan for every location you visit.
Make sure your children know how to escape crowd violence.
Wear shoes (and other clothing) that facilitate the ability to run if necessary.
When attending any large public event, you and all of your family members should establish at least two emergency meeting locations: one within the event perimeter and one outside the event.
Equip your children with spare car keys, even if they can’t drive. A natural meeting place is the family car and you’ll want your children to be able to seek shelter inside the car if you haven’t yet arrived.
Consider carrying and using small impact weapons or pepper spray (OC) for most threats.

Read many more excellent articles on how to survive a mob written by retired police officer Greg Ellifritz of Active Response Training.

The Sixth Sense of Being

In the 1945 movie The Bells of St. Mary’s starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman, and written by Dudley Nichols, a 12-year-old girl reads her essay assigned by her school teacher, on the subject of everyone’s five senses. Except that she adds the sixth sense of “being.”

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of Being ]

As you know, the SemperVerus personal leadership model is comprised of five life-changing success-generating components that contribute to your ability to Stay True:

Prepare
Aware
Be
Know and
Do.

To “Be” for the SemperVerus Brotherhood/Sisterhood is to commit yourself to continually develop rich personal leadership character of exemplary moral and ethical quality.

Or to put it another way, read how the girl in the movie describes it:

By semperverus
Posted on 12/26/202009/06/2021

Inspiring Military Mottos

Image of a USA nickel bearing the words In God We Trust SemperVerus is Latin for Stay True, taking its significance from 1 Timothy 4:16 — “Stay true to what is right….”

We encourage you to use SemperVerus as your personal motto, the definition of which is a short phrase that encapsulates the ideals guiding an individual, family, or institution. To that end, we encourage you to wear the SemperVerus wristband at all times to remind you throughout your day to Stay True.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, SemperVerus and the Noble Foundation of Scouting ]

Having a personal motto is important to keep you directed toward your goals, remind you of your values, and help strengthen your character. A simple motto will help you jog your conscience to remember in an instant what’s really meaningful.

The United States official motto is In God We Trust, which fits so well with the SemperVerus ethos. That spurred us to create the following list of mottos used by the US Armed Forces (and a few other countries’ military units) that synchronize well with SemperVerus objectives. Consider them in light of your own personal goals.

By semperverus
Posted on 12/12/202010/14/2023

Biblical Lessons to Learn De-Escalating Skills

You’ll always prevail against a threat if you’re able to avoid the threat. Proper execution of situational awareness positions you to be aware of warning signs in advance of perilous occurrences, which in turn allows you to maintain enough physical distance as much as possible to stay in control of the outcomes. In his ancient book, The Art of War, late 6th century BC Chinese general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher Sun Tzu wrote, “The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.”

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of being Aware ]

Practicing situational awareness applies to the verbal confrontations you might face as much as to the physical surroundings you encounter every day. The oral skill-set required to keep a heated argument from becoming a deadly altercation is known as de-escalation. It involves knowing what to say and not say, when to say it, and how to say it. That means the coordinated use of our brains and tongues can be just as important in our self-defense strategy as performing defensive shooting drills at the range. An excellent article on the subject is “The Truth About De-Escalation” by John Bostain, president of Command Presence Training, published in Michigan Police Chiefs.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of spiritual fitness ]

The world’s most influential book, the Bible, has plenty to say about the words that come out of our mouths. Consider the following Scripture verses as a framework to help you in building your de-escalation mindset.

▶ Death and life are in the power of the tongue…. Proverbs 18:21

▶ Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. James 1:19

▶ Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Proverbs 29:20

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Gentle Response De-Escalation Training for Church Security Teams ]

▶ Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Proverbs 17:27

▶ Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. Proverbs 13:3

[ Read the SemperVerus article, on Concealed Carry Daily Prayer ]