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A topic on another thread in this forum got me to thinking that maybe now is a good time to revisit Jeff Cooper's "Color Code" the "mental state" which allows you to move from one level of mindset to another to enable you to make the mental transition to engage in a lethal encounter.

In the Colonels own words:

"White - Relaxed, unaware, and unprepared. If attacked in this state the only thing that may save you is the inadequacy and ineptitude of your attacker. When confronted by something nasty your reaction will probably be, "Oh my God! This can't be happening to me."

Yellow - Relaxed alertness. No specific threat situation. Your mindset is that "today could be the day I may have to defend myself." There is no specific threat but you are aware that the world is an unfriendly place and that you are prepared to do something if necessary. You use your eyes and ears, and your carriage says "I am alert." You don't have to be armed in this state but if you are armed you must be in yellow. When confronted by something nasty your reaction will probably be, "I thought this might happen some day." You can live in this state indefinitely.

Orange - Specific alert. Something not quite right has gotten your attention and you shift your primary focus to that thing. Something is "wrong" with a person or object. Something may happen. Your mindset is that "I may have to shoot that person." Your pistol is usually holstered in this state. You can maintain this state for several hours with ease, or a day or so with effort.

Red - Fight trigger. This is your mental trigger. "If that person does "x" I will shoot them." Your pistol may, but not necessarily, be in your hand."

Comments from Colonel Cooper:
"Considering the principles of personal defense, we have long since come up with the Color Code. This has met with surprising success in debriefings throughout the world. The Color Code, as we preach it, runs white, yellow, orange, and red, and is a means of setting one’s mind into the proper condition when exercising lethal violence, and is not as easy as I had thought at first. There is a problem in that some students insist upon confusing the appropriate color with the amount of danger evident in the situation. As I have long taught, you are not in any color state because of the specific amount of danger you may be in, but rather in a mental state which enables you to take a difficult psychological step..."

Good post. I think about this frequently, and am usually aware of what state I'm in. Thanks for posting.

Good post. We all need to revisit this occasionally.

ttt

Thank you for posting the color codes. I agree that we should all review it from time to time. A yellow sticker on my computer monitor at work keeps my mind in the correct place I need to pick one up to stick on my car radio.

Jason

Thanks Capt. for the post.

While I, myself, may lapse into periods of white; I try to stay in yellow. My dog, on the other hand, lives in Orange. That one fact alone allows me to slip into a relaxing white mode while at home!

The only problem I have is that I'm color blind! Sharon Gene sometimes messes with me on colors!

I only ask sometimes, to how big a boy they are.

But seriously, the idea behind this is sound. Good to bring the system up to the forefront from time to time.

I lapse into white when I'm somewhere I feel safe . . . mostly at home, but sometimes in the office when I'm really concentrating on something.

Mostly when I'm out & about I'm in yellow, but once or twice a year I go to orange, because something or someone gets my attention as a potential threat . . . it may be a road rager trying to pick a fight (I do all I can to de-escalate these) or a couple of guys sizing me up in a shifty way in a parking lot . . .

Fortunately, there are very few instances where I was into red, based on the "If that person does "x" I will shoot them." part of the color code . . . for example, when I was selling my mother's car and a couple of gentlemen of the Hispanic persuasion became rather . . . vocally upset . . . that I wouldn't let them take the car by themselves for a test drive, my hand was holding my gun, but I didn't need to draw it. (Pocket carry!)

Orange and red are not fun places to be.

Do any of you struggle to stay in yellow?

I find myself slipping back into white all the time. For example, I take our dog for walks daily. I regularly start out in yellow and after about 50 yards start thinking about something and wake up a half mile later realizing I had been in white the whole. Unfortunately my dog is very friendly and I swear a little ADD so I really don't trust him to recognize a risk.

How do you keep yourselves in yellow?

stroo wrote:How do you keep yourselves in yellow?

What works for me is "snoozing" and having someone intrude on my personal space before I notice.

The feeling is something like when you wake up and realize you are driving a car.

After a while you condition yourself not to let it happen.

- Jim