What’s the condition?
Have you ever heard someone mention carrying in “condition zero” or they stay in “condition orange” when they’re in some areas? What the heck are they talking about? Logic would tell you that “condition red” is probably bad. After all, we’ve heard Captain Kirk put the Enterprise on “red alert” in just about every episode. It’s safe to assume, then, that condition orange probably not good either. Still, though, what the heck?
Well, it all started with this guy named Jeff Cooper. After one heck of a military career, he eventually retired and founded the American Pistol Institute, now called The Gunsight Academy. You might have heard of them. They helped create Ruger Gunsight Scout Rifle.
Anyway, he came up with something he called “The Modern Technique of Pistol Shooting”. Long gone were the one handed, point shooting of the wild west and the techniques held over from the days of flintlock designs. Cooper helped usher in the two handed, weaver stance style of shooting that we know of today.
Of these were two sets of guidelines (for lack of a better term). One was for carry conditions and the other was combat mindsets.
For carry conditions, he came up with a numeric scale from 0 to 4. The lower the number, the more dangerous configuration. His scale originally referenced the 1911, his gun of choice. Depending on your choice of gun, some of these might not be entire possible or might vary slightly.
- Condition 4: no bullet in the chamber, magazine removed, and the gun is de-cocked.
- Condition 3: No bullet in the chamber, full magazine in the gun and the gun is still de-cocked.
- Condition 2: Bullet in chamber, full magazine is in the gun and the gun is de-cocked.
- Condition 1: Bullet in the chamber, full magazine in the gun, gun is cocked and the safety is on.
- Condition 0: Bullet in chamber, full magazine in the gun, gun is cocked and the safety is off.
Now, it goes without saying that you would only be in Condition 0 if the proverbial “stuff” was about to “get real”, as it were. If you have a carry permit, chances are you’re carrying your pistol in either condition 3 or 2. If you’re carrying a compact 1911, you’re probably in condition 1 if not 3. The various stages also define varying degrees of safety. Condition 4, for example, is far less likely to result in an accident as condition 1.
Ultimately, this provides a quick way to describe the status of a firearm.
The next set is called “The Cooper Color Code” and it revolves around the varying degrees of combat readiness. This doesn’t specifically describe alertness or actual fight situations. It’s more of the degree of danger in which you’re ready to take action.
From Wikipedia:
- White: Unaware and unprepared. If attacked in Condition White, the only thing that may save you is the inadequacy or 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 alert. No specific threat situation. Your mindset is that “today could be the day I may have to defend myself”. You are simply aware that the world is a potentially unfriendly place and that you are prepared to defend yourself, if necessary. You use your eyes and ears, and realize that “I may have to shoot today”. You don’t have to be armed in this state, but if you are armed you should be in Condition Yellow. You should always be in Yellow whenever you are in unfamiliar surroundings or among people you don’t know. You can remain in Yellow for long periods, as long as you are able to “Watch your six.” (In aviation 12 o’clock refers to the direction in front of the aircraft’s nose. Six o’clock is the blind spot behind the pilot.) In Yellow, you are “taking in” surrounding information in a relaxed but alert manner, like a continuous 360 degree radar sweep. As Cooper put it, “I might have to shoot.”
- Orange: Specific alert. Something is not quite right and has your attention. Your radar has picked up a specific alert. You shift your primary focus to determine if there is a threat (but you do not drop your six). Your mindset shifts to “I may have to shoot that person today”, focusing on the specific target which has caused the escalation in alert status. In Condition Orange, you set a mental trigger: “If that person does “X”, I will need to stop them”. Your pistol usually remains holstered in this state. Staying in Orange can be a bit of a mental strain, but you can stay in it for as long as you need to. If the threat proves to be nothing, you shift back to Condition Yellow.
- Red: Condition Red is fight. Your mental trigger (established back in Condition Orange) has been tripped. “If ‘X’ happens I will shoot that person”.
Cooper taught the color codes as a way of thinking your way through a fight. As you move up the scale, your willingness to take action goes up as well. By the time you reach condition red, it is because there truly was no other choice and you have thought your way through it already. It’s not just jumping from no problem to big problem.
As they used to say “Now you know and knowing is half the battle”.
Image used under Creative Commons License from sadaton.
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