Watch Your Back
As prepper’s it is easy to focus on being prepared to defend what is ours when situations get dire following a disruptive event. The reality, however, is that dangerous situations are a part of everyday life. This includes visits to the local ATM, a drive down a busy freeway, or any seemingly mundane situation that involves waiting in a crowded line.
It is important to recognize that avoiding deadly situations should be the rule and not the exception. Watch Your Back: How to Avoid the Most Dangerous Moments in Daily Life, by Roger Eckstine, will prepare you for both everyday dangers and those that are more extreme.
The book is a robust collection of information and tips that teach you how to take preventive measures in a wide variety of situations. These are things you can do in advance, as a matter of course, as well as in the moment. The best part, in my opinion, is the abundance of color photographs that demonstrate the tactics used to ensure your safety.
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These are practical things everyone can do, whether armed or not. And for those of us with either a short memory or little time to spare, there is a great appendix at the end that summarizes each chapter with bullet points we can read once, then review again and again at our convenience.
With that introduction, I am thrilled to share an interview with Roger Eckstine plus I have three copies of his book up for grabs in a giveaway. Enjoy the interview then be sure to check in below to learn about the giveaway.
An Interview with Roger Eckstine, Author of Watch Your Back
Tell me about your book. What is it about?
WYB is about how to avoid being a victim and what to do if things turn ugly. It takes up where my Shooter’s Bible Guide to Home Defense left off. In fact, Skyhorse Publishing asked me to write a sequel for when we are away from the home.
The focus is on preemptive behavioral response. This includes driving, outside sales, shopping, things we do every day. But it also covers how to fight back, particularly during an active shooter situation. Gila Hayes, a founding leader of the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network wrote in the March 2017 Journal a review of Watch Your Back stating:
“This book is an unusual treatment of the fundamentals of personal safety, written in an extremely cerebral manner, but then illustrated by real-life strategies. The driving chapter, like the others closes with a great synopsis the reader can convert into reminders on which to build new safety habits.”
What type of research did you have to do while writing your book?
One of the things that separate WYB from other books is the dissection of actual crimes to see how they could have been avoided by the victim acting differently, or by not being available for the fight.
There’s also tangential information presented such as if the predator had instead done A, the victim could have done B.
The fundamental aspect of preemptive behavioral response is pointing out small details that trigger larger problems, such as realizing that even when making a deposit at an ATM the predator sees it as a withdrawal. You might want to circle the parking lot to see who is watching you before you drive up to the machine. Or, when a female real estate agent posts a billboard featuring her Glamor Shots they invite attacks by projecting an alluring image instead a professional demeanor.
How long did it take to write?
This was really an 8 or 9 month project because there was so much interview with actual crime victims and research into what drove the perpetrators. A great deal of research went into how people form habits and also how they resist learning.
For example, a lot of road rage incidents begin with an automatic response of blowing the car horn when someone does something unexpected. One driver is just trying to be helpful and avoid a crash. The other reverts to a cave man alpha predator. The two cannot be further apart.
Why is one person maniacally driven and the other submissive and caught completely off guard? What happens then to change the game? In every instance in the process of being a victim a concrete strategy for response is enumerated, either for immediate action or preemptive. This means, ‘Hey lets roll back the tape and show how the victim could have avoided the situation altogether’.
Every book, fiction, and non-fiction includes a message. What message do you hope my readers will take with them after reading your book?
I do Prepper seminars usually at people’s homes and I show them specifically how to physically defend their individual premises inside and out. I show them how a variety of scenarios could take place based on the physical layout. This includes paths of escape, verbal and physical strategy, laying out an improvised weapons trail, weapons locations, etc. I show Real Estate agents how to show vacant homes without getting trapped. And even more important, how to identify the customer.
I’ve had a couple of attendees that were skeptical at the time come back to me later and say, ‘Hey it didn’t sound possible at the time but it sure did happen that way and it saved my life. One person actually said that before and after reading Watch Your Back was like finally putting on those special glasses they give you at a 3D Movie.
I want people to see the world around them as predators see them and be ready with a way out before the bad guys and gals even think of committing a crime.
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