Quote Originally Posted by Mick-Boy View Post
Honestly, the biggest thing (as always) is just having a handle on the "norm" and recognizing when things are outside of it. Whether it's body language or the situation on the street. If something feels "off", it probably is. That doesn't mean the fight is on, it just means something is off.
Yep. My time in Iraq, the difference between hauling ass back to the armor vs continuing the conversation was knowing what what was normal and when you were standing outside of it. Got out of the vehicles once and no less than three minutes later, my translator (an Iraqi-American with a TS and years of experience) said "this isn't right, nobodies outside and everyone's home"

Gotta go... see ya. We red-zoned that village permanently.

this is just such a huge point. You can do everything right, but you fail to listen to your gut telling you something isn't right and that is when crap goes bad.