Cooper Color Code – Lethal Confrontation Combat Mindset Readiness by for Modern Survival Blog
Colonel Jeff Cooper was a legend in the shooting and self-defense world. In addition to being instrumental in refining and popularizing many modern pistol and self-defense techniques, Col. Cooper was an advocate of a prepared armed citizenry.
He believed that the most important survival tool was the mind. To help people prepare the mind for danger, he taught what is now known as the Cooper Color Code.
The most important means of surviving a lethal confrontation, according to Cooper, is neither the weapon nor the martial skills. The primary tool is the ‘combat mindset’.
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Cooper presented an adaptation of the Marine Corps system to differentiate states of readiness. The color code, as originally introduced by Jeff Cooper, had nothing to do with tactical situations or alertness levels. But rather with one’s state of mind.
As taught by Cooper, it relates to the degree of peril you are willing to do something about — which allows you to move from one level of mindset to another to enable you to properly handle a given situation.
Cooper did not claim to have invented anything in particular with the color code, but he was apparently the first to use it as an indication of mental state.
Condition White
UNAWARE AND UNPREPARED. This is a condition you should try to avoid. You will probably lose a fight here. One of the only times in condition white is when you’re asleep. And even then you wouldn’t consider yourself unprepared; you’re just unaware.
If attacked in Condition White, the only thing that may save you is the “inadequacy or ineptitude” of your attacker. When suddenly confronted while in this condition your immediate reaction will probably be “OMG! This can’t be happening to me…”
Most people spend much of their lives in this state of mind.
