Like many in the protection profession, I have often been asked by others why it is that I had traveled, or would be traveling to, some far off place with a dangerous reputation. But I must admit to being somewhat surprised recently when that very question was posed to me by an executive protection provider, as opposed to a family member, which is typically where that question comes from. The question was apparently prompted by some photos we had recently posted on a social media site while in the midst of conducting a mobile training course in Kenya. Interestingly enough, Glen Edmunds, Managing Director of Glen Edmunds Advanced Driving (GEPD), VDI’s partner in Africa, had recently been asked a similar question regarding a training project he was working on as well. As it turns out, in both instances, what the person asking the question was really wondering is why we would travel to a place where the risk was so much higher and the logistical challenges so much greater than they would be at VDI’s and/or GEPD’s permanent facilities, to essentially do what we could have just as easily accomplished home. I suppose the easiest answer that either of us could have given is that we go where our work takes us. In fact, for VDI, Kenya is just one of many “interesting” places – like Bogota, Caracas, Guatemala City, Lagos, Mexico City, Moscow, and so on – where our work has taken, and continues to take us. For GEPD, which calls Kenya home, it happens to be places like Somalia, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa, among other interesting places.
But, truth be told, there is more to it than that. Yes, our clients – which run the entire gambit from multi-national corporations and high net worth families, to government entities, military units and non-governmental organizations – ply their trade or have a presence in any number of interesting places around the world. And, yes, they recognize a need for our services, however, most of them also have the wherewithal and latitude to send their people anywhere in the world for training. So, to expand on our friend’s original question, why is it that we not only elect to bring our training to places that are certainly higher risk and, often times, infinitely more challenging than our own backyard, but actually seek out those opportunities? As is often the case, the answer to that question is both simple and complex at the same time.
The simple answer can be found in the age old saying “there is no substitute for experience”. While it certainly is cliché, it also holds absolutely true in places like Kenya – or Somalia, Rwanda, Moscow or Bogota, to name just a few – where the margin of error when confronted by a behind-the-wheel emergency is about the width of a razor blade stood on edge. Not unlike a whole host of places we’ve been, Kenya is one of those places where if one intends to provide training to those who must live and work there, it’s not just a good idea to have firsthand knowledge of, and experience in, the local environment, it is an absolute necessity. That knowledge and experience is absolutely crucial to providing training that meets the two greatest expectations a student has. The first being that the training they receive will be directly applicable to the environment they will be attempting to apply it in. The second being that whatever techniques they have been trained 
in, whatever tactics they have learned, will work “as advertised” the first time, every time, in that specific environment. Neither is an easy goal to achieve in a place like Kenya, which isn’t necessarily a whole lot different from other countries – except for the buses aggressively racing each other to the next stop, three wheeled “tuk-tuks” competing with Masai cattle herders for the right of way, motorcycles piled high with cargo tenuously strapped to the frame, and an utter lack of traffic control and enforcement measures. But other than that, it’s no different from driving through the suburbs of New York City or in downtown London. As some have come to know the hard way, advocating – or applying – tactics or techniques that don’t comport with the realities of an environment that is perpetually teetering on the brink of chaos is a recipe for failure. More importantly, those who must live and work in these sorts of places understand those realities and know intuitively if the training they receive is applicable or not. So, the simple answer is that we seek out opportunities to provide training those places so that we have an innate understanding of the environment and the challenges it poses which, in turn, allows us to design and develop training that is directly applicable to those challenges and, of course, meets those all important expectations our students have. Interestingly enough, our experience tells us that this very same dynamic applies to protection training writ large as it does to driver training or, for that matter, most other types of tactical training.
The more complex answer to that question – why is it that we actively seek out opportunities to train in harsh, sometimes austere locales where, to the uninitiated, the risks might appear to clearly outweigh the benefits – is that those are the very places where theory and reality collide, often times with unanticipated consequences or results. They are places where techniques that were learned in exercises designed solely to demonstrate that the technique works as intended, with little if any consideration given to whether or not the exercise replicates the conditions, environments or circumstances the student is likely to encounter ter or the technique is actually applicable to the challenges and realities the student is likely to face, tend to fall apart rather quickly.
For instance, in certain circles conventional wisdom holds that so long as proper defensive driving techniques are applied, a driver should never, ever find themselves in a behind-the-wheel emergency. Similarly, from a protection standpoint, the conventional wisdom is that if one adheres to the basic tenants of protection they should never finds themselves having to counter a direct threat, be it a physical confrontation or a vehicle ambush; and if they do, it is they, the protector, who have made a mistake. Now, at least in theory, both of those schools of thought are absolutely valid. Unfortunately, none of us have the luxury of living in a theoretical world, where all assumptions hold true and everyone abides by the rules or conforms to the expectations of others. Using the always chaotic, often times mean, streets of Nairobi, Kenya as a case-in-point, it is not uncommon for local drivers to have purchased a drivers license thus bypassing any testing requirements, the indigenous Masai are permitted to move their cattle herds anywhere in the country at anytime, to include through, down or over roads and highways, and on average there are nine reported carjackings everyday (though it is suspected that, for a number of reasons, the vast majority go unreported). As a result, conventional wisdom regarding either defensive driving, security, or both, tends to be overcome by events rather frequently and quite suddenly.
For example, one could meticulously plan out their routes, using the latest technology to map out those which are the most direct and will take the least amount of time to travel between point A and point B. You might have run those routes at the exact same time it was anticipated that the principal would be moving along them and then, when the time came for the movement, you might get word that the government has decreed that use of certain traffic rotaries along your route of choice has been forbidden (true story, happened quite literally overnight while I was there). And, oh yeah, by the way, a Masai herder has decided to move his forty head of cattle down the very same road you are on, at the very same time you are on it. As for making your way around the problem, depending on the time of day there are few, if any, more attractive – and by attractive we mean passable – alternate routes available. Even if one was available, at this point getting to it can be a challenge unto itself. Second only to India, the Masai’s cattle are sacrosanct, so trying to push, cajole or intimidate your way through that particular problem isn’t going to gain you any favor; quite the contrary, in fact, as you are virtually guaranteed to find yourself on the sharp end of the herders’ spear or machete. It’s at that very moment that the terms choke point and danger zone don’t even begin to describe what you are dealing with…and conventional wisdom has gone right out the window. Despite doing all of the things a protection practitioner is supposed to do, you find yourself stopped dead in a monumental traffic jam, with no way to get onto your alternate route. Figuratively speaking, theory just collided with reality.
In terms of defensive driving theory versus the reality of driving in or around someplace like Nairobi, while a driver may adhere to the tenets of defensive driving to the nth degree, most of the other drivers on the road haven’t the faintest idea of what they are, nor do they the inclination to practice them themselves. With that in mind, it is for the most part inevitable that no matter how defensively one drives, they are likely to face a behind-the-wheel emergency at some point in time. Mind you, it’s not necessarily a situation of the driver’s own making, but that doesn’t matter all that much when you are the one in the midst of the emergency situation; just like it doesn’t matter much that you mapped the routes out and ran them at the same time the principal would be traveling them in the previous example. In this case, you’re driving a Toyota Landcruiser on a two lane paved road outside of Nairobi, just staring up a hill. Suddenly you are overtaken by a bus in the right lane (the one with all of the oncoming traffic in it) which then veers across your lane and onto the soft shoulder so it can pass the bus lugging its way up the hill in front of you, as a tuk tuk darts right into the lane of oncoming traffic in order to get around the two buses. At that instant, instead of hitting the brakes, the first driver in the lane of oncoming traffic simply snaps the wheel to the left and heads onto the soft shoulder on that side of the road. His car starts to oversteer and now it’s sliding sideways across the pavement directly into your lane at an alarming rate of speed. Again, conventional wisdom has gone right out the window. Despite being the consummate defensive driver, you are clearly in an emergency situation. Figuratively and literally, theory and reality are on a collision course.
So to answer the question, it’s scenarios like these that compel us to make our way to places that challenge our assumptions about training and defy conventional wisdom. They are the places where the long, circuitous route is the quickest way to travel between point A and Point B, and where getting hard on the brakes and simultaneously turning the wheel sharply to the left, so as to follow the first bus onto the soft shoulder (and lifting off the brake before you get there) is not just the most viable option, it’s the only option. It is those places where, in a heartbeat, one may find themselves riding a very thin, very sharp razor blade, that form the crucible in which training theory gives way to reality, where the solution doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to work. And, if you make it through the trip unscathed, these are the very places that provide invaluable experience that translates into highly effective training which applies to the most challenging environments and provide students tactics and techniques that will work “as advertised”. That’s why we go those places. With that in mind, perhaps the next time you’re thinking of attending a training program you may want to ask the “global” training provider this simple question; where have you been lately?
About the Authors
Joseph Autera, President & CEO of Tony Scotti’s Vehicle Dynamics Institute (VDI), has more than two decades of experience in the security profession. He is well versed in planning, providing and managing secure transportation, surveillance detection and executive protection services, as well as designing, developing, and delivering advanced training in those disciplines. He has worked in more than 25 countries across the globe, is a sought after speaker on a wide range of global security issues, and has authored articles that have appeared in some of the professions most respected periodicals.
To learn more about VDI, CLICK HERE
Glen Edmunds, Managing Director of Glen Edmunds Advanced Driving, is the world’s leading provider of Africa-specific driver training program. A former professional rally racing driver, with two victories in the World Rally Championship Safari Rally, Glen went on to a career as one of the most sought after Security Driver/Executive Protection service providers in East Africa. He has worked extensively throughout the African continent, both as a service provider and, most recently, designing, developing and delivering advanced driver training to multi-national corporations, government and non-governmental organizations, and private security professionals and works in various countries in Africa and the Middle East.
To learn more about Glen Edmunds Advanced Driving, CLICK HERE
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