The Gray Man Concept: Tips To Improve This Important Survival Skill

[Sentry18]

https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-n...mprove-this-important-survival-skill_01182020

The Gray Man Concept: Tips To Improve This Important Survival Skill
Mac Slavo
January 18th, 2020
SHTFplan.com

Being a “gray man” is something all preppers should familiarize themselves with. If you already understand the concept of it, practice to hone your skills and make yourself remarkably unremarkable

If you live in an area that is heavily populated with people and an emergency strikes, it’s best to blend into the background and draw as little attention to yourself as possible. This will help prevent unnecessary violence and attacks on you keeping you safer for longer. Most preppers can agree on one thing: the gray man concept is worth understanding and getting better at.

No one really wants to blend into the crowd, but when it comes to urban survival, it’s a benefit.

APPEARANCE

It can be said that it’s often not how you look, but how you act. However, if you have distinguishing marks, such as full tattoo sleeves, it may be better to cover those while trying to go unnoticed. But you also need to understand where you are at. Going unnoticed means fitting in and blending into the psychology of those around you. If everyone else has full tattoo sleeves, it might be better to let yours show, but that’s not going to be the case, generally speaking.

BEHAVIOR

To get better at being a gray man, take notice of people while you’re in public. Try to figure out what behavior they are exhibiting and emulate it. The vast majority of Americans aren’t prepared for anything, let alone a SHTF situation. Knowing this should help you to understand just how desperate they could be. But, by blending in and appearing to be among the unprepared, you are less likely to make yourself a target of those in desperation who may try and take your survival gear off you by force.

Avoid eye contact! Even brief eye contact when passing on the street can form a connection, making you more memorable than those around you.

The key is to act average, unthreatening, and unprepared.

LAY OF THE LAND

Learn to look like you belong and know the area. If you’ve just moved, quickly familiarize yourself with the personal characteristics of the people who live there. It may also be beneficial to appear unprepared. Looking like you are lost or aren’t sure of your surroundings is like a beacon of light for those looking to cause harm or take things from you. Don’t carry a map and look at it all the time. Do that at home before an emergency strikes and panic sets in so you know exactly where you are going and how long it’ll take to get there.

In disaster strikes, and people panic and become desperate, that desperation can lead people to do whatever it takes to stay alive. If this happens, you certainly don’t want to be singled out as the one person who is prepared for survival. The last thing you want is for all your time and effort put into prepping to be for nothing because your supplies were taken off you by someone less prepared and more desperate.

 

[The Lazy L]

Don't make posts on public forums that make you memorable.

 

[Cnsper]

Don't make posts on public forums that make you memorable.

But that is the only way to get attention these days.

You also don't want to post stuff that will make someone at the NSA spit their coffee all over the computer. They get upset when you do that.

 

[SheepDog]

Three guys monitoring the site just blew their coffe all over their keyboards. Good job Cnsper!

 

[Peanut]

Several years ago I took an Urban Escape and Evasion course, a civilian version of SERE. It was put on by a company that teaches advanced SERE, long-range reconnaissance and a few other special courses to special forces of our military.

We were taught all sorts of special skills as might be needed to escape kidnappers or other bad guys in several different scenario’s.

Graduation day was being hunted all day in downtown Atlanta by professionals. We had to put our training to the test including how to move in plain sight and remain unnoticed, how to be a greyman!

First, some people come by this naturally, it’s easy for them. That day I discovered I’m one of them. I didn’t know that going in… Within an hour of the hunt starting I was putting my abilities to the test, pushing the envelope, as it were.

I once sat reading an auto-trader magazine in a bus stop. There were two hunters in a van in plain sight across the street who were hunting me (among others). I was about 80ft over the drivers left shoulder (behind and across the street). They never noticed me… a times it was almost comical how close I could get to a hunter and still not be seen.

There were 5 teams of 2 being hunted. 3 were caught and had to start over. The 4th team was photographed but not caught. The 5th team, my partner and I were never seen by anyone… Yet we were in public just like the rest of the teams.

The key for me was being aware of the people around me and blending… Is it rush hour? are people hurrying? are there a bunch of people window browsing? Engage in conversation with my partner if people seem to be strolling and chatting…

Being able to mimic the people around you goes a long long way! What I learned from watching some of the other teams… making yourself stand out is the easiest thing in the world to do. However, with the right mind set the opposite is equally true.

I practice my skills to this day… I keep a reversible jacket in my truck, a must have tool. A simple test while waiting at the doctor’s office… Can you walk up and stand directly in front of a nurse at a counter without being noticed? How long can you stand there in plain sight before they do notice? 1 minute… 2? After a minute can you return to your seat and still never be noticed?

To this day there is a nurse at the VA who calls me the sniper because I always sneak up on her. But I don’t really sneak! I make no sound when I walk, I walk up directly in front of her, I control my breathing, even breaths but silent. Then I simply wait for her to notice. She usually jumps out of her skin!

Harder? Vendors at say the farmers market. How many can you walk past without being noticed?

Fun? A seat your self-restaurant. Allow you waitress to bring your tea then move to a different table when she’s not looking. 1) does she even remember what you even looked like? A reversible jacket makes this loads of fun!


https://onpointtactical.com/ go see these people for some real world practical skills.

 

[Peanut]

For clarification... the last few things I mentioned are not the greyman skills someone will need when shtf. However, they are a very good indication as to whether or not you are a natural greyman. If you can stand directly in front of someone for a full 2 minutes and leave without that person having been aware of you... you are a natural!

Leo's... twice I've tested greyman conduct around leo's. Leo's seem great at spotting some oddity about someone the average person wouldn't see yet they seem no more aware of a greyman than anyone else. I scared the carp out of an officer one night who was doing paperwork on the hood of his car. I walked up to tell him something... he seemed busy so I waited, until he jumped out of his skin finally realizing I was standing 3ft away.

Sort of funny... I can walk through a room of adults without being noticed but kids are a different story. Little kids notice greymen where adults will not. Maybe their perception of the world hasn't been clouded by a thousand concerns, they see more clearly for some reason.

 

[Sentry18]

While I don't disagree with the grey man concept, I intend to be the charismatic leader of a large militia that controls most of my home state after SHTF. It will be called the Sentry Republic and will include a large number of veterans and LEO's as well as the cheerleaders & dance teams of all the regional colleges. My wife will serve as the matriarchal leader who controls the allocation of resources as I focus on border defense and military incursions.

 

[Morgan101]

I would like to think we fall into the same category as Peanut. We are pretty unremarkable people. Son qualifies now that he has shaved his beard. Before that he looked like he was a member of Duck Dynasty.

Sentry: I am coming to your house. I will bring the Scotch.

 

[Terri9630]

Three guys monitoring the site just blew their coffe all over their keyboards. Good job Cnsper!

Only 3? We must be slacking.

 

[Terri9630]

as well as the cheerleaders & dance teams of all the regional colleges.

Do you really want all that estrogen distracting your men?

 

[SheepDog]

No distraction, I will take charge of the cheerleaders and female dancers.

 

[Sentry18]

Do you really want all that estrogen distracting your men?

Have to remind them what they are fighting for!

 

[lonewolf]

I for one have a unique look and wife and I have this saying " once seen never forgotten", which isn't entirely a bad thing as many people have in the past avoided me because of the way I look and this will be to my advantage.
I live in a remote area of the country so any contact with others is limited.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

We are both pretty unremarkable here too so would blend in quite easily. I am told I walk silently too and people get shocked when I am up close to them too @Peanut.

 

[The Lazy L]

I was walking among the locals and noticed I was the only one wearing a baseball cap. I ditched the cap for an umbrella. Now I blended in and have a weapon too. Well I blend in until I open my mouth to converse.

 

[lonewolf]

I wear a cap whenever I go out but I notice that not many men wear a cap or hat these days, not sure why, even my generation no longer do.

 

[SheepDog]

I wear a cowboy hat... Damn few do - even around here. I can ditch it and wear most anything or nothing on my head.

 

[Peanut]

The ideas are all right here! How many times can you change your appearance in a block, in 2 blocks? The idea isn’t a disguise for a movie role or something to withstand close scrutiny. The idea is to create “impressions at a distance”.

Ball cap? Reverse it! Add cheap broken sunglasses from the ground… now you’re some punk with attitude.

Umbrella? Change colors for a couple bucks. Cowboy hat, wear it for a half block then take it off.

Stick on the ground? Tie a rag to the end and you’re some power walker with a staff. Tie on a pink rag, grab an unattended hardhat and now you’re one of the village people.

Grab an unattended tee-shirt off a chair or an apron some waiter left unattended…a laundromat is an absolute gold mine as well as a linen service delivery van.

The possibilities are endless, everything you see is a possible prop. The average city street is a steady supply of changes to your appearance. It doesn’t take much to divert the attention of a casual observer. There is no reason not to look completely different for every block you travel.

 

[Cnsper]

Scrape my beard off and I lose 10 to 15 years.

 

[lonewolf]

so do I but there is no way in hell I am losing my beard.

 

[ssonb]

Cnsper that must be one tuff beard if it takes 10 to 15 years to scrape off!

 

[Bacpacker]

That's one reason I have long hair and a beard. I can reduce or eliminate one or both and totally change my looks. Not much I can do for my height though..

 

[Cnsper]

so do I but there is no way in hell I am losing my beard.

Beard will grow back if you are alive to grow it. Can't grow one in 30 minutes but I can certainly lose one.

 

[lonewolf]

no way, I have had a beard for 40 years and i'm not losing it just so I can look like everyone else.
I don't go into big cities or large urban settings and post SHTF I will be isolated from most others.

 

[Weedygarden]

We are both pretty unremarkable here too so would blend in quite easily. I am told I walk silently too and people get shocked when I am up close to them too.

It may be different in a SHTF situation, but people often do not remember me. I'm okay with that.

I searched for a thread about gray man techniques and this one came up. I think there are many ways to go gray man, and it isn't always about how you look. It can be how you act, how you speak, what you say. Yes, there are people who want to be noticed.
But can't it be about your car, how you dress, what you look like? I think the thing is to try to play down the things that get you noticed.

 

[Bacpacker]

One thing that has me thinking is the lady who broke the convict from prison in Alabama. The dude being 6'-9" would stand out anywhere. I'm 6'-4" and usually and the tallest everywhere I go. Hard to disguse that. I have been giving some thought to how I could go about that. Haven't came up with anything very practical yet

 

[dademoss]

One thing that has me thinking is the lady who broke the convict from prison in Alabama. The dude being 6'-9" would stand out anywhere. I'm 6'-4" and usually and the tallest everywhere I go. Hard to disguse that. I have been giving some thought to how I could go about that. Haven't came up with anything very practical yet

Don't look at me, I'm 5'3 and nobody can see me if they aren't looking at kneecaps

 

[Peanut]

One thing that has me thinking is the lady who broke the convict from prison in Alabama. The dude being 6'-9" would stand out anywhere. I'm 6'-4" and usually and the tallest everywhere I go. Hard to disguse that. I have been giving some thought to how I could go about that. Haven't came up with anything very practical yet

Post #5 above, my first post in this thread... My partner the day we were hunted in Atlanta was 6'3" 280lbs. (he worked for the weather channel). I was injured... yet we managed to escape detection for over 8hrs on city streets in downtown Atlanta.

We were hunted by special ops people who do this sort of thing. They never saw us. There are techniques that would help anyone, even tall people.

I got an email yesterday from On Point Tactical. Their urban classes have expanded in scope and number. If you want to know how to be a greyman go see these people. They are professionals who still work with our military teaching courses like "Long Range Scout".

Here are classes they have coming up. Several are in Utah. They are expensive but worth it. If I were free to travel I'd take a couple of their new courses. Like the advanced Urban Escape and Evasion or Urban Acquisition.

OnPoint Tactical – Scout, tracker and wilderness survival skills Kevin Reeve owns and operates the company. He's a great guy, I stayed in touch until covid. Yesterday I noticed they now have and M.D. on staff, probably for the scout medic training.

 

[Weedygarden]

One thing that has me thinking is the lady who broke the convict from prison in Alabama. The dude being 6'-9" would stand out anywhere. I'm 6'-4" and usually and the tallest everywhere I go. Hard to disguse that. I have been giving some thought to how I could go about that. Haven't came up with anything very practical yet

Someone suggested a tall man like White could have been in a wheelchair as part of his disguise. It would reduce him being in the line of sight and maybe his height wouldn't have been so noticeable.

Don't look at me, I'm 5'3 and nobody can see me if they aren't looking at kneecaps

Your height might be noticeable because it may not be seen as average.

 

[Morgan101]

I like to think I am already the gray man. I am average height. O.K. admittedly a little over average weight. I don't dress outlandishly. I drive a very average car. I am friendly and polite, but not loud or ostentatious. I have at least enough common sense to keep my mouth shut in a bad situation, so no one will notice me.