Well said, Bill. I think I am safe in saying we all agree we must do our best to avoid panic in the first place. If I can anticipate and prepare for a crisis, I can hopefully avoid the shock and panic that would likely otherwise follow. If I find myself screaming "NOW WHAT DO I DO?", it's probably too late. So . . . if I can say that planning and training adds a degree of confidence that helps avoid the dreaded panic, then planning and training should be added to our tool set to help keep us fully functional in those tough situations.

If I may borrow a story from the Around The Campfire section of the forum . . . This is a great example of being prepared for a situation and thereby having premeditated control over the outcome.

In Muggings in the local park, Reinhardt Woets had heard about "daylight robberies in the local park, placed next to the college where the majority of students travel through to get to and fro the institute". Since (it sounds like) the park was also along his route to campus, Reinhardt "decided that when confronted by a group I would run, just run run run. Furthermore when passing through the park I would stay alert and have an escape route planned." Sure enough, while passing through the park, he too was confronted. He recounts " I sprinted/jumped couple of metres to the left where there was a large grass field which would act as my escape route." His after-the-fact reflections were "So did they want to rob me? I’m certain they did want to, looking for an easy catch. I planned what I would do when confronted but am still surprised that it was such a quick reaction. It happened instinctively. I doubt that without going through my mind what I would do, it would have turned out the same. It might well have been a rather different situation." Reinhardt goes on to say "The question is that what else can I do to prevent it? I keep a lookout, plan possible escape routes, attempt to travel with more people and stay alert. I’d love to join a specialised self defence club if I had the time...maybe at university."

Now, I'm not going to speculate on Reinhardt's state of mind when all this went down, but he surmises that had he not thought about this possible encounter and planned ahead the outcome may have been "a rather different situation". But he was prepared to the point, for him at least, " . . . that it was such a quick reaction. It happened instinctively". Again, I don't know if it was truly instinctive or not, but clearly it required little thought on his part. He'd planned ahead and the reaction was there when he needed it. Reinhardt was able to save himself !! No "SAR" required.