Overlander security training?

[Tembo]

I am posing this question here to get a bit of feedback. I have presented at HUBB UK several times on travel security and at the most recent Adventure Overland show I ran a presentation and a workshop on the same theme.

I have been pondering if there is enough interest in the community to run a couple of 1-day courses during the year on the topic. More than can be covered in a 40 minutes session at a HUBB-style event. A fee would have to be charged as I would have to hire a venue and provide training materials, lunch/coffee's... but nothing excessive.

I have been involved in international security for about 30 years: military, UN peacekeeping and as a security advisor to humanitarian organisations...my day job for the last six years.

I could see a course(s) that covered:

-Safe travel basics: routines, tips and gear
-Travel risk assessments (planning routes and assessing risk in a systematic way
-Risk mitigation strategies for threats faced on the road
-Emergency first aid basics
-Communications, tracking and emergency comms
-Situational awareness (key to sensing and avoiding dangerous situations)
-???

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks,

[huguesfrederic]

I would like to participate in such a training. I am just wondering about travel cost. Would you think it would be doable on Skipe orWebEx ? I would be ready to pay for such a training. Any thoughts?

[ta-rider]

After having visited more then 80 countrys on a bike i think a security training is not neccesary. Rather accept differend cultures, dont show how rich you are by using old gear and be friendly to people insted of fighting them
Offroad Motorrad Weltreisen - das letzte Abenteuer

[mika]

Thoughts? Suggestions?

The world is not as dangerous as the tv set wants us to believe.

Turn off your tv and go out for yourself and have a look, but leave your uniform and your fighting attitude at home. When you get back you will never turn the tv on again and you will not wear a uniform again.

old language: *military industrial complex* translates into new doublespeak *security industry* .... to bring the police/military state world wide onto the streets.

If I recall the scene in the movie *The long way around*, where the actors got security training ... I am still laughing today.

In all my travels (stoped counting the years) the most dangerous people I came across were wearing a uniform, political fanatics or stupid drivers. But I try not to insult, argue or discuss with them and when I stayed polite even when they get angry I never had a problem.

I told once a Chilean border guard: *** give a monkey a uniform and he thinks he is a super monkey *** .... I was lucky he did not understand the language I spoke.

Just my thoughts, you have asked, sorry.

mika

[chris]

I also believe such training as suggested by the OP is wholly unnecessary for the reasons that Tobi and Mika suggest.

[PatOnTrip]

Hi,

I agree with Ta-rider, Mika and Chris that the world is not dangerous as TV wants us to believe.

But to say that nothing never happens is not realistic: Ta-rider, I read your blog a long time ago and if my memory is correct a few guys tried to stop you between the Cameroon border and the town Ikom in Nigeria. You did not stop to talk about peace and love with them (let me know me if I wrong and I will delete this section).

...

When talking about security and threats on the road, I think many people just think about physical aggression from locals which will almost never happen if you use common sense. In Tembo's list above, he is not talking about taking martial arts classes in case you need to fight and you don't need that for traveling.

Let's take a few items from of Tembo's list:

Travel risk assessment(planning route...):
- One Italian died and another beaten in Brazil because they followed their GPS who brought them in a wrong favela (some favelas are good).
- Two guys from Portugal died riding in the desert a few years ago.
- Maybe a training would have made a difference for them.

Situational awareness:
- 4 guys tried to kidnapped me with their car in Santa cruz Bolivia
- A couple from Austria got kidnapped and killed in 2005 in Bolivia.
- friends in 4x4 were stopped in Nigeria by armed thieves in 2017.
- It never hurts to have a few ideas on how to react to a situation. Do you need to travel in fear?Of course not!

Emergency first aids basic:
-There is no question, this is good to have

...


I think the course has good value. It just needs to target the right audience(beginner versus experience travellers) and not be focus on fear. People have different backgrounds, it may help some and on the other hand the material may seem obvious for others.

You could also add these sections:
- how to deal with police and border officials, strategies to avoid paying bribes, why you should not pay bribes. Unlike some people, I like to interact with them. It became a game when crossing the Americas: let's talk to as many officials to see which one is corrupted, how they are going to ask for money. It can be fun with the right attitude and mindset.
- Ethics when dealing with locals: Do not give them any money. Don't train them to be beggars. Give money in exchange of a service. Maybe teach about common customs in different cultures.
- financial security: how to deal with money


Patrick

[Lonerider]

Wow, quite a lot of negative responses.
Yes, the world is a safe place to travel, right up until the point its not and you are involved in something! Never say never.

Whist I would not use the course myself, due to my background being a bit like Tembo's, I think the concept is good.

Not everyone who travels knows how to deal with problems that are thrown at them and some would find peace of mind knowing they have a little bit of knowledge.
Travel, for some, may put them out of their comfort zone a little bit, isn't that a little bit of what an adventure is all about? Otherwise you might as well get on your GS, XT600E or whatever else you're riding and go to Starbucks.

No plan survives first contact and you never know how you are going to re-act until it happens to you and by then it maybe too late, so a little bit of knowledge and fore-knowing of some types of situations is a good thing

Wayne

[Tembo]

Some great feedback all, thanks. I also agree with many of Mika's points since I work with humanitarians now helping people around the world. We could probably have an argument about who has been to more countries but I 100% agree that 99% of the people you meet are great. But it is that 1% who aren't that can be the problem, especially when you don't know the local context so well.

But the 'security' trainings I run for NGOs tends to look at things like stress and how to manage it. Stressed people can make bad decisions around their safety. Worrying about a rattle you can't find, being robbed at night, the next border crossing, running out of money or fuel...these can cause accumulative stress that will effect your safety.

Generally, we do a bit of an intro and the ask people what worries them most; then focus on ways to manage those concerns while on the road.

The suggestion of a border crossing section and how to avoid paying bribes would probably be a constant theme and would have to be included in any agenda. We do all this now with NGO staff who are always getting hassled, detained or eve arrested at borders.

But the best part of the trainigs is generally when you mix new travellers with experienced overlanders and everyone shares their tips and tricks. We take case studies of actual events and then ask participants to figure out what went wrong and how things could have bee done better.

A skype or online version...maybe...a recorded podcast possibly.

Anyway, again, thanks for the feedback!

[Chris Scott]

Out of curiosity I attended something similar last year as it was a short ride into Kent, a subsidised pilot event set up by a GS rider with a similar NGO/journalists 'hostile environment' background hoping to capitalise on the travel biking boom.

The big difference is NGOs etc are SENT into dangerous areas with concomitant duty-of-care/insurance requirements.
They can't always hop off the ride when it all gets too stressful.
We are just two-wheel holidaymakers smart enough to avoid those places or able to turn back.

Our experiences and expectations and the way we are perceived/received are entirely different, plus everyone who has travelled knows the whole border/bribe thing is a game which, as Pat says, you soon master.

Handling an AK-47 in a staged mock hostile checkpoint with ex-special forces types was fun; good to know which way the safety clicks but forgotten already ;-[

The most useful part of that day was the accident/trauma/first aid session, but again, it was clumsily aimed at NGOs: ' you really ought to carry a defibrilator'. Were they serious?

Forgotten most of that too (brain needs defibrillating), but I believe a serious or nervous traveller would benefit most from a moto-targeted first aid course. Less sexy than 'security training' (a laughable bit from LWR Ep01, as I recall).

Possibly something like this in Bristol this Feb?

OP, I suggest just carry on doing events at talks. I am sure some will find them useful.

[mika]

but I 100% agree that 99% of the people you meet are great. But it is that 1% who aren't that can be the problem

.... I would say its the 0.1 % who aren't that can be the problem ....

thats 1 person in 1000 people an overlander meets. And with a bit of common sense you can deal with this person.

NGOs are part of the political theater, and everybody smart enough working for one should understand this.

My point is still, that an overlander does not need this kind of training.

All the best.
mika

[chris]

Having reread the first post, I'll marginal correct my previous post: First aid training is a SKILL that everyone needs. The other stuff is wholly unnecessary for a normal, vaguely switched on person.

I recon the chances of meeting a genuine undesirable when doing 2 wheel touristing are even lower than 1 in a 1000. In my experience of UK and foreign public transport terminals, nearly all the world's low life (thieves, touts, spivs) hang out there. On my own bike I never get anywhere near such places.

[Tembo]

More good feedback, thanks gents. I don't get the impression that there is a need really from the comments. I think will keep looking at the idea though. When I was asked to do a workshop on overlanding security at Adventure Overland this year, I did a search for case studies I could use to highlight issues of concern. There was no shortage of examples and all relatively recent. Deaths from land mines, a father shot while trying to drive past armed men in Ethiopia with family in the car, people breaking down in remote areas and walking away from the vehicle and dying of exposure...even Ed Marsh just managing to avoid a mob lynching in India after witnessing a truck crash. For the experienced traveller, sure, we have the experience to cope. But for people who want to try their first RTW or other adventure? Not so much....

[Temporaryescapee]

Hi Tembo

I was a newbie who attended the same pilot event as Chris Scott last year. I’ll defer those with more experience on what’s needed but i found it really helpful and think there is a market for us newbies. I agree it needs to be genuinely bike specific/relevant.

Firstly i went because ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’. I’ve never been to a bike rally, HU event etc in my life - just not my bag. So my prep for my Africa trip was reading Chris’s book, building a planner/check list of the back of it, and then ticking off the prep items. The biggest challenge for me was building confidence - and knowing how to deal with tricky spots was part of that. It doesn’t actually matter how real the risks were, what mattered was how real they felt. If your fear of hostiles, borders, problems etc. are too great you are just not going to go in the first place.

I agree with Chris that the first aid was especially helpful - i now travel with a sam splint, tourniquet and celox, none of which i had heard of before. Also followed the ‘water as you go’ recommendation.

So personally i think the right one day course aimed at newbies is a good plan.

Looking back at my prep i’d have appreciated:
- understanding and managing risk
- borders and police
- first aid
- accident and breakdown
- kit

Good luck!


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[Mumbo68]

You can be more "friendly"..more.. "relaxed"...more.."at one" with your environment, with the locals, if your confident, if you understand the risks and non risks, if you have an idea what to do when things turn bad. It's not about having a fighting attitude, it's about avoiding those bad situations and having an idea how to de-escalate them when they occur...It's like carrying a spare tube, you don't use it unless you have to and you use your senses and don't ride over the broken glass etc. Unless you have some big ego such training should not affect your persona and therefore not affect your interaction with locals etc....Most of it is so basic, but people with busy lives just don't think of it. Some security training may even help with interaction with locals/strangers, a confident but non threatening relaxed persona can be better than that of someone who is worried, nervous etc. and can even stop an over reaction to what is actually not such a threatening situation. It's a choice wise up incase or don't....
Yes the worlds a beautiful place, full of beautiful people we have safety in numbers, law of averages etc....then again sh*t happens

[markharf]

I would not take such a course, so I’m not a part of your target audience. But it seems to me that your main problem is attracting enough interested (and paying) customers to the same place at the same time. That’s going to be difficult unless you’re very good at marketing.

I’d suggest trying to attach yourself to an existing operation which is already attracting a paying clientele. That means overlander expos, general travel expos, four-wheeler gatherings, motorcycling festivals, whatever. It might even be possible to work out an arrangement with on of the HUBB meetups—bear in mind that this would have to benefit both you and them. You’d also have to tailor your offering so that it complemented, not competed with, what’s already being offered.

Hope that’s helpful.

Mark