Learn the essential skills necessary for mastering the “Gray Man” method of hiding in plain sight (and surviving)…

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Your actions are part of your persona

Follow the crowd

If you’re wearing the right clothes in the right area with the right crowd but are the only one standing when everyone else is seated at a table, you’re gonna get noticed. If you’re at a library where everyone’s studying and you’re eating a sandwich, you’re gonna get noticed. Just like your clothing, try to take a quick inventory of what the typical person is doing and do that.

Act like you’re supposed to be there

This is pretty much the opposite of the last paragraph but is something to consider.

In the Army, we were constantly told to walk with a purpose. Now this was typically because some sergeant didn’t want us to be leisurely strolling through the area but I found that it came in handy in trying to get into an area for penetration testing.

If you’re trying to maneuver through an area, sometimes people pay less attention to you if it looks like you’re focused on being somewhere or getting something done. I’ve also found that if you have something to support that look, such as walking around with a clipboard or a notebook, their brains assume you’re supposed to be there. This is pretty much what the guys above did with their orange vests and isn’t typically what you might do but there are certainly situations that it works.

How you do something is as important as what you’re doing

Once you’ve decided on something to wear that will allow you to be in an area and not have someone take notice, you have to work on your demeanor. This part here is HUGELY important and usually how I used to pick out surveillance operators when I was on a counter-surveillance mission.

Your demeanor is basically not just what you’re doing but how you’re doing it. If you’re walking around with your head on a swivel looking for a threat, you look suspicious. It may work as part of a defensive posture so you don’t look like a victim but it could also draw some attention. Hollywood is really bad with this, especially when the actor is supposedly supposed to be some highly-trained operative and he’s skulking around like he’s about to steal someones cookies.

Ever heard that someone smells like a cop? That smell is typically due to their demeanor reminding them of how they envision cops act (when it’s not due to some combination of their pseudo-military outfit, hair style, and build). Same thing goes for people who’ve spent a long time in the military. They have a certain air about them, stemming from their stature, how they walk, a different level of confidence or awareness, or one of several other traits that military people have in common. If you notice these things you can take advantage of them to help you either blend in with others in the area or lead someone astray about your background.

It’s the same thing as when you travel. If you walk around looking like a tourist, you may draw attention by criminals. They can tell by not just where you go and what you do but how long you stare at something or how you’re continually scanning the area because you don’t know exactly where you’re at.

Basically it comes down to acting natural. People have expectations about how someone stands/sits/walks/performs certain actions/etc and if you do those things differently than their expectations, their RAS will kick in and now you’re on their RADAR.

People-watching is a great teacher

Once you get an idea on what to look for, go out and start looking. Watch how people normally act in different settings. I used to take agents out on field trips to malls and book stores to people-watch just for this purpose.

Try to ascertain what they’re doing or what their background is just from what they look like, what they’re doing, and how they act.

• If two people are talking to each other, what’s their relationship?
• Who has military experience?
• Any off-duty or undercover cops?
• Why did they come to this particular place today?
• What do you think they do for a living?
• What are their hobbies?

Pay close attention the next time you watch a movie. Can you now see where the character ends and the actor begins? Do you see anything incongruent with how they move or what they’re doing that doesn’t fit with the character or scene? Can you tell who has had training and who hasn’t? Are the supposed Delta operators walking around with their fingers in the trigger, flagging their buddies with their weapons?

The more you observe others, the more you’ll know about what looks ‘normal’ in different situations and the easier it’ll be to blend in, or at least not stick out as much.

So, now you have the essential keys to becoming a successful gray man – time to put them to use! For more tips, check out Gray Wolf Survival.

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