In Greg Tambone’s three-part series on Gray Man Theory, he goes into detail on several of the things anyone can do to influence the perceptions of others. These are a large set of skills that the ordinary person can use to his advantage in order to convince those in his vicinity to believe he is somebody that he is not. However, as Mr. Tambone explains in this video, sometimes going gray will just not be possible for certain people in certain environments.
For the vast majority of people, they should learn to adopt the skills required to go gray, and make that their primary mode of behavior. It gives anyone a significant advantage to look like he isn’t carrying a weapon when in fact he is. In Greg’s position (during the filming of this video) as a private security contractor in a very dangerous part of the world, sometimes going gray would be more trouble than it’s worth. Given the demands of his line of work (carrying multiple weapons, operating an off-road vehicle, developing an armed presence as a deterrent, and thereby becoming known in the area), he chooses to be a hard target rather than “going grey” this time. If you are unable to influence those around you to believe you are something you are not, the essence of being a Gray Man, then often the next best option is to make yourself a hard target.
Being a hard target in private security contracting sometimes means you will not be able to influence people around you into believing you are anything else than a security contractor. They will know why you are there and can estimate for themselves the things you’re capable of. As Mr. Tambone lays it out in the video, being a hard target is occasionally better all around for the safety of his clients. Those who wish to do his clients harm will be deterred by Greg’s presence. Being a Gray Man or someone who doesn’t look capable of defending anything could be disadvantageous to his clientele in certain situations, therefore Greg abandons this in favor of being a hard target this time.
Article by Dion Roloff