How to Stay Sharp and Think Straight When You’re Drunk
Staying sharp and thinking straight, even when you’re a few cocktails in, is a vital social tradecraft skill. This is how to handle it like a seasoned operative.
As an operative, you sometimes find yourself in situations where keeping a clear head while under the influence is non-negotiable.
Whether it’s blending into a social setting, maintaining a cover, or extracting critical information, alcohol can be both a tool and a trap. Staying sharp when you’ve had a few too many is a skill, and like any skill, it can be honed.
Know Your Body
Before diving into any situation involving alcohol, know your limits. This isn’t about seeing how much you can drink but understanding how different amounts and types of alcohol affect you. Practice in a controlled environment to gauge your tolerance and to learn how your body responds. Remember, preparation is part of the tradecraft.
Preparation is Key
First rule of thumb: understand your alcohol tolerance. This isn’t just about knowing when to stop but recognizing the signs of when you’re approaching your limit. Everyone’s threshold is different, and pushing beyond it can turn a fun night into a risky situation. Operatives know their limits and operate within them to maintain control.
Stay Hydrated
Alcohol dehydrates you, which can exacerbate the effects of drunkenness. Drink a glass of water between alcoholic beverages. This simple trick can keep your head clearer and slow down your alcohol intake. In the field, hydration is crucial for maintaining peak physical and mental performance.
Eat Before Drinking
Food slows the absorption of alcohol, giving your body more time to process it. Aim for a meal rich in protein and fats before you start drinking. Snacking throughout the night can also help maintain your energy levels and mitigate alcohol’s effects. Think of it as fueling your body for the mission at hand.
Pace Yourself
Drinking slowly helps your body cope with the alcohol. Sipping your drink instead of gulping it down buys you time to stay in control. This methodical approach is akin to the patience required in tradecraft – small, deliberate actions yield better results.
Stay Engaged Mentally
Keep your mind active. Engage in conversations, play games, or do something that requires concentration. By staying mentally active, you’re less likely to succumb to the fog of alcohol. This continuous cognitive exercise helps keep you alert. An operative’s brain is always working, analyzing situations, and reading people. Operatives are trained to stay mentally sharp even in compromised situations, and you can too.
Monitor Your Environment
Always be aware of your surroundings. This situational awareness is key to avoiding trouble and staying safe. Keep track of your friends, the exits, and any potential threats. In the field, maintaining a heightened state of awareness can be the difference between success and failure.
Stick to One Type of Alcohol
Mixing different types of alcohol can increase the likelihood of getting overly intoxicated. Pick your drink of choice and stick to it. This consistency helps you monitor your intake more effectively. Think of it as sticking to a known routine in an unfamiliar environment.
Choose Wisely
Opt for lower-alcohol beverages. Beer or wine can be better choices than hard liquor. If you must drink spirits, dilute them with mixers or choose cocktails that aren’t too strong. This helps you maintain control while still fitting in.
Use Non-Alcoholic Drinks as Decoys
If you’re in a social situation where you feel pressured to drink more than you want, use non-alcoholic drinks as decoys. A soda water with lime looks like a gin and tonic and can give you a break without raising suspicion. This tactic is part of blending in without drawing unnecessary attention.
Mind Over Matter
An operative’s mindset is their most powerful tool. Focus on your mission objectives: gathering intel, making connections, or simply maintaining your cover. This mental focus can override the impairing effects of alcohol, keeping your thoughts clear and your actions deliberate.
Practice Control Over Emotions
Alcohol can amplify emotions, which can be dangerous in a covert situation. More emotions means less analytical thinking. Practicing emotional regulation techniques, such as deep breathing and mindfulness, can help keep you calm and collected. Remember, showing too much emotion can blow your cover.
Use the Buddy System
If possible, operate with a partner who can watch your back and vice versa. Having someone sober or less intoxicated can be a lifesaver, literally and figuratively – even if it gives you a mere confidence boost, which could help you with clarity. Consider it, sharing 2 brains to help each other think and stay focused. You can subtly signal each other if you need to slow down or switch drinks.
Know When to Stop
A good operative knows when to cut themselves off. Don’t push your limits. Recognize the signs that you’ve had enough and switch to non-alcoholic beverages. This decision is vital to maintaining operational effectiveness.
Trust Your Instincts
Finally, if something feels off, trust your gut. Alcohol can impair judgment, but your instincts are often still reliable. If a situation starts to feel uncomfortable or dangerous, take action to remove yourself from it. Operatives rely on their instincts in the field, and so should you.
Staying sharp and thinking straight while drunk is a balancing act that requires preparation, awareness, and discipline. An operative’s ability to manage their alcohol intake and maintain their wits in social settings is a testament to their training and resilience.
[INTEL : How to Size-Up People at a Bar, The Art of Fighting Drunk]
[OPTICS: Moscow, Russia]
![“Survival in any form for any environment is an act of prevention and or recovery, best enacted by preparation.” -Det V Cader The problem with survival prepping is the assumption that you’ll be home when the SHTF, if not then it was all for nothing. This is the solution: Standard “prepping” is the practice of stockpiling pertinent supplies and the training of survival techniques to be used for a possible lifestyle altering, large-scale catastrophe or SHTF event. The typical process is simple; slowly but consistently acquire food, water, weapons and other relevant equipment and store them in a singular central location such as a home or private “bomb” shelter. Just as important but far less utilized is the ongoing learning and practice of survival, defense and use of the prepped equipment. Having everything in one location has one fatal flaw, however. It assumes that you will be at that very location at all times or it will always be easily accessible and nearby to your present location. There’s no way of knowing when or where an “event” will take place. Meaning getting to your home base where all your survival prepping is stored may be impossible due to the nature of an “event”; mass gridlock traffic, land / infrastructure destruction, social panic and violence, restrictive martial law, vicinity containment, active combat / hot zones and public transportation collapse. The average person commutes to work or school 5 days a week far enough that they need to take motorized transportation, public or private. Then there’s leisure, recreation and errands time at other homes and facilities as well as being away on vacation. So all that survival prepping, across town or half way around the world can be lost or seized by another. For more than a decade I’ve been doing the “vagabond survival prepping method” of which evolved from stashing small city-specific go-bags around the world as part of my former operative profession. It wasn’t about survival back then but about professional utility and function. Equipment that wasn’t ideal to equip on my person at all times because of unnecessary baggage or non-permissive locales. As time went by and the more I returned to some of these “prepped cities”, the go-bags that were already stashed became better equipped and for more dynamic use such as urban / wilderness survival. To this day, I manage these hidden go-bags whenever I happen to be in their respective countries. That’s my way of survival prepping while vagabonding. These are located in a growing number of the cities I frequently visit in secure but relatively easily accessible spots such as; under a boulder access in New York’s Central Park, inside a tree stump in the Amazon Jungle and a derelict manhole in Bangkok – all of which have been my active stash spots for years. Unlike typical at-home-preppers, I don’t have the luxury of a long term address so I can’t hand pick the exact items I want off the internet to ship to. But this works out for me just fine as I build / upgrade my kits with readily available materials from the city I’m in. So if an “event” does take place (which will often affect major cities first and most), I’ll have my prep kit close by no matter where I am in the world. Instead of having to rely on a singular base a continent away. Due to the limited opportunity but unlimited variety of goods available while constantly traveling, each go-bag is completely different. Some by design and others by necessity. All are sealed to protect from the elements and hidden but easily “accessible”. Various Kit Items List: Backpack, Duffle Bag or Dry Bag MRE’s, Canned Foods and Vitamins Bottled Water and Energy Shot Water Treatment Tablets Prescription Contact Lenses Kevlar Vest or Shield Climbing Rope and Gear Euros and US Dollars Gold and Platinum Bullion Urban / SERE Kit Wilderness Kit First Aid / Trauma Kit SD Card w/ Data Smartphone Gas Mask Knife, Machete and other Weapons CB and Two-Way Radio Full Change of Clothes Multi Tool and Pry Bar Flashlight and Chemlights Sleeping Bag or Parka Solar Charger Some may consider renting a locker in a facility like train stations or self storage units. It’s not easy to maintain them for years at a time when you’re not even in the country for years at a time. Also, when considering an “event”, it’s logical to expect the loss of power grid and the mayhem in busy public areas. It’s best to stash them where no one will look in an area that won’t be too hectic but not where it will be too difficult to reach with limited transportation options. The vagabond survival prepping method isn’t limited to location independents and nomads, however. Consider your travel requirements of daily life and stash a go-bag in strategic spots accordingly; in your car, near your job, somewhere between your home and work, a friend’s place and near a hangout you frequent. Survival prepping doesn’t end with the acquisition of supplies and equipment, it only begins there and continues on with honing skills to survive and thrive. [OPTICS : Triple Aught Design Pack]](https://trdcrft.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Vagabond-Survival-Prepping-FAST-Pack-Litespeed-1-490x550.jpeg)
