The Evolution of Left of Bang

Choosing To Be Prepared for What You Can, and Can’t, Prevent From Happening

In the ten years since Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps’ Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life was published, the threats, hazards, and operating environments we face have changed significantly. As a result, the way organizations apply left of bang concepts to prepare for an uncertain future has evolved as well.

This article explores where the concept came from, how it has developed, and why it remains critical as we look ahead.

The Origin Story

If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase “left of bang,” the concept is rooted in a Marine Corps program designed to shift the mindset of Marines, Soldiers, and Sailors operating overseas. At its core, “bang” represents the event your organization is focused on—a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, or a critical failure.

On a timeline, bang sits at the center.

• Left of bang means operating earlier on the timeline, when you still have the chance to prevent or influence how the event unfolds.

• Right of bang highlights a reactive posture—being caught off-guard, missing pre-event indicators, and scrambling to respond after an incident.

Left of Bang (the book) told the story of the Marine Corps’ Combat Hunter Program, which was created at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As Marines had become reactive—waiting for attacks to occur—the program’s goal was clear: empower Marines to get left of bang, stop threats proactively, and save lives.

Going in-depth on the skills being taught to deploying Marines, the book showed how to recognize pre-event indicators of violent intent, establish behavioral baselines for any situation, and proactively disrupt attacks before they occur.

More than ten years after it was published, the response to the book has been amazing to witness. People continue to call and email us with stories about how something from the book helped save their lives. We’ve heard examples from public safety agencies, healthcare facilities, and school districts the concepts have helped teach their staff how to articulate decisions they made. We’ve heard from businesses and non-profits about how the book has helped to design systems, tools, and programs to get ahead of the threats they care about.

The key principle holds: the further left you go on the timeline, the more options you have to protect yourself, your loved ones, your organization, and your community.

What’s Changed

While looking backward is helpful in understanding how we got here, forward-looking organizations need to consider what the future holds when developing their plans. This can be challenging when organizations and their operating environment are going through periods of change (which we believe we are right) but recognizing how underlying assumptions are changing can help chart an informed path forward.

First, we need to recognize that prevention is possible, but we haven’t done enough yet.

When the Combat Hunter program was first created, the resources, technology, and courses focused on proactive approaches and violence prevention weren’t available. In some respects, the book and the course have been described as doing the security equivalent of breaking the four-minute mile. Through the case study of the Marine Corps, many organizations now see that it is possible, and it is encouraging and exciting to see the innovation that is occurring to protect our communities.

At the same time, we haven’t done enough yet. There continue to be attacks in our nation’s schools, ambushes on our law enforcement officers, and violence in public that puts people at risk. This remains unacceptable and we must continue to find ways to bring this risk to zero.

Second, we need to recognize that prevention isn’t always possible.

Prevention is only one application of left of bang. Sometimes, bang can’t or won’t be stopped. A hurricane, once formed, will make landfall. A sophisticated cyberattack may succeed, even when warning signs are clear.

Decision-makers may fail to act—due to political reasons, a lack of confidence, negligence, or poor options—leaving others to respond. Acknowledging this reality doesn’t mean surrendering to it, but it does mean we need to be ready when disasters and disruptions occur.

Third, we need to recognize the shift in decision-making from the individual to the organization.

When Left of Bang was being written, the individual Marine, Soldier, and Sailor was closest to the threat. Often face-to-face with attackers and their adversaries, the individual needed the ability to observe, orient, decide, and act faster than their adversaries. For individuals, the decision-making process is self-contained, unfolding entirely within one person’s mind. While it might require an explanation to other people later, the execution is immediate and straightforward.

Today, it is the organization that needs to learn how to accelerate through the decision-making process. Organizations operate differently. The person who identifies a hazard or opportunity is rarely the one who decides what to do about it, and those responsible for acting on that decision are often another group entirely. How prepared organizations are to receive information, process it, decide, and initiate action is critical.

Getting Left of Bang Today

Taken together, the three changes are influencing the way organizations are working to get left of bang today. When disaster strikes, organizations tend to find themselves on one of three trajectories.

Some organizations fail. Some are unable to operate when a disaster or disruption occurs. FEMA and SBA data repeatedly show how many businesses fail within days of a disaster. Schools may halt education, and government agencies may be unable to serve their communities during times of need. While this is unfortunate, it is a reality for many.

Some organizations survive but struggle. There is a second group of organizations that make it through the incident, but barely. They endure, but recovery is slow, and they struggle to adapt. While they make their way out, eventually, they pay the price in staff turnover, burned relationships, and decreased credibility in their leadership.

Some organizations grow. While it may feel counterintuitive to celebrate success during disasters, some organizations thrive in these conditions. They leverage their preparedness, relationships, and communication to outperform expectations.

For organizations in the third group, success takes many forms.

Some may define growth externally. Expanding customer bases by continuing operations when competitors falter or increasing brand trust through thoughtful communication and community support.

Others define growth internally. Strengthening relationships with partners through well-coordinated responses, securing additional resources, or proving the value of their role to leadership.

What is important to see, though, is that each and every organization is already on one of these three lines. It is the choices we are making right now—developing the capabilities we need to recognize a changing situation and confidently act—that determine our outcomes when the disruption occurs.

The Path Forward

At its core, left of bang is about what you choose to do before disaster strikes. The choices you make today determine your ability to succeed tomorrow.

This is why evolving the concept of left of bang remains so important. It’s about using the precious minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months before an event to build capabilities, develop and pre-position resources, and enhance your decision-making processes.

What we do now—left of bang—is the difference between struggling and thriving in the face of disruption. As the world continues to evolve and present us with new challenges, our approach to readiness must remain proactive.

Get left of bang—and stay there.

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In the decade since Left of Bang was published, we have heard countless stories of its use in healthcare settings, cybersecurity, every facet of public safety, school districts, business operations, and many more. If you’d like to share your story, please add it in the comments below.