Use of force, in a crisis

If we are being realistic in our planning we cannot shy away from the unpleasant idea we might have to use force during a situation. This can be as simple as threatening to use force all the way to really having to hurt someone. Although most of us do not want to spend time thinking about what kind of other people live out there the reality is we need to think about how far we are willing to go and to give ourselves mental boundaries now so we do not have to try and decide later under pressure.

A good rule of thumb to follow in these situations is;

"ONLY USE THE AMOUNT OF FORCE NECCASARY TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE SITUATION."

This means once the threat is neutralized you stop using force. Why would you want to continue beyond this point? There really is no reason to hurt or harm someone when they are not a threat to you or your loved ones. If you do then you blur the line between the GOOD GUY (you) and the Bad Guy (them). Why would you stoop to the level of a bad guy? Think long term on the actions you take. Could you live with yourself if you beat someone who was not a threat to you? Could you live with yourself if you needlessly took a life? Hopefully, the answer is "no".

"What would you fight for?"

This is a very important question to ask yourself and be honest with yourself when you answer. You do not have to tell the answer to anyone beside yourself so be brutality honest with yourself. Would you fight for your own life? Sounds like an easy question but really how far are you willing to go? Would you punch someone in the face? Would you kick someone in the groin? Would you pound someone’s head into the cement beneath your feet? Would you drive a piece of metal into their body? Would you shoot them in the head at point blank range? This is not a question directed at how macho you are or meant as statement of bravado.

Would you fight for your family? Would you fight to defend your children? Would you fight to protect your parents? Would you fight to protect your extended family, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.? How far would you be willing to go to defend your family? Could you hit someone in the back of the head with a shovel if they were hurting that one family member you cannot stand? What if they were harming one of that family member’s children? Where do you draw the line with your family?

Your neighbors, would you fight to defend one of your neighbors? Would you assist them if they were attacked during a crisis? How far would you be willing to go to defend your neighbors? Would you run over someone attacking your neighbor with your car? Could you watch your neighbors being attacked and do nothing? Under what circumstances would you do nothing? When would you go to their aid?

The question just goes further out from there. Would you fight for your church group? Would you fight for the waitress at your favorite restaurant? Would you fight to defend your child's school? Would you fight to defend your city?
What would you fight for?

You can feel it when you hit someone, you can hear them when they scream out in pain and it is something you will remember. The use of force is not simply just something you do then go have a ham sandwich. Using force has lasting repercussions for everyone involved; be it physical, emotional or legal, everyone is affected.

Most of us are prewired to not hurt another person. Most of us are brought up to not harm others. Most of us have no desire to hurt or even slightly harm another person. Some people out there want to hurt others. They have no problem hurting you and some of them feel absolutely nothing when they do hurt another person. Then during a crisis people might do things they would not normally do. They might feel pressed into committing acts of violence they would never commit on an average day.

Understanding your personal limits on what you are willing to do is very important. Before you can even discuss using force you have to come to grips with what you would be willing to do. We can discuss the legal issues or how to apply force and that is all good BUT none of it matters if you do not realistically understand what using force in the real world means!

When faced with a situation you have to solve with force you should always try to use the less amount of force to gain control of the situation. This might mean just yelling for someone to stop. Maybe you just step between two people and make it obvious the situation could lead to violence if one or the other does not stop what they are doing. Maybe you threaten to call the police and the threat of what might happen is enough to stop the situation? We should always attempt to stop a situation by not even having to touch the other person! This ensures everyone goes home in one piece and without long term repercussions.

If a situation gets to the point where you have to physically touch another person be cautious of how you touch them, where you touch them and how hard you touch them. Maybe all you need to do is touch someone to gentle guide them away from the situation. You would not want to walk up to someone, punch them in the face and break their nose if you could simply guide them away by placing an open hand on their shoulder!

At the same time if you are in a situation where the other person is throwing punches at you or someone else, going up to them and gently placing a hand on their shoulder is probably not the right answer to the situation. Odds are they are just going to punch you in the head. You have to at the very less met the level of force the other person is using with equal force. At times it could be better to answer the force you are fighting with force a step up. A person pulls a knife, you pull out a broadsword! Ok a gun might be a better idea, just wanted to see if you were still paying attention!!!

Say you are confronted by a person who wants your emergency supplies. You tell them 'No' and attempt to close your front door. They stop the door from closing with their arm. You tell them to remove their hand and get off your property. They shove the door toward you, you of course shove back. They manage to shove the door open and now brandish a knife to threaten you. You yell for them to stay out and order your loved ones to retreat to the furthest room from the front door. This person enters your home threatening you with the knife and tells you they are going to hurt you if you do not surrender what meager supplies you have to keep your family alive. You draw your firearm out from under your shirt and order the person to leave your home. They lunge toward you, you step back and fire, hitting the person in the chest. They look at the wound, look at you, turn and run out of your home. From inside of your home you can see them run away from your home and fall on to the street outside.

You can see they are obviously hurt. You can clearly see their knife is lying just outside your door. You watch as a neighbor runs up to the injured person, lift them to their lap and begin to cry. You can see the person you shoot is limp in the neighbor’s arms. Putting your firearm away, you walk up to the two of them and visually check the assailant and neighbor to determine if they are a threat to you or your loved ones any more. The attacker is obviously not a threat to you as they are gasping for breath. The neighbor is a complete emotional wreak seeing their loved one shot. You might even at this point offer to render medical attention to the assailant? Why not, they are not a threat to you anymore? Remember think long term here.

Sure some of you out there might be saying you would never react to a situation in this manner. You would have started punching the other person as soon as they showed up at your door!!! Once they tried to force their way in you would have drawn your weapon and shot them dead in the doorway! Once you pulled the trigger you would have kept going until the magazine ran dry!

I call bullshit right now if those were your thoughts or answer to the situation! Most of us have never seen what happens to the human body when metal starts to pass through it. Most have never heard a weapon fired in a confined space. Most have never heard the sounds of someone dying. And if you think you are one of those macho, super tactical, spit fire and drink gasoline type of tough guys let me ask you; why did you empty your magazine into one guy? What if bad guy number 2, 3 and 4 were just outside the door? So again check that entire macho BS at the door and honestly think about this subject for a minute or two………………

Why would I help the person I just shot? Because you are a better person and sometimes people make mistakes! What if their family was starving and coming to your house was the act of a desperate person? Wouldn’t you do anything you could to feed your family? Do you have to help them? No, this was just an example of how the use of force scale is a sliding scale. At one end you are taking lives, at the other you are saving lives.

Can we post a listing of all the responses and ways to use force in an emergency situation? No there to many variables in any situation, the idea here is to get you thinking about things now, while life is safe and you have a clear head. Set your boundaries now and work through the ‘what if’s’ now while you are not under any pressure. Take the time to learn the law, ignorance of the law is not a defense in court and the laws are different in different areas. Again a good rule of thumb;

Use only that force necessary to gain control of the situation.

As Always,

Stay Safe

Bail Out Bag (BOB)

“Bail Out Bag, what in the world is that?” I can hear the question being asked as you read the title of the post, this is term most folks might have never heard of before. In a nut shell this is what you grab if you have to get out of your vehicle quickly and might not be able to immediately return to the vehicle. Ideally this bag would have inside of it items to support yourself for a short amount of time if you suddenly had to bail out of your vehicle.

For all of the ladies out there you have a giant head start on the men. Almost everything you would need in a BOB you carry in your purse. Well if you carry one of those big purses. Men this is stuff we might have in the car or truck but odds are it is spread out throughout the vehicle and there is no way for us to gather all of these items and bail out quickly. We want to be able to grab the bag and maybe one or two other items very quickly and leave the vehicle.

Bailing out of the truck or other vehicle is something I have had to do a few times. Most of these incidents were after car wrecks on the freeway. Think of what you would need if your car broke down in the middle of the road and you needed to get away from it with no ability to us any items or supplies you might have in the vehicle. Any bag you put together needs to be customized to you, your surroundings and give you flexibility to deal with fluid situations. The bag in this blog is customized to me and my daily situation. Does it cover every situation you could face? No and it is not designed or meant to do this. This bag gives me tools to work with when something happens and operates as my EVERYDAY BAG.

Just a plain bag, nothing which scream 'TACTICAL' or 'ZOMBIE HUNTER'. The idea is to just blend in when the need to arises which means having a bag you can go anywhere with without drawing to much attention. I live near the coast and the bag is a 'surfer' bag. Nothing which looks out of place in my area I spend most of my time. (By the way, I cannot surf to save my life!) Also from a distance the bag looks just like any other book bag and I try to keep it this way. This allows me to bring the bag with me everywhere I go and not attract unwanted attention. If I covered the bag with motivation patches or stickers I would stick out like a sore thumb. I also fly with this bag and only have to alter what the bag is carrying slightly to make it through security at the airport. Remember customize the bag to your environment, needs and the task at hand.

In one of the outside pockets I carry my wallet when it is not on my person. This way it is not sitting in the center console when I have to get out of the truck. Along with the wallet is another form of Identification and a few other items of I.D. I do not want pictures of on the internet, work stuff. Inside the ziplock is address and directions to the in-laws house and a few others items.

Next pocket holds some emergency medical stuff and a spare knife incase I do not have my normal EDC knife on me at the time. The knife in the photo used to be the my everyday knife.

The upper outside pocket, which is lined with fleece, holds my sunglasses. Also inside the pocket are a paracord bracelet and some extra money. A lighter also lives in the ziplock.

Several of the other outside pockets are empty but a GPS and a way to power my electronic devices live in two of the pockets.

A solar charging system (which I highly recommend) and a few extra items live in one inner pocket.

The main compartment holds items I use all the time and some which are kept there just for emergencies.Rain gear and gear to stay warm take up the most room. The weather out here rarely gets colder than what I handle with a jacket, gloves and a watch cap. Some of the other items are medicine tailored to me, rain pants, hat, back up flashlight, cordage and a Life Straw. My favorite nut mix and some dried fruit is hiding in the bag somewhere also. There are a few other items which come and go depending on what I have planned that day.

I live in an urban/suburban area and my bag reflexes this. There is no need for me to carry fishing gear, hunting gear or a complete armory. Short of the apocalypse there are stores, hotels and restaurants all along the routes I travel on a regular basis. Also I need to keep the bag light, to combine with and enhance my everyday carry items I keep on me. There are other versions or concepts of Bail Out Bags, each designed to the situation those folks are faced with.

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!!

Get home bag, building one

When we start to put stuff together we need to focus on the purpose of what we are putting together. For this posting we are going to focus on a “Get Home Bag”. What is it? This is bag you will store stuff in which will help you get home if you suddenly find yourself in a situation where you are doing some walking or using a different means of transportation home. The idea is to give you things to help you get home. Not to run off into the woods and live until the emergency has pasted or to fight off the alien invasion. We want to be able to utilize what we carry with us every day, with what we have in this bag and add any resources around us to do one thing, GET HOME!!!!

This might be a different way of looking at the problem than some of us are used to. In most cases you start to do research on what this situation calls for and people will give you a long list of items you are supposed to pack in order to survive. As you will see the bag I will be using for this post is not really full of items in fact some might say it is short a lot of items. Remember what the bag is for, getting home.

What is our first priority when getting home, speed? If we are carrying twenty to thirty pounds of supplies on our backs we are not going to be able to move very fast. Being honest for a moment how many of us have carried this type of weight on our backs recently? I would wager few and if you have done it recently I Hope you are agreeing with me on weight slowing you down.

Each bag needs to be personalized to the person and the situation they could be faced with. In this case the bag was put together for;
1) A women over the legal drinking age ………. We’ll leave it at that, I like sleeping in the house!!
2) Good looking but not a marathon runner……….
3) Needs to travel about 33 miles from work to home. MapQuest says this trip can be made in 12 hours and 1 minute walking. For our purposes this translates into a trip of around 3 days at 10 miles a day. Sure folks can move faster than this but we want to plan for the worst and hope for the best!!!!
4) In an absolute worst case scenario she is caught in this situation with two children, one in kindergarten and one a toddler.

Obviously we do not want to weight her down with 20 pounds of gear she may or may not “need”. We should define what “Need” is at this point. “Need” in this case is only items which can get you home. We do not need her to carry around a shovel to dig ‘cat holes’ with but we should make sure she has some TP to take of that situation with! We do not “Need” her to pack a tent and sleeping bag but we should make sure she has something she can use to separate herself from the elements.

The most expensive part of putting something together in most cases is the bag. Before you go out and buy a bag look around the house and try to repurpose a bag. This can be anything you can store and carry stuff in. This does not even have to be a backpack, if nothing else take some grocery bags double them up and put some stuff in!!!! If you are going to buy a bag keep in mind what the bag is for. You do not need to buy the latest high speed, tactical, super cool, bug out to the woods and live like a mountain man bag!!! You need something which is going to get you home from the furthest distance you usually travel.

Any type of bag can work. The green one in the photo was the bag I used the first time I put stuff together. In the following photos I will show what is in the bag which lives in the back of her car right now today. I took it out and took these pictures.

Nothing fancy, just a plain black bag. Given her training and life experience we do not want her walking home with some “Tactical Cool” bag which will either scream “I got supplies you might need come get them!” or “I am a navy SEAL/Ranger/Jason Bourne type and I am a threat to you!”. We want her to blend in and just be ignored on the walk home!

In the outside pocket tools she can hang around her neck or put in her pocket. We cover signaling and tools with what is attached to the string. Inside of the Ziplock we add shelter with a emergency blanket, being able to move with a dust mask and a book of information which could come in handy.

Pocket in from there we got some motivation!!! Hard candies last a long time.

Next pocket covers shelter, sanitation, lighting, water purification and minor first aid. The iodine can be used to purify water and first aid, note the directions to purify water are written on the iodine.

Next pocket covers virus issue with a better mask (the other one can be used or given to someone else), minor medical issues, tool to cover issues the other tools might not cover, gloves to help make your way through rubble or add warmth and a solar charging system which comes with a light and can be used to keep flashlights working.

Close u[p of the solar charger. I highly recommend these!!!

In the main pocket we cover basic food stuff, cooking, transporting water, an advanced water purifying system, advanced first aid and added shelter.

We also cover clothing in the main pocket with some extra socks, shirt, pants and some thermal bottoms carried in a waterproof bag.

The first aid kit carried in the bag is also personalized to what the training of the person carrying the bag. There are items to take care of everything from a sprained ankle to a major cut. What is not included is a surgical kit, IV kit or other items the carrier would not know how to use!!!!

Sure I can upgrade what is in the bag! The idea was to give her items right now!! Not after the next pay check or I get my taxes back, but right now!!! A lot of stuff in the bag has been repurposed from stuff I took out of my bag and items which were around the house. Having something today is better than getting cuaght short when you need something!!!! If she takes what is in the bag, combines it with what she has in her purse, baby bag and resources around her she should be able to put together what she needs to get home.

Couple items I did not take photos of, tennis shoes, the fire starting kit inside of the cooking kit and the googles which I could not find!!!!! Someone is in trouble!!!!

As always,

Stay Safe!!!

I need a backpack!!!!

What kind of bag should I buy? As soon as you start looking to buy a bag or repurpose a bag you already have you quickly learn all bags are not created equal!!! To help us we need to slow down, take a breath and do some planning. And the first thing we have to plan for is PRICE, bags range from $20.00 to $300.00 or more!!

Before we spend any of the few dollars we have let’s sit here for a moment and figure out what the bag is for. Why? Because in most cases the bag might be the most expensive part of putting a bag together and we cannot afford to over spend or under spend on this item.

Are we putting together a “BOB”, a simple Bail Out Bag. Something which sits in the car with you and if you have to leave the car you are going to take this bag with you. This is something you keep a minimum amount of stuff in. Maybe you keep your extra jacket, beanie, extra cash, water filter straw, lighter etc etc. Kind of like a day pack or an oversize purse or the only acceptable “man bag” a fella should carry.

Is this bag holding the stuff you are packing to help you ‘Get Home’ in case you are not that far from home and need to walk? Then we need to make sure this bag can carry a bit more than the ‘BOB’ or be combines with the ‘BOB’. This bag also needs to be comfortable to carry for the distance you are planning on moving. Something with a frame, internal or external, maybe with a waist strap and chest strap?

Will this bag sit in the closet until the next big storm? Grabbed when your family and you have to run from a forest fire or tornado? Or have you decided to put together the ultimate, end all be all, zombie apocalypse, end of the world and the aliens have landed “BUG OUT BAG”!!!!! (sounds of trumpets in the background) Let’s save the infamous BUG OUT BAG for another post. Right now let’s just focus on finding a bag we can us today if we had to.

Realistically take stock of your physical condition. Can you really carry a bag that big, do you really need all that stuff you want to put in the bag? Focus the bag and what is in the bag to the mission of the bag!! Once we decide what the mission of the bag is then we can find one to fit the mission.

Need just a Bail Out Bag, a simple book bag can fill the bill.

Need a Get Home Bag, a small camping backpack or military style ALICE pack can fit the bill.

Need something in the closet to grab and go, a standard hiking bag can fit the bill.

Need a full on end of the world bag, try the ILBE system used by the Marine Corps.

At the end of the day you need to do some planning and some shopping. Also plan on upgrading your bag later and buy only what you can afford right now. Having something to use is better than planning on buying something and having nothing when you need something………….

As Always,

Stay Safe.

Active shooter video (LASD)

I came across this and had to repost it!!! Outstanding information and shows ideas on what to do in these situation



You might or might not agree with what is presented if the video the idea of reposting this video is to get everyone thinking about "What would you do?" I also think this video clearly shows some of the concepts we had discussed in prior post concerning active shooters.

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!

Get'in Home - nothing more important

For almost any situation we might discuss the overriding desire for everyone is to ‘get home’. Does not matter if the situation is a broken down car, earthquake or alien invasion we all just want to get home. Everyone has the place they call “home” be it where you live now or grandma’s house we all have the place we consider home. For most of us this where we put our heads down at night but everyone’s situation is different.

Think of the place you call “Home”, you're going to have to narrow it down a bit by adding in distance. Why? Because if you live in Florida but consider ‘home’ to be a place in Oregon this distance is too much for what we are talking about here. Let’s then figure out how far away you are from home on a regular basis. Most people live within 20 miles of where they work and for the most part we do not travel further than 20 miles from the house on a regular basis. Of course everyone is different and you might not fit into the average. I know I don’t, I’m 60+ miles from home at work five days a week. Let’s use the 20 miles as a base line.

When we do the planning for this we are going to want to do this on the “cheap”; sure the internet is full of list of items you “need” to get home and you can spend hours filling a pack with things you “need”. What do we really need to get home? Remember we are talking about getting home not fighting of the zombie hordes or restarting society from scratch. For almost all of us this means the worst case scenario is something has happened and we got to walk home. Think about this for a moment, you are going to have to put one foot in front of the other till you reach your doorstep.

For most of us this is not going to happen, we can call friends or family to pick us up, take a cab, ride a bus or find some other means of transportation. Yet there is a chance each of us could face this situation, be it from a natural or manmade emergency, so let’s plan for the worst and hope for a easier solution. When was the last time you walked three miles, five miles, ten miles or the twenty miles we are going to use for this? Let’s all be honest with ourselves, you do not have to tell anyone else, we haven’t walked that far in a long time or maybe we have never walked that far!

On average most people walk about 3 miles an hour, if we have to cover 20 miles that’s…… let me find the calculator……. I would take us roughly 6 hours of steady walking to make the 20 miles! Odds are we are not going to able to walk for 6 hours straight. This means we have to plan for the worst case scenario. 20 miles = 2 days of walking. “WHAT? It would not take me that long!”. I can hear you yelling at me already. Remember worst case, anything else is a good day. If we divide the walk up into two days, to allow for obstacles or other delays we only have to walk for roughly three hours both days. This gives us plenty of time to deal with anything coming up, does not really tax us physically and gives our family a longer time frame before they begin to worry. If we tell our loved ones 2 days and we make it home in 1 they have not even started to really worry and we are home already, win – win!!!!

What do we “NEED” to get home with? Remember we are focused on getting ourselves home and nothing else. First thing we need is something to put our items in. Almost all of us have an old backpack, knapsack, bag from a store, gym bag or some other container we can put stuff in. If you ride a bus, train or vanpool to work you can find a container and store these items at work. The idea is to find something you already have and repurpose the item.

Once we have a container then we need to go through the closet and find our old pair of shoes or boots we tossed in the back. Old sneakers with the holes in them or work boots we left in the garage are great for this! What we want is something we can wear which is already ‘broke in’ Those dress shoes or especially high heels you wear everyday are not made for walking this far in!!! If you cannot walk due to poor footwear, you are not going to get home.

Go back to the closet, this time look for the old jacket or hoodie you do not wear anymore. Try to find something which will keep the weather at bay and help keep you warm. If you live in an area where it snows find something appropriate to the climate (I suggest moving hahaha). While you’re in there also find some old pants to roll up and put in the bag. Before you roll the pants up put a tee shirt, underwear and some thick socks on top of the pants and roll them all up together. You now have a change of clothes in case your normal work attire is high heels, knee length skirt and blouse. Remember these clothes need to be loose, comfortable and durable. Now is not the time to be fashionable!

Now let’s break out some Ziploc bags, I love these things! In one toss a few dollars and a couple dollars in change. The amount of money to put in the bag? Twenty dollars or so; enough money to buy lunch and most definitely enough to buy a few bottles of water. In another bag toss in a lighter or two. In another put your old driver’s license or another form of picture ID along with a copy of your medical insurance card. If you want throw all of these items into one bag and put these in your get home bag. The reasons for these items? You want to be able to start a fire if you need to, buy things if you cannot use your credit or debit card and be able to check into a hospital if need be. Writing important numbers down on a piece of paper or card and putting this with your ID is also a good idea. Find an old flashlight, put some batteries in a Ziploc and toss those in the bag.

For most of us these items are going to be enough to help get us home and not weight us down as we try to get home. If you live somewhere there are no stores for miles you are going to want to modify what you pack into the bag. For us city and suburban dwellers we are still going to have access to things we need along the way. This means we do not need to carry five gallons of water with us but we do need some change to buy a bottle of water before we set off.

To earn some bonus points and if you got room, toss an MRE or camping meal into the bag. Maybe a poncho, Leatherman tool or a knife and if you really want to like yourself later some paracord. Just remember you are going to carry what you pack so do not go overboard!!!!! Of course we can upgrade our pack later, heck you can go all “lightweight super hiker” if you want when you have the money. For right now we are just trying to put something together which will help us tomorrow.

Please keep in mind what the purpose of this bag is, to get you home! Of course we can add things to the bag. There are tons of things we could add, water filters, fishing gear, compass and all sorts of other items. If you “need” these items to cover the distance you have to travel then do so. We do not want to add anything we do not need and if you pack a lot of stuff you realize you do not need later, dump the stuff or give it to someone else who might need it during a situation. Our goal is to get home and nothing else!

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!

Je Suis Charlie

Following the events in France I was contemplating how to address the situation. After thinking long about the subject I will stay out of the politics, belief systems involved or any of the other subjects which cause people to pick a side or stop thinking clearly. Those are conversations for a different forum.

In previous postings we have discussed ideas for dealing with ‘Active Shooters’ and hostage situations. For this posting I thought we needed to focus on other ideas or concepts to help us if we find ourselves in these types of situations.

First we must acknowledge there are people who want to do harm and even kill others out there. You must seriously think about this for a moment, even if you become uncomfortable thinking about this. None of us want to acknowledge there are others out there who wish for nothing more than our death. Yes they want you dead! There are people who want you and your family dead! You do not have to agree with or even understand their reason for wanting your children, spouse and you dead, you just have to realize these people are out there.

Acknowledging the idea people want you dead is the first step in not becoming a victim. The next step is to remain aware of the threat. By this I do not mean walk around all day paranoid of every person you met or going into full “Mad Max” mode when you hear a car backfire. The idea here is to do things which will increase your odds of going home to your family and almost nothing is more important than making it home to your family!

If you see something that is just ‘Not Right’, report it!!! No matter what the outcome. Do not let political correctness stop you from reporting something. If you see two guys wearing ski masks, load bearing vests (military vest) and armed, call the authorities!!! Yell, scream, run and tell as many people as you can!!!! Use your cell phone to call the authorities, not to take video!! If you make people aware of the danger odds are more lives will be saved. Give others a chance to react to the situation by making them aware of what is going on.

Awareness is one of the biggest tools we can sharpen to assist us with these situations. We need to tune our awareness to the exits from our office, awareness of what is happening around us and the awareness to take action when something happens. “Awareness to take action?”, YES! You have to be aware of when it is time to run like the four horsemen are chasing you! Inaction will get you killed!!!!

When I say ‘RUN’ I mean ‘FUCKING RUN’ like your life depends on it!!! Because your life does depend on it!! Run as if you are planning to run all the way home. “RUN FORREST RUN!” applies here.

Have the awareness to not run into a position from which you cannot get out of. There is video tape of people in Paris running to the roofs of the building being attacked. Having been in Paris I understand there was a chance they could have gone across to another building in some places. For most of us the buildings are not this close together. Be aware and do not run yourself into a position with no way out if you do not have to go to that position. Being in a dead end just makes it easier for the bad guys to hunt you down and SLAUGHTER you.

Be aware others are not prepared to respond to bad situations. You might find yourself having to lead people out of the danger area. Be aware they are going to be scared, be aware they are trying to come to grips with what is happening (something you should already have thought of) and you might have to yell, scream, push, shove and even drag others to safety!!!! Worry about hurt feelings later!

During the event or immediately after the event you might have to preform first aid on people. Learn basic first aid. Most injuries are survivable in situations like these. Not all gunshots are fatal and if basic lifesaving actions can be taken quickly people can survive. Direct pressure to a wound can make a difference. Just by placing a cloth over a wound and pressing on it as hard as you can you might make the difference for someone. Learning how to apply tourniquet is a valuable skill which could save a life. Wrapping a belt around a damaged limb and tightening it down can slow the blood flow enough to keep someone alive till help arrives. If you do not know how to perform CPR, learn. This might be the difference between a mother making it home to her children or dying in front of you!!!

Be aware you are on your own till help arrives. You and the people around you will have to deal with the situation until people can arrive to help. Take positive, proactive steps to ensure you can make it home. Waiting for help to arrive or for some authority figure to tell you what to do will simply get you killed. Do not wait for “someone else” to decide your fate; take responsibility for yourself and your own life!!

Most people are not prepared to deal with situations as have happened in Paris. Almost no one is ready to deal with armed men firing at them, the chaos of people being opened up by bullets passing through them or the thoughts of facing their own death at the hands of another human being. Being aware of what could happen and acknowledging what could happen before something happens gives you the ability to make decisions faster which could be the difference between living or dying.

I realize these are thoughts or subject matter most people do not want to discuss or even think about. We have to discuss and think about these things. The predators out there count on people not being prepared mentally to deal with their actions. They count on surprise to work in their advantage. Predators want you to freeze, do nothing and allow them to do what they want before you can react. Awareness goes a long way toward countering this advantage. If they cannot surprise you, you have already upset their plan and making the other person change their plans is always a good strategy.

As Always,

Stay Safe