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Useful stuff....

freyasman

Senator
Okay folks.... As many of you know, I have been getting a little aggravated with the usual useless back and forth bullshit we do here after every tragedy or emergency or natural disaster or what have you. Crap like that never leads to anything but stupid squabbling that doesn't do anyone any good, and it's too easy for all of us to get sucked into it, and waste time that we could be using to prepare for the upcoming "Oh holy fvck....." moments that we all know are coming. Arguing about politics and policy doesn't do any good; we all know that. So I am going to post links to things I think might be useful, starting with this; http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/some-quick-thoughts-on-the-las-vegas-shooting-police-radio-traffic
From the link;
"Here are the highlights from my perspective as well as some additional resources folks can use to plan a better response:

911 Calls: The first 911 call here reporting a shooting happened two minutes and 27 seconds after it was reported by officers on the scene.

There is very often a delay before victims call 911 during an active killer event. One study stated that the average delay was as long as SIX MINUTES. If you are caught up in one of these events and are temporarily in a safe place, make a quick call to 911. The faster the cops arrive, the faster the killer will be neutralized.

Flanking Tactics: Officers identify source of the gunfire 4-5 minutes after the attack began. Soon thereafter one officer says: “We need to get someone to flank this guy.” Flanking tactics are critical, especially for outdoor active killers. Sadly, most officers are not trained to do this. Individual officers should keep this tactic in mind. If you decide to flank a suspect, make sure the other officers on the scene to avoid a “blue on blue” shooting.

Medical supplies are critical: “Multiple casualties in the medical tent. We are making tourniquets from blankets, but we are running out of blankets.” Carrying medical gear on your person is important both for cops and citizens who are attending large venues vulnerable to an attack like this. I’d much rather be inconvenienced by carrying a couple tourniquets on my person than be forced to rely on a diminishing supply of torn blankets to stop my traumatic bleeding.

As a cop, I carry medical gear on my person for myself. I carry five other tourniquets (as well as other supplies) in my cruiser for a mass casualty event. I don’t want to have to waste time cutting up blankets and making improvised tourniquets.

At around the 10 minute mark, lots of officers start making excellent decisions.

-“We can’t let him get mobile.” “Call Mandalay Bay and have them shut down the elevators. We’ll cover the stairway exits.” At 18:30 that proves problematic as they have a security officer shot on the 32nd floor of the hotel waiting for an elevator that had been shut down.

-Command post and rally location identified.

-SWAT called.

-Officers begin sending casualties to a nearby church as a casualty collection point outside of the range of the shooter.

All of these are excellent decisions. Mobile killers are the trend and many officers are not prepared to stop them. If you are a cop, please read my article on stopping mobile killers.

At 11:30 initial responding officers make it to the suspect’s location. Note that it is an unidentified number of patrol officers acting on their own who find the shooter. There were two calls for four or five-person teams to be set up. They arrived several minutes after the lone patrol officers got to the shooter. The team or “posse” response to an active killer is too slow. Kudos for these individual officers who hunted the killer down and forced him to kill himself.

A side note on this…

It appears that the shooter had stopped firing by the time the officers isolated him to his room. Most likely, patrol officers would have forced entry into the room if the killer had been firing on their arrival. Recent news reports state that the killer had a video camera set up in a food cart outside his room. It appears he used it to identify a security guard from the hotel who initially responded. He may have also used it to observe the responding officers, thus precipitating his suicide."
 

freyasman

Senator
http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2017/10/meditations-on-crowds.html
From the link;
"By nature, by profession, and by training I bloody well hate crowds.

A man I admired once informed me that the IQ of a crowd could be ascertained by taking the lowest IQ of any single person in the crowd, and dividing that by the number of people in the crowd.

For myself, I always think of a crowd as one large, dumb, and happy organism ... right up until something decides to take a thunder run at the crowd, and it becomes a large, dumb, and dangerous organism.

Unfortunately, it is a Fact of Life that, upon occasion, crowds must be endured.

And while there are several types of dangerous crowds, and several ways in which a crowd presents a danger, the focus of today's musing is confined to that crowd phenomenon called the "crush" or the "stampede".

A "crush" is when a crowd takes it into its' multiple little mind that Something Bad Has Happened, and decides to unarse the A.O.

There are two things that should be noted here. 1) 90+% of all deaths resulting from a panicked crowd are from traumatic asphyxia or compression asphyxia; and 2) The majority of the victims of compression asphyxia will have died standing up.

The obvious question is: "LawDog, what is 'compression asphyxia'?"

Glad you asked.

When you get a large mass of dumb and panicked suddenly moving in one direction, Dumb and Panicked tends to bring a lot of force to the dance. How much force? At several scenes where fatal "crush" events have taken place, After Action Reviews of the incidents have revealed steel railings bent and deformed by nothing more than the press of multiple bodies. In at least one (the 1979 The Who concert stampede. I think) recreations of the accident show a horizontal application of force equaling about one thousand (1000) pounds.

One half of a ton of force, plus or minus, applied sideways.

It takes far less than that to compress the rib-cage of a normal human being to the point that they can no longer inhale. Without the ability to draw air into your lungs, unconsciousness sets in at ten to forty seconds, brain damage starts at about four minutes, and death follows fairly quickly after that.

"Traumatic asphyxia" or "compression asphyxia" is what happens when a squishy person gets between an immovable object -- such as a wall -- and the irresistible force of a mass of a panicked crowd.

So. How to avoid this?

First off, stay away from crowds. If you can't avoid that, stay away from crowds in confined spaces -- and by "confined space" I mean any place with more walls around the area than open air.

However, if you find yourself having to be in a confined space with a crowd, I'd like you to keep at least two things in mind:

1) Crowds are made up of people. And people are creatures of habit. One of those irritating little habits is that people want to go out of an area the same way that they came in. And that goes double when they're panicked.

When things go agley, and The Crowd decides that it's Time To Be Somewhere Else, The Crowd will escape the area the same way it came in. Only a lot faster, and damn the torpedoes.

That means that if 99% of The Crowd came into the dance venue by way of those two double doors right there, unless there's A Damned Fine Reason preventing such, when the crush happens, The Crowd is going to go right out those two double doors right there. At full, berserk speed. And they will do their damnedest to fit the entire Fire Marshal's Maximum Occupancy Number into that one doorway, all at the same time.

So, the best way to avoid this crunchy, sticky mess is to exercise some of that Situational Awareness when you first enter the venue, and spot at least two exits that aren't the main entrances.

Given our druthers, we'd like these exits to be unobtrusive, and on walls as far away from the walls that the main entrances are on as possible, but we'll take what we can get.

But what do I mean by "unobtrusive"? Find exits that Joe and Jane Average don't think of as exits. When you're standing in front of the counter at Mickey Ds, how many of you count the kitchen back-door as one of your exits?

When you're at the club, watching your very favourite band at a live show, and Murphy decides that it's just not your day, is there an exit for the entertainers behind the stage? Maybe another one for the booze delivery behind the bar? Might behoove us to find out either before going, or pretty ricky-tick after showing up, yes?

Things go pear-shaped, The Crowd heads back out through that single entrance door on the south wall, you need to be the guy skiting out the roadie smoke-pit door behind the stage on the north wall. Lot fewer folks trying to get up under your hat with you that way.

However it ends up, find another exit that every Tom, Dick, and Harriet won't be trying to get out of at the same time as you.

2) Think of a crowd as an ocean. Like an ocean, it has surges and currents, and when the stampede happens, think of it as a really strong current.

Now, you can't swim against a really strong current. You can try, but it's a pretty good way to wind up exhausted, and then dead.

When that mass of people -- the current -- starts rushing towards the exit, don't fight against it. There will be surges and pauses -- maybe so small as to only be noticed if you're looking for them, but those surges and pauses will be there. When the surge is on, go with the current, diagonally, towards the edge where the current -- the press of people -- isn't as strong, and (hopefully) away from anything you can get jammed up against. When the current pauses, slip between people, always heading for where the density of bodies is less.

As the current of people moves, it'll break around small immovable structures like pillars, staircases, vehicles. Stay away from the upstream side, where people are running and crushing into the structure. Instead, find the downstream side -- the lee side -- of the structure, if you need to pause.

However, I caution you against using the lee side of a structure for very long. Remember that whatever condition that started the panic in the first place may still be about, and may be looking to introduce itself to you. Pause in the lee. Re-orient yourself; Re-assess the situation; Re-acquire your goal/target; and drive on.

Lastly, always have two rendezvous points. The first one is where you exited your transportation, before entering the scene. The parking lot where you left your vehicle. The front of the structure where the taxi dropped you off. That's your default RP you should use for a normal evening.

However, in the slight chance that you didn't have a normal evening -- things went Biblically pear-shaped, a mass response by public servants was warranted, "Aloha Snackbar" was yelled, CNN is dotting their cupcakes in somber-yet-happy anticipation, dog and cats living together, whatever -- have someplace within walking distance where your entire party knows to go for a headcount.

This is more important than you'd think. In the aftermath of stampedes, riots, what have you, there are more people wandering around, looking for their buddies and generally getting in the way, than there should be.

When five of you went out for a night on the town, something went squishy, and all five of you are all right, but all five of you spend the entire bloody evening wandering around looking for each other, it creates a lot more stress and gnashing of teeth than is altogether good for every one's blood pressure.

For pity's sake, have a rendezvous point.

Hmm.

That should do for the quick-and-dirty on crush crowds. I'm for bed.

Y'all have a safe evening.

LawDog"
 

freyasman

Senator
This is a few years old, but still good, especially if you travel overseas...
http://straightforwardinacrookedworld.blogspot.com/2009/07/dark-arts-for-good-guys-series-flight.html
From the link;
"I woke up this morning to the headlines "Suicide blasts at Jakarta Ritz".

The headline hit home.

My second thought was of the attack on the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai last year by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba . I had spent a few nights there in 2007.

But my first thoughts were of the Spring of 1998 and the Indonesian 1998 Revolutionthat centered around the resignation of President Suharto .

For two weeks in May that year, I was part of a small contingent of guys that were on 24 hour stand-by to do emergency evacuations for ten American paper mill executives on two Indonesian Islands.

The U.S. based company was trying to assess the particulars of getting their men out of the country in the most efficient manner (read: cost effective). If memory serves I think the cost thrown at the company to extract their men by us was $2-$2.5 Million dollars.

After day in and day out of green lights and red lights the operation was ultimately scrapped.

The Client said they felt like the situation was easing up in Indonesia and that their men in country should be able to get themselves home.

Six of those men did. Four did not. They were hacked up and/or executed on some jerk water island in the South China Sea. As I later found out the families of the left-for-dead were suing for tens of millions of dollars. I'm sure in retrospect that $2.5 looked cheap.

The fact of the matter is this. Regardless of where and why when the shit hits the fan its going to probably be up to you to get yourself (and anyone with you) home. Or at least out of the kill zone.

"Ridiculous" you say. "I'm in my hotel room right now in the Republic of Freeistan and can see the U.S. Embassy from my window. Its just over a mile away, and I ran a mile in seven minutes this morning on the hotel treadmill."

If rioting breaks out between you and the embassy getting there might be tough. If a civil war breaks out good luck. Especially if you're an American.

Why?

Regardless of what you think or who you are, right now in world history the U-S of A is the biggest kid on the block, With that comes the burden of being blamed for everything wrong.

But there is also something else you should realize.

Behind every coup and riot there are literal conductors to these orchestras of disaster and war. And since every leader wants international press coverage for their cause they riot and wage war in front of the American Embassy.

No one is going to let you yell "time out" so you can stroll in the very front gate they are trying to tear down. In fact they may ask you to be their guest at gun point.

The international airport that is also just a few miles away is the other big target. Again, big targets =big press coverage. Bad guys use things like youtube, myspace, facebook, and Fox News to get attention. Because like you they are fighting for their survival, good, bad or otherwise.

Now that KR&E Insurance policy you were advised to get doesn't seem so ridiculous. In it there are usually provisions that say for this much $$ we will send in men with guns to get you to a private airport and out of the country, negotiate your return, etc. But you or your boss thought it was absurd. After all this was just supposed to be a five day spearfishing trip in the Caribbean.

The sun has gone down, and your on the roof of your hotel by the pool listening to the crackle of automatic weapons fire and the wailing of sirens. The signal to your iPhone is cutting out, and you're relatively certain the news feed from CCN reporting two streets up just showed soldiers gunning down the citizenry. This was supposed to be paradise, now its a free for all.

So you have to improvise and start thinking hard, mean and fast, because you and your co-workers or spouse and the kids are alone, and you've got a Swiss Army knife. That carry conceal permit in your wallet doesn't have reciprocity in the South Seas and your SiG 250 and AR-15 are back home in the basement.

So how do you get out? What do you pack? How can you improvise weapons to get better weapons? How do you steal a car to get to the airport or the border?

Flight & Fight Part II: Bugging out and Arming up...."
 

freyasman

Senator
http://straightforwardinacrookedworld.blogspot.com/2009/07/dark-arts-for-good-guys-series-fight_20.html
From the link;
"There can be difficulty in illustrating the point of how bad total social melt down can be, with you stuck in the middle. The best advice in this area I can give you is to watch the movie Black Hawk Down that depicts the Battle of Mogadishu.

<--photo of the U.S. Embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya 1998

Don't watch it from the line of sight of the soldier or the war lord, but rather the people ducking for cover as they run across the street in the back ground. Cause friend that's you.

To start with know where the U.S. Embassy or Consulate is in whatever country you are going to. It sounds like a given, yet its surprising the number of Americans who travel and assume there is an Embassy nearby.

To put it in perspective, Indonesia has two American stations, one is The Embassy in Jakarta and the other is the Consulate in Surabaya. However, Indonesia is comprised of 17,508 islands, of which 922 are permanently inhabited. Sooo there can be sometimes a bit of distance between you and soil-away-from-home.

Prior to and throughout your trip check on-line with the Over Seas Advisory Council. Not just the country you're in, but any additional ones that you are planning to visit. The OSAC issues press releases for each country, and advises its citizens abroad of everything from deteriorating political climates (ex: this spring in Madagascar) to city specific areas to avoid.

If you find yourself in need to evacuate and don't know how and are too far from the Consulate or Embassy. Call them.

Seriously.

Tell them you need contact information for local English speaking security services.

Companies like International S.O.S. , will provide you with estimates for out-of-country-extractions to local ex-pat English speaking security types (Mercs) to escort you to the airport.

Social disruptions vary, and no place is safe. Just like here at home. When rioting and looting broke out after Hurricane Katrina the entire Gulf Coast was on high alert. This didn't affect anyone in Missoula, Montana.

So it can be a regional problem and not a national one. If you're in a foreign country on business or pleasure and social break down ensues in the area and you have business elsewhere move up your time table and go. But let's say the shit has really, really hit the fan (that's why you're reading this anyway).


Car bombs are going off. Tanks and uniforms are in the streets fighting Molotov cocktails tossing teenagers with AKs and ski masks. Unarmed and in need of readily available self-defense measures means one thing.

It's time to go shopping.

Ask the Concierge or front desk where the local hardware store is as well as any local sporting goods store. Its important to remember that you want anything you can get. And it will probably fall into one of two categories: Bladed or Blunt.

This is about makeshift weapons. Most (save maybe the U.K.) have things like bush knives, machetes, pangas etc. If you can't get long bladed weapons buy a few cricket bats. Look for something with reach that is lethal. Buy butcher knives, steak knives and the like. You are also looking for a hammer, crow bar, flat head screw drivers (extra large and medium size), and sharpening equipment or files. Duct tape, and if possible a decent cordless drill and bits (remember this part as you will see it again in another up coming article).

One other thing. Always...always pack a decent high lumen flashlight like a surefire , a l.e.d. headlamp and extra batteries for both. Power outages are common all over the globe under normal conditions. Even in the five star hotel you are in. Local bad guys will always bomb the electrical sub-stations first (terrorist incite terror) to cause black outs. Bet on it.

Cardboard and duct tape can make for field expedient in-the-waist-band knife sheaths (complete with belt loop) to stove that butcher knife or extra large flat headed screwdriver in. Your Hula girl or Ex-Officio button down short sleeve shirt will cover the handle.

The nice thing about being an American overseas, no one (cops included) think about America touristas walking around with butcher knives in their pants.

One travel writer said that you can carry a hard plastic bic pen with the end snapped off at a rakish angle for a discreet weapon and walk down the street well armed. Hmmm no thanks, if I have to pick between pen and concealing a steak knife, I'm picking the knife every time.

In the tropics and the islands there is one thing you can find: A Dive shop. Where there is Scuba equipment there are knives and spear guns.

Roll your eyes if you so choose. But let me remind you of this. Some where lost in your DNA are your ancestors. Shocking but true there was some blood lineage version of you in the times of Caesar (and farther back). Until the prevalence of firearms came about man fought with knives, swords, spears, and arrow. They either lived or died, and you are no better than they are.

Laugh if you like, but you are the same one who would say "better a .22 in your pocket than the .45 left at home." When you have neither its either bare hands or get nasty.

Personally I'll take nasty.

If you have nothing, something beats that.

The good hotels to the outstanding ones have in each hallway two on the fly weapons. Fire Extinguishers and Fire Hoses.

A firehose? Really?

The normal range of pressure for a firehose is between 8 & 20 bars (or 100 to 300 psi), they can also have a burst pressure range of 83 bar (or 1200 psi). This pressure level is capable of breaking in weaker brick walls. If water can knock a hole in a wall what do you think it will do to human skin at twenty feet. So its more than capable of knocking down a bad guy with an AKM.

Three people can operate a hose. Knock your bad guy down and keep him there and send one man off hose to retrieve any and all weapons and reloads. The two men operating the hose can direct flow as necessary.

Give no quarter.

Recover the weapon and kill them right then and right there.

Its not pretty, but you can either finish that fight there or let them run back and get friends, and your going to have to fight them again with increased numbers. Minimize your threat.

If you obtain a gun remember that the weapon is hot. If its foreign to you and you can't figure out the safety mechanics Rule 3 (keep your finger off the trigger) is your safety. Look for additional weapons from pistols to grenades and spare magazines and take them. This isn't a house shooting in Burbank and you don't know when it's going to be over or where you will be. More than likely its just getting started. Retreat to the room and take stock of the newly acquired gear.

If its an automatic rifle it has a safety and a lever or button that removes the magazine. If a magazine goes in, it has to come out. If it shoots it has a way of not shooting.

Its called Dark Arts for Good Guys for a reason.

They started the fight and you best end it, because if you don't they will.

It's not about politics or religion its about the law of the jungle, which is to say every man for himself.

Like travelers in the Oberoi in Mumbia did last year or the Virgina Tech Massacre the year before you have one of two choices. Either lie down and die or stand and make a fight. That is it.

Its not a "nice" thing to say and in all honesty regretfully true.

Thirty-two people were murdered and more wounded by one s.o.b. at Virginia Tech, because of the hundreds of people who saw Seung-Ho Cho walk by them no one, not one, fought back.

Holing up in the room waiting for the door to be kicked in so you can stand unarmed between a gunman and your family is a senseless and cowardly way to die. Frankly. It is pathetic that your entire life (and that of your family) led up to the moment of being slaughtered because you (and they) did nothing to prevent it.

I would rather my life end in a fight in the hall or doorway with an empty and dented fire extinguisher than found in pieces on a blood smattered hotel wall and bed with my wife, while the gunman walked to the next room and did it again.



he ain't talking about me:
En masse evacuations in the last ten years"
 

freyasman

Senator
http://www.themodernsurvivalist.com/archives/5211
From the link;
"Hurricane Harvey: 12 Lessons from the Disaster in Texas
1) This is why we prepare. We prepare because it allows us to better overcome these challenges in life, some more unexpected than others. Sometimes being prepared means we deal better with less serious inconveniences and we end up looking like the “handy” guy in the group. Sometimes it’s a serious as it could possibly be. The difference between life and death.

2)Location, Location, Location. These last few days I kept hearing terrible stories of loss, of people that had lost everything, people that have lost their lives even. Some of them said this was the second time in 10 years that they had to start over. That right there is maybe the most valuable lesson. Areas that have flooded in the last 10 years, 50 years or 100 years are likely to flood again. Areas that have never flooded before but are in proximity of such areas are likely to get flooded next for the first time, simply because the growing urban footprint doesn’t leave enough absorbing surface to avoid flooding. True, these CAN indeed be prevented with responsible development and proper infrastructure as the urban setting expands, instead of just thinking of building and flipping houses without caring what happens to them a couple years later. But that’s a topic for another discussion.

Know where you live. Know where you’re moving next. When I moved to Ireland, floods were one of the first things I looked into. It took some digging but I ended up finding maps of past floods going back over a hundred years. Guess who didn’t get flooded when it eventually happened a couple years later?

3) It’s not just the city and urban areas. The countryside gets flooded too. It gets flooded a LOT. You build your house in the middle of nowhere thinking it’s an ideal location an later on if you didn’t do your homework you realize your house is at the bottom of a lake. Be careful yet again with developers. A nice new subdivision can be built in an area that is likely to flood. Maybe that’s why it was cheap in the first place.

4) What killed people during Harvey? In 3rd world countries the main causes of death would be the spread of diseases after the disaster itself, but in a developed country it’s often people making bad decisions. Getting caught inside the houses when the water raises. Above all, its people “bugging out” and getting their car carried by the current, rather than staying put and waiting to be rescued. This isn’t anything new. That’s why before Harvey hit I advised readers precisely about this.

5) People are good. We often focus on the worst mankind has to offer. I do that more than most, and I’ve seen this myself more than enough. But at the end of the day for every scumbag looter there’s two folks willing to give their neighbour a helping hand. There’s random strangers forming a human chain to pull someone out of the water, even risking their own well-being for that stranger.

Be smart about it and remember the saying about loose lips sinking ships, but be kind to your neighbours and the people around you. They will be the first responders when you need help the most, even if you’re not the kind of guy that likes being helped.

6) How many of these people never thought of leaving “because we already live in our bug out location”. How many people focused on “stuff” and “gear” rather than skills, flexibility and mobility? Putting all your eggs in one basked is just a bad idea. A flood, a fire, even a home invasion can leave your with nothing. Ask yourself this: What would I do, where would I go and how would I get back on my feet if my house burned down with everything in it? What would I do if a flood destroyed all my property, destroyed my homestead and my crops along with my gear? 80% of the people in the flooded areas in Texas did not have flood insurance. ( and before you say it, if a company isn’t even willing to insure you that should be the huge red flag that tells you to get the hell out of there!)

7) What if you can’t move at the moment and you know you’re in an area that is likely to be affected? Well, plan for that as well. How high is water likely to get? What if it’s double that next time? What kind of house are we talking about? Do you have a plan, a route, a place to go to when you have to evacuate? Do you have a camping trailer you can use? Do you have the gear you want to salvage ready to go? Do you have a boat in case you don’t make it out on time? Do you have personal flotation devices and helmets for the family? Is your EDC cellophane waterproof? It’s little details like these that make the difference between life and death when you’re hanging for dear life from a tree and all you have to call for help is your dead non-waterproof phone (yes, sometimes you do have a signal, or you can at least send text messages).



8) Got pets? Prepare for them as well. I heard over the news that people were abandoning them. Rescue teams specifically looking for pets were breaking into houses to rescue them. They were being left at shelters. Plan for your animal friends too. Recently we had our own little storm warning around here. It barely rained at all eventually but I did notice I was running low on dog food and would have had to improvise something in the middle of the storm if it had hit. A large extra bag “for emergencies only” is cheap insurance and handy for when caught without at inconvenient moments too.

9) You can’t drink flood water folks. Can’t use your well, your tap water or even your lake. Get a quality filter, but also get enough bottled water to make it through. I keep two weeks of bottled water. Not just a few gallons, but two weeks’ worth of what my family honestly consumes. Talk about cheap insurance, bottled water is maybe your cheapest, yet most vital prep when forced to do without.



10) Like in boxing, protect yourself at all times. We saw scenes of looting. Looters went around looking for places to pick. People defended their property. We saw that looters don’t like getting shot at (an universal fact of live, for all countries it seems) If you stand guard armed chances are they will go looking for easier targets, but expect them to be armed and ready to shoot as well. In this case a long arm provides extra firepower. This would be also the time to done your body armour and night vision. We saw people in boats helping the victims. Many of them would jump from the boat to the houses or vehicles dragged by the current rescuing folks. In that case you can’t go around with your rifle across your back bumping into everything so once again your handgun becomes your main gun. You rifle stays in the vehicle or boat, maybe the person driving the vehicle keeps an eye out with the long arm ready in case there’s trouble.

11) Remember the part about cash being king? After the storm many stores had “cash only” signs. As stores start opening again, you don’t want to be that guy without cash.

12) Besides having a plan and even if you’re not evacuating, supplies are essential in times like these. Again, the stuff we talk about here all the time. As mentioned before, water is a key supply people amazingly still overlook. But there’s also food supplies, means of cooking such food, disposable plates, cups and cutlery. Properly stored gas for your vehicles and generator. Batteries, lots of batteries and flashlights. Medical supplies, both prescription and first aid. All sorts of supplies disappeared in a matter of hours after the storm was announcement. Bleach, soap and cleaning supplies in general. This is important to avoid diseases after the water goes down.

FerFAL

 

freyasman

Senator
http://blog.suarezinternational.com/2017/10/the-lessons-of-las-vegas.html
From the link;
"I have written a piece on every major terrorist event in America for the past five years. Tragically, it is almost as if I can reuse much of what I said in my past posts. Usually the articles conclude with something along the lines of – “carry your gun everywhere regardless of the rules, keep your level of alertness high, and always remember that we live in a time of war.”

Still very valid advice but this attack, while brilliant as well as it was evil, was not anticipated. Who would have thought of such a thing?! And that is in part why it was so successful. We said the same when a terrorist drove a truck into a crowd in Nice, France and killed masses of people crowded together. We said the same thing in Mumbai…and what seemed like a lifetime ago in September of 2001. But evil is clever and resourceful, and we must anticipate its moves lest we fall to its plans.

I will divide this piece into the motivations of the bad guy, his tactics and strategy (from what we know), the reason his attack was so devastating, and suggestions for prevention of such a thing happening again.

These events are committed by two types of people. They could be “crazy people” - a broad category I use for emotionally, psychologically disturbed folks in need of medication and confinement. Or they could be “terrorists” – anyone carrying out violence in the name of religion, politics, or both. The last group are perfectly sane, just evil. And the last group need not have any ties to any foreign groups to be thus categorized. Thus Micah Johnson, Omar Mateen, and Timothy McVeigh are all categorized as terrorists.

The attacks carried out by crazy people tend toward poor planning, undisciplined actions, and haphazard execution. And it is quite clear within the first few hours that the shooter is emotionally unstable. It is interesting to note that, more often than not, the crazy guys are captured, the terrorists are killed or kill themselves.

Paddock was not a Dylan Roof, an Adam Lanza, or a Robert Lewis Dear. Paddock shows to have led a successful life, financially at least, and there has been no evidence to portray him as the “crazy old white Trump supporter that snapped”. And if that had been the case, you know the media would have been ablaze with the story. The story of Paddock is unclear and I suspect there is a great deal that the authorities know that they are not saying. We will know more since it is impossible to hold information secret in this day and age. But truth be told, Paddock’s motivations are only an interesting study after the fact, and totally irrelevant during the attack.

He was not a crazy guy, he was very good at selecting target, planning his attack, and carrying it out. More, we do not know yet.

He chose an elevated firing point, and targeted a venue of masses targets in a confined open air location that was secured from unauthorized entry and had limited egress. Shooting fish in a barrel is an apt if untasteful analogy. He chose an interesting weapon modification for the task. One which I have seen and deemed a silly shooting range toy, not having considered Paddock’s application. He likely studied some long range sniping books, analyzed the distances involved as well as the changes in where to hold to work around the effects of gravity on the bullets from the elevated firing position. And most interesting, and something rarely seen in other events, he set out security for his location in the form of remote cameras in the hallway leading to his room. If he was a CIA sniper in a Jason Bourne movie, firing on a mass of terrorists partying, we might be celebrating his ingenuity and resourcefulness.

Certainly this is difficult to defend against. One of my good friends in the counter-terrorist business was commenting with me that none of us would likely hit this guy some 300 yards away, in the dark, even if we could see where he was shooting from. He is right. But there is one way to win a fight that is unwinnable. According to Sun Tsu, the solution is not to fight that battle. More on this in a moment.

The talk of prevention usually follows within 24 hours because that is the sort of country we are. We like to assign blame on the biggest easiest target. And invariably the talk of heightened security and banning certain guns and all of the sorts of things that follow these events. So lets look at all that has been suggested without any emotions shall we?

Banning guns – well that has been tried in 1994 and it failed. But lets say that somehow a bill saying that one could not buy or possess any semi automatic rifle, or that one could not buy ammunition, or whatever else Nancy Pelosi manages to say in one of her rare moments of lucidity. Such a law would be impossible to enforce. Thanks to Barak Obama, Americans have more guns in private hands now that at any other time in history. A swipe of a pen on a piece of paper is not going to make them disappear, nor will it be possible to collect them all. So that sort of rhetoric is a waste of time and resources as nothing will be affected.

A few cases to show the futility of these laws –

November 2015 – Paris, France: The terrorist attackers killed 130 people, including 89 at the Bataclan theatre. Another 413 people were injured.

January 2015 – Charly Hebdo Offices: Terrorists killed 17 people and wounded 22, including civilians and police officers.

I have been to France and have shot with members of their military and police forces. France has laws so strict that they make Nancy Pelosi’s nethers tremble in glee. Even the passing thought of a firearm is prohibited, yet all of these events were carried out by those who simply chose to not obey the laws that prevented able bodied French civilians from fighting back.

But we all know that the magical disappearance of all firearms from the hands of Americans would not stop evil from evolving. And look at these numbers!

July 2016 – Nice, France: On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19 ton cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others. The driver was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian motivated by terror ideology. Shall we pass laws against trucks, and knives as well?

Increasing Security At Hotels: This one had me shaking my head. As one who traveled extensively some years ago, and still does on occasion, the notion of having TSA type security at hotels is not only impossible to implement, but would increase the cost of lodging considerably. Imagine your $200 per night stay was now $500 and you had to plan your return for the night some two hours early. People simply would refuse and find alternative lodging options. If they do implement such a thing AirBnB would instantly increase profits and hotels would go the way of Blockbuster Video.

Yet the American mind wants solutions and blame placed. I can’t help with the latter, although I suspect there will be more to Mr. Paddock and his Philippines connection as well as his political positions revealed soon enough either officially or unofficially. But the former is easy.

The solution is to accept that we live in a time of war. We have enemies in the Islamic Terror groups, we have enemies in the rising indigenous communist militants such as Antifas, and we have enemies of happenstance, otherwise known as crazy people with violent minds. Accepting that reality is half the battle because then most of us would not elect to attend an open air concert inside a fenced area with large building looming over us that may contain snipers.

And we would not go out into a public place unarmed. While the presence of a pistol would not have changed anything in Las Vegas, it most certainly would have in San Bernardino, Orlando, Fort Hood, Nice, the Bataclan, and elsewhere. The solution to rifle fire from an elevated position some 300 yards away is simple – don’t be in the kill zone in the first place.

Don’t want to live like that? Alright, you don’t have to, but don’t expect the rest of us to go along with your naive world view. We live and are living in a time of war, and we are fighting a defensive war with many enemies that are able to choose when and where they will strike.

Comport yourself accordingly."
 

freyasman

Senator

Endemics; know what kind of bad guys and bad shit is in a particular area. Know their mannerisms, the mode of dress, their motivations, their ways of doing business. And when you see something that does not fit, pay attention.... it might mean something is about to happen. For instance, I know what all the biker clubs in the H-town area look like, what areas they favor, what sort of shit they're into, and who they are beefing with... and if I see different patches that don't mix in the same area, I am going to get the hell out before the shit starts. There are a LOT of different criminal sub-cultures out there; educate yourself about them, because you need to know what to avoid, but you also might need a couple friends in low places someday.
Conversely, know what kind of "good guys" are in a particular area. Be able to recognize their uniforms, their vehicles, get familiar with their procedures, etc. (Hell, find out what their grooming standards are.... you see a guy in a State Trooper uniform with an out of regulation hairstyle or beard, and he might not be a real cop.) This also applies to private security guards; several recent attacks have been by guys who were security guards, the Pulse nightclub, the Ft Lauderdale airport shooting, the stabbing attack at the mall in Minnesota, etc. Don't just automatically trust anyone just because they're wearing a uniform.
You also want to get familiar with their weapons systems, because a quick way to arm up is to take a gun off a security guard. (You can do this to cops too, but cops tend to be much better trained on weapon retention techniques as getting their guns taken from them is every cop and every LE agencies' worst nightmare, so they train this stuff pretty hard.) Getting your hands on a piece that you don't know how to operate is probably not going to help you much. Google search what they use and then go to a rental range and get familiar with their gear.

Every one of us walks around in a wilderness; get to know the animals.
 
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@marvin martian didn't you tell me you almost bled out after that drunk lady ran you over on your Harley?
Yup. Not a Harley, though, I was riding my Honda VLX. A guy who saw it happen saved my ass by getting me off the road and a tourniquet on my arm. My brachial artery was torn. I never found out who he was, either. He took off before the fire department got there. I was unconscious for the whole thing. I only found out about him from another witness who saw him do it. That shit haunts me sometimes.
 

freyasman

Senator
Yup. Not a Harley, though, I was riding my Honda VLX. A guy who saw it happened saved my ass by getting me off the road and a tourniquet on my arm. I never found out who he was, either. He took off before the fire department got there. I was unconscious for the whole thing. I only found out about him from another witness who saw him do it. That shit haunts me sometimes.
Sounds like a close call, guy. :eek:
I was trying to fold up my CAT tourniquet (PITA, btw) a little smaller so my trauma kit will fit into my hip pocket easier and I remembered you talking about it.
That's the kind of stuff I'm trying to get folks to understand; being just a little bit prepared will help a lot when shit happens. I'm glad that guy was able to improvise, but I wish he'd had an actual tourniquet in his pocket. Purpose-built gear beats the improvised stuff everyday, and it's cheap and easy to get and learn how to use. And learning how to use an actual one, gives folks the knowledge they need to improvise when they have to.
I'm going to make sure I have my kit on me from now on.
Thanks for sharing that.:)





Now go buy a Harley Davidson. ;)
 
Sounds like a close call, guy. :eek:
I was trying to fold up my CAT tourniquet (PITA, btw) a little smaller so my trauma kit will fit into my hip pocket easier and I remembered you talking about it.
That's the kind of stuff I'm trying to get folks to understand; being just a little bit prepared will help a lot when shit happens. I'm glad that guy was able to improvise, but I wish he'd had an actual tourniquet in his pocket. Purpose-built gear beats the improvised stuff everyday, and it's cheap and easy to get and learn how to use. And learning how to use an actual one, gives folks the knowledge they need to improvise when they have to.
I'm going to make sure I have my kit on me from now on.
Thanks for sharing that.:)





Now go buy a Harley Davidson. ;)
I'm super lucky that guy was there. The ER doc told me the bleeding from a brachial artery tear would have killed me in under 5 minutes if it hadn't been stopped. The guy used the sleeve from his shirt and a pen, apparently. I have the shirt and jeans they cut off me at the scene. Totally drenched in blood. It was sick.

Anyway, I also need to start carrying a decent IFAK on me. I have one in the car, but it's too big to pocket. Besides a tourniquet and a quik-clot, I don't know what else I should carry. Roll of gauze maybe, and some gloves?
 

freyasman

Senator
I'm super lucky that guy was there. The ER doc told me the bleeding from a brachial artery tear would have killed me in under 5 minutes if it hadn't been stopped. The guy used the sleeve from his shirt and a pen, apparently. I have the shirt and jeans they cut off me at the scene. Totally drenched in blood. It was sick.

Anyway, I also need to start carrying a decent IFAK on me. I have one in the car, but it's too big to pocket. Besides a tourniquet and a quik-clot, I don't know what else I should carry. Roll of gauze maybe, and some gloves?
All I have at the moment is a CAT tourniquet, some gauze sponges and a couple pairs of nitrile gloves.... but it's better than nothing. I need to get some quik-clot. I have a full size IFAK left over from my service days in my bag, but I wanted something I could carry on me. I also need to take a class like the one above. My last training on this stuff was years back, and I need a refresher, as well as a chance to learn any new stuff that's being done.
I been looking at this as a carry method; https://www.amazon.com/Phlster-Flatpack-Tourniquet-Carrier/dp/B01HFRGCIE
 

freyasman

Senator
And a re-post of a classic; https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Street_robberies_and_you___The_Basics/5-1285487/
From the link;
"We all live in different worlds. My world is filled with felons and gang members. Violence is common place. No one would be surprised if one of their friends called and said they shot a hold up man at a place of business or parking lot. In the past when I made calls the fact that the guy who is beating his GF is also on parole for 2nd degree murder flavored my world.

You may live in a smaller, less violent place where shootings seldom occur and it would be a rare to shoot a hold up man. I envy you and will be moving to a place like your town as soon as I can.

But be advised no matter where you are a hold man is going to be about the same. Whether he is a home boy or a guy who just exited the interstate into your town and needs some quick money. He is going to have a vicious streak and no regard for your life. Treat him like he treats you.

Giving them the money, doing what they say, all that may work but there is no guarantee. If you have never read Jeff Cooper's book The Principles of Personal Defense I suggest you order a copy immediately. It is a short book but summarizes a lot of important things.

Last year we had a trial here regarding an armed robbery that occurred. Three or four guys took a young couple from a parking garage near a college out by some railroad tracks where they raped, shot, and beat them. Their lives will never be the same.

The lesser thugs all turned on the trigger man at trial. The trigger man's statement in the paper was after all that had happened he felt like he was a victim. Think about that. That is the mindset you are up against."
 

freyasman

Senator
And back to the medical side; https://tacmedaustralia.com.au/blogs/tacmed/wound-packing-101?_ke=Z3JlZzEwOTVAeWFob28uY29t

From the link;
"It is a well-known fact that bleeding is one of the biggest killers of trauma patients. Those from a military medical background will also know that extremity bleeding is the #1 preventable cause of death on the battlefield.

But what happens when a wound is not amenable to a tourniquet? Or is a large cavity? This is where wound packing comes in!

Wound Packing is a basic but critical skill that will stop that vital red stuff (blood) from leaving the body. It has been taught to military medics around the world for a number of years but for some reason hasn't been widely adopted by our Ambulance Services or First Responders. Especially here in Australia.

When to wound pack:

  • Heavily bleeding junctional wounds ie wounds too high on a limb for a tourniquet such as a Neck, Armpit and Groin.
  • Large wounds with a deep cavity. This includes wounds that may have been already treated with a tourniquet (a TQ has to come off eventually).
When NOT to pack a wound:

  • Chest & abdominal wounds. Bleeding in these areas are not compressible and wound packing won't work. You'll simply be burning time and consumables. Get the patient to a trauma centre (ie surgeon).
  • I have packed a couple of stab wounds to the posterolateral neck with very good effect, however, care must be taken when packing a neck wound so you don't compromise the airway. Don't wrap your bandage around the patient's neck after packing (don't laugh.... I've seen it).
  • A wound/cavity with minimal bleeding. Packing REALLY hurts and the patient won't appreciate you packing a wound that's unnecessary."


More at the link.
 
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