Win the Battle, Lose the war? The SUDA Loop

This is definitely not a typical Blue Collar Prepping article. Instead, there will be a fair bit of military history and theory, which will then be tied into prepping at the end. 

 

The history of maneuver warfare theory is long, storied and ancient. From the “weighted flank” used by the Thebans at the Battle of Leuctra to the guerilla tactics of Francis “the Swamp Fox” Marion, from the battlefield genius of Napoleon to the blitzkrieg of WW2, every generation has adopted new technologies and abandoned previous orthodox military doctrine. It was in the skies of Korea that Colonel John Boyd developed his intuition about the nature of air to air combat, something that would require him to go back to school to earn an engineering degree and create Boyd’s Energy Maneuverability theory. A few years after BEM was accepted (it helped design the F-15, F-16, and F-18 fighter jets), its principles were modified into the OODA Loop to explain how information processing could enhance ground combat operations.

 

Colonel John R. Boyd (Wikimedia Commons)

As far as I can find through research, the OODA Loop really dates to a 1995 brief Col. Boyd delivered as a model for a decision cycle, although Boyd's earlier works support that brief. Note that the OODA Loop, as a construct, is designed to “win an engagement.” Whether that be a jet fighter on jet fighter engagement, or a ground combat maneuver force engagement, the side that correctly understands the situation faster than the other, and makes higher quality decisions faster, is more likely to create an outcome in their favor where, eventually, the other side's decisions cannot change the outcome.

In the wake of Desert Storm, in 1995 the US Army and USMC were facing massive troop and budget cuts from the Clinton administration (the “peace dividend” from the fall of the USSR). The previous strategic operating doctrines, of AirLand Battle and Active Defense before it, were coming up as too costly in the shrinking DOD budget. The OODA Loop concept, as applied to maneuver warfare, looked very promising to create a situation where the Army and Marine Corps could “do more with less.”

Experiments in the years that followed, such as the Force XXI project conducted by the 4th Infantry Division, proved the value of intelligence- and information-driven operations. Simply by adding surveillance drones to the 4th Infantry Division, the unit was able to more effectively use artillery to shape the battlefield deeply, and was able to reduce the M1 Abrams quick reaction force size by 25% as proven across multiple exercises at the National Training Center. (Citation: I was there for two of those exercises.)

As a result, the OODA Loop found its way into the white papers, doctrine, and buzzwords of military professionals for multiple generations, and we didn’t really win any wars using it. We won a lot of battles; we could, and did, fight like demons. General Stanley McChrystal, in his role as Special Operations Afghanistan commander, expanded upon the concept with his F3EA special operations targeting methodology of “Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Assess” process, where rapidly executing raids to collect information that would be rapidly exploited to uncover the next target for a raid. The F3EA methodology was as accurate as flipping a coin, never really breaking much above the 50% accuracy level. Trying to combine “violence of action” with “deliberate information processing” was an operational failure as the violence outpaced analysis quite rapidly.

I should note that not all military thinkers were completely enamored with the OODA Loop. Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster wrote a very informative paper in 2006 about how the proliferation of sensors and drones to create a “transparent battlefield” would result in tactical successes and strategic failure. McMaster was correct: war is still very much a human endeavor, and a political one at that.

Where does this leave the OODA loop? Is it a deep insight into the nature of how to win tactically? Well, yes, but it never was about winning a war, or solving problems where the enemy isn’t some other human trying to harm you. If you want to get better at defensive pistol work, training to draw and fire from your concealed holster is going to help you shorten your OODA Loop. If you want to learn how to outfight someone attacking you, consistently train in kickboxing and grappling and you’ll have an almost magical advantage simply because you can see openings faster, and your body has the muscle memory to execute almost without thought. But surviving or “winning a fight” isn’t always the goal, especially when the threat isn’t violence.

An alternate model, one designed deliberately to avoid repeating our strategic failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the “Sense, Understand, Decide, Act” or SUDA Loop model. Rather than observing a threat, the first step is simply to sense the environment and find out what is really going on (or not going on, as the case may be). Once the environment is sufficiently mapped out, then understanding of key players, resources, and grievances can be processed into understanding.  Once you understand the actual problems, you can decide on what to address first, second, etc., and then begin to act on your plan. You then sense the environment again to see if your actions are creating the changes you want.  

The SUDA Loop is simply a modern twist on what others have done before, such as Doctor John Snow and the Broad Street well pump handle removal in 1854 to stop a Cholera outbreak in London.  He sensed the environment by mapping out where people were getting sick; once he understood the data set enough to identify the epicenter he decided to remove the well pump handle. After the well pump handle was removed, new cases of cholera stopped, and he continued tracking that data to show his action achieved the desired outcome.  

My final point here isn’t that the OODA Loop is bad, only that it should not be applied to big problems. If it is a violent encounter, having the tighter, quicker OODA Loop is a serious tactical advantage, and you should train your body accordingly. But if it isn’t a violent encounter, but instead an earthquake or hurricane, then using a more deliberate model like SUDA seems more appropriate to making things better in the aftermath, such as which of your tribe is still connected to the Internet, who has what resources to share, who needs resources, etc. Sensing your operational environment helps you understand what you can do, what needs to be done, and prioritize the work.   

One of the more quotable Generals I worked with before I retired constantly told his staff, “Be quick to think, slow to plan.” What he was hammering home was the need to get your brain involved with understanding the situation and problems before trying to slap some doctrinal answer on paper. Military history is full of units who received completely worthless orders because the higher headquarters didn’t understand the operational reality. As a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, I assure you that is still very recent history indeed.

The OODA Loop

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography.

Used with permission.

This is an in-cockpit video of a pilot flying a World War 2 era TBM Avenger for 2015's Arsenal of Democracy flyover. At first, everything is fine, but suddenly there's smoke in the cockpit. The pilot scans back and forth, trying to find the source of the smoke, and you can you can almost hear him thinking, "What the heck is going on?" This goes on for about ten seconds until the rear seat passenger asks, "Are we on fire?" It's only then that the pilot starts executing pre-planned emergency procedures; he was stuck in his OODA loop until the question "Are we on fire?" shocked him out of it. 

OODA is an acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. It's also called the Boyd Loop for the man who codified it, Colonel John Boyd, an Air Force strategist in the 1960s. Col. Boyd used the OODA loop as a way of describing how people think and make decisions, specifically under stress. While this process was originally designed to help pilots react to enemy planes during dogfights, the concept of the OODA loop is so universal that it has been applied to any sort of armed conflict. 

What is an OODA Loop?

In simplest terms, an OODA loop goes like this:

1. Observe as many details about the situation as you can, as quickly as you can. 
2. Orient yourself within that observation, essentially asking yourself, "Where do I fit into all of this?" 
3. Decide on which course of action to take based upon your observations and your orientation.
4. Act decisively and then observe what happens next, repeating the loop until the situation is resolved.

Anyone who has taken any sort of self-defense class is familiar with these steps. In fact, many tactical pistol classes teach OODA as part of their training, and state that the best way to win in a combat situation is to complete your OODA first, and then interrupt your opponent's OODA loop, forcing him to mentally reset from surprise. While he's observing your new behavior and trying to orient himself to it -- essentially going "Um, what?" -- you've already decided and acted to defeat him. Imagine someone coming into a crowded area with a gun, and instead of running or hiding, you charge him or you shoot at him. 

Prepping Applications

But what does this have to do with prepping? OODA isn't specifically about conflict, but rather about making correct decisions quickly so that you don't hesitate in a situation where hesitation could get you or another hurt or killed. In the video above, the pilot could clearly observe the smoke, but couldn't orient himself in regards to where it was coming from. If his passenger hadn't snapped him out of it, he might have crashed before he figured out what to do. 

Here are the components of the OODA loop as I see them applying to preppers:

1. Observe: Always be taking stock of the situation. Know where the fire alarms and emergency exits are when you're in a building; know what the weather is going to be like; know where your gear is and what's in it. Generally, be in a state of relaxed awareness, or Condition Yellow, to borrow from another colonel's lexicon. Throughout the day, this also means being proactive and asking yourself, "What would I do if X situation happens?" For example, if I noticed dark clouds, driving rain, and strong winds, this tells me that severe weather is here and that it could get worse. 
2. Orient: Know how the situation relates to you and what will happen if you do nothing, and what you assume will happen if you take a specific action. This is the heart of prepping: you know that bad things will happen at some point, and you can't control when that occurs, but you can control how you will respond to it. Since I live in an area where hurricanes are common, and I have observed that bad weather is here now, I orient myself by realizing that a hurricane may be approaching and that if I do nothing, I could be injured or even die. Therefore, I must ask myself, what do I do to prevent injury and death from this severe weather? 
3. Decide: Formulate a plan of action and execute it. I decide that I need to turn on the TV or the radio, or check a weather app to determine if I am in danger, and if so where the danger is coming from. 
4. Act: I act on my decision by investigating the weather. 
5. The cycle then repeats: I observe the weather; I orient myself to the situation regarding how strong it is and what direction it's headed; I decide if I should seek shelter, evacuate, or just get my poncho and rain hat because it's only a really strong thunderstorm that only looks scary; and I act on my decision, continuing to observe if the situation changes at all.

Don't Get Stuck

Getting stuck in an OODA loop can be inconvenient at the best of times and devastating during an emergency. This typically manifests in the following manner:

1. I observe something out of my experience, or I am taken by surprise. 
2. Whether due to an instinctive "freeze" response, or an inability to orient myself in relation to this completely new threat, I am unable to decide what to do. 
3. If I can't decide, then I can't act. 
4. Indecision leads to my brain resetting the OODA loop back to "observe". 
5. Sometimes this reset allows me the opportunity to observe helpful information which allows me to orient myself, and sometimes it does not. 
6. If not, the loop resets again, trapping me in OO-OO-OO, which sounds like gibbering and is just as useful. 

When someone gets inside your OODA loop, they have forced it to reset. As legendary boxer Mike Tyson once said, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze." Pain, being a priority stimulus to the brain, is a fantastic way of resetting OODA. There are other ways to reset, however; as we saw in the above video, once the pilot was made to realize that his plane was on fire, he was able to act decisively based on his training. 

As has been said by others elsewhere: "Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion. You default to your level of training." With proper training, you can correctly orient yourself to the situation, determine what you need to do, and act with confidence. Without training, you may very well be stuck with a brain going "OO-OO-OO."

Check Your Six

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

Check your six is military jargon for "look behind you", and checking to see what might be coming up behind you is a good habit to cultivate as part of maintaining situational awareness. However, if like me you didn't spend time in the service, ingraining that habit can be difficult. 

I had the idea for a smartphone app which would chime and/or vibrate on a regular basis -- between 30 seconds and five minutes -- as a reminder to look behind you. Unfortunately, I have no experience with programming apps. 

Fortunately, I had it pointed out to me that something like this already exists, and they are called interval timers. Used in both sports and exercise, these apps will chime and/or vibrate on a regular basis. Set accordingly, they can be used to remind you check behind you. 

One word of warning: while some of these apps have set durations, others do not. If you keep them running constantly then your phone will experience a significant battery drain as it will be unable to sleep while the notifications are being issued. It therefore falls to you to remember to turn off the timer once you're back from your walk or similar outing. 

A Potential Man-Made Disaster (part 3)

Having brought up the potential man-made disaster of a second American Civil War (ACW2), I've been doing a lot of thinking about how preppers could work to minimize the impact on their lives. Some people reason that we've already entered ACW2, it just hasn't gone “hot” yet.  Others believe that we're in a “Cold War” stage right now, with the battles being fought in courtrooms, legislative chambers, public opinion, and propaganda campaigns.

The wedges being forced between different sectors of society are many and vary in strength, but they're there. We need to acknowledge that things could erupt into violence soon and make our decisions before that happens. There will be no avoiding damage; ACW2 would hit each of us in some way. How can we minimize the damage?

Prepping for War

Situational Awareness (SA)

• You're the best judge of what's going on around you. Get your head out of your phone and pay attention to the people and places around you.
• God (or nature, take your pick) gave you five physical senses and at least one other. Pay attention to what you smell, taste, and feel as much as you do to what you hear and see. Smoke from a campfire smells different than smoke from a house fire; tap water has a different taste from town to town; and changes in weather can often be felt in your body before they become evident in the sky. Learn how to decipher these clues to heighten your SA. That “at least one other” sense is your common sense and paranoia, so don't disregard your “gut feelings” just because they don't always make sense.
• If you live in a larger city, you probably already know the areas to avoid after dark. Expect those areas to expand as things heat up; opportunistic criminals aren't all stupid and lazy, and many of them will try to take advantage of any disruption of “normal” to further their own goals.
• If you're old or have diminished senses for any reason, get a dog if possible. Their senses are much more acute than ours and they will warn you if somethings is “off”,

Be Ready to Move

• Modern wars have a tendency to be fluid, moving battle-lines in unusual and sometimes random ways. An area can be safe one day and in the middle of a battle on the next, so you need to be flexible in where you sleep at night. I'm not in a position to be able to tell you how things are going to go down in your town or city, as I don't live there, so it's up to you to learn as much as you can about your local surroundings and how they can be used to help you.
• Not all moves will be permanent. You may only need to get out of harm's way for a few days before venturing back home if a battle is short and decisive. Riots and other disturbances burn themselves out when there is nothing left to loot, but you're going to need somewhere to stay for the week or two that may take.
• If you live near any of the likely infrastructure targets, you're more likely to have to relocate. Distribution and transport of any essential commodity will become a target, so bridges, pipelines, electrical stations, and shipping yards are likely to be attacked in one way or another.
• Don't expect a lot of fore-warning. Our culture is based on instant communication, and there are groups out there today using those communication tools to gather large groups for bad reasons. There are also groups using the same tools to gather people for good reasons, but knowing which outcome is expected can be a challenge.

If You Choose to Fight

• Becoming active in a civil war can take many forms. Serving in one of the branches of the military will give you a basic idea of what is needed, but you're not likely to be part of a large, organized force. 
• Support personnel will always outnumber fighters by roughly 3:1; that's just how these things work. Logistics, tactics, intelligence gathering, and other “non-combat” roles will be highly prized skills. Sun Tzu wrote a book about the basic strategies that will cover most of the conflicts we're likely to see, and I highly recommend reading it and thinking about how it applies to your unique situation.
• If you choose to be a trigger-puller, get your affairs in order. Make peace with whatever deity you choose and train as much as you can. Recognize that you and those fighting next to you have no guarantee of living through any given day. Choose your allies with care, and watch for informants and infiltrators.
• Expect to be portrayed as a terrorist or whatever new name the mass media will use to denigrate you. Any resistance to authority will be called criminal, and the talking heads will grab anything they can find (or make up) to present that resistance as the worst thing to have ever happened. Never willingly talk to the press; they have proven time and again that they cannot be trusted to tell the truth about anything.

Plan Long-Term

• ACW2 will not be a short conflict. We've forgotten how to conduct short conflicts, so I don't see an internal war being much different than the “war on drugs” that has been running for a few decades now. Part of the problem is that we have people in government that will gain power during any conflict, and being human, they will do all they can to maintain that level of power and control. Another factor is the risk-averse culture that has taken over most of our daily actions: warning signs on everything to avoid lawsuits, “safety first” campaigns at most job sites, military forces that have to obtain permission from an office thousands of miles away to do much of anything, and the ever-increasing “nanny state” that seeks to control us for our own good.
• A 72 hour kit makes for a good Bug Out Bag, but you're going to need more than that for a long conflict. Think along the lines of providing the bare essentials for you and yours for a few years. As I mentioned last week, modern civil wars and revolutions are lasting longer than the historical ones did. I'd expect some form of disturbance in basic services to last for several years in some places. Do what you can to cover the basics of shelter, water, food, and fuel for as long as you can.
• Every different region has its own pros and cons. Here in the Midwest we have plenty of food and water available, but the winters can be severe; areas in the Southwest will have milder winters, but not much arable land and brutal summers; and coastal areas are more heavily populated and rely on other areas for their food and power. Planning for the long term means taking a good look at the resources and conditions around you and finding a way to make them work for you.

“Unexpected” Doesn't Mean “Impossible”

“All swans are white until you see a black one.” That's the premise of the black swan theory: things that have never happened before are unexpected and will catch many people by surprise. A good grasp of history will show that more has happened than most people know about, but we also have a rapidly evolving technological sector that is making the “impossible” happen every day.

• I expect a lot of the “fighting” in ACW2 will initially be digital. Hackers on both sides will be busy trying to disrupt the digital lives of their enemies, causing confusion and sometimes physical damage. With “deep fake” video technology becoming cheap and available, propaganda will reach new lows. Weaponized commercial drones are being used in some parts of the world already.
• Hospitals, small cities, and medium-sized companies are being targeted by hackers taking control of their computer systems. The amount of disruption possible grows with the increasing reliance on digital everything in our lives.
• So-called “weaponized autism” has become common, with several internet sites providing better data analysis that most governments can produce, and I know of one country that has recruited people on the spectrum as intelligence gatherers which can pick out patterns and minute differences that most “normies” would miss.

Like I said last week, none of this is earth-shaking news; it's mostly common sense once you think about it. I suggest that everyone set aside some time to actually sit down and consider the possibilities and how they would react to them. A little self-reflection wouldn't hurt, either.

Emergency Self-Defense

I like to start off my posts with something funny and memorable, but I am going to tone that down for this post because of the subject matter.

Preppers talk about TETOWAKI or SHTF a lot. Both of those terms imply that something has gone horribly wrong with society, at least on a local basis, but even if all else is well you may find yourself in an emergency that requires that you defend your life at any time. With luck and situational awareness you can avoid most of these situations -- but not always.

One of my favorite quotes is “There are no dangerous items, only dangerous people”. In self-defense, be a dangerous person.

Awareness

The first step is to make sure that you don’t have an emergency. Keeping an eye out can save a lot of grief, and there are articles in the archive on the subject that cover this in depth. Having situational awareness makes a difference, if for no other reason than that it makes you look like less of a target. Having any potential threats view you as "too difficult to bother with" can save you a whole lot of trouble.

Range

If you are in an emergency, the most important thing you can do (unless you're a professional first responder) is to see if you can get away from the situation. I'm not kidding; run away if you can! There is nothing wrong with that. Talk to a martial arts instructor, and you will get the same advice.

Range can matter, even if it's just to find a place to hide, gather your thoughts, and strike back.

I understand that retreat is not an option for some people; for example, those of you in wheelchairs have a much harder time in getting away. This is where the next item comes into play.

Planning

Little things matter, like keeping a cell phone charged, knowing what your local weapons laws are, and keeping it somewhere accessible if you carry one. Even making sure that your shoes are tied can matter! In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

Practice

Things are easier if you make them a habit.

• Going to the movies? Find the exits. Make sure that you know how you will get to them, and if you have someone else with you, determine if you will need to help them in case of emergency.
• Do you carry a weapon? Determine the best way to practice. Fifteen minutes of practice once a week in infinitely better than none, and can be done between other tasks.
• Do local laws (or other situations) prohibit you from having a weapon? Lean some basics of unarmed self defense, and practice.
• Do not rely on unarmed techniques to save your bacon. If you are dealing with someone who is larger than you, or armed, it can take a lot of skill to overcome that.
• Make it a game: how much can you plan for while doing normal tasks?

Practice can make the difference between using a skill smoothly, and having it be a disaster. This is why I frequently end my blog posts with "Don’t forget to practice."

Improvising

A lot of this comes down to being good at improvising.

• Strange men are starting to follow you. "Where can I duck into to avoid them/how do I find a better position to defend myself?"
• Someone attacks you, and you don’t have a legal means to defend yourself. "What in my environment will work to defend me? How can I use what I have on me?"
• Etc.

Remember, be a dangerous person, and don’t forget to practice.

The Disneyland and Hermit Crab States of Mind

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

This article was brought to my attention courtesy of Firehand. I meant to post it Monday, but I had a crippling headache all afternoon and I forgot, so I'm posting it now and back-dating it.

I've spoken about the Vacation State of Mind and the "Safetyland" mindset on the GunBlog VarietyCast, but this article is an excellent follow-up to both of them.

Read it at No Nonsense Self-Defense.

Concern Contraction

Concern contraction is what I call the focusing effect that a crisis can have on your mind. (I don't know what else to call the phenomenon; I couldn't find an existing phrase, so I made one up.) I bring this topic up as a warning to our readers, in the event that any of them have been fortunate enough to have never experienced a truly life-threatening or hazardous situation.

We've previously written about situational awareness, the need to stay aware of your surroundings (and the activity of others) in order to detect or predict threats. Over the years, I have seen concern contraction reducing or eliminating a person's situational awareness. These are often incidents that sometimes make the local news, like a policeman getting hit by a passing car while he's conducting a traffic stop or a witness to an accident getting injured while trying to render aid. Times of stress tend to focus our awareness to an extreme that has to be experienced to be understood, but knowing that it can happen may help you avoid the negative effects.

Levels of stress or crisis come in various intensities and the contraction of concern is tied to the intensity. Since I made up the phrase, I get to make up the levels of intensity and some examples as well. Of course, these levels only apply to those of us who are nominally aware of our surroundings -- the average idiot with his face buried in his cell phone is oblivious to the world and has no situational awareness or level of concern (until the battery on his phone dies).

Level 0

You're sitting on the beach with the sun warming your skin, the water is a few yards in one direction and the buffet is a few yards in the other direction. You literally don't have a care in the world and your mind is free to wander as it may... you might even attempt to care what the Kardashians are doing this week! At level 0, the few concerns you may have are diffuse and spread across a wide field of possibilities. Situational awareness at level 0 can be a problem because you're too relaxed.

Level 1

You're at work on a normal day, the coffee tastes okay and the boss isn't in town. Your concerns are going to be focused on getting your work done so you can get home, but you have time to contemplate the upcoming ball game. You're aware of your surroundings as much as you need to be to get the tasks at hand completed. The policeman getting hit by a passing car falls into level 1, so it is important to stay on your toes and not get complacent.

Level 2

A loved one or pet has a minor injury and you're worried about getting them the proper care. The upcoming ball game has been forgotten and your area of concern is starting to contract a bit, your world getting a bit smaller. The route from your current location to the needed aid is about the extent of your concern at level 2, but you need to pay attention while you're traveling.

Level 3

The power went out during an ice storm or thunderstorm. You know it will be restored within a few hours at most, but you have to figure out how to get by without lights and the distractions that modern life has provided us. It might be getting colder in the house and you need to dig out a coat and some blankets. Your world has shrunk down to the size of your house/apartment and you definitely aren't thinking about how many rhinos are left in Africa.

Level 4

Your car dies or gets stuck in the middle of nowhere. You have no cell phone service, and you were taking a “shortcut” so nobody really knows where you are, so it could be a few days before anybody sees you. Things are starting to get serious -- your concerns are food, water, and shelter, and your world is no larger than what you can see. Nothing beyond your vision matters; your concern has contracted to a small area of space. The two ladies who survived for two weeks in the woods in 2015 come to mind as an example.

Level 5

TSHTF and you are alone, tired, hungry, and lost. Your world has contracted down to the next meal or the next drink of water. You're in trouble and nothing else matters, especially other people. At this level, people start to lose their humanity and act more like animals because survival is the only thing on their minds. Donner party, anyone?

The Last State
Not really a level because it can occur either suddenly or over time is the state known as “shock”. Physical or psychological shock will blow your world apart and you will lose the ability to care about anything. Shock is a medical issue that generally requires the assistance of others to recover from, and can be life-threatening by itself due to the effects it has on your body. It deserves mention because it eliminates all situational awareness and should be watched for in others.

Horses and Cattle and Snakes, Oh My!

During the month of October 2015, Evelyn and I had a bit of a sabbatical out at Knights Rest here in central Oklahoma. This is a continuation of some of the things we learned during that month long camping trip and prepping hide away.

We talk a lot in preparedness circles about Situational Awareness. We talk about how important it is to be aware of our surroundings, and what things within our area can potentially damage us. However, we don't spend much time and effort discussing situational awareness in the context of something bad happening to our gear, or what our plans are if Something Bad happens and leaves us whole and hale, but destroys something critical to our continued comfort or well-being.

Twice during our trip, lack of situational awareness got the better of us. The first time, it cost us convenience and gear, and in the long run it cost Evelyn money replacing that gear. The second time, it could easily have cost one of us our life if we hadn't been lucky.

Animals
The horses, dairy cattle, and sheep that are part of Knight's Rest have free roam of the entire 166 acres that it rests on. This is only fair, since it's their home, and grazing is a much more economical means of feeding ruminants than supplying endless amounts of hay. They don't typically wander into camp, preferring to stay in the "unoccupied" areas of the farm. At least, they don't usually wander into camp while people are there. This doesn't mean that they can't, or that they won't -- just that they usually don't.

The Anatolian Shepherd farm dogs are a completely different story: they'll stick around camp if you're there, because you might give them treats! Or if you forget to put away the pound of bacon that you intended to cook for breakfast, and leave it laying on top of your camp kitchen table like a doofus (don't ask).

Animal Incident #1

So just what happens when you leave camp for a couple of days, thinking everything is secure? Well, if you're lucky, nothing at all happens, and you arrive back at camp two days later and everything is just how you left it.

If you are not so lucky, you come back to camp to find that a 2500 pound horse with feet the size of a dinner plate has decided to walk through the middle of your camp -- and the middle of your tent! KR's horses are beautiful Shires and Shire/Arabian blends, which means they're draft animals. They're only slightly smaller than the Budweiser Clydesdales, in fact, and can easily stand as much as 6 1/2 feet tall at the shoulder -- and those are the dainty examples.

This was the resulting damage to the tent poles: a 90 degree bend in a place that isn't supposed to bend at all!

Both poles for Evelyn's original tent had a bend like that in it. While it was a nice little tent, and set up easy, and didn't weigh her down much, it could not withstand having a full size draft horse decide to walk across the space where it had been set up. Needless to say, that was one completely trashed tent.

We were fortunate because nothing inside the tent was seriously damaged. A lot of it (practically everything, in fact) was soaking wet, because it had rained after the tent got stepped on, but otherwise everything inside was undamaged.

Lesson Learned: Don't think that the relatively domesticated animals in your vicinity won't suddenly decide to come investigate you and your stuff. They probably will. Be aware of the relative sizes of those animals, and how much unintentional damage they can do in their fits of curiosity about this newcomer to their domain.

Animal Incident #2
October is one of those times of year in Oklahoma when the weather isn't cold enough to be considered "winter" yet (but it's closing in) and it's no longer really hot enough to still be considered "summer" (even though the temperatures can still reach the mid 80s on any given afternoon).

One thing is certain about what passes for Autumn in this area: many animals are looking for a warm place to hole up in and sleep through til spring. And when I say animals, I also mean the slithery kind, like snakes and frogs and lizards.

While we don't have many snakes here that are envenomed in a manner that is dangerous to humanity, we do have a few, most notably rattlesnakes of several sub-species. This includes pygmy rattlesnakes, which seem to have a Napoleon Complex, territorial aggressiveness, and the bad attitude you would expect from a grizzly bear with a toothache.

Rattlesnakes love warmth. They don't move well when it starts getting colder, and will look for places to curl up where it's sunny and warm and comfortable. The piles of collected pine duff -- the fallen needles, etc that are scattered around in any given pine grove -- seem to be just the sort of thing that they're looking for, because of their high insulation value.

Our camp was in a clearing of a pine grove. Originally planted as a potential Christmas Tree farm project, it was allowed to grow wild when the project was scrapped, and natural clearings and glades were allowed to develop. One of these natural clearings is where I've chosen to make the Valeda's Grove (Wise Woman's Grove, for those unfamiliar with Viking and Norse usage) that is "my" permanent camping spot out at Knight's Rest.

One of those sunny, warm, and comfortably-insulated spots created by fallen pine needles is about two feet off the path into camp. The trees form a bit of a natural arch leading into the clearing, and naturally funnel the flow of traffic in the area. One afternoon while we were out and about, one of those pygmy rattlesnakes decided to take up residence in the pine duff at the entrance to camp, two feet away from where we walked several times a day.

Neither of us initially noticed the pygmy rattlesnake when we got back to camp. That's right, neither of the two women -- both armed, both relatively well-trained in looking after themselves, both familiar with camping and the various potential dangers that it can encompass -- noticed the venomous snake lying curled up and napping two feet from where they were walking.

What alerted us to the danger (and pygmies ARE dangerous!) was one of the farm dogs alerting to the snake and us wandering over to investigate what had caught the dog's attention.

Lesson learned: I learned several valuable lessons that day.

• I am still utterly terrified of snakes, even if I am armed, unless they are safely ensconced behind inch-thick glass at the Zoo.
• A .45 caliber bullet, placed correctly, will effectively rip a pygmy rattlesnake in half -- and it's rather satisfying in a strange, visceral way, to watch that happen.
• Even when it has been ripped in half by a .45 round, a rattlesnake will continue to move for a while, and will look like it's still attempting to strike. 
• When in doubt about whether the snake is dead yet, beating it repeatedly with a BIG stick makes a satisfying thunk. 
• A rattlesnake can only strike at things within a distance of approximately half its body length. 
• I'm too much of a coward to get close enough to figure out how long a snake is in order to determine a safe distance. 
• Always make sure you check the sides of the trail that you're walking, even (or perhaps especially) the trail into camp, to make certain you aren't missing something critical that could kill you. 
• Evelyn is a good shot, and it's not wise to piss her off! She can hit a pygmy rattlesnake that's moving and attempting to strike (even though we were out of range) without flinching.

(Editor's Note: My mother was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake in 2013. If you want to see pictures of the snake and the bite, go here.)

Stop Sabotaging Your Situational Awareness

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

I and others on this blog have talked a lot about the importance of Situational Awareness. This is because situational awareness is the key to being prepared; if you are surprised, it won't matter what your preparations are, as you will be unable to utilize them as your brain grapples with what is happening.* In many ways, situational awareness is preparedness, because if you can't react in time then all your preparations are for naught. It is a constant source of astonishment for me, then, when I notice just how often so many people willingly place themselves in danger while disabling their situational awareness.

Now let me be clear: there is a time and a place for tuning out all distractions, be it to get work done or to relax. After all, everyone needs to sleep sometime! This is what Col. Cooper calls Condition White, and it is best done in the safety of your own home. Barring that, do it in a place that you know (not think, not suspect, but KNOW) is safe, preferably among people you trust to have your back.

But just as it's possible to get drunk responsibly, it's also possible to become distracted irresponsibly. And worst of all, many people choose to be irresponsibly distracted. Perhaps they feel safe all the time; perhaps they think that society exists to protect them; perhaps they don't think at all.

However, if you are reading this blog then you have made a conscious decision to be responsible for your own safety. Here, then, are the things you will need to stop doing in order to give your situational awareness a chance to work for you.

Don't Lose Yourself in the Visual
There's an excellent scene from The Matrix which perfectly illustrates this point:

Were you listening to me, Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?

Human beings are visual creatures. This can be an incredible advantage, as we are biologically primed to notice movement, facial expressions, body language, and patterns or behavior which seem out of place. Soldiers, police officers, and medical personnel are highly trained to notice important visual cues.

However, this biological optimization can also be a weakness. We are easily distracted by movement and color -- just try to have a conversation with someone when there is a television within your field of view. Your eyes will be drawn it, because you have millions of years of genetics telling you "Look at this flickering thing, it is important to your survival."

If you are reading in a book, watching a movie or television, or engrossed with your computer or smartphone, you are in condition white. Don't do this in places where you ought to be in condition yellow, or you are sabotaging yourself.

Don't Keep Yourself from Hearing
Sound is another immersive sensation for humanity, and is equally beneficial and distracting. While it is marginally safer to be out in the world with headphones than it is to have your eyes glued to a screen, there are still important audial cues that you can miss if nothing can penetrate your wall of sound.

Listening to music or a book is fine; just make sure that it isn't so loud that you cannot hear important things, like trucks backing up or someone shouting "Hey, look out!"

Don't Daydream (except at home)
Of course, you don't need a screen or headphones to miss out one cues; some folks are so good at concentrating (or daydreaming, which is concentrating without the focus) that they can miss cues necessary to their survival, such as the smell of smoke or a fire alarm going off.

It's okay to daydream, but don't zone out (or sleep) in public unless you have someone you trust watching over you.

Have Things Ready Before You Need Them
The classic example of this are your car keys: take them out of your pocket or purse before you step foot into the parking lot, because if you get to your car and then spend time digging for them, your focus narrows to "must get keys" and you lose the world around you. This makes you a very temping target, as all someone needs to do is get the drop on you and not only can they rob you, they can take your car as well. If you're a woman, this robbery-turned-carjacking could easily escalate into kidnapping and thence to rape if you are pushed into the passenger seat.

If you know you are going to need something, like keys or a flashlight or a knife, get it out and have it handy so that your attention can be used on deploying it effectively rather than getting at it.

Keep Your Head on a Swivel
That's a military phrase; translated to civilian it means "Don't just just straight ahead. Look to the sides and behind you as well." Be aware of your environment in all directions; danger can come from any angle.

Get in the habit of scanning from left to right as you go about your business. Occasionally look over your shoulder ("Checking your six" in military parlance) to make sure no one is following you; this can be done by moving your eyes to the side in the same direction that your head is sweeping and using your peripheral vision to check behind you. If something seems off, then turn your head (or whole body) and take a better look.


Do these five simple things and your situational awareness, and your ability to respond to surprises, will increase dramatically.


* It's a semantic quibble, but I differentiate between "Being startled or taken off-guard" and "Being surprised."  To me, the difference is that with the former, your opponent has the drop on you and goes first before you can react; in the latter, you are figuratively caught with your pants down and your brain requires several precious seconds to process what is going on -- seconds which put you at the mercy of your aggressor.

Situational Awareness is a Two-Edged Sword

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

It's been a week since the Paris attacks and my mind is still fixated on them. I cannot think of anything else, prepping-wise, to talk about. Unfortunately for me, most of the important things have already been said by others and I'm not sure what else I can bring to the conversation.

Chaplain Tim, who lived through a riot in Germany, spoke about how to prepare for and protect yourself from mass violence in cities in last Friday's post. On Monday, Bearing Arms wrote an article titled "Ten Ways to Avoid Being killed During a Terrorist Attack". The entire event has been analyzed and dissected from multiple perspectives.

And for the life of me, the one thing that I cannot get out of my head are the conflicting notions of "Stay away from crowds, you're vulnerable there" and "If I stop doing the things I want to do because there are other people there which might make a good target, then my actions are being dictated by fear which means that terrorism has already won."

If we don't want terror to win, then we need to continue living our lives as we normally would -- but that leaves us vulnerable to people who terrorize us because we haven't taken precautions.

As preppers, we have a certain advantage in that we normally live our lives at least aware of the possibility of trouble and with an idea of how we'd react to it. We are fortunate that situational awareness is a way of life for us... but unfortunate in that it keeps nagging at us.

Example: Let's say that I live in a city that is famous for having tourists from all over the world, and that I am eagerly awaiting the new Star Wars film. Do I:

1. Not go see the film until well after opening day (and risk having key parts of the movie spoiled before I see it), because the risk is too great?
2. Avoid large crowds by skipping the nice theaters with digital projection/IMAX/3-D and instead go to smaller theaters where presentation is merely average?
3. Say "screw it!" and go anyway, and try to enjoy myself as much as possible -- which means being completely enraptured by the event and letting my guard down?
4. Go to the movie, but maintain situational awareness -- which means watching people as they enter/leave the theater, being alert for unusual sounds or smells, and generally not paying attention to the movie I just paid to watch?
5. Give up on watching the movie in the theater and see it on DVD months later?

To be honest, none of these appeal to me. I'm not even sure if there is a right answer here; it's all a question of how much risk a person wants to take, and that's something which must be decided individually. 

I'll tell you this much, though:  if I do decide to see the new Star Wars movie, I'm going to do it armed, and I'm going to go see it with a group of people who I know have my back. 

Stay safe, everyone.

Feedback re: Active Shooter Scenario

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

My last post generated quite a bit of dissenting feedback on Facebook, so I thought I would address it here, where everyone could see it.

Under "Leave", you advise to evacuate immediately, even if it means throwing a chair through a window. But then you advise to be quiet, stay hidden, etc. If you are throwing a chair through a window, you're making a lot of noise. That's going to attract the shooter's attention. I would NOT advise breaking a window unless that's your immediate exit to safety (e.g., ground floor window leading to a parking lot).

Yes, that's what I meant to say: take the most direct route to safety (so long as it doesn't endanger you), and think outside the box if necessary. Don't let a window stop you if it's the best way out. 

Sheltering in Place is a valid tactic, although Active Shooter tactics are very much in flux with police departments and military. If you run out into the middle of the situation, you risk becoming the shooter's next victim. If you have a crowd of people (especially kids) with you, trying to keep them all going in the same direction quietly will be very difficult. If the shooter has explosives, you don't know where he's placed them. Or if he has a partner, waiting to shoot people as they exit the area. Plus, once you're running around out in the area, you make it more time consuming for the police, as they have to stop and check everyone to make sure they're not the shooter.

However, if you have a secure location, or one that can be made secure by locking the door, moving a desk, table, or something heavy in front of the doors, and turning off the lights, you are redirecting the shooter's attention elsewhere. The watchword in an Active Shooter situation is caution. If you can't immediately evacuate to a safe location, Shelter in Place. Lock the door. Put something heavy against it. Turn off the lights and stay quiet. You are creating a deterrent for the shooter to go look for easier prey. Once you have more information about where the shooter is, and if they're moving away from your location, you can think about leaving. But Sheltering in Place is valid if you have a secure location.

This is one of those situations where I agree with most of the points made, but I still stand by what I said last week. Part of that is personal preference; I do not know if I could stand the tension of staying quiet while jumping at every sound, of feeling trapped like an animal in a cage. I think the anxiety would become unbearable for me, and I would rather take a risk by being proactive than depend on luck and being reactive. But that's me. If you like sheltering in place, then do it. 

As for not knowing if there's a shooter waiting to shoot people as they exit: one of the problems of planning for situations like this is that you can "What If?" them to death. No, I don't know that there is a sniper looking for running people; but if that's the case, then I'm likely dealing with a highly trained force rather than a solo spree killer, and in such a situation I'm likely boned regardless of what I do. 

My decisions are based on the gunman fitting the typical profile: an angry person who is working alone and is looking to rack up a high body count before being killed or committing suicide. 

As for making it more time consuming for the police: I get what you're saying, but that is SO not my problem. My first duty is to keep myself and my family alive; the convenience of the emergency response personnel isn't even in the top ten of my concerns. 

Don't pull the fire alarm, PLEASE don't pull the fire alarm.

Now you'll have people milling around wondering what to do, gabbing through the hallways about the interruption, entering public spaces blissfully unaware there is a killer among them. The alarm is going to cover the sounds of gun fire, and most of those doors that close won't lock, so it's at best a very small temporary obstacle.

If your facility has a code for such an event try issuing the code over the PA or other such methods if possible. Better would be to simply dial 911 and even if you can't talk, dispatch is going to send a unit to investigate as well as listening to any background sounds.

So I've been looking at this and wondering if I should be polite or if I should be honest. I've decided to go with honest.

My idea with pulling the alarm was that it would be a good way to make everyone evacuate to safety without having to stop my personal evacuation by making a phone call. It would also have the benefit of creating noise cover and making sure that someone with the ability to summon backup and provide medical care would be en route.

But honestly -- if people are so stupid that they will wander through the halls gabbing when the fire alarm sounds, then they're likely too stupid to be saved by me. If they won't evacuate, that's on them and not me, because I did my part by using the universal signal of "Exit the building, your life is in danger."

Finally, I have to wonder what kind of klaxons on steroids people have for their fire alarms that they might mask the sound of a gunshot. Per the National Fire Alarm Code. the maximum volume for a fire alarm is 110 decibels. Typical gunshots start at 150 dB, and go up from there if they're magnums or long arms. Even a .22LR is around 120 dB. So unless the killer is using subsonic rounds, or a suppressor, I have a hard time believing that the alarm is going to occlude the sounds of gunshots at a range that will generate more victims.

I will however concede the point that it might be worth it to dial 911 and leave, so the operator can record what is happening and send units to your position.

As a 911 operator, I second the advice to call 911.

I'll also add, if you know you aren't going to be able to talk to us, try to dial 911 from a land line. Cellular locating still doesn't work all that reliable in some areas of the country, but even an out of service landline can usually dial 911 as long as it's physically connected, and will more often than not give the 911 center an accurate location. Cellular location info is getting better, but it's still not as reliable as it needs to be.

This is a good point, and worth reinforcing.

Thank you to everyone who left comments -- they certainly made me think! And getting people to think is why I founded this blog. Even if you disagree, know WHY you disagree with it; as I said earlier, every active shooter situation is fluid, so knowing why you feel a certain way will help shape your responses, and this self-awareness should help you make the correct decision for the situation.

The Active Shooter Scenario

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission. 

The events of last week have me thinking about how I would react to an active shooter and what steps I would take to prepare for that. While I am far from an expert on these matters, here is the advice I would give to anyone wishing to be prepared for such an event.

Avoid Gun-Free Zones Whenever Possible
From last year's Crime Prevention Research Center report, 92% of all mass shooting have occurred in gun-free zones (that number has likely gone up since then).

The simplest way to avoid having bad things happen to you is not going to places where those bad things commonly happen.

Some GFZs are better than others. A courthouse, for example, has metal detectors and armed guards at entrances and hallways, so this is a "good" GFZ. Compare this with a Post Office, which deals in cash money, has no guards at all, and prevents you from even keeping a gun in your car if it's on their parking lot.

Carry a Self-Defense Weapon
Carry the most effective means of self-defense you can legally bear. (If you choose to carry illegally, that's between you, God, and the courts; for legal reasons I'm not going to advise you to violate the law, but neither am I going to judge you for it.)

Whatever you carry, make sure you have both the training and the will to use it. A gun you don't know how to use is worthless. A killer you can't bring yourself to shoot is going to have a new weapon within a few seconds.

Maintain Situational Awareness

I and others have talked about this in great detail. The more you know about your surroundings, the more efficiently you can react to a threat. 

Know where the emergency exits are. Know where the stairwells are. Know where the first aid kits and fire alarms are, and how they work. 

Know What Gunshots Sound Like

If you've gone shooting, this isn't a problem, but most people don't know what one sounds like in real life. Hint: it doesn't sound like what TV or the movies lead you to believe. 

A gunshot is a sharp crack, not a bang, and most of the noise comes from the expanding pressure wave through the air caused by the ignition of the gunpowder*. In other words, gunshots are felt more than they are heard, unless you are far enough back that you don't need ear protection. Since it's impossible to accurately record what a pressure wave feels like, Hollywood makes recorded gun shots sound far more impressive. 

Go to a range and experience what a gunshot sounds and feels like. Learn what multiple gunshots sound like, preferably from different kinds of firearms from different calibers. That way, you can hopefully tell the difference from a gunshot, a car backfiring, and something falling onto a flat surface. 

* The rest of it -- the sonic boom of the bullet breaking the sound barrier -- is too loud for most recording devices to adequately capture. Either they wash out as the pickups are overloaded, or they're condensed down into a channel that sounds like a rather anemic "bang". 

When It Happens, Take Decisive Action

And by decisive I mean "make a decision and execute it instead of waffling."

What you should do:

• LEAVE. Evacuate via the safest, most immediate way possible. If that requires you to throw a chair through a window, do that. Move as quietly as possible, and remember that if you can see the shooter, he can probably see you. Stay low, stay hidden. Get out, get your family out, and don't be a hero. (See below.)
• Call for help. I don't recommend you run while on the phone, or staying still while calling 911. Instead, pull a fire alarm on the way out. Not only will this summon the authorities, the noise of the alarm will 1) distract any gunmen and 2) make it harder for them to hear you escaping. Many buildings will also implement security measures when such an alarm is sounded, like closing fire doors. Anything which puts obstacles between you and a killer is a good thing. 
• When you're out of the building or area, keep moving. I wouldn't stop unless I was at least 100 yards away, with cover and concealment between myself and anyone who might shoot me. This is a good time to call the authorities. 

What you should not do:

• Hide. I am very much opposed to "sheltering in place" as that renders you immobile and therefore susceptible to all sorts of environmental hazards -- you don't know if the gunman has set fires, or has planted bombs -- and if he comes into the room where you're hiding, you are trapped. The only time I can advise hiding and playing dead is if he's right on top of you and you have no way to escape without drawing attention to yourself.
• Seek the gunman. You are not a police officer; it isn't your job to risk your life for others. You don't have kevlar vests, armed backup or sovereign immunity; besides, if you are wandering the halls with a gun drawn and the police find you, odds are excellent you will be shot because you look like a bad guy. 
• Hesitate to kill him. I realize this is in opposition to what I just said above, but the difference is that you shouldn't go looking for trouble when you ought to be evacuating. However, if you happen to run into him -- or worse, he comes into your classroom first -- YOU KILL HIM. If you have a gun, shoot him until he stops moving; if you have a melee weapon, charge him. In fact, have EVERYONE charge him (unless you're shooting), take him down under your combined weight, and kill him. 
• Yes, I keep saying "Kill Him." This is deliberate. If someone is trying to kill you, then you kill them right back. 
• Normally this is where someone says "What if he's unconscious or bleeding out?" and in that case, I suppose you don't need to kill him because he's no longer a threat... but speaking only for myself, I would not want to take the chance that he might have a backup weapon and regain consciousness before the authorities arrived. Personally, I would make sure the threat was 100% neutralized for the safety of myself and others, and I don't think there's a cop in the world that would arrest me for it. 
• But make sure that's actually the gunman. You don't want to be shooting at another concealed carrier who is trying to evacuate. My personal rule of thumb is "Someone who belongs here, and who is trying to leave, looks and acts a lot different from someone who is looking for victims." If in doubt, don't attack. 

Basically...
Get down. Get out. Get help. Mess up anybody who tries to stop you from getting out, but don't be a hero.

9/11 and Prepping

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

I've written about 9/11 many times on my other blog, but it's mostly been about my sense of anger and outrage. I don't think I've ever discussed how it affected me, or where I was that day.

And the main reason for that is because I don't have much to tell. No one I know was killed in any of the attacks, although I know people who did. But if did affect me in other ways.

2001
I was on the DC Beltway, driving from my home in Arlington to my job in Fairfax, VA, when the first plane hit. I was listening to the radio as I drove, and initial reports made it seem like an accident -- because no one expected the truth.

I got to work late, and I'm honestly not sure if it was because of usual DC traffic, or because other people heard the same reports and were slowing down. I am honestly not sure what time I got to work, as most of that morning is a haze for me. By the time I arrived, the other plane had already hit, and people were saying it was a terrorist attack, but I don't recall if the Pentagon strike happened before or after I got off the Interstate.

I think it was before, because the very first thing I did when I got to work was to call my parents (I didn't have a cell phone) and tell them that I was all right, which isn't something I would have done had it just been the NYC attacks.

I remember the chaos as contradictory information came out. I know for a fact I heard on the radio that a bomb had exploded in front of the State Department (or perhaps the Secretary of State's house; I just recall the word State was used a lot); and then later we were told that was incorrect, and nothing else was said about it. To this day I don't know if that was just a rumor someone started, or if a car simply caught fire, or what.

I remember being terribly excited by the whole thing. No, not in a fun way; it was a combination of anxiety over "What's going to get hit next? Who are we at war with? Are we going to win?" and that adrenaline-pumping feeling you get in action movies where the music picks up and you go "Oh yeah. now the righteous ass-kicking will commence!"  If you remember being glued to your seats during the first Gulf War, you know the feeling I'm talking about -- lots of energy, but nothing productive to do with it.

I remember how eerie it was, in the weeks that followed, that the sky was completely silent. And I remember realizing that being in a capital city meant that I was living in a bullseye, and I didn't like that feeling one bit.

2003
I experienced a similar feeling when the Northeast Blackout of 2003. I was fortunate not to be affected by it, but I had a close friend who was. I remember being amazed at the scale of the situation: fifty-five million people without power. I remember being pleasantly surprised -- no, shocked -- that America's largest city being without power for an entire night didn't result in massive amounts of assault, looting, and arson. I'd like to think that the lesson of 9/11/01 was still fresh in everyone's mind, and that's why New York citizens were kind to one another.

But mostly, I remember thinking "When the lights go out, cities turn into traps." I saw pictures of the traffic backed up as cars tried to make their way out of the city without power at the intersections, and realized that if people needed to get out of Manhattan quickly, they wouldn't be able to, and that if was a life or death situation, many would die.

Today
It's these two events which are chiefly responsible for me becoming a prepper. There are others, but these affected me so profoundly that they altered the way I think:

1. I realized, on a visceral level, that there are people who want to do me harm. 
2. I realized that anxiety is wasted energy that could be better used implementing a plan of action. Of course, to do that, I needed to make a plan of action that I could implement. 
3. I realized that I never wanted be caught off-guard in the case of disaster, and so even if I didn't have a plan of action I could implement a plan of reaction. Example: Carry a first-aid kit. 
4. I realized how fragile everything is: human life, communication, the cocoon of life support and comfort we wrap ourselves in. 
5. I realized that any place you can't easily get away from can go from "cradle" to "tomb" in a heartbeat. 

Because of this, I have changed the way I live:

1. I understand that even if I'm not interested in hurting anyone, they may be interested in hurting me, so I maintain situational awareness. 
2. I have, at least, a reactive plan for situations, such as "What would I do if someone were to take hostages in the bookstore I like to attend?" Once I have reactive plans, I can then make proactive ones. 
3. I carry useful equipment with me, so that I can act sensibly in an emergency, rather than panic or be filled with useless anxiety. 
4. I visit cities, but I never live in them. They don't exactly make me claustrophobic, but I've never liked crowds, and now that I see people as potential blockades in an evacuation, I like them even less. As I've said elsewhere, I like persons but I detest people. 
5. I prep, because it makes me feel secure and gives me an outlet. Some people might call it a crutch; I call it a coping mechanism, and it's a lot healthier than getting drunk. 

Thank you, New York City. 

Thank you, Pentagon. 

Thank you, United Airlines Flight 93. 

I have learned the lessons that you taught me. 

I hope those lessons help me to save lives.

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #43

A great show for you this week:

• Adam and Sean execute their hosting duties flawlessly (or at least after careful editing).
• Erin Palette talks to us about Colonel Cooper's Color Codes (Say that 5 times fast!).
• Nicki Kenyon is on assignment and will return next week.
• Our Special Guest this week is LawDog!!! He tells us this absolutely hysterical story about a dog named Buster and his run in with a chicken. You HAVE to listen to this one!
• Barron B. is pretty angry about the data breach at the US Government's Office of Personnel Management.
• And Weer'd talks about an anti-gunner who calls himself Baldr Odinson, and his attempt at taking a victory lap after the passage of a recent Oregon law banning private firearm transfers.

Thanks for downloading, listening and subscribing. And don't forget to tell a friend.

Listen to the podcast here.
Show notes may be found here.

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #40

Another week, another exciting episode of The GunBlog VarietyCast!

Adam and Sean talk about some really interesting stuff, including that "viral" photo where the man is walking on the "wrong" side. We also talk about people driving gasoline powered cars filling up at the only pump that has diesel, and that Waco biker shootout.

• Erin Palette discusses the OODA Loop.
• Nicki Kenyon thinks that eventually the war in Ukraine will become a "Frozen Conflict."
• Special Guest Bob Owens discusses his recent LA Times article "Why cops shouldn't carry Glocks."
• Barron B. talks surge protection.
• And Weer'd does another of his patented Audio Fisks, this time of the two Moms Demand Illegal Mayors for Everytown (a wholly owned subsidiary of Michael Bloomberg, Inc) anti-gun ads from North Carolina and Texas.

Thanks for downloading, listening, and subscribing. And don't forget to tell a friend! (Have you "liked" The GunBlog VarietyCast on Facebook?)

Listen to the podcast here.
Show notes may be found here.