Civilian Operator 101: The Survival Tree

One of the BEST and most Practical articles I have read in a long time on training for and surviving an Active Shooter situation.-SF

A lot of people have asked me about how they could increase their survivability in an active shooter situation. The reality is sometimes you can’t win and that’s something you should be training for. Train for the worst day of your life and hopefully when it happens it’s nowhere near the level you trained for. If you’re lucky, your preparations will have paid off. However, the reality that you should always keep in the worst case scenario box is that you will not win. Get comfortable with that monster and snuggle up. You’re going to be spending a lot of time together. When you understand and embrace the fear, it allows you to rationally respond. In some fortunate moments, you will recognize the monster you’ve become comfortable with.

Something I always liked about teaching land navigation was the memory trick and the saying, “You have to walk to the tree before you can climb it.” Now that may have been in reference to how you move a protractor over the map, but we are going to take it in a bit of a rogue direction. I’m going to use that same statement and share something with you that I call the Survival Tree. You get to it, and you go up it, using the branches that are most appropriate to your situation. If the situation dictates you stay in that tree, stay in it. If you can’t stay in it, hopefully you come flying down on the enemy’s head with a righteous fury they cannot hope to withstand.

An unarmed opponent without armor, has little chance of taking out an opponent that has both of those things. The odds only go down from there if you’re lacking training or haven’t thought through the path you would take up the tree. Lets take this step by step for a second and slow down …

Step 1. What is happening?

Examine the situation. What indicators do you have? Do you hear gunfire? Do you know what gunfire sounds like versus a backfiring car? Are people screaming? Are alarms going off? If you lack indicators, you will likely be making your decision out of ignorance and that’s something we don’t do. The indicator could be rapid fire gunshots or it could be the moment you see an injured person. In the worst case scenario, it could be the moment the attackers burst through the door. Once you are certain there are actions going on that warrant a response, you have already started taking steps to the path.

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