A SIMPLE, SANE approach to preparedness

[Skans]

It depends on where you live. Everyone should be aware of their surroundings and prepared for "bad things" to happen, to some degree. But, you just can't say that living in a small town not near a big city where everyone knows everyone else is the same as living in a large city.

Having said that, I believe that its a good idea to be aware of your surroundings. I do this routinely and I kind of find it fun. There are other benefits other than just looking out for "bad stuff". You notice people - I mean really take notice of them. It gets your mind out of daydreaming or introverted thought and brings you back down to the real world, focusing on real people.

As far as carrying a gun goes, I'm one of those folks who sort of picks and chooses when to carry. It's probably not the best practice, but I'm an adult and its my choice.

 

[MLeake]

The "Safe neighborhood" or "safe at home" thing...

... is something I hear all the time. Here's my problem with that.

Example 1) I was deployed. My then-wife had gone to the beach with some Marine friends of ours. (I was Navy; we were on a joint base.) She went to the rest room, and on her way there, she encountered a local beating up and choking a woman. My ex, all 5'2" / 103lbs of her, got in the guy's face. The woman, who turned out to be his girlfriend, ran away. The guy started to turn on my ex, when a crowd started to gather, so he backed off.

My ex rejoined our jarhead buddies. They drove to a local biker bar, where they had left a couple of their vehicles, including her 4Runner. They hung out at the bar for a half hour or so, and then my ex drove home, up and over the mountains, and down the other side on the Pali Highway.

Our neighborhood was very nice. We were leasing a 2600 sq ft house, with lanai and mother in law unit; houses nearby were similar. All had yards.

She let the dog (Rott/Shepherd mix) out of the house, and took her to the backyard. Dog started snarling. The local dude and a buddy were climbing over the back fence, coming toward them. They stopped when the dog snarled.

The ex ran inside, retrieved a Beretta 9mm, and ran them off.

Nice neighborhood, but trouble followed her home.


Example 2) My dad's cousin had a lost floral delivery guy show up at her nice place in the woods outside Worcester, MA. Guy wanted to use the phone (pre-cell phone days.) She let him in, but her German Shepherd took an instant dislike to him. He left. She called her husband, who thought it suspicious, and called the cops.

Several patrol cars responded. Turned out a serial rapist had raped four or five women in that area, using the "lost floral deliveryman" routine, complete with fake delivery van.

But she was at home, in a good neighborhood.

Example 3) A friend had moved from San Francisco to Maine, to get away from the city scene. I met her while skiing, as her place in Maine was a B&B near a ski resort, and I stayed there. Nice lady, with a daughter my age. She also had three dogs, an old Rhodesian Ridgeback, a 4yo Golden, and a 1yo Labradoodle or Goldendoodle, can't remember which. One of the reasons she and I hit it off was that I told her to let the dogs loose while I stayed there; she kept them isolated unless she knew the guests were dog-friendly.

She truly believed in the inherent goodness of man. We had several debates over the war in Iraq, the need for self-defense, and similar things - her on the side of man's goodness, mine on the side of taking threats seriously.

I liked her, I liked the dogs, I liked the place, and I made her B&B a regular stay for me when I went skiing.

She was murdered in 2006. An off-season boarder got in a fight with her handyman and killed him while she was out. When she returned, he killed her. When her daughter, the one my age who had moved to Maine to be near her mom, came to check on her, he killed the daughter, and the co-worker who had accompanied the daughter. When the police went out to investigate, he was putting the women in a wood chipper.

SOB also killed all three dogs.

Nice bed and breakfast, home to one victim, and in a very nice, small, resort town in Maine.

My point being, things happen. In my own case, things happened to three people I knew and cared about.

I am armed except when I cannot be.

 

[KingEdward]

For the last 6 months or so, I receive the Metro Spot Crime reports via email.
Not a week goes by that there are not assualts, robberies, rapes, vehicle and personal thefts within less than 1/2 mile of my residence.

This tends to keep one in at least condition yellow.

Especially coming in (after work) and leaving (in the am)

Since there was a home invasion (armed) 2 yrs ago very nearby, I've had
little problem being in cond. yellow most of the time.

I'm a realist and am about as prepared as I can be.

 

[Glenn Bartley]

Don't expect bad things to happen--just don't allow yourself to become complacent by expecting nothing to happen.

Exactly how does doing the above cause the below:

preparedness

Staying aware of your surroundings and situation is the best way to go and no that does not mean living on the edge. Allow me to give you the perfect example in a non firearms situation. You are out for a walk, you cross the street. You do not expect anything bad to happen, yet you do not expect that nothing can happen, but you do not stay aware of your situation and you walk right out in front of a 10 ton truck doing 30mph.

You should almost always try to be somewhat aware of your situation. Of course, at times, you will be in a zoned out or blissful state (such as relaxing while sunbathing) but even then you need to be somewhat aware otherwise you may burn like a cinder. Awareness does not mean necessarily living on the edge as if you were almost paranoid. It means keeping your senses functioning and at least minimally processing the information they send to your brain so as to know what is going on around you in the event danger approaches The amount of awareness that comes into play depends on the information your brain is processing. If potential or actual danger signals are received you go into a higher state of awareness or alert and should act accordingly. That is not living on the edhe, that is living sensibly and will help you to avoid danger before it actually happens.

I think what you are trying to describe, despite your seemingly contradictory spiel telling people not to become complacement or unaware (see the definition of complacement), while at the same time telling them always being aware is living on the edge, allows for danger to happen, then you react to it after the fact.

All the best,
Glenn B

 

[JohnKSa]

Exactly how does doing the above cause the below:

There are different levels of preparedness and different definitions.

I'm prepared for a flat tire but it doesn't mean that I have to expect a flat tire, nor does it mean I have to go through life constantly thinking about the possibility that I might have a flat tire at any moment. On the other hand, if I start expecting that I WON'T have a flat tire then I could end up in a pickle if I allow that kind of thinking to influence my actions.

Part of what I'm trying to get across is that by not expecting to have safety all the time you can beat the delay caused by the typical bewilderment/denial/"It can't be happening to me" reaction that people usually have when something goes wrong. You'll be far more prepared than the person who will say something like: "It took me awhile to realize it was really happening." in the after-action interview and, more to the point, you'll be more likely to survive to have an after-action interview.

 

[Glenn Bartley]

I'm prepared for a flat tire but it doesn't mean that I have to expect a flat tire, nor does it mean I have to go through life constantly thinking about the possibility that I might have a flat tire at any moment.

In your opening post, you are faulted those who try to stay aware of their situation. Now that I red the above quote, I beleive that you are confusing being aware with suffering from anxiety. Always thinking that you will be involved in a shootout at any moment woud be anxiety not awreness. There is a big difference.

All the best,
Glenn b

 

[youngunz4life]

good thread

I would be lying if the thought hadnt crossed my mind. Pure statistics alone give me a better chance of having a CCW, gun, HD/SD encounter just because I carry. Also, in the back of my mind I wondered if I was self-fulfilling a prophecy or to better describe maybe something would happen because of it all. I do know however and have always known that this just isn't true to the best of my knowledge. It is all preventative or 'just in case'. I am not paranoid and CCWers are not paranoid(or I should say, some are and some are not just like non-CCWers). I do know that at first it heightens your awareness and possibly careful suspicions sort of like the post that mentioned rookie cops above. I noticed this when I we first bought the farm and someone was just banging on the door while I changed the baby. I didn't answer and had a revolver on the bookcase but it ended up being a work colleague who needed my printer. I won't just blindly answer the door. Growing up I wouldn't have thought twice. I still don't know if its my age, my responsibility to my family, the times, etc, or a combination of them.

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

Preparedness....

We work on that.
Were the soldiers prepared at Fort Hood?
Is it a bad thing that Texas will soon approve Carry Permits for College Students?

We have a 30 day food stock. We have a water stock. We can run electrictiy off a car battery, we can convert our gas to LP.

If I could not protect what we have worked for, what good will it do?

 

[JohnKSa]

In your opening post, you are faulted those who try to stay aware of their situation.

I pointed out that there are people who don't believe it's ALWAYS possible to stay alert and aware and also that there are people who don't WANT to always stay alert and aware, particularly in certain surroundings that they associate with rest and relaxation.

Now that I red the above quote, I beleive that you are confusing being aware with suffering from anxiety.

No, I'm pointing out that some folks believe that ALWAYS being aware and alert is either evidence of, or a recipe for, anxiety. And it's true that some confuse the two. People who fall into that camp then often use that sort of reasoning as an excuse for just dismissing the whole issue.

That's a mistake.

What I'm trying to get across is that one can be prepared by simply not always expecting safety. One need not live with the constant expectation that danger could be just around the corner as long as one doesn't go around corners expecting that only safety lies around each corner.

You do not expect anything bad to happen, yet you do not expect that nothing can happen, but you do not stay aware of your situation and you walk right out in front of a 10 ton truck doing 30mph.

The only way you would walk out in front of a truck would be if you expected that nothing bad could happen while you were crossing the street.

Some folks would tell you that in order to be prepared you need to be expecting trouble or would claim that's what some trainers teach or that some gun owners advocate. We see this debate play out on every "Do you carry at home?" thread. One camp sees it as very logical to carry at home while others claim that anyone who would carry at home must be paranoid, that they must be expecting trouble all the time. They then typically wrap up their remarks saying something like: "If I were that worried about trouble I'd move."

I'm saying people don't need to expect trouble or fear trouble to be prepared and that being prepared doesn't mean that people are worried about trouble or constantly expecting trouble. Being prepared to me just means that I don't fall into the trap of believing that nothing bad could possibly happen. In other words, I'm not constantly expecting trouble, I'm just not dismissing the possibility of trouble.