Tennessee Gentleman
New member
We have a security system that I set every evening once we are "in" for the night. In the "at home" mode it basically covers the perimeter doors. This morning about 3:30 am it went off. As it turns out, no one was probably trying to get in, rather I had not shut the porch door all the way and I think it was pulled open by the A/C. Anyway, I could find no evidence of any attempted entry and so my best guess is that it was a false alarm. The Security service called just like in the Brinks commerical and so forth. No police came. I live in a pretty nice suburb.
However, here is my critique of my and my wifes' reactions after the alarm went off. First, I was in a very deep sleep and woke up very disoriented. I retrieved my weapon very quickly (S&W 642 w/Speer Gold Dots 135gr.) but left my flashlight (Surefire G2) in the drawer, went back and retrieved it too! While this is going on my wife walks out into the living room to turn off the alarm but says to me "Is somebody in here?" By this time (about a minute after the alarm goes) I am very awake and begin to go looking thru the house, 642 in hand with G2 like I was trained in my advanced handgun class. My 17 year old son is dead asleep (dynamite wouldn't get him up) downstairs and when I ask him if he is all right and tell him the alarm went off he just says Huhhh? but gets up and grabs his old baseball bat and followed me around. My house has several doors that lead outside on two different floors.
Once I saw nobody was at any of the doors I told the alarm company that we were fine and cancelled the alarm. Then I went back to bed. Lying there I thought, "What if the guy came in and is now hiding in the closet or upstairs?" So, I get up again and then look some more about the upstairs. No one was there and I could not get back to sleep until it was time to go do a church project. I'll sleep I hope better tonight.
The interesting thing I observed about myself was how disoritned I was and how hard it was to "get in gear". This came totally out of the blue and I think I was vulnerable.
After it was over my wife asked: "What should I do if you're not here and that thing goes off?" I am thinking thru those answers now and am ashamed to admit I have no plan for that. Also, my wife will have no part of firearms or training. No lectures about that one as I have been married to this lass for 21 years and it ain't gonna change. My son has had some training but the attacker would have to pop smoke and flares to get him up. Anyway, any ideas for a plan?
PS Am retired military but don't feel like the well oiled machine I once was.
However, here is my critique of my and my wifes' reactions after the alarm went off. First, I was in a very deep sleep and woke up very disoriented. I retrieved my weapon very quickly (S&W 642 w/Speer Gold Dots 135gr.) but left my flashlight (Surefire G2) in the drawer, went back and retrieved it too! While this is going on my wife walks out into the living room to turn off the alarm but says to me "Is somebody in here?" By this time (about a minute after the alarm goes) I am very awake and begin to go looking thru the house, 642 in hand with G2 like I was trained in my advanced handgun class. My 17 year old son is dead asleep (dynamite wouldn't get him up) downstairs and when I ask him if he is all right and tell him the alarm went off he just says Huhhh? but gets up and grabs his old baseball bat and followed me around. My house has several doors that lead outside on two different floors.
Once I saw nobody was at any of the doors I told the alarm company that we were fine and cancelled the alarm. Then I went back to bed. Lying there I thought, "What if the guy came in and is now hiding in the closet or upstairs?" So, I get up again and then look some more about the upstairs. No one was there and I could not get back to sleep until it was time to go do a church project. I'll sleep I hope better tonight.
The interesting thing I observed about myself was how disoritned I was and how hard it was to "get in gear". This came totally out of the blue and I think I was vulnerable.
After it was over my wife asked: "What should I do if you're not here and that thing goes off?" I am thinking thru those answers now and am ashamed to admit I have no plan for that. Also, my wife will have no part of firearms or training. No lectures about that one as I have been married to this lass for 21 years and it ain't gonna change. My son has had some training but the attacker would have to pop smoke and flares to get him up. Anyway, any ideas for a plan?
PS Am retired military but don't feel like the well oiled machine I once was.