In the past I've posted some thoughts from a friend who styles himself (for publication) "Our friend in the mountains". He sent me a couple more e-mails in recent days, and I thought they were worth sharing.
Standing Guard
We've gotten used to the "Designated Driver" - the person in any family or group outing that agrees to not consume alcohol so he or she can do the driving.
It's now time to add the "Designated Watch Stander" - the person who stands watch for the family or group when they are out and about. The Designated Watch Stander has no other duties than standing watch - they don''t provide child care, assist with Grandma, do the cooking or food prep, or play with their phone. They stand watch. The first time they are caught paying attention to their phone instead of Watch Duties they are forever banned, not from watch standing, but banned from the group.
The Designated Watch Stander should be armed - and skilled with that arm - but there is no reason for them to be the only person armed or skilled in use of arms.
Standing watch is Real Work - properly standing watch consumes a lot of mental energy, which is why in the military one stands watch in 2-hour or 4-hour increments. And when the watch changes the handover of responsibility must be clear and unequivocal - "I am relieving you, I take the watch;" "I stand relieved, you have the watch."
There should also be an "Alert Word;" this is easier with families, but important for groups as well. One word, or simple two-word phrase that is unique and very difficult to misunderstand or mishear, and the response from everyone in the group must be uniform: upon hearing the Alert Word all talking stops, all activity stops, everyone pays attention to instructions from the Watch Stander. No one does the "huh, what?" stupidity dance. It is quie reasonable to take two minutes to develop a response plan, what the group, and its members do, in the event an active threat develops.
All of this requires an understanding that threats exist, from terrorists on paragliders to snatch-and-grab thieves stealing from cars, and everything in between, and that Things Are Serious. Some people will refuse to accept that; those are not people with whom you want to spend time, they are mentally locked into what psychologists call Normalcy Bias, and that can be hazardous to your health and safety.
"Personal status reporting"
Family members can be, and usually are, in very different places during the course of a day, often, in several different places - school, grocery store, work, athletic practice, etc. When "something happens" each will be concerned about the whereabouts, and status, of each other.
Pick a trusted friend or relative to perform as an Information Clearing House, preferably one some distance away to avoid being involved in the same event; if you live in Miami picking Aunt Sally in Ft Lauderdale is the wrong answer, she will be involved in the same hurricane you are.
Uncle Ralph in Des Moines is a much better choice, unless Uncle Ralph is a chatterbox who can't keep the calls short, and who needs his reading glasses and a pencil to make notes but can never find either, etc.
The calls need to be short and concise: "Uncle Ralph, this is Suzy, there's been an incident at school that happened when I was in 3rd period Algebra. I'm not sure about all the details, but I'm fine, and my algebra class has been evacuated to the Pine Grove church at 4th and Main St. I'll call with more info as I have it."
"Hi Ralph, this is Fred, I'm at work, everything's fine here, I heard something about an event at a school here, has any family member called?" "Fred, Suzy called, she didn't have any specific details, she's fine, her class was evacuated to the Pine Grove church at 4th and Main St., I haven't heard from Marge or Junior."
"OK, thanks, Ralph, I'll call back at the top of the next hour. My cell is on and with me."
These calls are not "to catch up on things," discuss who is going to what dance with whom, did you get that problem with the outboard motor fixed, exchange recipes, etc. Short and informative. The Info Clearing House person needs to be able to prod callers to get to the point, not let them ramble - it's "who, what, where, when, goodbye." That person should have a list handy with everyone's contact info - meaning "instantly accessible" not buried in a drawer with 6 months of old grocery lists. And, being able to receive texts is very useful - in any emergency telephone systems, both landline and cell, become overloaded and it may be difficult to get through with voice calls but texts are not only "store-and-forward" - texts will be queued and sent when the system has the capacity to do so - and texts consume a lot less system capacity (bandwidth) than voice calls.
Useful ideas for those preparing to deal with emergencies. Thanks, "Friend in the mountains"!
Peter
12 comments:
My wife and I deliberately relocated to an area that, we hope, will offer us a modicum of safety. I have recently invested in a semi-automatic rifle and 1000 rounds of ammunition. Both my wife and I carry concealed handguns with us during all waking hours. Still, there is an element missing, one that your musings point out. My stepson lives near us with his wife and three young children. He is smart, capable and brave. He would be a true asset in times of trouble. Alas, he has adopted an impenetrable attitude of "I have too many daily concerns, I don't have room for anything more." We can't even get him to accept our help with a grab-and-go kit. Now, should things go truly pear-shaped, I will have a massive, additional concern on top of my others.
Quick suggestion on the call-in.
Name first, Status second, Location third, Planned Movement fourth.
"It's me, Bob X. I'm okay. I'm at YYYY. Going to ZZZ at some time. Then home."
It's kind of like talking to your mom. "Mom, it's me, I'm fine, everyone is fine, blah blah blah.
Otherwise, yeah, everything else is okay.
watch turnover was less " reactor shutdowm. coldwet layup. 2 banger air compressor going on, ews is back here somewhere. Just made a fresh pot" and more "I had it, you got it" "I got it.Is there any coffee left"
EM2(SS)
We have used a family code phrase since the kids were little. Had to use it in earnest once- I mention it in this report which is long and has a lot of detail from the day.
https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2017/03/29/the-houston-livestock-show-and-rodeo-or-a-prepper-goes-to-a-large-public-event-guest-post-by-nick/
We also have a verification code word, and a duress word. They are opposites so easier to remember. Our residential alarm company used to call back if the alarm was tripped, and they required a code word to prove it was me calling off the alarm. I just expanded that to the whole family. The duress code word came later, when the kids were able to process the idea that someone might force a word out of me, or them.
The kids feel safer knowing we've thought about stuff like this and that they participate in it.
nick
Highly recommend Pat McNamara's book: "Sentinel: Become the Agent in Charge of Your Own Protection Detail" on this subject.
Definitely both day-to-day as well as constant threat/WROL takeaways, and a VERY brief read of less than 150 pages... Also recommend it to all family before traveling to 2nd/3rd world these days as a whole lot of common sense for those who don't live it day-to-day.
For those who don't know -- McNamara is a former Green Beret and former Delta Force, where he retired as a Sgt Major. Check out his "The Veterans Project Interview" if you want to know more Re: his background.
Sadly almost everyone these days must suffer through a traumatic event before they would consider implementing such plans. Trying to do so before such an event will only get you labeled as a wacko...or something worse.
Just a suggestion- get more ammo. If "things" end up where they are going, 1,000 rds will go pretty fast.
Instead of uncle Remus, use a pre set up group text that way everyone gets updates, but shouldn’t respond unless they are also in the danger zone.
Good post
Left out is the note that all calls will be OUT to the Designated Information Clearinghouse, because all incoming calls to the Hot Zone will be blocked by TPTB and the call carriers, per standing protocol, in most serious events.
All touching base will thus be done secondhand, and relayed by that designated contact.
Which is why that person had better not be some doddering fool, but rather someone as serious as a heart attack, 24/7/forever, and capable of manning that function as well exactly like a Watch Stander.
Otherwise they're functionally worthless as well.
Even military organizations have difficulty performing this in perpetuity; so don't expect your little gang will get it much better when it counts.
Hence the need to depend on P-A-C-E methods, when things really count.
IOW, if you haven't already got a Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D, at minimum, you're still doing it wrong.
Serious players will thus probably include satellite text message means at one of those levels, eliminating the middleman, on the theory that anything that affects space means you're probably so far from screwed you can't see it from here. It's a pricy option as well, but the one least likely to be critically affected, if you do your homework beforehand, and it isn't actually TEOTWAWKI.
1,000 rounds of rifle ammo works out to either 7 or 8 firefights, 140 rds per,or 120 rds per, about what a rifleman can carry into one. If you can get back and reload/resupply, if you used all your ammo in the firefight. Using half your ammo getting ambushed, and not chasing the bad guys away, means you should disengage, and resupply. The yardstick used by Mike Vandeboegh was 2,000 rds of rifle ammmo, 1,000 rds of pistol, and 500 rds of shotgun ammo, normal stockage, PER GUN of that caliber. Not always possible, but something to aim for. Ahem. Graham Combat Kill House rule #2. Everything is your responsibility.
Combat and maybe hunting is not all of the ammunition requirement. If you intend to hit anything when you shoot, you need to keep up the target practice.
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