Surviving an Active Shooter Event
Shaffer Security Group (SSG) knows how to survive Active Shooter Events. Action is survival. Inaction is certain death. Having a Survival Mindset is critical!
On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old security guard, walked into the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida and killed 49 people. The death toll makes this attack the worst terrorist event on U.S. soil since 9/11.
In the after-action reports of this horrific shooting, it was learned 13 individuals died while huddling together in one of the club’s restrooms! They waited for their turn to die!
I do not want to speak ill of the dead, and I was not present during this horrific murder spree. But, I have to ask, “What is it that prevented those young men & women huddled in the restroom from banding together, developing a plan, and once the shooter entered the bathroom, pounce on him like a pack of lions and beat the bloody hell out of him?”
Had I been at the Pulse Nightclub on the that tragic night, I do know Mr. Mateen would not have found me helplessly hiding in the bathroom stall. I also know if one of my 3 daughters were trapped in that bathroom with 12 other individuals, they would not have waited to be slaughtered. I am confident they would’ve developed a plan, and when Mr. Mateen entered the restroom, they would have:
- grabbed his weapon,
- gouged his eyes,
- choked his neck,
- tackled his legs,
- elbowed his rib cage,
- ripped at his scrotum,
- beat him until he no longer moved.
Action is Survival; Inaction is Certain Death!
What is it that prevented these young adults from ‘fighting to the death’? It was “Fight or Die” once the shooter entered the restroom. Why did they choose to die?
Are we raising our children that fighting is so abhorrent that even in the face of death they do not fight back? We saw the same response in some of the victims at the Virginia Tech shooting. We need to re-evaluate what we are teaching our children. For them to think there is no evil in the world or that fighting is unjust is doing them a disservice. I addressed this same issue in a previous Blog dated 11/03/2016 titled: “Survival Mindset”. https://shaffersecuritygroup.com/2016/11/03/survival-mindset-in-a-fair-gunfight/
Survival is a Mindset!
More than equipment, training or skill, survival is a “Mindset”. Every good Warrior, whether it is the FBI HRT, Navy SEAL, USASOC, or a good SWAT cop, all have one mindset! That mindset is, there is no one, absolutely NO ONE who is going to kill them. Not today, tomorrow, or the next day. A warrior believes no one will ‘best him/her’. It is NOT bravado or conceit or pride, it is a mindset which they believe makes them invincible. Don’t get me wrong, as a former member of the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), I know how hard these men train. They train mercilessly. Warriors are always learning and trying to improve their skill set. However, it is their attitude (mindset) that keeps these men alive in the heat of battle.
Maybe its time we start developing a new attitude in our children. By insulating our children from the horrors of the world we are only making them easy fodder for the real evil that does exist. Omar Mateen was evil. There are more like him….
Stay in the Fight! Train Hard!
Contact Shaffer Security Group for your Active Shooter Response training today.
https://www.fbi.gov/about/partnerships/office-of-partner-engagement/active-shooter-resources
