What Are You Going To Do When They Come For You? -- 2

This is part two of a two part series. If you missed part one click here https://www.aw-sog.com/post/what-are-you-going-to-do-and-they-come-for-you-part-1

The Scenario

It is 9 PM, and you have a big day tomorrow, which starts at 6 AM, so you have to be out of bed by 5 AM tomorrow morning. And you have to be on your best game tomorrow, because it is a very big day for you. As you close the bedroom curtains, you pause for a brief moment glancing out the window, pondering tomorrow's meetings.

Tomorrow is your day…the day you close the deal you have been working on for over a year. Everything else in your life has been put on the back burner for this deal.

As you look outside, you notice that there is no moon, the sky is heavily overcast, and there is light rain. “Wow…it is so dark out tonight that if it wasn’t for the street lights and my porch light, I couldn’t even see my front lawn or my driveway!” You are in bed and sound asleep by 10 PM.

Then you are jolted out of your deep sleep by loud noises. You roll over and glance at your bedside digital alarm clock, and you can’t see it. Then you notice that the nightlight in the hallway outside your bedroom door, which paints the path to the bathroom and its nightlight, isn’t working either. “That’s odd” you say under your breath. You glance at your digital wristwatch, and when you press the button to activate the dim light on the dial, you see that it is 2:30 AM. “2:30 in the morning!” you mumble under your breath so as to not wake your wife.

You are very groggy as you lay there in bed staring into the complete darkness, unable to see anything. You struggle to get your wits about you and figure out what that rumbling noise is about and why there are no lights on.

Then like a flash, you come to the very startling realization that these noises sound like heavy vehicles rumbling down the street outside your house. “Who and what is making this rumbling racket?” You reach for your bedside lamp and, in the pitch dark, manage to get the switch on, only to remember that no lights are working. “Duh!” you mumble under your breath. You then fumble around in the pitch black dark and finally are able to grab your flashlight off the bedside nightstand and, in the process, nearly drop it on the floor. Then you flick it on and…nothing. You bang it against the palm of your hand and...nothing. A brief thought goes through your mind; “How long has it been since I used this flashlight?” Then it dawns on you…thank God it didn’t work! You remember reading somewhere that lights can very easily become bullet magnets.

Your next thought is to arm yourself. You get out of bed and crouch on the floor, feeling around in the dark to find the pistol size gun safe that is bolted to the floor under your nightstand. That is where you keep your new 9 mm Glock and one magazine. But you cannot get the keypad lock to work because you can’t see it in the dark! The guy at the gun store told you that this safe is the best and safest place to keep your new Glock!

Then you notice that your breathing is becoming much more rapid, and your pulse is starting to pound in your neck! “Am I getting lightheaded?” Am I hyperventilating? I’ve got to get a hold of myself and calm down! I must NOT panic!” you chastise yourself as you force yourself to maintain control and slow your breathing.

You start groping around in the dark, trying to find your way to the bedroom window to see what is going on outside. In your haste, you stub the toes of your left foot on the end of the bed frame and muffle a string of cuss words as you almost collapse on the floor in agony. “It feels like I either broke a couple of toes or maybe dislocated them! Oh, my word, that hurts horribly! It’s hard to get around. I don’t know if I can walk.” But you gut it out and limp towards the bedroom window in agonizing pain. You slip the curtains apart just enough to be able to peek outside. It is completely dark outside. The streetlights are no longer on, your porch light is out, and there are no lights on in your neighbor’s homes for as far as you can see in both directions. You can’t see anything…it’s like having a black bag over your head! Then it dawns on you that there’s no electricity. The power is out everywhere. There are not even any city lights to be seen on the horizon! There is no moon, and the sky must still be heavily overcast. It is pitch black, and the rumbling noise is still going on.

And now you can hear what sounds like big diesel engines running. You are just barely able to make out raindrops on the window. “It has been raining for weeks! When will this let up?!” you mumble under your breath, as a way of complaining more about the excruciating pain in your foot rather than the rain.

Then out of your peripheral vision, you see the most horrifying thing that you have ever seen in your entire life. You are so startled by what you see that you look directly at it, and then it vanishes. You had just a brief glimpse into the impenetrable dark of night. Your mind starts to reel. “What was that? Am I seeing things that are not really there? Am I panicking that bad?” You look out of the corner of your eye again, and you can just barely make it out, but only by not looking directly at it. But there is no mistake about it. There is a column of tanks, armored personnel carriers (APC’s), and trucks rolling by on the street in front of your house with no running lights of any kind!

Tanks! You nearly yell out loud. You can’t see who they are. Your mind starts to reel with questions that have no immediate answers. “Is it the US military, UN troops, the Chinese military, the Russian military, or some combination of those? Oh My God…it is happening! We are being invaded!”

In a near panic, you hurriedly try to make your way back to your side of the bed, and in the pitch dark, you stumble over the end of the bed and wake up your wife. “Honey, what are you doing? What is the matter? Are you OK? What is that horribly loud noise outside?” You respond in a very worried and fierce whisper, “Shhhhh! Get up and get dressed right now! We have to get out of here!” “Why?" she asks, not too quietly. “Keep your voice down! No time to explain. We MUST go right now or we might all be dead in the next few minutes. We have to get the kids out of bed and leave…NOW…GO, GO, GO!!”

You ask yourself, “Where are the car keys? I am always misplacing the car keys! Car keys? The car is not going to do us any good!

The streets are blocked with tanks, APC’s and military trucks. How am I ever going to get my family out of here??!!. I will never forgive myself if they are harmed or killed because I could not protect them.”

You start looking for your clothes and can’t find all of them. You can’t make heads or tails out of what you have in your hands or if it is even right side out or not. Your wife is having the same problem.

Your toes hurt so bad it is making you nauseous. You can’t put weight on your left foot…but you have to.

“Where are my shoes?” you ask yourself. “Where are those 72-hour bug-out bags that I bought? Are they in the car, the hall closet, or the basement? I didn’t put them in the attic, did I? Where did I put them? I don’t remember where I put them! How will I get my pistol out of that damn safe without a flashlight? WHERE ARE MY SHOES? I can’t find ANYTHING. What do I do now?”

(End of Scenario)

Problem: “Where are the car keys? I am always misplacing the car keys! Car keys? The car is not going to do us any good!

Immediate Solution: The very first thing you need to do is this: Calm down and get your wits about you. This is NOT the time to be afraid or to panic. It is like an Alaska bush pilot I know told a bunch of people one time: “If your airplane engine quits, you do not have time to be afraid or to panic. If you do, you will most likely die. So keep calm, land the airplane (dead stick it), and fly it till it stops moving even on the ground. Then get out of the airplane and retrieve your survival gear. You can be afraid after that…but never panic!” When you regain your composure (and you MUST), you will be able to think clearly and find your keys.

Prevention: Always keep a spare set of car keys (or an electronic key fob) in a magnetic key box on the outside of your car. Put them in a Ziploc bag along with a moisture-absorbent packet out of your vitamin bottle. Keep them in a fairly easy place to reach in an emergency but in a place that is hard to find. The location you keep them should be out of reach of most of the road grime, sand, and salt from your tires. Check them every few months and make sure they still work. If you have a cache of gear somewhere that is locked up (and you should), PLEASE put a key to that cache in the key box! (Make a list of what you need to inspect every month and add your spare keys to the list.

Problem: The streets are blocked with tanks, APC’s, HUMVEE’s, and military trucks. How am I ever going to get my family out of here? I will never forgive myself if they are harmed or killed because I could not protect them.”

Immediate Solution: Getting out of this situation will depend on several things:

1. How big the invasion force is

2. Whose side is the invasion force on

3. How long they will rattle buy your house

4. The direction they are going

5. How many other patrols are in your area or town/city

6. How far it is it to safety

7. How good of physical shape you and your family are in for a long march

8. If you have a preplanned exit strategy (Plan A) and a Plan B, C, D, and E?

In the above scenario, you have two choices:

1.) Shelter in place and pray that they will not start dragging people out of their homes and shooting them, that they leave the water on and that you have plenty to eat and a way to cook it when the electricity is off.

2.) Bug out on foot, in your car or truck, motorcycle, bicycle, or a private airplane or horseback if you are so fortunate to have either one of them. I believe that if it is at all possible, you are always better off being able to be on the move than to be trapped in your home, or an apartment (which is even worse!).

Prevention: Be prepared! ALWAYS be prepared! Have a well-planned and well rehearsed exit strategy. Practice, practice, practice. Practice to be perfect! Practice until it is ingrained muscle memory! Practice until you can do it in the pitch dark with no flashlights, and a few broken toes.

Problem: Your toes hurt so bad it is making you nauseous. You can’t put weight on your left foot…but you have to.

Immediate Solution: Buck up, buttercup! Get tough or die! Hobbling around on a couple of broken or dislocated toes sure beats watching bag guys (BG) rape and brutalize your family and endure physical torture yourself!

Prevention: Don’t panic. Remain calm in the face of fear. You believe many self-imposed limits of what you are capable of. Many of these self-imposed limits come from fear. You were taught to fear lots of things. And some of that is healthy (Don’t touch the hot stove, for example.) However, you were taught nearly 100% of your self-imposed limits. Therefore, these limits are a direct result of what you believe about yourself, and that stems from what other people have told you. Most of what they told (taught) you were their own self-imposed limits that they projected on you. And you were gullible enough to buy into their lie.

Every man (and woman) has one fundamental question: “Do I have what it takes to fill in the blank?” But the only way you will ever know if you have what it takes is to push your limits. MOST people are capable of FAR more than they limit themselves to be...like you, for example! And if you push what you believe your limits are, you will be able to raise the bar on your limits. Then the next obvious question for you will become this: “How far can I raise the bar?” Don’t wait until the SHTF to find out. Push yourself in the good times to see what you are made of. Take some courses that will push you past your preconceived limits. You are a lot tougher than you think you are.

Problem: “Where are my shoes?” you ask yourself.

Immediate Solution: Don’t panic. Remain calm in the face of fear. You have more than one pair of shoes. Go to your closest and get another pair. If you are so disorganized that you can’t find a spare pair of shoes or boots in the dark, then the very first thing that you need to do is get organized. Start now!

Prevention: Be highly organized. Know where your stuff is and how to find it, even in the dark. Practice getting dressed in the dark with all of the lights out and the curtains drawn! Practice often, VERY often!

Problem: “Where are those 72-hour bug-out bags (KITs) that I bought? Are they in the car, the hall closet, or the basement? I didn’t put them in the attic, did I? Where did I put them? I don’t remember where I put them!

Immediate Solution: Don’t panic. Remain calm in the face of fear. If you are calm you can remember where you last saw them and go from there. You kits just didn’t fall off the face of the earth. They are somewhere, and you can find them, but you have to remain calm.

Prevention: Be highly organized. Know where your stuff is and how to find it, even in the dark. Keep your BOB with you at all times. Keep it in the car when you are traveling, even to the store. Keep it beside your bed at night. Keep it in your office during the day. Keep it at work with you, even if you are forced to leave it in the car.

And another thing about your 72-hour bug-out bag (Kit). Nearly every kit article I have read says that you only need 72 hours' worth the food, some shelter, and a fire starter to survive. That is either an outright lie to sell you a kit, or it is being pushed by people that are entirely clueless about wilderness survival and surviving an SHTF/grid-down train wreck. Having that type of kit in an SHTF scenario, with 72 hours' worth the food, means that you are only 72 hours from being just another refugee, just like millions of other people. In other words, what do you plan on doing for food after 72 hours? It is NOT as if all the stores will be restocked suddenly! An SHTF scenario is NOT going to be over in 72 hours! It might not be over for several years, if ever! If you are going to survive that scenario, you need a way to get more food.

Problem: How will I get my pistol out of that damn safe without a flashlight?

Immediate Solution: Don’t panic. Remain calm in the face of fear. If you absolutely can’t get it open in the dark, then you are going to have to use a light. Use a small weak light that is just bright enough to see the keypad. Try a lighter, light a small candle, or use the lighted screen on your phone (NOT the flashlight on your phone, it is too bright.) Try to keep the light from shining out the windows! If you are using a lighter or a candle, be careful not to start the house on fire in your panic mode!

Prevention: Do NOT keep your weapon in a safe at night! Get it out and loaded where you can use it! Get some training! Know how to use your weapon. I have a great many people tell me, “No one is going to take my gun away from me.” The vast majority of them are clueless. I can tell by how they handle (or, I should say, mishandle) their weapon. It would be simple to disarm them! In today’s world, you should be proficient enough and comfortable enough o carry your pistol EVERYWHERE you go! There are two things that you NEVER want to be caught without your pistol and plenty of ammo!

Problem: I can’t find ANYTHING. What do I do now?”

Immediate Solution: Don’t panic. Remain calm in the face of fear. Take a few deep breaths, calm down, and get your wits about you. Then you can think and apply critical thinking, reasoning, and common sense to your situation.

Prevention: Permanently erase the word “can’t” from your vocabulary. “Can’t” is what other people do, not you! You CAN, you must, and you will!

Be Bold, Be Courageous, Be Safe Dangerous.

May God Bless you and yours in these trying times,

Stryker, out

“Men like me are impossible until the day when they become necessary” Victor Hugo

“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” Albert Einstein

Stryker is the call sign of former law enforcement and security contractor working in hostile theaters. He has lived, traveled, and worked in the remotest regions of the Alaska Bush, off-the-road system, during the winter and summer. Most of his time in Alaska is spent in the Arctic, the Interior, and on the Alaska Peninsula. He has traveled extensively in the Alaska Bush via snowmobile, dog team, snow-cat, swamp trucks, ATVs, jet boats, ocean-going boats, helicopters, and airplanes. Stryker spent ten years in the Arctic learning about Arctic survival from Eskimo Elders. Stryker has also traveled extensively through 11 African counties, (some on the US State Department “don’t go there list”) and has been in two others. He has been in life-and-death survival scenarios where his years of training and practical application have saved his life and the lives of others. He is a bush pilot and regularly flies his Piper PA-18 Super Cub in the Alaska Bush, landing on gravel bars and ridge tops on tundra tires and skis. After seeing people die needlessly in the bush due to a lack of training and being poorly equipped, Stryker and his team have decided to share their vast knowledge of survival with a select few people.

You can contact Stryker at this email: contact [at] aw-sog.com