Run, hide, tell

[Workingman]

In case of a terrorist attack this video says it all.

It is shocking that it is deemed necessary for this to be issued, but the real world is out there. How effective the instructions would be in the face of a real attack is, however, debatable.

When instinct and the adrenaline kicks in there is no telling what will happen. For the majority flight will be the first response, that means an exit, any exit. That will drive the herd. The herd then becomes a danger to itself. If one stumbles many will fall and the crush from behind will be irresistible.

The best advice from the film is to keep calm and think clearly, but how many can do that is unknown. The next best piece of advice it to obey any orders from your rescuers, regardless of how harsh they might sound. These people will be twitchy for their own safety and if you get in their way you are part of the problem.

[Kaz]

Yes, I saw this on the news this morning. Very alarming, and like yourself Frank I am unsure of its value - as you say you never know how you will react until you are in the situation!

[Diflower]

I do agree, but it occurred to me it might help.
Lots of times you hear people saying that somehow they remembered advice on tv, e.g. using defibrillators.
So something may stick, and be useful.

[Workingman]

Di, I hope that you are right.

I did Rapid Reaction Force training and we were taught to lie down if trapped, feet towards the shooter, and to cover our heads with our hands. Most shooters will spray the area at torso height before moving on - it is not a Hollywood myth. Those crouching behind chairs and counters are in the area of fire - a chair or MDF counter is no protection at all.

With explosives it is very different. There have been very few incidents of secondary explosions following the fist one. I expect that to change. Usually the immediate area is "safe" following an explosion. I say this sadly, but I do foresee a time when those fleeing an initial explosion will become the victims of secondary ones. Where will they be? The exits everyone is looking for.

[Diflower]

See now, I might remember that - feet towards the shooter

[Suff]

WM is right about getting behind something. The copper jacketed military rounds they use will go through six inches of Brick. You need a wall and visibility barred between you. If they can't see you they won't waste a round on you but if you crouch behind a bar or the barrier at the beginning of a theatre, they will shoot through it at you.

In the situation there is one golden rule. Don't panic. Scared, certainly, panic, no help at all. Get yourself out of sight first and behind significant stonework second.

Next rule is if you have to run and you have space, run sideways. Not away from them. Between 20m and 100m they can just reach out without effort and gun you down. The hardest thing they will do with the rifle is swing it from side to side. Up and down (range outwards), no issue, feet sideways, issue.

If you have that in your head the next thing to remember is that all automatic weapons pull up and right when they fire. Someone firing constantly will be pulling the weapon down and left all the time just to keep shooting in a straight line. So if you want to get out of there and not be shot you get down and go to your right. Their weapon will be doing the opposite so you stand a better chance. Not much if you are in a restricted space, but better. If you are out in the open you stand a much better chance if you are doing the right thing and others are not.

If you really want to be prepared it might be worthwhile programming a quick dial to 999 into your phone, although it takes so long to unlock mine that I'm faster using the emergency dial from the lock screen and dialling 999.

For those who just want to get out of there. I'd say RUN and keep running. Don't hide if you can run and tell on the way. Just make sure you run away and always out of sight. I was discussing this with a friend who shoots the other day. 6 times out of 10 I can hit a person sized target at 200m from a standing position with a SLR. As far as I know the AK is more accurate.... So assume that if they can see you, no matter how far away they seem to be, they can kill you. Stay out of sight.

Those of us with training have a slightly different view. I won't run if I have a chance of fighting. Which basically means if I'm behind one who is alone and I have something I can kill them with, like a reasonable sized chair. For me a dead terrorist at my feet and a weapon with 64 rounds in it is far safer than running or hiding. It would allow me to defend and kill to protect. Much more what my training is about.

When I faced the reality that I might need to do this in Brussels, the first thing I did was look up two things.

1. How to load, make ready, aim and fire an AK
2. How to disable an AK so that if I have to leave one behind it can't be used against me.

It is a very different viewpoint from the one the Government is putting out, but then again they are not aiming it at people like me and WM. There is, of course, no chance I'll do a battle of balaclava at 4 guys with AK's standing in front of me. I'll be crouching and running to the right to the first large wall that can hide me from sight. What I do then will depend on the situation.

[Suff]

The best advice from the film is to keep calm and think clearly, but how many can do that is unknown.

Most people don't want to think about the situation and that is the worst thing that you can possibly do. I recall the first time I did a first aid session where people were acting. People lying on the floor unconscious, people screaming, people running around. The first impact was incredible then the training kicks in and you settle down.

If you don't think about it. If you don't put yourself in the position and think through what your options are, then when you find yourself in the situation, you will panic and scream and run blindly. Even two seconds of though is better than blind panic but you need to already know your chosen action before so that those two seconds give you time to remember it.

It is why the military trains. Because the mind is an interesting beast which responds to training by trotting out the trained response, sometimes instantaneously and without thought.

I recall the time I was standing with another solider holding up the trailer bar of a 2 tonne trailer. The 10 tonne truck backing down a slope to us lost it's brakes and the sergeant shouted jump. I jumped, no thought, no instant of decision, I just did it. The Corporal standing next to me froze and the sergeant had to drag him out fractions of a second before he would have been crushed between the trailer and the truck.

Training. A salient lesson.

[Workingman]

It is strange how training kicks in, isn't it? It depends on where I am when it kicks off how I react - I might run or I might choose to fight.

If this info film saves just one life it will be worth it. Sadly, I am not sure that it will.

[Suff]

Having watched the video, the main issue I take with it is the people outside standing behind that thin wooden enclosure.

If anyone is in any doubt about the sheer penetration power of these weapons, this page should make it abundantly clear...

The other thing I think could have been made very clear is this. They show the police treating people as if they are a threat. But they do not make the key point. Even if the police are shouting at you and pointing a loaded weapon at you, even if you can't see their face or their eyes but can only hear them shouting at you, you are SAFE.

Doing anything but doing what you are told and calmly carrying out all orders will make you UNSAFE.

I know it's enough to unnerve anyone when a paramilitary officer points a weapon at you and shouts at you. But the simple point is this, if it were terrorist you would already be dead. So be calm and do as you are told. It's not something you can imagine when you have not experienced it but looking down that barrel is somewhat unnerving. Trained military do not deliberately point weapons at peoples faces, whether unloaded or carrying a blank firing adaptor.

One other point. Assault weapons do not sound like starting pistols unless they are very far away. I've worked in the Butts of people firing at 300m away. The sound you hear is crack, boom. The round is supersonic so the first sound you hear is the round going through the target (the crack), the second sound is the boom of it firing from 300m away.

If anyone is in any doubt about what it sounds like, close up, watch this. Even then this does not do justice to the actual sound. The one time I forgot to put my ear defender in when firing a relatively small 9mm round, my right ear rang for several minutes and the sound was actually like a blow.

If anyone is really interested in the technicalities, just watch the barrel of that gun when fired. In single shot mode you can see it kick up and right and he has to adjust it every time. In 3 round burst you can see that it kicks well up to the right and has to be brought back down again. In full auto it's all over the place. Just think that a small, 1/4 inch difference of the barrel at 30m can be right off target.

I know it's boring and overkill for most people but these are actually the things which enable people to survive in wars when they are tasked with attacking this kind of fire and winning the position.