Preparedness for when

NewShadow

Was reading this before bed:

Brian Douglas Wells (November 15, 1956 – August 28, 2003) was an American pizza delivery man who was killed by a remotely controlled bomb fastened to his neck, under coercion from the maker of the bomb. After he was apprehended by the police for robbing a bank, the bomb was detonated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Brian_Douglas_Wells

What would you do if terrorists/criminals strapped explosives to you, left you in the middle of a city, and gave you instructions to rob a bank to have the explosives removed?

nuatha

GreyQueen wrote: »

Thanks, NewShadow. It's good to have used the stock pictures, too. Hope others will choose to contribute.

When my present trainers (greyish hiking types) wear out, I am going to look for a version of something I previously owned but wore out; black leather sneakers. Versatile, polishable, semi-smart but also casual.

Generally I'll be wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of walking trousers (often the Craghoppers version of Rohan Bags) depending on the weather I may or may not have a long sleeved shirt generally worn loose and open and will have a black waistcoat which houses my EDC. and will carry a shades of dark grey weatherproof jacket. Short distances from home or the car will have me in dark canvas shoes. Longer distances will have me in walking boots or shoes (I generally drive in lighter shoes, it gives me a better feel of the pedals. I always have at least one pair of walking shoes/boots with me).
In winter I generally have a full beard, in summer am clean shaven, I have long hair worn in a pony tail.
If I need to move things up market for a pitch as a creative, its usually sand chinos with matching suede shoes and a jewel tone shirt, with my usual gear in a bag in the car. More rarely it might be decently tailored suit dark grey or charcoal, quality leather shoes, cotton shirt and tie.
(As a rule I don't take suit jobs these days, so that's posh social which also applies to morning dress and the like).
I wear glasses for distance, can cope (but wouldn't want to drive) without them. I've recently added a collapsible hat to the car carry.
I spend a chunk of time with people who wear expensive camo (wildlife photographers) and am generally less visible than they are.
Part of the visibility thing is how you move, if you move as if you belong and you are not dressed too inappropriately you will generally pass un-remarked.

greenbee wrote: »

It's not just the farmers PP... all the city boys who commute from here have large collections of shotguns... (mind you, I wouldn't like to rely on them to hit anything in a crisis...)

I wouldn't like to be anywhere near them, if they are anything like some of the folk I see in these parts. Climbing gates with unbroken guns has become common place again and shooting accuracy is deplorable. Several beaters have commented on seriously poor gun discipline and I know of a retriever that had shot removed after a shoot last autumn.

Though after chatting to some of the local armed response lads, I got the impression there isn't a gun shortage in this town either.

nuatha

NewShadow wrote: »

Was reading this before bed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Brian_Douglas_Wells

What would you do if terrorists/criminals strapped explosives to you, left you in the middle of a city, and gave you instructions to rob a bank to have the explosives removed?

Head to the quietest area I can think of, preferably a basement car park and see if I can remove the device.
That would give me better odds of surviving than following their instructions and would minimise the number of potential causalities - I'd rather not take an escort with me to the next life.

milasavesmoney

Rain helps mask body heat from thermal imagers.
Thick wool blankets do also if you don't have a Mylar blanket handy.

[Deleted User]

We're not rural, we're on the coast and have very easy access from the Solent into the river and from the river into the village. We are many houses not a farming community and at least 3,000 people (likely more) as we're in an area with many jobs and lots of businesses. No farm animals here other than 2 ponies and a few roe deer. Certainly not a lot of farmers who own shotguns and keep livestock!

maryb

GreyQueen wrote: »

When my present trainers (greyish hiking types) wear out, I am going to look for a version of something I previously owned but wore out; black leather sneakers. Versatile, polishable, semi-smart but also casual.

Ecco shoes are good for this. My smart casual dress code at work was always a problem because I could be called into a meeting at short notice where it needed to be smart. In the end I adopted a uniform of Marks and Sparks washable black plain trousers with the smartest black Ecco lace ups I could find. I wore that with a white tee shirt and v neck jumper most days but kept a black jacket in the office. If I needed to smarten up the jumper came off and the jacket went on. Because the Ecco shoes were at the smarter end of their range I didn't need to change them but they were comfortable enough that I could power walk 30 minutes to the station each day.

It was partly thinking about how I would get home in the event of a terrorist incident in London made me go for shoes I would always be able to walk in rather than the more usual trainers on the journey/smart shoes when you get to work combo - you can't be sure of being able to get to your comfy shoes and you can't carry them round with you

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

It's not just the farmers PP... all the city boys who commute from here have large collections of shotguns... (mind you, I wouldn't like to rely on them to hit anything in a crisis...)

Possibly able to hit the side of a barn?

A couple of years back we had a bank robbery and there was a real-time rumour (incorrect, as it happened) that the perpertrator had a gun. I came across several tens of police in one particular area of the city in the aftermath who were all armed with machine guns. Which are horribly-inaccurate weapons even in skilled hands and not the sort of thing you could safely discharge in an urban enviroment in the middle of the day with civilians all around.

Now, we're not exactly a major metropolitan area and I do not believe for a moment that these men and women had been brought in from Lunnon Town or Greater Manchester or somewhere big and important - there wasn't time. I was astonished at their numbers and disbelieving that they could all be trained firearms officers.

This led me to two possible conclusions (you may see further ones I've missed):

1. That a far larger proportion of the police are trained and authorised to carry firearms than we might expect and that they can be armed faster than we would believe possible.

2. That police with little to nil training can get tooled up with guns when the need arises.


Police have discharged live ammo in the city centre in broad daylight before now, usually bringing suspect cars to a halt by shooting out their tyres. It's pretty hair-raising when it happens.

The danger of modern life is that we frequently disbelieve what we see, or imagine that we're seeing someone filming for a movie or a TV programme. It would be pretty easy to hide dodgy activity by having some stooges around with cameras and mic booms and some youngsters with clip boards and headsets - most people would rubber-neck a bit but just assume it was entertainment being created.

thriftwizard

It was partly thinking about how I would get home in the event of a terrorist incident in London made me go for shoes I would always be able to walk in rather than the more usual trainers on the journey/smart shoes when you get to work combo - you can't be sure of being able to get to your comfy shoes and you can't carry them round with you

In the aftermath of the tube bombings in 2005, my niece had to walk 7 miles across London to get home. In the more recent riots, she had to walk 3, complete with pushchair & small baby. Luckily both days she had chosen to wear flats, though her normal preference is for towering heels. She now carries a pair of Havaianas in her bag at all times; you can't run in them, but as long as you're used to wearing flip-flops, they are at least comfortable to walk in. If possibly a tad chilly in winter...

nuatha

maryb wrote: »

It was partly thinking about how I would get home in the event of a terrorist incident in London made me go for shoes I would always be able to walk in rather than the more usual trainers on the journey/smart shoes when you get to work combo - you can't be sure of being able to get to your comfy shoes and you can't carry them round with you

I can and have walked 11 mile in the light canvas shoes that I frequently wear - that being the distance between home and MiL's. Generally if I'm more than 5 minutes from the car I'll pick up the day sack which has a decent pair of shoes and other bits and bobs. I know 5 minutes is no guarantee when the SHTF, it generally doesn't give notice.
Thank you for the recommendation of Ecco shoes.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

We're not rural, we're on the coast and have very easy access from the Solent into the river and from the river into the village. We are many houses not a farming community and at least 3,000 people (likely more) as we're in an area with many jobs and lots of businesses. No farm animals here other than 2 ponies and a few roe deer. Certainly not a lot of farmers who own shotguns and keep livestock!

Apologies, I think I started off the suggestion that you are more rural than urban. I grew up in a mining village complete with several other industries and 1100 houses which was regarded as being rural.
I suspect its one of those slippery terms that carries very different connotations to different people.

[QUOTE=GreyQueen;70693298
A couple of years back we had a bank robbery and there was a real-time rumour (incorrect, as it happened) that the perpertrator had a gun. I came across several tens of police in one particular area of the city in the aftermath who were all armed with machine guns. Which are horribly-inaccurate weapons even in skilled hands and not the sort of thing you could safely discharge in an urban enviroment in the middle of the day with civilians all around.
[/quote]
In single shot mode the H&K MP5 (used by a number of forces) is fairly accurate, they aren't sharpshooter material (rifles are preferred and issued for sniping). Generally they are used in a three round burst mode, which improves the accuracy and reduces climb (all automatics have a tendency to climb off the target in use)

Now, we're not exactly a major metropolitan area and I do not believe for a moment that these men and women had been brought in from Lunnon Town or Greater Manchester or somewhere big and important - there wasn't time. I was astonished at their numbers and disbelieving that they could all be trained firearms officers.

There's two groupings of firearms officers, Authorised Firearms Officers and Specialist Firearms Officers.
The figures I have are out of date, the Met had around 2000 AFOs and approx 70 SFOs in 2010. And the total number of AFOs across mainland forces was approx 6500.
Some are permanently armed (visible as the carry Glock automatic pistols in this part of the world and their vehicle may have Armed Response Vehicle flashes. ARVs can be mobile armouries, carrying weapons to arm a number of qualified AFOs who are not generally armed.

Police have discharged live ammo in the city centre in broad daylight before now, usually bringing suspect cars to a halt by shooting out their tyres. It's pretty hair-raising when it happens.

I wonder which Holywood film whoever thought that was a good idea had been watching. Its do able but it takes a good shot and a bit of luck. Stingers are generally more reliable at taking tyres out.

The danger of modern life is that we frequently disbelieve what we see, or imagine that we're seeing someone filming for a movie or a TV programme. It would be pretty easy to hide dodgy activity by having some stooges around with cameras and mic booms and some youngsters with clip boards and headsets - most people would rubber-neck a bit but just assume it was entertainment being created.

Frightening but true.

[Deleted User]

Not in any way a problem Nuatha, we will still be able to nip over the back fence, across a piece of grass, along a small alleyway onto a small estate and down into the woodland where we can follow the stream into one of the quiet lanes, cross the road and get on the back footpath of another estate which will lead us out of trouble and into some deep, dense woodland where we'll stay until we're certain it's safe to come out again. Be it rural or urban, we've still got it planned and hope to all the deities you care to call on it NEVER has to be used!