A few weeks ago a friend of mine in the National Guard contacted me, frustrated by the lack of physical security of the military in the continental US. More specifically, he complained that every time he transports millions of dollars in automatic weapons and other supplies he is prohibited from carrying even a sidearm to protect the equipment. He was angry and quite vocal about it. “When I’m a civilian I can carry a pistol to protect myself, but when I’m on duty, the military disarms me!” I don’t blame him. I just always assumed that soldiers transporting millions of dollars of military arms in a convoy would be armed to protect all that military hardware. Silly me. (There I go again, trying to interject common sense into government.)
And then came the terrorist shooting at Fort Hood.
Who would have thought that military bases are the soft underbelly of the continental United States? There is no excuse for putting our troops in harm’s way and leaving them totally defenseless.
Then yesterday another soldier sent me a poster from the Department of Homeland Security on how to respond to an active shooter. This poster was being disseminated by the military in order to teach soldiers how to respond in the event of a Fort Hood type attack. The poster gave the following instructions:
How to Respond to an Active Shooter
1. Evacuate
- Have an escape route planned
- Leave your belongings behind
- Call 911 when you are safe
2. Hide
- Be out of the active shooter’s view
- Lock the door
- Silence your cell phone or pager
- Turn off any source of noise
3. If evacuation and hiding is not possible, as a last resort, take action against the shooter.
- Act aggressively
- Throw items at him/her.
- Yell
- Remain calm.
Leave it to the United States Government to come up with something this stupid! Here we have highly trained, highly motivated, trained soldiers, who have volunteered to bravely defend our country, and the US Government is telling them to run and hide! This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad and grave. When I was in the Marine Corps thirty years ago, the last thing we were told to do was run and hide from the enemy. That wasn’t even in my nature.
It’s bad enough that anti-gun liberals have tried to turn the American civilian public into defenseless sheep, now they are trying to do the same to the proud, US military.
Call me daft, but here’s an idea. Give these American soldiers back their guns and change the Homeland Security poster to read like this:
How to Respond to an Active Shooter
- Double tap the center of exposed mass!
- Draw a chalk line around the body.
- Wait for the police to come and take him away.
I think I like that much better. It’s a poster I can live with.
Now let’s juxtapose the Fort Hood shooting to one that occurs overseas in a war zone when American soldiers are armed and empowered. How many shots would Islamic terrorists, Major Hasan, have gotten off before dying in a hale of return fire? Not very many. The important thing is that our soldiers would have been able to defend themselves. But isn’t it sad and amazing that soldiers who have fought for our freedom are denied freedom when on America soil. That’s right, they are denied the right to keep and bear arms, their Second Amendment freedoms whenever they enter a US military base – their own home.
Brave, innocent soldiers die when political correctness invades the military.
If I was still a soldier, I would be thoroughly, righteously, pissed off!
Can you imagine how frustrated those Fort Hood soldiers must have felt as they watched one man gun down dozens of their unarmed comrades? The government trained them. The government armed them. The government nurtured the warrior spirit already beating inside their hearts, but when they needed it most, the government took away the essential tools a soldier needs to protect and defend.
The government giveth and the government taketh away.
But this time they went too far.
Recently I learned of a movement within the military, law enforcement, and even with civilians all across the country which reminds people of the oath they took to uphold the United States Constitution. You can learn about Oath Keepers by going to www.oathkeepers.org. Check it out and learn about the 10 orders that an Oath Keeper will never obey.
Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, reserves, National Guard, veterans, Peace Officers, and Fire Fighters who will fulfill the Oath we swore, with the support of like minded citizens who take an Oath to stand with us, to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God. Our Oath is to the Constitution
The Oath Keeper motto is "Not on our watch!"
People all across America are waking up to the lunacy of the anti-Second Amendment agenda. I urge you to live in a common sense way. When and active shooter enters your sphere on influence, don’t run, don’t hide, render him an inactive shooter with accurate return fire. And while you’re at it, help us vote anti-freedom idiots out of office and let’s make pistol-free zones extinct!
Comments
I am saddened that as a civilian, legally carrying my firearm, I can more effectively defend myself than the soldiers who are here to protect me.
Every day I carry and defend myself, my family, my friends. Every day. Not one day goes by that I don't carry thanks to Skip's CPL program. It is very sad that the soldiers are experienced to fire from enemies abroad, yet have no means to protect themselves while as soldiers, on the base. Of course, no one is going to hurt them on base are they? No one is going to hurt you at McDonalsd, Wal-Mart, Lowes, the local gas station or grocery store.....think again. If we knew ahead of time that we would be challenged to use our firearms for protection we would avoid that are that day, that hour with impunity. No one wants to use his weapon in defense, as in no one wants to be in a car accident. But, we buckle up and pay up the auto insurance..just in case.
Vern
Clearly the people running Dept of Homeland Insecurity are not made of the same metal that the Americans had who created the U.S. before, during, and post Revolutionary War. They care more about hiding behind desks than confronting and stopping threats.
How can these imbeciles be counted on to defend a nation if they obviously and clearly do not know how to even stop an individual active shooter? The terrorists are using our own sensibilities, shortsightedness, and predictability to wage war against us as they so effectively did on 9/11 and vital lessons have not been learned.
Here we are still trying to define what terrorism is?
My solution for an active shooter threat is the Mozambique Drill as taught by Jeff Cooper, a well place double tap to the center upper thorax followed immediately by one round to the cranial cavity. That's how one deals with an actively threat.
The first word in the government's advice is "Evacuate." But they don't say what to evacuate.
Based on the rest of the useless advice, they must mean evacuate your bowels and bladder.
"A few weeks ago a friend of mine in the National Guard contacted me, frustrated by the lack of physical security of the military in the continental US. More specifically, he complained that every time he transports millions of dollars in automatic weapons and other supplies he is prohibited from carrying even a sidearm to protect the equipment." First I agree with the majority of the article. I also am angered that soldiers are not allowed to protect themselves. But with that said, Chapter 7 of Army Regulation 190-11 specifically requires that there will be an armed individual present during the transport of Category II weapons, (meaning automatic weapons). That Nat. Guard soldier's command is violating regulation, and should be held accountable. I suggest the I.G. or even his Congess Critter. That aside, it is embarrassing for unarmed soldiers to be slaughtered, when weapons are mere yards away. What happened to guard duty of large gathering areas?
The poster omits the Technique taught the infantry at Ft. Bragg durng the 1940s. Step 1 was to close your eyes and squeeze them as tightly shut as possible. Also make very tight fists. Then feel small so you'll be hard to see.
One commenter had practical advice about protecting oneself in an active combat zone. The catch is that you'd better have a good lawyer back home for responding the murder charge that's sure to follow.
"Fight back! Whenever you are offered violence, fight back! The aggressor does not fear the law, so he must be taught to fear you. Whatever the risk, and at whatever the cost, fight back!"
-Jeff Cooper, LCOL USMC (ret), November 1993
Heh.
1) Double tap the center of exposed mass!
2) Draw a chalk line around the body.
An active shooter may have other surprises. You shoot until he stops moving. Not until you think he's dead, but until HE thinks he's dead.
Subject of course to the number of active shooters and your ammo supply. For multiple targets, get them down then re-apply as necessary.
As you said in a article after VT. I will not die on my knees begging for mercy. It's a shame that we allow our military to do just that. Everyone in the military above the rank of E-4 should be carrying a sidearm at all times.
It's time to form up the militia of the people. They are the real guarantors of the rights of the people. Isn't it usual, that when the Democrats(Marxists in training)gain control of govt., that we have to go through this bunker mentality. Their political correctness is killing us. Geo. Washington said, "that firearms are our liberty teeth." They protect all of our rights with more, than just words. Govt. is not reason, it is force. Ultimately, it is our responsibility to contain it's size and influence. Start forming up!
So I becan carrying concealed at the tender age of 22, almost a decade ago. I got my courses out of the way, got my permit, etc. Almost every day from that day to this, I've had my gun with me. I wasn't transformed into a slavering psychotic killer, have never had anything more than a bad batch of mexican food to my 'offensive behavior' credit, etc. I know it's a good idea, for more reasons than there's space here to enumerate. How is it that our standing military is not MANDATED to carry at least a sidearm at all times while on duty? Every Single One of 'em, and maybe the security-cleared civvies as well? Somebody please 'splain me?
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