Aside from realizing that you need to pay as much attention to food and such stuff as guns and cool guy gear one of the biggest realizations people can make is that not everybody is going to be able to play Wolverine to a potential Red Dawn.
Some folks are able to shoot and loot (not condoning looting, it is just a phrase) and others are not. Everybody thinks they will rise to the occasion. Every now and then some normal guy wins a gunfight with 3 goblins or a non athletic woman runs 20 miles to get help for her kid or whatever. These things do happen but not very often. Unfortunately most people do not rise to the occasion. If the they haven't been able to do it consistently at the range or on the track it probably isn't happening. The sad truth is that far more often Joe Schmo dies from GSW and the woman gets tired 3 miles in and the kid bleeds out.
Of course you should try to do as much as you reasonably can. Put the time, money and energy into getting your body as in order as it can be. This means getting to a healthy weight and training through or at least around whatever issues you have. Still at the end of the day be aware (by pushing yourself in training) of what you can do. Not being able to run and gun is a bit of a problem. However finding this out by trying to do it will probably be the last mistake you will make.
It is worth noting that I do not count out the old guys off hand. CSM Billy Waugh ran around the mountains of Afghanistan in his 70's. That being said most 70 year old's are not CSM Billy Waugh. Obviously individuals and groups should develop standards and plans based on their actual capabilities. Plans should stem from realistic capabilities that you and yours have.
I am a big fan of having a Home Guard or JV type team. Using folks that cannot necessarily carry heavy loads, are not as mobile or whatever that can still be of value in a defensive type situation be it Red Dawn or Mad Max. These folks can pull guard duty, man local LP/OP's and stuff like that. Having Grandpa Jim and Bad Leg Johnny on the guard roster will let the Wolverines go do more patrols and let everybody sleep a bit more. You do need to come up with some sort of standardized training plan, certainly these folks can get some tactical training, if just for awareness, train and shoot to some standard. They certainly need to be able to do medical stuff.
John Mosby talked about the Contributions of the Elderly, Frail and Infirm in the context of a Red Dawn type guerrilla war. Definitely worth reading and thinking about.
To be valuable in any sort of unrest or collapse you need to do things that are valuable to people, be it a group of some sort or potential customers. Aside from being really, really good looking or fun or something this is what people will value. Learn to do stuff like fixing small mechanical things, using and repairing radios, growing food, making good food from basic ingredients, reloading ammunition, medical skills, fixing firearms, doing household repairs with minimal supplies, etc. Have the stuff to put your skills to work. We should all do this to some degree or another but if you cannot provide other contributions to a group it is even more important. Along these lines maximize whatever skill sets or resources you already have.
Also it is worth noting that squaring away your basic supplies is always important. A lot of older folks cannot do some things but they can contribute by using resources to put back supplies. Also having the skill set's of firearms use, medical treatment and tactical stuff to stay alive is essential for everybody who is able. In this, like the rest, folks will have to do the best they can. Granny probably isn't going to be dragging people around doing some (quality) cool guy TC3 training but she can still learn the skills.
Well those are my thoughts on that.
Some folks are able to shoot and loot (not condoning looting, it is just a phrase) and others are not. Everybody thinks they will rise to the occasion. Every now and then some normal guy wins a gunfight with 3 goblins or a non athletic woman runs 20 miles to get help for her kid or whatever. These things do happen but not very often. Unfortunately most people do not rise to the occasion. If the they haven't been able to do it consistently at the range or on the track it probably isn't happening. The sad truth is that far more often Joe Schmo dies from GSW and the woman gets tired 3 miles in and the kid bleeds out.
Of course you should try to do as much as you reasonably can. Put the time, money and energy into getting your body as in order as it can be. This means getting to a healthy weight and training through or at least around whatever issues you have. Still at the end of the day be aware (by pushing yourself in training) of what you can do. Not being able to run and gun is a bit of a problem. However finding this out by trying to do it will probably be the last mistake you will make.
It is worth noting that I do not count out the old guys off hand. CSM Billy Waugh ran around the mountains of Afghanistan in his 70's. That being said most 70 year old's are not CSM Billy Waugh. Obviously individuals and groups should develop standards and plans based on their actual capabilities. Plans should stem from realistic capabilities that you and yours have.
I am a big fan of having a Home Guard or JV type team. Using folks that cannot necessarily carry heavy loads, are not as mobile or whatever that can still be of value in a defensive type situation be it Red Dawn or Mad Max. These folks can pull guard duty, man local LP/OP's and stuff like that. Having Grandpa Jim and Bad Leg Johnny on the guard roster will let the Wolverines go do more patrols and let everybody sleep a bit more. You do need to come up with some sort of standardized training plan, certainly these folks can get some tactical training, if just for awareness, train and shoot to some standard. They certainly need to be able to do medical stuff.
John Mosby talked about the Contributions of the Elderly, Frail and Infirm in the context of a Red Dawn type guerrilla war. Definitely worth reading and thinking about.
To be valuable in any sort of unrest or collapse you need to do things that are valuable to people, be it a group of some sort or potential customers. Aside from being really, really good looking or fun or something this is what people will value. Learn to do stuff like fixing small mechanical things, using and repairing radios, growing food, making good food from basic ingredients, reloading ammunition, medical skills, fixing firearms, doing household repairs with minimal supplies, etc. Have the stuff to put your skills to work. We should all do this to some degree or another but if you cannot provide other contributions to a group it is even more important. Along these lines maximize whatever skill sets or resources you already have.
Also it is worth noting that squaring away your basic supplies is always important. A lot of older folks cannot do some things but they can contribute by using resources to put back supplies. Also having the skill set's of firearms use, medical treatment and tactical stuff to stay alive is essential for everybody who is able. In this, like the rest, folks will have to do the best they can. Granny probably isn't going to be dragging people around doing some (quality) cool guy TC3 training but she can still learn the skills.
Well those are my thoughts on that.
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7 comments:
TC3 is well and good, but it is still pre-hospital care....somebody needs to back in the rear standing by for the follow on work. Everyone has a place....
Good article.
FWIW,
People with more time than mobility should be the Subject Matter Experts on EVERTHING that doesn't require running and gunning. If the guy at the front of the class can make a sat phone from seashells and Yugo parts, I don't care if he's in a wheelchair or an iron lung. For that matter, Vince Lombardi wouldn't have done well in the line against Minnesota, but he seems to have done okay running the Packers, right?
As far as knowing TC3, we've always underplayed teaching good medical skills to the guys at the pointy end, and that's stupid and shortsighted. TC3 and Combat Lifesaver are good, but everybody in combat arms, esp. in a grid-down scenario, should be an EMT, bare minimum.
You'll damn sure have more experience with heat exhaustion, hypothermia, and infected cuts and blisters than you will with gunshot wounds, even in a straightleg infantry platoon in Afghanistan. And the former, historically, kill far more than the latter. Reference Valley Forge, Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, the Civil War, Guadalcanal, Korea, Vietnam, ad infinitum.
The folks "in the rear with the gear" should be the ones more conversant with running safehouses, field hospitals, rehab, etc., along with some world-class tradecraft in logistics, intel, and counter-intel. A guy who boosts a case of penicillin may do more good than a squad of light infantry. Critical complementary pairs like a farmer and a nutritionist, or a pharmacist and a warehouseman can provide more combat power in the long run than a fully equipped Stryker platoon.
Best Regards,
Aesop
Guilty as charged.
Snoop-Diggity-DANG-Dawg
K, First I enjoy your blog a lot. Keep up the good work. Second to your comment. I would have to look at it more. The nitche of legit medical (hospital type) care is in my marginally educated opinion hard to improvise. Folks don't become RN's and Docs in their spare time. Pre and Post hospital (changing dressings, etc) stuff can be learned in a long weekend.
I think anybody who is serious about contributing can do so.
Aeson, Being a valuable player on the team doesn't mean you have to be a shooter.
Thanks for the kind words Ryan. Sorry to see you leave the NW...always nice to have good neighbors around.
As for hospital level care - I think there are already many "good guy" docs out there...just a matter of making the connections.
K, I don't disagree that good folks with those skills are out there. More that I see that level of medical care as something that needs to be recruited more than trained in house. Sending somebody to medical school is a bit more time and energy intensive than a train the trainer designated marksmen course or having them learn Ham radio.
Hospital level care IS a lot more in-depth than you are going to get in-house...sort of....Most of hospital level care, besides surgical interventions, is good nursing care...I would offer that, post-surgery, 90% of what needs to be done will be well-handled by a good RN and some CNAs. As far as the surgical intervention stuff, while a school-trained surgeon is obviously preferable, even a Doc of Civil War era abilities, but a modern understanding of infection and anesthesia will go a LONG way towards increasing survivability, if not comfort (I actually had the opportunity to walk a Civil War battlefield today, something I'd not done in over a decade, and put some thought into this in that context)...Great article though Ryan, as always.
JM
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