Our sympathies go to the victims of the Paris terror attacks yesterday and their families. Like all terrorism incidents, we are all affected.
How were the attacks coordinated? Who bears the responsibility? We don’t know at present, and it’s not important to today’s post. The question is: what you would do if a terrorist attack happened to you?
What we’ll be talking about today can be upsetting, especially if you have been in a hostage situation, but the mental and emotional work of preparing yourself is an essential survival skill.
The Scenario
Imagination can be a powerful weapon. You needn’t put yourself into a dangerous situation to practice survival skills. All you need is to take some time to seriously consider what actions are realistic and will lead to better outcomes in a hypothetical situation. The “better outcomes” we’re aiming for are fewer deaths and injuries (especially yours).
If you’re scientifically-minded, take your time to imagine your situation with every counter hypothesis. Your assessment should be a step-by-step flowchart that has contingencies in case each move fails.
If you have a vivid imagination, populate your scenario with as many details as you can. You can do this while waiting in line or to liven-up your dinner conversation. Use your current location as the site of an imaginary scenario. If you’re going to an event and you have a few minutes beforehand, consider what you’d do if that night you needed to save your life.
If you’ve taken a first-aid course, you should be familiar with these scenarios. Your instructor will say for example: “You arrive at the scene, there’s a car with a crumpled hood against a tree, and one person laying motionless on the ground. What do you do first?” As you describe your actions, they’ll give you answers to your questions. “I check for hazards like dangling electrical wires, glass or petrol on the ground.” And they’ll reply, “There are no hazards.” And so on.
If you’ve never taken a first-aid course, I highly recommend it. You could save someone’s life.
Your Strategy
Every situation will require different strategies. Some things to consider in any scenario:
- Where are the exits? Are there alternate exits if those are blocked by fire?
- Are there windows to escape through? If you need to break a window, is there an object nearby you could use to smash it?
- If all escapes are blocked, can you get away from a hostage-taker into a lockable room? Remember that bullets can penetrate wooden doors and the drywall of interior walls.
- Can you put obstacles in a pursuer’s path if they chase you?
- If your cellphone was taken away, what would be your next method for contacting the police? Can you do that without being stopped?
- Is there a crowd? Will you be pushed or trampled, and can you minimize that?
Like the first-aid scenario, ask and answer. Can you get to the door? If yes, run out. If not, what’s preventing you? Fire. Etc.
Your Emotions
Doing the exercise itself and imagining it vividly will help keep you calm enough to repeat the exercise with growing comfort. Practice that becomes routine lessens your emotional reactions.
When you’re comfortable with this by yourself, try it as a game with a friend. You may recognize this as a role-playing game: you are playing yourself but in the imaginary situation, and your friend is describing the world and the threats. It’s not a contest, just a way to involve another creative mind in your process so you might be surprised. They can also put some time-pressure on you. In a crisis situation, you’ll need to make decisions quickly and not freeze.
The great thing about the human imagination is that mental practice actually transfers skills to the real world. This is true of physical skills (psychologists proved that mental rehearsal of basketball free-throws increased performance of actual free-throws), and doubly true of mental skills. Remaining calm and making good decisions in a catastrophe can be practiced.
Be Realistic
Self-defence training will not solve the problem of random terror attacks. Some of the victims on Friday may indeed have had a high-level of training and been unable to escape regardless. However, preparation will certainly improve your odds of survival, especially when you have to make fast decisions without panicking.
It is important to recognize that the people of Paris had no forewarning, nor were they engaged in behaviour that might be construed as a provocation. Many of the casualties were attending a music concert. Others were having dinner at a restaurant. They were ordinary people going about their lives. Like you.
Head of Stage Combat at Academie Duello and certified Instructor with Fight Directors Canada. Head of Bartitsu at Academie Duello, the longest continuously running Bartitsu program in the world. Read more from David McCormick.