Emergency Training

This week we are getting emergency prevention/response training at work. It's been kind of interesting and there is some good information in it, if even to enlighten us (as people) as to how people react to different emergency situations, be they violence or natural emergencies such as tornadoes or fires. The emphasis was on prevention, and not letting things get to a point of no return.

One "popular" scenario played out as follows:
A "shooter" was chosen from the audience. She was given a harmless Nerf dart gun that would shoot about 20 shots - kind of like a "street sweeper". Her assignment was to enter through any of the 3 or 4 doors to the room (not telling anybody which one), and start shooting. After a few minutes, she came in the back of the room and started firing. The instructor up front yelled "GUN!" and everybody headed for the doors up front - almost. I was in one of the rows near the back. When the shooting started I hit the floor without thinking, scampered on all fours to the side, grabbed a chair for a shield, and went after the shooter. Didn't know I could still move that fast. I may have been the only one, I don't know. It all happened too fast. Adrenaline flowed. Instincts and training took over.

The result? Many more people got out without getting hit. I was told that the chair I was using as a shield was hit maybe 5 or 6 times - after I started heading for the shooter. After more than 30 years, my CG training and mindset is still apparently with me. That, and I'm a firm believer that if nobody does anything in situations like this, everybody is a sitting duck. Somebody has to do something. I keep the same philosophy with everything else. If nobody does anything to help a bad situation (no matter what it is), it will not get any better - but can get much, much worse. Nobody knows what they would do under adverse or extreme circumstances until they are there.

Is my reaction to this scenario good or bad? It all depends on your perspective. To some it would be quite bad. To those whose lives would be spared, it is not.

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