Advice from a professional bodyguard to survive in this time of terrorism
by Paul G. Markel
First of all, didn’t the taxpayers of the United States of America just foot the bill for a 20-year “Global War on Terror” to the tune of $5 trillion? Yes, trillion with a T. I believe that every American citizen should be demanding a refund. After twenty years, thousands of Americans killed, tens of thousands maimed or crippled, and TRILLIONS of dollars in tax money spent, the honest answer is that we are no safer from terrorism today than we were on September 11th, 2001.
For the average American citizen, the thought that foreign, and now homegrown, terrorists are out there lurking and plotting mass murder attacks is unthinkable. Such thoughts make us psychologically uncomfortable and so the vast majority of people will push them away and embrace the “That’s terrible, but it won’t happen to me” rationale.
If you were to resurrect every dead victim of a terrorist attack and ask them if they ever thought they would be a victim of such, it is a safe bet that they would answer in the negative. Those who survive terror attacks too often make statements such as “I couldn’t believe it was happening” or “it didn’t seem real.”
The Danger is Real
Let’s conduct a realistic threat assessment. In the wake of the New Orleans terror attack, certain members of the Federal government went to the podium and gave us their best Detective Frank Drebin impression; “Nothing to see here. Please disperse.” Is that true? Was the New Orleans mass-murderer a “lone wolf” who “acted alone?” Is it all over and we can get back to normal?
For years, intelligence experts, both active and formerly employed by the United States government, have been reporting that there are foreign terrorists already inside the borders of the USA and that they are coordinating their members and sympathizers for attacks. Even the US Federal Government had to admit that there were at least 400 ISIS affiliated “migrants” in the country. Former Navy Seal, Shawn Ryan, has had numerous guests on his show that have spelled out the threat; Al Qaeda is stronger than ever and training to attack the west. ISIS has not been destroyed and is planning their own attacks, separate from Al Qaeda. Also, the Taliban in Afghanistan and the nation of Iran are giving financial support and safe haven to both groups.
Thanks to the non-enforcement of our Federal immigration laws, millions of foreigners, not just Mexicans, have flowed unchecked across our borders. In addition to violent felons; rapists, murderers, child-traffickers, et cetera, there have been those with direct ties to foreign terrorist organizations.
What Can You Do? Environmental Control
Many decades ago, I learned the definition of terrorism as “the use of, or threat of, violence, particularly against civilians, in order to further a political agenda.” On a broader scale, terrorism is meant to cause a change in behavior through fear. For instance, the citizenry, fearing more death and violence from a terror group, demands that the government do something to protect them.
The terrorists want you to be afraid. They want you to feel that you are helpless to stop them and, of course, that is the natural feeling that many people have. Nonetheless, just as you do not have to be the helpless victim of rape, robbery, or murder, you do not have to be the helpless victim of terrorists.
Executive Protection Agents (bodyguards) keep their protectees safe not by diving in front of bullets but through environmental control. True security comes from controlling the environment in which the protectee lives and operates. This includes limiting access and assessing the risk of certain environments. Is the environment one that presents an unacceptably high risk? For instance, in 2022, New Orleans had the highest murder rate per capita, beating out famously violent cities such as Detroit, Chicago, and Memphis.
Long before New Orleans was in the news for being a victim of a terror attack, an ongoing wave of violent crime would have put it on the NO GO list. When you go to a city that is one of the Top 5 Murder Capitals in the country, that is a known risk that should be avoided.
Large, open-to-the-public crowds are prime targets for not just terrorists, but also the local criminal element. As a matter of course, it is a good safety measure to avoid such situations or, at the very least, understand that you must be hyper-vigilant against opportunistic criminals in addition to mass murderers.
You might be thinking, “But the place I’m going to is a gun-free zone, so I’ll be safe.” Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans is a designated exclusionary zone prohibiting citizens from carrying firearms. “Guns and crowds don’t mix,” District Attorney Jason Williams said. “Guns and alcohol don’t mix. Don’t bring your gun to the French Quarter. Leave it to the fine women and men of NOPD to protect you.” Quick…someone get DA Williams on the phone and ask him how that worked out in the wee hours of 1/1/25.
We made our public schools all “gun-free zones” in 1995. Did that reduce mass murders at schools, or did they increase? If you choose to frequent places that prohibit the good people from being armed, that means only the bad people will be. The people of Europe are disarmed tax slaves and yet they are regularly murdered en masse by terrorist elements.
Of course, you can only exercise so much control over your environment and we cannot guarantee our safety by avoiding the Top 10 Murder Cities of America or large gatherings. People who don’t carry guns because they “don’t go to bad neighborhoods” are delusional. Increasingly, we witness mass murder attacks in schools, churches, shopping malls, et cetera — all in the middle of the day in “good neighborhoods.”
GEAR: The Fundamental Four
In the event of an attack, law enforcement will show up, eventually. Deadly force attacks are hyper-violent. The murder and carnage can take place in seconds, not minutes. If you see what is happening, you might have a few seconds to react. A police response of 3 minutes sounds impressive to people who have no idea how much damage can be done in just 1 or 2 minutes. The point is, you need to plan to self-rescue, and part of that plan needs to be having the gear on your body to effectively self-rescue.
We came up with the Fundamental Four list as a way of answering the “What should I be carrying?” questions that we received constantly. The Fundamental Four are; Lethal, Sharp, Bright, Medical. Notice I did not say, “Buy a Glock”? Choose whichever firearm you think is best. The Fundamental Four is also a minimum list, not maximum. When you walk out of your front door, you should at a minimum have those four items on your body.
Instagram models who like to post their #EDC pictures have pushed back and said, “You can’t carry traumatic medical gear on you, all the time.” That mythology has been destroyed by the Pocket Lifesaver — a kit that you can carry with you every day and everywhere if you only put in a little bit of effort.
Mindset
Harkening back to the beginning of this piece, the purpose of terrorism is to make you live in fear. People who like to pretend that it can’t or won’t happen to them still feel that fear when they think about the threat.
The only way to turn debilitating fear into productive concern is to get your mindset where it needs to be. Altering our mindset or thinking is one of the most difficult things for humans to do. That’s why the weight-loss industry makes a billion dollars a year.
My dearly departed friend James Yeager used to say, “Your responsibility to be ready for the fight never ends.” Think on that for a moment. That statement applies to a mundane trip to the grocery store, a family vacation, commuting to work…you name it.
Sadly, if we are to be brutally honest, most people are not ready for the fight. We witness this constantly in the mobile phone distraction that goes on in public. How many times a week do you see a person in a public place with their face down in their phone, completely obviously to what is going on around them? How many of you will talk yourself out of putting on a gun because you are just going to (fill in the blank) and you probably won’t need it?
Firearms Training
For thousands of years, man has understood that rigorous and dedicated training is what is required to alter a person’s mindset. This has primarily been manifested through military training, but it can be seen in martial arts/sports and, of course, for the free citizens of the United States, you can attend a private school that teaches not just marksmanship, but how to fight with a gun in your hand. Knowing how to shoot a gun is not the same as knowing how to fight with a gun.
Firearms classes that do not allow you to have a loaded gun on your body off the firing line are NOT fighting classes. Such nonsense does not prepare you for the dangers of the real world. Student of the Gun University offers the Martial Application of the Pistol course, which is all about learning to fight with a gun in your hands.
Traumatic Medical Training
One of the cold and ugly realities of mass murder attacks is that many of the victims do not die immediately but lie on the ground bleeding to death, waiting for medical personnel who will arrive eventually but, more often than not, later. Standard practice for medical personnel during “active shooter” events is to stage and wait for the call that the “scene is clear.” What this means to victims with major bleeding injuries or loss of airways, for example, is that they will be dead before the law enforcement authorities allow medics to come and help the wounded.
Two major examples of this playing out were the Westgate Mall terrorist attack in Nairobi, Kenya, and the Parkland High School mass murder. In both cases, victims who survived the initial attack bled to death while medical personnel were kept out by the police.
In the HBO documentary “Terror at the Mall”, which detailed the terrorist attack in Kenya, one of the survivors related a gut-wrenching story. The man and his wife were wounded in the initial assault on the mall and hid. With tears in his eyes, the husband told how he held his wife’s hand and slowly watched the life leave her eyes as she bled to death while they were waiting for help to arrive.
As much as I think you need to be carrying a gun, I also absolutely believe that you need to have medical gear on your person and have the skill to use it. An arterial bleeding injury in a leg or arm will kill you or someone you care about before “the scene is clear” and the medics are allowed to come and find you. In a world where idiots are capturing disasters on their phones, be the person who actually helps and makes a positive difference.
For years and years, we have been trying to help people understand that if you find yourself in the middle of a mass murder or terrorist attack, you must realize that only the people who are present the moment the attack begins will have any hope of altering the fatal outcome.
Prepare or do not. The choice is yours to make.
