Geddes John - Be a hero!: the essential survivor guide to active-shooter events

Copyright 2017 by John Geddes with Alun Rees

Foreword 2017 by Don Mann

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Rain Saukas

Cover photo credit: iStock

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-2123-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-2124-1

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to all the victims of active shootings.

Too many to name here; too few to forget.

Contents

Foreword

In Be a Hero , former SAS commando John Geddes and journalist and author Alun Rees offer a commonsense approach to the global epidemic of violent attacks on our society. The authors brilliantly outline in easy-to-understand yet comprehensive detail the threat of the active shooter and what steps should be taken to increase your chances of surviving an attack.

Although some folks in the military and law enforcement communities know how to react to an active shooter, the vast majority of people in the United States have never received this type of training. Now, thanks to John Geddes and Alun Rees, these principles can be readily understood by reading and understanding the guidelines presented in Be a Hero .

An active shooter usually tries to kill as many people as possible and will not stop until taken down. The victims are often attacked well before the police are able to respond. This is an essential fact. You cannot afford to simply wait for the police to arrive to save the day. Steps that can save your lifeand the lives of your family and your coworkerscan and should be learned ahead of time.

A child, a student, a worker, or someone just waiting for a trainanyone could be at risk of an attack from an active shooter. Be a Hero was not written to scare the reader but to inform and educate.

Following the attacks on 9/11, I was asked to create an active-shooter training program for a federal agency and spent the next several years training government employees, law enforcement personnel, and civilians. Although we all understood the dangers involved with the active shooter at that time, I am stunned at just how much these attacks have increased over the past decade.

In the United States alone, there is now an average of almost two active-shooter attacks every month, and these attacks have occurred in more than forty of the fifty states. Globally, including the attacks that take place in war zones, the number is in the tens of thousands.

These attacks are not predictable, and in most cases the carnage took place in less than five minutes.

The FBI conducted a study of 160 active shooter incidents in which 486 innocent people were killed and another 557 wounded. In some of the attacks family members, former spouses, or coworkers were targeted; in others, it was just violent indiscriminate killing.

The FBI study revealed that in 21 of the 160 incidents, unarmed citizensprincipals, teachers, and facility staffbravely confronted the active shooter and disrupted the attacks.

Many of the active-shooter attacks happened in malls, schools, and businesses, but any place with a large gathering of people is a potential target.

These studies point out how real this threat is to our society, and they also highlight the importance of trainingnot only for our first responders but for all citizens.

As I always told my students, Just imagine how you would feel, for the rest of your life, if an attack occurred that killed your family, friends, or coworkers, and you did not take the simple steps that could have saved those lives because you did not know what steps to take. Plan for the worst-case scenario and hope for the best.

I strongly believe that we all need to do our best to recognize and understand the threats we may faceand to remain vigilant, prepared, and ready to act if attacked. Be A Hero will better prepare you to survive the worst-case scenario.

Don Mann

Navy SEAL Team SIX (retired)

Preface

It will never happen to you, will it?

Youre walking to work through a London street, sipping coffee in a Mumbai hotel or a Paris caf. Maybe youre in the crowd at a marathon in Boston or studying in a high school at Columbine. All is peaceful, as it all should be. And then the gates of hell open. Windows implode; the physical impact of shock waves strikes you as a device explodes nearby. Whether or not you survive a bomb blast is a complete draw of the lottery. You are one of the lucky ones, but then the shooting begins and you hear the rattle of automatic gunfire coming your way. Terror takes hold of you. What do you do next? Which way do you turn, and who can you turn to?

In military terms you have, in effect, been ambushedbut youre a civilian. Youve had none of the training that automatically kicks in when a soldier comes under attack. Youve not been tested under fire. You dont understand the tactical nuances of the choices you next make.

Shock, fear, and hysteria will take over. You will not be prepared for decision making but youll be faced with life-or-death choices as an active shooter picks victims at random.

I can help you. My name is John Geddes and Ive written this guide to help you survive. Its designed as an aid for civilians in the event they are drawn into the chaos and terror of an active shooter event.

Ive drawn on my extensive experience as a Special Air Service warrant officer on active duty alongside other elite troops. I took part in scores of anti-terror operations and covert interdictions around the globe, frequently with colleagues from US Delta Force. And as a young soldier fighting in the Falkland War, I had a sobering introduction to the realities of battlefield casualties.

I learned more when I left the Special Forces to pursue a career protecting TV crews, diplomats, and businessmen on perilous journeys into the insurgency and jihad of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa. I shepherded them through riots, bombings, and ambushes by gun and grenade.

Over the years, Ive briefed hundreds of clients on how to react when danger presents. I can brief you too on how to best control the inevitable panic. Ill equip you with the tools needed to make lucid decisions in the midst of utter confusion and chaos.

It seems barely a week goes by without some new outrage unfolding on our television screens, and the numbers are increasing at a frantic rate.

The facts on this are stark. In 2010, fifteen terrorist attacks outside of war zones were recorded worldwide. By 2015, the numbers had rocketed to 118 separate atrocities. In the first three months of 2016 alone, twenty-five attacks occurred, including the destabilizing attacks on the Belgian capital, Brussels. By the end of the year, 432 people had been murdered, and hundreds more were injured, in terror attacks in the United States and Europe. This included the worst terror outrage in American history at the Pulse nightclub in Florida.