More Than Mere Speculatin'

We've been hearing that terrorists in Europe are now ready to strike at airports and tourist attractions.  Among possible targets are pre-security areas in at least five major European airports.  One story is here. Looks like Chicago Jesus has it all figured out here, though. He just swaggers in with a beefed-up Secret Service detail operating in high threat mode and all's well. Well, what about those of us who can't afford the best security in the world? We gotta take care of ourselves, as always.

The pre-security area at an airport starts in their parking lot and runs into the terminal building to the near side of the metal detectors and TSA knuckleheads.  Technically, there is no pre-security area at a tourist attraction or a hotel, because, unlike airports, no one is involved in dedicated, active countermeasures to be sure that the inside of an amusement park a/o hotel is weapons-free, so it's just as "secure" inside as it is outside... which means it ain't.

Terrorists want to hit the above-cited targets because that's where there are many probably unarmed good-guys clustered together in an unfamiliar place. Because of this unfamiliarity, most people will become one of two things when the shooting starts:

 
Sitting ducks

 
Fish in a barrel

In these target-rich environments, terrorists know that when they start shooting people and the cops start shooting at them, police and military Rules of Engagement will likely dictate that if there's a risk a civilian might be hit ~ detailed here ~ they often are not permitted to shoot and so probably... won't. Ergo, many armed first responders won't respond as they could. People will die. Unnecessarily.

While it's perfectly normal to see people at airports, hotels and amusement sites wearing backpacks, bad-guys are not going to casually get out of their vehicles, walk back to the trunk to get their bag, give the little woman a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the ass and meander into the facility. These shooters will probably arrive in teams of two or more at doors/gates which usually have the greatest pedestrian congestion a/o are closest to the major attractions on-site. They're not going to take the chance of being found out at the entry gates while their weapons are in bags, so, including the driver, they will un-ass their vehicles quickly, probably with their backpacks already on and weapons in their hands. They will move hard and fast directly into the facility and begin shooting at people there as soon as they acquire targets. They won't be shooting at non-human targets. So, to recap; things for which to be alert:

• Vehicle(s) screech up to the curb as close to the main entry point as possible
• Several men ~ maybe girls, too ~ will quickly get out of the vehicle
• They will already be wearing their backpacks/gear
• They will have weapons in their hands
• They won't stop to get anything from the vehicle they just dismounted
• They'll just move aggressively to the entryways and start shooting

 
Approaching from the outside, weapons in the open.

 
 On the way in, preparing to fire.

 
Acquiring targets.

So, what to do? To save your own life, just run away silently and get behind cover until the shooting stops. Then go home. No need for you to get involved. If you choose to sound a warning to others, the best thing for you to do is to run inside and yell: Guns! Get down! as loud as you can. Then duck and run low for cover.

Let's take a look at what you might see in those bad-guy backpacks, but be advised, they may be wearing something like the rig shown below.

 
This is combat gear, not a fly-fisherman or photographer's vest.

 
US Fragmentation grenades, aka: baseball grenades... because they're about the same size as baseballs.

 
White smoke burns hexachloroethane (HC) for its effect so it can be used as an improvised incendiary device. The white band around the bottom of the canister tells you this is white smoke. It would be used to obscure the view of responding good-guys and cover bad-guy movement. Were I a terrorist getting ready to shoot up a facility, I'd throw a few of these into the corridors through which first responders would be coming and then start blazing away at all the completely innocent folk I came to smoke. So, there's a clue: you see smoke suddenly billowing and there's no blast a/o heat to go with it, that might be the first step in an attack.

Red smoke. Just smoke, not incendiary. Comes in other colors, which you can identify by the bands around the top/bottom of the canister... and the smoke billowing out of the canister once it's been deployed. A bad-guy might pop one of these into the crowd at an entry-point to obscure the view of inbound good-guys. So, if you suddenly find yourself in smoke, get low and move out of the kill zone.

 
Stun grenades. If you see these, the terroritst might be trying to take hostages rather than killing everyone in sight.

 
Russian fragmentation grenade.

 How a grenade, Russian or otherwise, is built.

 

How a grenade, Russian or otherwise, works.  The thing to remember about a grenade is that, though it's not well depicted in the video here, they have a V-shaped blast cone that extends up and away from where they explode. Shrapnel does not fly out equally at all levels ~ the closer to the ground the less blast/shrapnel there is ~ which is the long way of saying that if you get down on the ground even as close as 5' from a grenade, you'll probably survive the blast. So, if a grenade lands near you, get down on the deck immediately with your feet toward the blast.

 
Blue means it's an inert training grenade. Green means it will go Boom or Poof. Easy math: it's pretty much inconceivable that any military or police professional would be playfully tossing grenades around whether live or inert, so if you see a grenade, you'd better behave like it's a grenade.

Okay, on to some more things you might see on a bag a/o a belt carried a/o worn by a suspicious a/o suddenly-deadly someone in an airport loading zone or hotel lobby or local amusement park. People carrying the M4 and mags shown below will probably be the local PD or TSA SWAT, but bad-guys have been known to attack while dressed in police uniforms. So, be aware. Below are steel and composite rifle magazines.

M4 AR: what the good guys will be carrying. It's basically a modified M16 assault rifle. Responding cops/military in the US will be carrying some version of this weapon because we don't use Ak47s.  An AK variant is less expensive off the shelf than a souped-up M16 and somewhat less finnicky than an M16 variant. 

 
 M16 magazines with mag coupler

 
Polymer M16 magazine

 

 AK 47 magazines. 

 
Variants of the AK 47 Assault Rifle. The reason these AKs are posted as references is because any person in a US tourist attraction, hotel or airport with this type of assault rifle would have to be considered an immediate threat because no American police units use these weapons. If you see someone with one in an American facility, he or she is looking for trouble of some sort.

I have this video posted elsewhere and, though it applies to a mall scenario, much of the training applies to an airport or a hotel setting. Take a good look.

Speaking of hotels, look here for information on how to be safe when you're lodging in elsewheres. Other suggestions I've offered can be found below:

• Intel about the Mumbai raid 
• Lessons learned from an Omaha mall situation 
• The scoop on a Seattle mall situation 
• Some thoughts on reacting to shooters 
• More thoughts on shooters 
• More mall strategies 
• Detail on planning your own defense
• Hostage situations

As for being familiar with all the airports you might visit on business or leisure travel, it's not so important that you know the layout of the various building as it is that you have basic survival principles drilled into your head. Hopefully the info here will give you a good base.  Still, if you're into those architectural things, you might find some helpful information here and here.

Take a look at this site for help with learning some foreign languages, short of full-blown courses. What you might do at that site is enter various phrases into the upper block and translate it into whatever language you want in the lower block.  Then you can cut and paste both phrases onto a Word document and carry that with you and show it to a cop to read if you run into trouble. Or you can click on the speaker in the upper left and learn to speak the phrases or tape the phrases onto one of those itsy-bitsy hand-held recorders and play it back to the local authorities if you spot something you need to report.

So, off you go, then. Keep your sticks on the ice, unerschrocken.

Comments

[Ms. Cat]

Hey there. This is such a good post. More people should read it.

I live in Israel and I can't believe the lull everyone is in. I feel like we should be preparing for our survival because the governments have pretty much left us to our own fate.

anyway nice post.

[gymgal]

Very good article as usual :)

[When*Pigs8Fly]

Thanks, that was very informative.
Cheers,
When*Pigs*Fly