Geopolitics Magazine November - December 2015 | Page 89

Written by Alexandros Niklan
Sr. Security Consultant

Terrorist attacks. What and how a citizen should act/react

What seems to be growing as a favorite subject for many, after the recent rise in
terrorism attacks, is how and what to do, in case you are one of the unlucky ones being in an area that
such an incident takes place. Many websites and shows on TV/Press attempt to provide guides ,
including a most recent text by Intelligence and
Security services of UK and USA , on what and how
to react in case of a hit. Truth be told, these guides
and suggestions are very valuable but they are
defective in one major point. Most of the thing
suggested are to be done by people who are trained
to do it.
For example there is an instruction on a text that has
gone viral over the web , that people need to take
cover behind tables or other solid objects but there
is no mention that AK bullet can penetrate almost
anything but thick concrete and maybe the iron block
of your car’s engine.
A 7.62mm bullet can easily go through wood, tires, even the metal and plastic material of your car’s
door. A trained person knows this and he also knows the distinctive
sound that an AK does when fired. A simple and average John Doe is
probably going to freeze on spot and do nothing of this. In case he
keeps his temper, if he takes cover behind a table and the shooter is
nearby he won’t make it. And that of course if he is able enough to hear
the shots and recognize them and not take them as fire crackers or
something. So in this article, I will be trying not to give guides and
instructions on what to do when attacked, but what to do prior to that
which I think it’s the safest and best way to offer to a citizen who does
not want to be a field operative but just be able to save his skin if it
gets to that.
So first things first. In order to be able to react in a dangerous situation it is essential to keep your
calm. This is a very hard thing to grasp, as it requires training to expect the unexpected and disregard
the mentality of “this won’t happen to me”. Most of the people have a limited perception of things in
their surroundings and they are not able to notice something out of the ordinary as they are in a state
of peace in their everyday lives. People at the attack of Paris, only weeks ago, thought that gun shots
were fire crackers and they only reacted when people next to them fall down by the shots.
In order now to react in such cases you only have 3 seconds to think and do it. Anything more than
that is scaling up possibilities of something going wrong. The rule of 3 seconds is not a military or a
police one. It is also applied in everyday life. For example when driving and trying to avoid an obstacle,
or to take initiative on a verbal subject. On this case though it can save your life.
So what is needed for a simple person as first reaction in an attack is to stay calm and then within 3
seconds take a decision and act upon it. This means either hiding or evading from scene.

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