We had both local PD and JPSO tell us, "If ya'll shoot somebody, don't call us. Just drag 'em to the corner." I'm sure Harry would have pinned a medal on us.  Gonna miss that old chinaman. There will be dark days in these parts without him.  Like I said earlier, though, the problem wasn't in the shooting or the killing, but in the aftermath of events that would have followed. If you know the type of scum, you also know how that kind of thing settles. We'd have Jackson and Sharpton down here in our neighborhood crying over a car load of dead felons...  I fufilled the mission. Nobody crossed the barrier - and despite Mr. Bonnin's low view of my shotgun, I have no doubt that even if they'd managed to get out of the car, they'd never have made it past the front bumper.Of course, Bonnin also likes to do math. "You got six shots in that thing. You had four guys to shoot. So what do you do? You WASTE AMMO shooting the ground! So what if you MISS!? Then you're standing there with your dick in your hand!" "Uh... Actually, I have five rounds of 00 buck on the stock, and I can load them pretty fast. I can also transition to my pistol really fast. I don't practice quick draw for nothin'" "Yeah, yeah. You're doing all this cowboy crap while the brothers (that's not the word he used) are ventilating your dumb ass and I have to call your wife and tell her that you got killed on my street! STOP FUCKING WITH THAT DAMN THING AND GO GET YOUR RIFLE!!!" A few months later I took him to the range and showed him how I can run the shotgun, and he said, "Well, that is pretty good. Still not as good as a rifle, though." I also showed him my mad pistol skills, to which he commented, "That's pretty fancy." "Does that mean that you now appreciate that I'm better than average due to my dilligent training and that you have confidence in my ability to handle myself?" (That's not really what I said, but words to that effect.) He said, "If you'd have spent as much time working with your rifle that you pissed away on those pistols, then you might be worth a damn." There just isn't any satisfying the old man...  Shane |
I personally begged him to run for Parish President, but he said he wanted to spend one more term as Mayor. Everybody loves him. At some point he made the claim that he was going to knock on every door in the city and find out how folks were doing. I thought it was bullshit - but I'll be damned if three months later he didn't knock on my door and sit on my porch and talk to me for awhile. I was suprised to find out that before he entered politics he drove a school bus... Shane |
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This Bonnin character sound alot like my late father-in-law. He was a WWII vet and had the same straight forward attitude. I still hear the very annoyed and disgusted "Well God damn......" every time I do something borderline stupid. I am 33, and sometimes me and my friends start thinking that we are hard asses and can handle whatever happens, but if you get to know some of the old WWII guys, they will make you feel more like a candy ass than a bad ass. When those old farts talk, you need to remember that you have one mouth and two ears, listen twice as much as you talk. Soak up all the knowledge they will give you. It might come in handy someday. |
Turns out I didn't archive the carnivorous dog pics, and after looking through my Katrina folders, now I remember why, just more than I wanted on my hard drive. I saved a few pics but not those. You can see them yourself and do as you will, Cryptome still has two pages of Katrina dead archived, no idea how long they'll keep them up. Actually, I don't think Cryptome even has them, only the Cryptome mirror site. The ones I referred to are a little more than halfway down the first page. Graphic Content: Katrina Dead 1 Katrina Dead 2 Good thing your sewers were working. Garbage and human waste starts building up and you're in trouble fast. It'll foul your water, bring flies, vermin, parasites, fleas, dogs, coyotes, a long list of problems and and even longer list of vectors which threaten human survival. Same page as far as shooting Lootie goes. "Clan wars" is just a semantic device to avoid the racial overtones. I'm a big fan of not drawing attention in SHTF situations, unless mortal risk is involved. Just out of curiosity, what was Mr. Bonnin's position on showing light after sunset? |
Thanks!
Yep. It suprises me that a lot of people don't think about that. They have food, water, and guns - but where are they going to take a crap when the sewers back up, eh? I wasn't entirely sure of the sewer situation for a few days, so I used my portable shower outside. The toilets did flush, and we got word on day 7 or 8 that the lift station was actually back online by day 4 or 5, so we were good.
He didn't really have one, but he did have all his lights out at night. Maybe he figured we'd draw fire... I think 'lights out' is for air raids, isn't it? We had street lights, although the one nearest my house was blown out by the storm. We had lights plugged into the cars so that we could throw light in either direction down the street when we wanted to. If we had been without electricity, we'd have changed a few things I'm sure. The street lights let us see far down the street where it would otherwise have been dark. Makes me want to get some NVG...Shane |
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Shane, nice to see you live so close. How did you have street lights? we were out for 10 days. We also did not have gas for 7 days. It was kind of nice though. I put a metal table on my porch and set up my coleman stove on it, and I moved my bbq pit to the front yard. Had plenty to eat, had my gun on my hip and inside, had flashlights, rechargable 1million & 2 million c.p. lights, a generator, and a window unit a/c. I was pretty much shitting in high cotton. There were 5 families on the block. We too had a system whereby if someone fired a shot, we would come a running with our firearms. For everybody: Not only did our sherrif not confiscate our firearms, he came over the radio and made an anouncement/warning to all the wouldbe looters that his citizens were sitting on thier porches with their side arms  .
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Well, the rumor is that the daughter of the CEO of Entergy lives on the next street...so our area got some priority...  I don't know if that's true or not, but that's the rumor. I don't know when we had gas service, because the only thing that uses gas in my house is the dryer, and I wasn't washing clothes at that point.
Someone was *always* cooking something. We'd also run a posse down to the aid station and pick up MREs and whatever else they were passing out. We did really well. After we were more or less normal, we started making runs down to the folks in St. Bernard and Plaquemines, and some of that was a real sight to see. I'm amazed that so many folks have rebuilt in St. Bernard. If that had been me, I'd have been out of there. We're lucky being so close to the river, because we're so high. I think the only place in Harahan that had flooding was down on the other side of Gardner, where the canal is. Of course, they've flooded out even without a hurricane. I'll be glad when we start pumping to the river...
Yep. That was Mayor Johnson that actually said that. Peter Dale deputised about 200 citizens and put them out on watch. I think Peter was in heaven in a way... Shane |
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Outstanding setup you had. Wish we had a Mr. Bonnin around here. Most of our neighbors are yuppie asshats, as well. To go slightly off topic, most Police Departments don't have much ammo and, if the Station is under water, they have NO extra ammo. For example, my Department has 1500-2000 rds of practice ammo (reloaded by a local commercial reloader) for 9mm and .40 and 500-600 rds for .38 but only about 250-300 rds practice ammo for .45, since there are only two of us carrying .45. For duty ammo, we only have a box or two of 9mm, .40 and .45, mainly to replace expended rounds for putting down deer or dogs. We do have 300-400 rds of .38 duty ammo, but that's only because our ammo order got screwed up a few years ago and we got WAY more than we needed, especially considering we only have one guy carrying a S&W M66 on duty and two of us carrying snubbies for backup and off-duty. Carbine ammo is just as bad, with each of the three of us carrying carbines being issued 100 rds of duty ammo and an extra 100 rds at the Station, along with a partial case of Wolf .223 for practice. It's not surprising that the PD had to beg ammo, what's surprising is that they asked and didn't just take. Around here, the Chief would order us to take the ammo. Wouldn't work out that way but that is what he would do. Bub |
People tend to buck-up. We have a fairly large number of older people in my immediate neighborhood. The most suprising thing to me was that all of these 'old ladies' who don't seem to do much all day but spy on each other and watch soap operas suddenly went into action - and it was facinating to watch. I do wonder about some of the yuppie types. We had several familes come stay with us at one time or another. I only had a few conversations of the type that went, "Why are ya'll running around with guns?" "Security." "Why do you need security? There isn't anybody around causing trouble out here." "There isn't anybody causing trouble, BECAUSE we're providing security..." "Uh..."
That seems to be more or less normal. I suppose we should start a thread in BOS and see what other departments stock. I've asked a few of the people I know from various agencies, and they all give similar answers. When I commented to one of the locals that I thought it would be reasonable to stock 500 rounds per officer, he just laughed. Not in the budget...
There isn't really any need to take something that can be yours for the asking. Some of the officers knew us - there are no less than 7 officers from various agencies that live withing 10 blocks - and we had good relations early on. They were *really* begging for .40, but there wasn't any to be had. I gave them a can of 5.56, but I still had plenty. I could have given them five or six cans and I wouldn't have felt impoverished by it. If someone would have tried the seizure thing, it would probably have got ugly. As it was, we were all working together, and we were all on the same team. Shane |
Shane, You sound like a squared away guy, but I can see the old man's point. In less time it takes you to load 1 shell into that shotty's tube, you could have loaded a magazine into a rifle. Also, in a close range situation you DO NOT want to have to waste time either loading or transitioning to a sidearm if you don't have to. That wasted time could prove fatal - especially if you're against multiple threats. The shotty's not a bad option IF you have others with you, but if you're on duty alone the old man has a point. Keep up the good work, and thanks for sharing your story. |
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Didn't fire a single shot during Rita, but my family lives out in the country. One neighbor wanted me to put a few in some of the stray dogs roaming the neighborhood but I declined. They were mostly pets of shitty owners that had abandoned them. The local wildlife went crazy. Possums, raccoons, birds, squirrels, etc. They just were just wondering around for several days afterwards. Normally shy deer that would run at the sight of a human just walking down the streets. I guess they were "shellshocked" so to speak from the storm and their natural habitat was completely destroyed. No problems from looters, but then again it's hard to loot when everthing including the roads are buried under massive Oak and Pine trees.     |
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Shane, I had Harahan & J.P. deputies coming over to visit often as well. I made it known to them what time breakfast and dinner was, so I had them popping in regularly. As you know, I also don't think 30 min. went by without having a deputy pass by; and the fire dept. (who were all deputized) would pass by once or twice a day and ask the residents how they were doing with food and water. The nice thing about the National Guard coming in was that they were assigned to ride with a J.P. policeman, and they were all nice guys no matter what part of the country they were from. They also were more than willing to show off their weapons during a hot home cooked meal eaten in an air conditioned room. I was prepared; and in being so, it was pretty enjoyable. I thought of it as an extended camping trip. I was home, the kids were home, and I got to walk around like a cowboy with a gun on my hip. What more could you want? |
You know your scum bags well. That is how they do it every single time. They talk their courage up and its always best to let them know who the alpha male is fast. Just like a pack of wild animals. |
Please tell his brother/cousin/friends to move to Virginia immediately and run for office.
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Oh, I see the point, but my weapon selection was a trade off and a lesson. A lot of folks run around wondering what caliber for zombies, but don't actually *think* about the tactical applications that they will really need to address. That applies to me in this case. My problem was that I didn't have the right weapon for the mission, and so I compromised. My tactical situation was thus: Manning a makeshift checkpoint at the end of a residential street. If I have to shoot something, the distance is going to be less than 50 yards. My largest threat is likely to come from a person (or persons) in a vehicle of some kind. Right or wrong, my primary thinking was that I wanted good one shot stoping power, and I wanted something that would penetrate vehicles well. The Mossberg loaded with slugs fits that well. I can also transition ammo and have a little flexability. I'm also wearing a Glock 19 - and I can do the transition very fast - so that sort of makes up for the lack of capacity of the shotgun. I also figured that if I ran the shotgun dry that I was probably in really deep doo and should probably be doing a transition to Nike and running for backup. I had some doubt on the ability of 5.56 to handle the vehicle situation, and so I went with the shotgun. Most of the time I did hit the street with my AR-15, but still liked the shotgun for sentry. If I'd have been particularly clever, I suppose I could have had both weapons at the barricade, but it seemed a bit much. I had a lot of hours standing around to think about it, and what I really wanted was an AR-10. I still need to get one... I've played around with the idea of 454 Socom and 6.8 and such, but those are going to be hard to find when SHTF. .308 is everywhere... Shane |
Our situation was very similar.
Did you get to meet any of the NYPD guys. They were really bugging that all us 'civillians' were walking around armed.
If my roof hadn't come off, I'd have had a real picknic. I now have a heavy industrial metal roof on my house, and next time it'll be easier. I think the entire experience was a benefit to just about everyone I know. Yes, we lost a bunch of shit, and it has been a pain in the ass in the middle - but everyone is closer, and we sleep better at night knowing that there is plenty of help if any of us need it.Shane |
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Quoted: Did you get to meet any of the NYPD guys. They were really bugging that all us 'civillians' were walking around armed. Sorry to hear about your roof. I had some shingle and facia damage, but roof was mainly intact. I did not meet any of the NYPD guys. The cops and guards that came over were due to friends and family that woud bring thier buddies over and it grew quickly from there because I would make fast friends with anyone that came by on duty. |
I was in a small town outside Meridian. This is a couple of days after the storm. I had goten my family to safety and was heaning back in. I had a buttload of supplies in the back of my truck, including several gas cans. Anyway I kept filling up on the way down in order to arive with the largest amount of fuel I could. I was stopped at a gas station after filling up, my wife's uncle was inside getting some bread. I was standing beside my truck getting s stretch. A brand new dodge truck w/ LA plates pulled up. There were 4 large men in it that eyed me for a few minutes (no one but us in sight.) COC prevents me from describing them further but they screamed thug. I figured they were New Orleans refugees. The all got out and started waling towards me 2x2. I had taken to letting my dog out with me, a shepard mix, he's a puss but looks tough and has intimidated many a person. But this time I had left him in as the uncle had just run in to get bread. I knew it could be bad if they got within striking distance. This has all happened in probably less than a minute. The only plan I could come up with (besides just dropping them all) was to lift my shirt and show my Glock 21. They turned around quickly and began loitering around the truck. My uncle came out and we left post haste with my heart racing. |
| Damn Currahee it's a good thing you decided to carry rather than leaving it in the truck. I saw a story on CNN whereby a group of people (same COC issue here) were attempting to get at the spare gas tanks that were secued to the back of the news van. A camera was trained on them and the reporter asked "What are you doing?" They said "We need THIS gas". They continued to try to take the gas until the reporter blocked them with his body. Now these people did this even though a television camera was on them. Just think of what would have happenend to you and your family since no one was around. |
Its amazeing how itll defuse a situation......had to show an idiot I had a .45 behind the door he was thinking about coming thru.....became quite a respectful gentlemen after that......good job and glad you made it ok...... |
I saw these videos, It takes a brave police force to attack and assault an elderly woman and take away her only weapon she had to defend herself against the looters. The NOLA police instead of actually facing the looters, pulled away from the action and took weapons from people who where trying to defend theirself. And in LA the police left town during that riot. The public should never forget that. |
| I have to nominate this for the "Best Inspirational Thread" category! Very encouraging to hear about neighborhoods pulling together like this. Mr. Bonin is the kind of character that is dying off too quickly here in America. I hope "we" are able to step up and fill his role someday. |
It was a real mish-mash; mostly hunting rifles. A Remington 700, an old Springfield .30-06, and a few other 'hunting' types. Mr. Bonnin has an M1, there was one AK47. I was the only one running an AR15 (When I wasn't running the tacticool shotgun...). One potential problem was ammo. None of the hunter types had more than a box or so of ammo. The AK47 had a magazine and a half. I was sitting on a lot of 5.56, but nobody could use it but me. I also stock more 12 ga than I can shake a stick at... I passed out what .30-06 and .308 I had, but it was a real wake up call for most of these folks that better have something you need when SHTF because the stores aren't open. Everybody had pistols - for the most part Glocks or 1911s. Very few of them had any kind of decent holster or any way to carry additional magazines. I had to pass out the gear that I keep to lend out for training classes to various people, and even then some people had to trade when they went on 'duty'. I have enough holsters and mag carriers to outfit a sqad, and I was really glad of that. I made it very clear that nobody should be walking around carrying Mexican, and Bonnin backed me up on that. That was really something that I hadn't anticipated. While there were enough guns to go around, ammo was scarce in some sectors, and almost nobody had the support equipment neccessary to walk around armed. Few of the rifles had slings, for instance. I did not have extra slings, but I had some 1" webbing, and we made some early on. I had enough holsters and mag carriers to do OK. Nobody but me had an ammo bag. Bonnin was carrying spare magazines in his pocket. In order to compensate for this, we had a few guys using large camera or camcorder bags for ammo bags. The lesson I took from this was to make sure that for every weapon I have, I should also have ammo and all the support gear needed to 'issue' that weapon should I need to do so. The neighbors are all now coordinated in the manner of Minute Men. They've all got a kit put together with the things that they (now) know they will need. These things are all critical. If you need to defend your neighborhood, everyone has to be coordinated to operate in a 'well regulated' manner. It's not just the food, water, and arms. You've got to have the support gear too. Shane |
Shane, great write up. We can learn alot from this event. First, what was Bonnin's handgun? I am guessing a 1911. Communication better then a whistle could easily be done by FRS radios. However whistle batteries don't die. I look around my neighborhood and home that it will come together like yours |
+1. The one and only time I ever had to make use of a pistol (it became visible but didn't have to be pointed or fired) had similar results. A racially charged attack against myself turned from someone screaming "I'm gonna kill you whitey" to profuse apologies and hasty retreat on the attacker's part. Funny how that works. |
That's a great point. Whenever I get myself a new weapon (not often enough ), I make sure I get the necessary gear before I think about buying another gun. Thinking of your guns as weapons systems requiring holsters, sights, mags and holders, flashlights, etc. really helps planning and keeps you organized.
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Bonnin is a revolver man. He carried a S&W .38 that qualifies as an antique in my book. He has a low view of autos that seems to be educated by his experience 50 years ago. He goes on about his 'sure six'... He carried it in an antique holster with a flap, and there isn't any way he'd have ever managed to draw it in a hurry. For all his wisdom, I found those choices really strange. Sometimes it's hard to teach old dogs new tricks...
Radio would have been really handy at times, and it's something I have to think about spending money on at some point. I have some old hand-held CB radios, but I couldn't figure out where they were. I know they're in a box in the attic somewhere. Real smart on my part... There were some other lessons in that too. I would keep my windows open a crack, and blocked with 2*2s I had to cut to keep them secure. I did this so that I could hear things going on outside - and in particular Bonnin's whistle, or any other commotion. When something starts to go wrong, you can usually hear it first. When I work on projects and such, I like to have a radio going with music or news or whatever, but during our 'high alert' status, I didn't play the radio either. Some of the neighbors have generators in case the power goes out, but I don't own one just because if that. If I'm running a generator, I can't hear a damn thing before it's way too late. (There are other negative aspects of generators too.) I'd also like to find some kind of battery powered perimeter alarm. Just something that would 'ding' if someone (or some-thing (like a zombie...)) broke and invisible beam. I did have a lot of batteries, and I had already changed all my flashlights over to LED lights which last a lot longer. I like little LED headlamps too, which are cheap and run for almost 100 hours on a set of batteries. Any radios we eventually get are going to have to run on non-rechargeable batteries. How are you going to run a charger if there isn't any power? You can always fire up the generator, but then you incur all the negatives of that... But, you're right. Communication was a weak point. I need to educate myself on radios at some point.
I was very pleasantly suprised. When things get hairy, you find out who people really are. Shane |
Absolutely. I've taken to putting small, cheap duffel bags together for each weapon. I pick up different accessories on the cheap when I can find them. LAPoliceGear had a killer sale on holsters one time, the only thing was that they were green. Well, who cares what color it is? As long as you have what you need, it doesn't have to be pretty or tacticool. For each rifle I make sure I have: The weapon in functional condition. *1 A sling for that weapon. 3 Magazines & 100 rounds of ammo (pre-loaded in the mags.) Ammo bag - this doesn't have to be fancy. *2 Cheapola LED flashlight or headlamp, small bottle of oil (those little bottles of BreakFree is what I use), some kind of small cleaning kit (I usually hodge-podge these together). For each pistol, I make sure I have: The weapon in functional condition. *1 An OWB holster for that weapon - nothing fancy, and nothing that would be hard to train. Flaps, straps, and all that crap are going to be unfamiliar to the average citizen. A simple thumb break or the Blackhawk Serpa holsters are best, IMO. I have a lot of Serpa holsters and use them daily. Training is very straightforward... *3 Three magazines + 1 extra round (for the pipe!). A double magazine pouch. A suitable, widely adjustable belt. (You'd be surprised at the number of people who don't have a decent belt...) *1 - Functional condition is something to think about. While talking to the man who has the Remington 700, he remarks, "I haven't had this out of the case since the last time I went hunting about 20 years ago." Uh... Gee... I hope it goes bang if it needs too... *2 - The ammo bag deserves some consideration. I tried army surplus ammo bags - which are nothing but a canvas 'purse' for lack of a better description, and they suck. I have a Hawkepak Rifle Bug Out Bag www.hawkepaks.com/prod.itml/icOid/208 but it is WAY overkill. It's too heavy and too large. I have wanted to try the Mag Cache www.hawkepaks.com/prod.itml/icOid/206 which looks like it might service. In reality, I'm thinking something inexpensive should fit the bill. I just haven't found the perfect thing yet. I don't like vests for various reasons. One, people unfamiliar with having all kinds of crap here and there are going to do much better with, "Here. Everything is in the bag." I also find it easier just to grab the ammo bag and run than to fumble with getting a vest on. YMMV. *3 - Training is something to think about. I, as a trainer, was suddenly faced with my neighbors as citizens who wanted and arguably needed to walk about armed, but they had no training for such a thing. One had some military service, another had been National Guard some years ago, but for the most part these were 'normal', 'ordinary' people who have never considered the fact that they may be faced with a zombie uprising. They didn't hate guns, but they didn't think about them daily either. You need to think about how you would arm someone quickly, and given an hour or two of 'training' time, at least have them walking around safely. I have an airsoft setup in my garage that I use for my personal training, and I found this to be a great benefit because I was able to take my neighbors and give them some actual 'trigger' time with a gun that was exactly like the one they were going to carry. I wish I could say that I had everything I wanted for this, but I didn't. My H&K airsoft gun is broken. I have a few Glocks, but didn't have a 1911. Don't discount the training value of toys... Same thing goes for the rifles. You may have to give one to someone and you may not have much time to make them familiar with it. Anything you hand out should be as simple as possible. You're going to have to cover safety - and you're probably going to have to enforce safety. After awhile, people aren't going to be as mindful as they should be. I was actually surprised that some of those claiming to be (or have been) hunters were fairly negligent and cavalier about leaving a gun laying around or laying one down on a table or something. From time to time I had to reinforce the idea that having it on a sling was the best place to have it because it was safe and in their control. Of course, walking around on patrol is one thing, but the primary occupation after the storm wasn't warding off attacking hordes of zombies (alas), but rather cleaning up, fixing houses, cooking, eating, and wondering when things would get back to 'normal'. It's pretty hard to work on your roof with a rifle strapped to your back, so the rifle under the ladder with the ammo bag was the usual MO. (Which was, I feel, more convenient than a vest. Again, IMO and YMMV.) Shane |
I'd agree that did seem to be a problem. In the future you might want to get (or load) some Federal 55gr Trophy bonded core or Nosler 60gr Partitions for your AR. Both rounds are proven to penetrate vehicle glass and car doors and still meet FBI standards for terminal ballistics.
Unless you got a 90mm Recoiless Rifle lying around, there is not guaranteed 'one shot stop' from a hand held weapon- but I'll bet you knew that.  Great thread, best one in this forum for a while. |
That's good to know. Thanks. I haven't picked up the reloading yet, but I'm getting there...
Too true, unfortunately. A 1 ounce, 73 caliber slug in the right place, though, usually will perform as advertised... I've also picked up some PolyShok, which is about as close to shooting someone with a coffee can full of concrete that I've seen. Everything is a trade-off, and I still want an AR-10... Shane |
I think it was CHP that did that to Ms. Konie. The Patricia Konie case is particularly bothersome, but the story didn't start or end with the video. I take what might be an odd philosophical view of her situation - and many other of those situations as well. We hire police officers to perform the functions of tribal security so that we can all do other things in our lives. We live in peaceful times at home, and so having some paid warriors to watch out for various harms is a good thing. I'll come back to that... And in LA the police left town during that riot. The public should never forget that. Exactly! I don't hold it against them, though, any more than I hold it against the NOPD officers who bailed. Think about it. You've got a wife and kids at home and S is HTF. I don't know about you, but *I* am going HOME. A normal police force is not trained or equipped to handle a disaster of Katrina's magnitude. What *should* have happened is that we should have had the National Guard roll in immediately and all the police officers should have been allowed to go home. This is their community too, and their houses and lives were destroyed as well. You can't just expect someone to be at work with that kind of weight on their minds. Which brings me back to Patricia Konie. The failure of Law Enforcement is clearly visible on the video - but what you don't see is the *real* failure. Where were all her neighbors? Were were all the able bodied men who should have been performing their natural function as 'tribal' security? If CHP had tried that in my neighborhood, they'd have been faced with 10 men all standing in front of her saying, "Sorry, officers, Ms. Konie belongs to us, and you have no right to steal her from us. We will take care of her." *That* failure is actually more disturbing to me than the LEO failure. The public should remember these lessons: 1. LEO are human beings too, and local LEO suffer in exactly the same way you suffer during a disaster. 2. Local LEO (or Fire, or EMS) cannot be counted on to render you any kind of assistance during or immediately after a widespread disaster. You are very likely on your own. 3. It is the responsibility of every able bodied citizen to protect the weak and shepherd them in times of darkness. (Overly dramatic, but you get the idea.) 4. You are immediately responsible for all members of your 'tribe'. In this day an age, that means your neighborhood. You must be ready, willing, and able to defend your 'tribe' against all aggressors. To be clear, I am not advocating any kind of violence against LEOs. My point centers around the idea that if there had been 5 or 10 armed neighbors supporting Patricia Konie, what happened to her would not have happened. The 'tribal spokesperson' would have had the, "We're all OK on this block officers.", conversation, and that would be that. I have an expectation, based on my experience, that LEOs are reasonable and sane people. Reasonable and sane people would leave such a situation alone. I do not have a perfect confidence, however, that in all parts of the country that all people are equally reasonable. Shane |
Thanks, Mike. I keep meaning to write all this stuff down, and it looks like this thread is turning out to be an opportunity... I've been training LE and Military for a few years, and next year I'm finally going to get my certification to teach the CCW course for Louisiana. Before Katrina, I didn't think there would be a market for that kind of training, but post-Katrinia, everybody wants it. Shane |
LOL.My Dad, WII Vet, refers to all the Late 50s/early 60's Vietnam vets at the VFW as "Them kids!" Great story, and some valuable lessons in there for us all.Thanks. |
Be "that guy." Go knock on doors, introduce yourself, have a tie-die party and tell the neighbors to come on over and bring their kids or grandkids. Not saying you don't because I thought I've read about you doing some stuff like that before, but for others reading I bet a lot of people are thinking the exact same thing. I think a part of the community definition is a group of people interacting. Meaning looking down when you see a neighbor and grunting when they say "Hi' is not interacting. A couple of burgers on the grill and a beer and 30 minutes of your time will help make that community a lot faster. I had a hard time when my wife and I moved into our new house because my natural personality is sullen and stand-offish (married-loner-with-assault-rifle-looking-for-pen-pal-blah-blah-blah). This is going to sound stupid but I had to take notes (Stan lives next to me, wife's name is Cathy, 21 year old daughter you can crack walnuts on her ass is Sarah, have an older son named Duncan, currently traveling the world). This has been a growing process but what has happened is there are 6 or eight houses who have an "interaction" going on. Meaning some days I come home and there is a bag of tomatoes from someone's garden on my steps. All because I grabbed their trash can and took it to the curb one night so it would get picked up in the morning. It was a lot of work, and by work I mean "doing something I don't usually do", but it is paying off now. Sorry for the soapbox. |
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Thanks for the good advice, I'll see how I can integrate that in my day-to-day. Anyone else notice a large number of cool people having Calvin & Hobbes avatars? It's almost that if those that can recognize the brilliance that was Bill Watterson's art are a select breed of good folks. |
Yep. That's the key. You have to be friendly, and helpful, and welcoming. I have to admit that this is rather hard for me, and I have to make an effort.
That's a strong part of it. Don't wait to do something, and don't *offer* to do something, just do it. You have to make the first steps most of the time, but then people will reciprocate. I have a saying, "Folks is folks." Most people are good and decent people. They just don't know you. In my more philosophic mode, I say, "Mitakuye oyasin", which is Lakota, and in the sacred ceremonies, like a sweat lodge, when a Lakota speaks, he says 'mitakuye oyasin', which means 'all my relations'. This is because when speaking to someone it might be forgotten that everyone is related to one another. We are not strangers after all, and if we do not know each other very well, that is all right. It is not possible to know everyone, but we can know that we are relatives. We have a responsibility to each other to never forget that. We should not show disrespect to any relation. Strangers are just family that we haven't had enough time to visit with yet. OTOH, I don't actually like people all that much... But I'm drifting off the subject. When someone in the neighborhood goes into the hospital, or gets sick, or something happens where they need some help, don't just call and say, "If you need anything, let me know.", because people will NOT ask you to do anything. Just figure out what needs doing, and do it. Go mow the lawn. Call up in the morning and say, "We're bringing dinner over tonight." Have their kids come play with your kids and give them a break for a few hours. Whatever it is, do it. Mostly it's small things. After Katrinia, my primary duty (besides being General Bonnin's Seargeant) was patching up roofs (or is it rooves?). I'd be up on somebody's roof, and they'd come out and holler, "What are you doing!?" "Patching in shingles!" So they'd bring me a glass of something to drink. The major payoff was when Ms. Mary fired up the deep fryer and made beignets with real powdered sugar, and I got two.  Man, when the cops found out we had doughnuts there was a real run... Shane |
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Mr Bonnin knew the deal he had Black rifle envy. He wanted you up front with some more heat than a shotty. HE wanted you to be able to holdem off long enough for him to pick them off. Shotty  thug /// AR15  thugI was talking with my neighbors right after we got hit about blocking the street off. 2 men, 3 women, my wife included they said "it would never get that bad so why even talk about it." My wife asked later on " What make you think up stuff like that ? " I scared her with the details of what I saw happening in out little section of town if it ever got so bad people started looting or worse. To her credit when I was thinking about selling one of the trucks she stated "using it to block the street was a Plus for keeping it."  Good read and God bless the old people with whistles
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