[wolfepack]

Apparently I don't yet have the proper mindset for survival in instant-decision situations. The following actually happened to me today and I reacted by ... doing nothing. What is the forums opinion on how best to handle the situation.

Today, I was out to lunch at a restaurant near my place of work in downtown Seattle. The restaurant is on the Seattle bay waterfront and I was eating by myself. Suddenly everyone in the restaurant hears a very load BOOM. It was strong enough to feel. This was NOT a normal sound for downtown Seattle. It didn't sound like it happened next door, but didn't sound like it happened 5 miles away either. The single BOOM was all I heard though. No alarms, no breaking glass, etc. Everyone in the restaurant looked around, then looked at each other, then ... went back to eating lunch. This included myself. And that was it. Nothing else untoward occurred.

When the BOOM did occur, I thought it was unusual, but didn't think much else. About 15-20 minutes later I finished my lunch and headed back to the office. On the way back I wondered what had caused the sound and remembered the President was in Seattle today and was probably within 10 blocks of where I was eating lunch. That would certainly raise the threat level in the area! I looked closer at my surroundings, but everything seemed to be normal on the streets.

After getting back to the office, nobody at work showed any indication of anything strange having happened. I decided to see if I could find out what the sound was and did some Internet searching. Turned out that, due to the presidential visit, airspace around Seattle had been restricted. Apparently a small private plane entered the restricted airspace and some fighter jets were dispatched from Portland, OR (about 200 miles away) to intercept. Due to the distance, the fighters went to full-afterburner and this resulted in a big sonic-boom over their flight path. (Actually there were two sonic booms reported, but I only heard one.)

So my question to all of you is: What would have been your reaction to my situation upon hearing the BOOM? Thinking back on it, sitting there simply finishing my lunch was probably the worst thing I could have done, if it had been a real emergency. On the other hand, since it was NOT a real emergency, it was probably the best thing I could have done. Remember, I had no idea what the real source of the boom was. Could have been an explosion, crash, or collapse from any number of sources (attack, nearby banks, nearby railroad, nearby harbor, nearby freeways, nearby airport, nearby construction, etc.). It could have been almost anything else as well.

I might have only had seconds to save my life by reacting properly. Instead I did ... nothing.

Possible reactions I can think of:

1. hit the floor immediately
2. hit the floor immediately and then get out your portable police scanner, ham radio, am/fm radio, etc. to get more information
3. hit the floor immediately and draw your weapon
4. draw your weapon immediately and hit the floor
5. exit the building immediately via the nearest exit and take cover
6. exit the building immediately via the front entrance and take cover
7. exit the building immediately and run for the office where you have your GHB and other preps
8. exit the building immediately by diving through the nearest window and off the dock and into the sheltering waters of the bay
9. stand-up and tell everyone else in the restaurant to get down, then take cover yourself
10. stand-up, draw your weapon, and tell everyone else in the restaurant to get down, then take cover yourself
11. alertly evaluate the situation with all your senses and with no more information, immediately pay your bill and leave
12. draw your weapon, alertly evaluate the situation with all your senses, and with no more information, immediately pay your bill and leave
13. use your years of experience with explosions, car wrecks, train wrecks, sonic booms, etc. to instantly classify the boom as harmless
14. look around, look at other people, and if nothing else happens, go back to eating lunch.

I am sure there are many other possibilities. While I personally took option 14, I think I would favor option 11. In hindsight it is easy to pick an answer, but in the real moment what do you think I should have done?

 

[sojurn87]

You did exactly what was needed...

What's the problem?

Now you know what a sonic boom sounds like

 

[MattJes]

I live on the Key Peninsula and I heard two booms, I thought it was artillery from Fort Lewis again.

 

[Islp55]

I would go with 11 also in this case. This is why you must train your mind. An old preacher once taught me ponder problems in your mind and think through how you would handle it...then when the time comes you can draw quickly from these ponderings. It works, at least for me.

 

[wolfepack]

One other thought occurred to me about this situation. One of goals of survival is to recognize potentially dangerous situations and avoid them to begin with. So another possible reaction:

15) call in sick to work knowing the presidential visit could severely magnify the danger of being at work.

Would anyone on these forums be that pro-active? I guess the same thing would be true if you knew a big demonstration was planned as well.

 

[wolfepack]

One other thing. If anyone was interested, the private plane was a non-threat and the fighters returned to their base. Apparently this type of thing happens all the time. My Internet search showed that private planes have wandered into restricted airspace and fighters have been scrambled many times, no matter who is serving as president.

 

[trukboss]

dude what if godzilla had just stepped on the building behind you and was getting ready to take another step. lol you should have at least went to the door and looked for people running, pointing, what if the boom was an explosion or something in the building = propane storage facility behind the restaurant

 

[lanahi]

Without knowing what it was and no way to know, what else could you have done? It was not in that building and it was not far away, you said. I may have gone out of the building to see if I could see anything, but not seeing anything, there wasn't much else to do.

 

[AKpredator]

Stay away from glass counters, windows and ceilings. I might have been looking for the door but I know the sound barrier being broken when I hear it.

 

[The_Question]

Would've exited the building, looked at my surroundings, proceed to find out what is going on, assess the level of threat, then basically act accordingly.

but to clarify, dont beat yourself up over it, I myself, have stood still a couple times before standing around like an idiot and waiting for someone to tell me to do something before I do it.

 

[justin E]

# 10 is also known as armed robbery,especialy if nobody else noticed it or thought the boom was your gun going off

 

[justin E]

for me, a mix of 11,13,14 at the same time

 

[zolon]

I felt/heard both sonic booms. The first one had me going, "Wha?", second one.. "No way.." ..

Then I felt a pressure drop, and hit news sites and a couple already had some of it up. I only wanted to know why they scrambled the jets. I knew the sound, just was shocked it hear it here.

So for me, 13 would be the primary.

 

[wyldflwr]

I tend to assess my surroundings whenever I walk into a building, noting the exits and such just in case I need to get out quick. However, I don't think I would have done much different. Maybe walked outside to see if I could see, but seeing only normal activity, I would have done the same thing you did.

 

[gwl7]

It's good you didn't panic. Now, you should run through scenarios of what you would have done if the boom were followed by: Flying glass/wounded/crying people/blood/gun shots/fire etc.

 

[BOBtheBUTCHER]

My thoughts are you dont watch the people in the area you are in as you all have the same info, look for people as far away as you can see and evaluate what their reactions are and then decide what you should do.

 

[Herd Sniper]

You did okay. Trust me on this one, since you did not panic you were already ahead of the game. Panic is the worst thing in any situation. When you hear a boom you should look around and see if there is any nearby damage. If not, then you expand your searching in a slow fashion. Again, you should refrain from sudden emotional surges of fear or panic. If you happen to find an area where a bomb has gone off or a building has collapsed, move yourself and others out of the area. Put lots of distance between yourself and the disaster area. The reason is simple: second wave of destruction is probably imminent.

If a terrorist sets off a bomb, it is not unusual for them to have a second or third bomb hidden near where the first bomb went off. The idea for this second bomb is to hurt rescue personnel or gawkers who crowd around the area to peer. You get out of the area to avoid being hit with the second or third bomb. And you take people with you.

If the mess is caused by a building falling down, then there is possible structural safety concerns. In other words, the rest of the building may collapse shortly after the original collapse happened. Get out of the area to avoid being swept up in the potential secondary collapse.

If the disaster is caused by a ruptured gas line, then you may have toxic fumes, downed powerlines and so on at the scene. Get out of the area to avoid inhaling noxious or deadly fumes from any number of sources in the area. Things that are invisible can kill you just as dead as a .45 bullet going into your brain.

When you move out of an area walk and don't run. Move uphill, upstream or walk facing into the wind. You want the wind to go past your back and be blowing the fumes away from you. Keep moving until you're safely out of danger.

 

[Awesomeness]

11 is a good choice. No need to be paranoid (drawing a gun and hitting the ground), but going into a heightened state of alertness and trying to get more information would be prudent.

 

[jhumphrey]

I think that you did fine really. I would've pulled out my blackberry and started looking for tweets....in this day and age, information travels so fast via twitter/facebook that you would've known if something was up before CNN/FOX/Locals...

Since you work in a major metro area, you may check in to see if your police department supplies its population with a program called Nixle (http://www.nixle.com/). Its a program that updates you via text messages when something happens in your city, from traffic issues to terrorist attacks. Its a nice program, especially if you need it. If you heard the boom and all cell service was down, its time to ante up and get out because something big just happened.

 

[chas1]

wolfepack, Your response was exactly the correct way to handle that situation, if more information was forthcoming then you kick it up a notch remember we respond as required when required no more no less. excellent post.