Family Preparedness

[ShadoWalker]

I'm creating this thread because a lot of guys I know have not talked with their wives and children about what to do in the case of a lethal situation.

It is very important that they know how you are going to act and what is expected of them. In the middle of an event is not the time to get in an argument with your wife about whether she should leave without you.

It needs to be defined for at home and when you are at large.

My family's response to this problem was the following:

Our emergency keyword is defcon 1. Kind of funny, maybe even lame but my step son liked it and it isn't in general vocabulary. It is also very short, in a bad situation it is likely I'm going to be busy and not have a whole lot of time to talk.

If anyone in the family says that while we are at home everyone knows what they are supposed to react and what to do.

In public defcon 1 will be followed by: Go, Stay, Down or Follow. If I say go they are to go to the nearest exit or protest. When you go to a public place point out emergency and non traditional exits to your family. The majority of people don't look for them and are going to run for the front door putting you at risk of not getting out fast enough or getting trampled.

I may need to buy them time and may not accompany them and they understand it is not the time to protest.

There is a lot more to it but this is already a kind of large post and my intent is to get people to think about it and discuss it with their families.

[ZeSpectre]

I've mentioned this before as well and I think it's a very valuable topic.

Code words, it sounds silly....until you really need to communicate subtly with your spouse or kids.

Also, don't forget to have an "all clear" code word too. As I've told my wife plenty of times me saying "Oh, it's okay dear, everything's fine" from the back porch may simply mean that someone is standing there with a gun to my head. If I don't say "a dozen roses" then things are NOT okay and she needs to complete the 911 call and GET THE HECK OUT!

[Loosedhorse]

Every September is "Fire Preparedness Month." I try to remind everyone of what to do if there's a fire, and what to do if our usual exits are blocked--actually have a household fire drill.

A few nights later, we essentially do the same thing, but this time it's an Intruder Drill. It's interesting how many things are the same: 911, leave and go to the neighbor's; or if we can't, then we gather in our "safe" room; and if you can't do that, stay low, close the door, and wait for help.

But I have left the "outside the home" routine somewhat neglected--so thanks for the reminder!

[Titan6]

2009 will be the first year national stats on home invasions are kept. My money is on there being more home invasions than house fires (5-7K). Family preparedness for both these situations is critical.

My kids while pretty smart tend to forget things if they don't use it on a regular basis. It is good to have a system in place to deal with emergencies.

When they went through Cub Scouts, emergency contingency plans for dealing with fires and tornadoes were covered. We went ahead and added in home invasion actions as well.

Don't forget about your neighbors either. One of our neighbors in Texas was an extremely well armed retired Marine and his front door was only about 50 feet from the kids bedroom window. In case of invasion the kids were to scoot out the window and over to his place any time of the day or night. We worked up mutual defense plans with him and some other neighbors on the street who were like minded shortly after Katrina (just in time for Rita). This created a unique situation with just about everyone on the street going in with the plan.

Since the "neighborhood" was a one street court of about 40 houses everyone really looked out for each other. The only crime that was ever committed in two years was when one of the teens got caught drunk driving and ran over a mailbox.

We had great neighbors out there.

[Doc Nonverbal]

I work from home and my office is upstairs. My wife and I have a code system in which there is a potentially dangerous situation and she wants to alert me without alerting the suspect: If she calls me "Dave", which she never does, this is my signal that there is danger. My response is "Hey, what time are we going to <insert friend's name here> house?" Her response is the number of potential bad guys.

It's kind of hokey and I hope we never have to use it, but it's there just in case.

[Bubbles]

Since our FFL is home-based DH and I have a set of ordinary-sounding phrases that we use to let each other know that we're getting a bad vibe from a customer and a 911 call is in order.

An example: "Mr. Smith called and wanted to know if I was done working on his gun, can you call him back and let him know it's ready?" Except we both know that "Mr. Smith" doesn't exist, and that's not the name we use either.

[kolob10]

We also have code words that we would and have used for someone other than a family member to use to pick up children when we couldn't. Of course it changes once it is used. Code words seem juvenile until one has a need to use them. we also have a "gathering point" in the event of a fire/ explosion etc in the house. we have been separated from our kids with ice storm, flood, and wind storms in the past. It is assuring if one has a plan in advance!