Boston Bombing and Situational Awareness

I found out about the Boston Bombing late last night from a friend. I’d like to begin with my condolences to the three who died and the many more that were injured. This was a terrible act of violence done to those having fun and being healthy and active. Today I’ll share my thoughts on the tragedy and some thoughts on what you can due when at events like this. I will not be an arm chair General though, I was not there and don’t know a magic trick to help you survive an explosion. I can only offer advice that could save a life.

The Facts

I started reading about the bombing this morning and it seems that many of the fact’s have not came in yet. What I do know is that two explosion occurred about four hours into the race. The first one near the finish line at 2:50 pm and the second happened about 550 feet away ten seconds later.  From what I have read the time chosen, four hours into the race, may have been picked to maximize the carnage. That is normally when the most are crossing the finish line and their families are there cheering them on. Three have dies so far and more than 140 were injured. Many of those injured having to have limbs amputated. I could not find much on any suspects yet. The Pakistani Taliban has apparently denied any involvement, which might be truthful since I’m sure they would love to claim it had they been involved. One one site I read there were reports of seeing  a man carrying two backpacks and placing packages in trash cans.

Be Aware

At big events like this marathon and other events make sure you are using your situational awareness. The reports of witnesses seeing a man with two backpacks putting things in various trash cans should have set off red flags to that person. A simple call to the police could have saved lives. I’m not advocating walking around being suspicious and paranoid. Simply be aware of your surroundings and do not afraid to act on suspensions.  Many suicide bombings now use backpacks and luggage, so seeing a person with multiple ones and hiding things in random locations should set off your spider sense that something is wrong. Learn to trust and act on the innate human sense of danger. That deep down instinct that let our cavemen ancestors know that there was a lion in the bushes.  If you see suspicious activity immediately get out of the area and call the police. It’s far better for them to investigate and possibly be wrong than to do nothing and know you could have prevented a tragedy. Just don’t do anything stupid to endanger yourself or others. Trying to stop them yourself as anything but a last resort is stupid. Also don’t do anything like scream bomb and start a tramped possibly causing people to get trampled.

First Aid

Carrying a few items with you could greatly help out a fellow human. Carrying a full first aid or trauma kit could hard to impossible. In the case of the marathoners you really don’t have room to carry much of anything. You could buy a small blow out kit and carry that, most will fit in a back or cargo pocket. Once again though  the marathoners don’t even have room for that. What I have and would recommend on always carrying one of is the TK4  Tourniquet the late Paul Gomez turned me onto these. They are tiny and worth their weight in gold. You can easily carry one in a pocket with not noticing it. Many makeshift ones were made at the bombing having a real one would have certainly helped.

With all that said there is not much you can do. Somethings can not be stopped no matter how prepared you are. You could have a years worth of food that burns down in your house, You can have the most accessorized AR battle rifle in the world and be plowed over on the road. The point is to be prepared, be aware, act and have fun. Why bother surviving if you have nothing to survive for. Don’t walk around paranoid and seeing terrorist everywhere, but if you do see one act fact to save lives.

What are your thoughts about this tragedy? Do you carry a trauma kit? How do you practice situational awareness? Let me know in the comments!

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