Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Hostage School?

This article came to me from my friend MCart ...

Hostage School: What You Can Do To Save Your Life

"Hostage survival training used to be only for the military. Now, anyone who wants to learn it can attend special hostage survival classes."

I haven't watched the segment yet, although I am interested in the content. Some of the news is pretty common sense, and would serve to stay safe in any travel experience : Stay in the open, stay in safe areas, etc. In other words, avoid becoming a hostage.

But what if you get caught in an ugly situation like the Russian school hostage crisis last year? Should you submit, stay calm and "try to connect" as suggested in the training? Or should you fight to escape?

I suspect that your own answer to this may depend on several factors. Some that occur to me are gender, size, training, and past experiences. One thing I certainly recognize -- while there have been no major terrorist attacks on the scale of 9/11 in a few years -- there is still a danger, and we must prepare now for what we may have to deal with in the future.

I've never been unlucky enough to suffer an experience like this, and I would rather flee than fight as a general rule. If flight is not possible, though - would I fight? Especially now, when the likelihood is greater that one will die anyway? I'd like to think I would, but part of me admits that my first reactions would fit into the prey category, not that of predator.

MCart has no doubts about his own feelings ...
"I think people should kick, bite, claw, punch, grapple, take their weapons if possible, improvise weapons, and yes, be ready to die if necessary. No freakin way I'm taking the time to 'try and get in their heads'. You never can know what their objective is, and how close they are to achieving it."


I'm interested in your thoughts, and would love to hear if you have ever faced a situation like this yourself? How would you / did you handle it?