Monday, June 23, 2008

DPT--Can You Find What You Need in the Dark?

I was giving a presentation in the basement conference room of a large facility this morning and wondered what I would do if the power went out. I am assuming that this particular facility had back up generators a plenty and they would come on immediately after the power went out, but if they didn't, the room (actually the entire floor) would be pitch black. Then what?
You may be in your bed in the middle of the night when there is a fire that takes out your power. Worse, you may be in your bed at night and someone cuts your power before they make entry into your home. You may be in a department store which goes completely dark if the power goes out. How to get your bearings and get to your emergency supplies (ie: flashlight, firearm, etc) during an emergency in the dark is a skill that everyone should know. Here's some ideas:
  • Always carry a small flashlight with you in your daily carry bag.
  • Keep your bag organized so that when you reach into it, you will know where to find what you need by feel.
  • Have a flashlight under your bed; always keep it in the same place.
  • Try to memorize the layout of your location (room/shopping center/etc) so that you would have some idea of how to navigate the room in the dark.
  • If you were to turn out all of the lights in your home some night, would you be able to walk from room to room in the dark without without injuring yourself?
  • If you took your firearm apart and left it in a pile on the kitchen table then turned out all of the lights some night, would you be able to put it back together by feel?
  • Can you quickly find any item you need in your BOB by feel?

The idea here is to be able to do what you need to do, especially in the event of an emergency, without light--something we often take for granted.

2 comments:

  1. I have 2 emergency lights ( volt batt pwr)strategacally place at home, if A C power goes they automatically go on. Got them free before the co. was demolished.

    I carry a micro flash light on my key chain and my cars, bob's, mini bob,bed and specially my "toys" have lights. ( costly but I think whorty).

    I will never take a gun apart if there is no other available or "ON" me. I dont even change magazines to rest the springs if I dont have another right next to me.

    I can find the "essentials" on my BOB's, they are exactly the same models and organized the same way.

    My back packs (2) are the same and have take AR7's for easy carry.
    I would preffer browning but I only have one and have not been able to find another NIB made in Belgium. Love that little one.

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  2. Excellent post! If you can't see where you're at or what you're doing, you're going to be literally helpless when it counts the most.

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