3AM Outside: Underwear, Flip Flops, Shotgun

Just like the title describes that was me two nights ago when I thought I might have had some evil doers outside my home.  Home defense now and especially post SHTF is always a popular topic so I thought to share my experience and some things which I might do differently next time.  Before you begin to judge I should point out that it’s one thing to have a general plan of action (i.e. you think you’ll know exactly how you’ll react) but actual circumstances dictate differently.

It was around 3 a.m. and I heard some noises out front of my home which woke me up.  I was immediately concerned because my SUV was parked in the drive (usually in the garage) and a rather expensive trailer was hooked up to it.  Before going in for the night I made sure the hitch was locked and I also ran a thick steel cable through the trailer and the chain connection points of the SUV and secured that with a rather large lock…but I digress.

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I slipped over to the window of our second story bedroom and peered outside.   I could see my vehicle and the trailer but was looking at it straight on while the lamp post in the yard created a glare and rather strange shadows.  Bottom line is the noises were still there and I could not make out for certain what was going on, as I continued to peer into the driveway it definitely looked as if there was at least one moving shadow hunched over.  My mind started spinning, was this person working on the cables and the lock trying to break the trailer free?  Maybe his buddies were up the street waiting with a pickup truck, maybe there was someone at the edge of my yard staged as a lookout.

Decision Point 1

At that moment I knew I had three options, two of which made the most sense.

1- Call the police.

2- Grab the LED Maglite next to my bed and illuminate the area, this would certainly give me an accurate picture of what was going on.

3- Go outside and assess the situation first hand.

I wasn’t going to call the police because quite frankly I did not have enough information.  I could have easily flipped on my Maglite and lit my driveway up completely while maintaining a safe vantage point.  My only concern being if there was someone out there they could easily turn and run.  This left my third option which was truly the only option (remember this is not post SHTF) I wanted to consider: go outside and assess the situation for myself.

Decision Point 2

I didn’t plan on going outside unarmed, not going to win over those committing unlawful acts with charm and my Jiu Jitsu isn’t quite where it needs to be.  That said I had to choose a weapon to take with me and fortunately I had a few within arm’s reach.

1- Glock 19 with Streamlight TLR-1

2- Mossberg 500 with quite a few upgrades including a Streamlight TLR-1

Briefly I considered the pistol, after all I train with it all the time and know it inside and out.  Yet I quickly switched to the shotgun and grabbed it, isn’t that why I own it?  Home invader means shotgun and heck, it’s damn sure intimidating.  I should also mention that I would have had to quickly mount my extra Streamlight to my G19 while my shotgun had it already mounted.  For those of you who might say “but the light gives away your position!” remember I’m outside and there are lights in front of my house and streetlights.  Not to mention if you’ve ever had a Streamlight or Surefire shined in your face you know how blinding it can be, it’s almost a weapon within itself.

Decision Point 3

I had made the decision to go outside, but now I had more choices to make.

1- Go out the front door.

2- Go out the back door.

3- Bring the dog (German Shepherd) or not.

I knew that I did not want to open the front door because it would have made noise tipping off those who could have been outside to my intentions, again giving them time to make their escape.  My decision was made to slip out the back door and then make a wide arc, in essence flanking the position of those who I thought might be in my driveway.  As I moved down the stairs I pondered bringing my dog with me, obviously a fully grown GSD is not only intimidating to look at but a lethal companion.  He has proved himself to be a loyal and selfless defender of our family a property, I had 100% faith he would do the same that night.  Yet I knew if he came with me he would eliminate my element of surprise and the initiative, as such I slipped on my flip flops and slid out the back door in Hanes underwear (boxer briefs, pretty comfortable actually) with my shotgun at the low ready.

Actions on the Objective

I moved silently through my back yard and quietly released the latch on my back fence, slipping out and not bothering to lock it behind me.  Remember what I thought I had seen from my second story window, I was about 50% convinced there was 1 or maybe 2 individuals trying to steal my trailer a mere 40 feet from my current location.  I moved halfway up the side of my house and remember thinking that my feet were getting wet from the dew on the grass, strange that I managed to think of that at a time when I could be moments away from confronting evil doers.

Before moving fully around the side of my house I stopped to conduct a shortened version of SLLS (Stop, Look, Listen, Smell).  It’s a fancy way to say that I paused to assess the situation before going full Rambo and charging around the corner.  Maybe they had a lookout posted somewhere, maybe I could ascertain how many people there were by hearing voices, maybe I heard or saw something else I did not like which forced me to back off and call the police from the safety of my own home.   This listening halt yielded no new information so I proceeded slowly around the side of the garage with my weapon at the ready and finger on the Streamlight switch. I’m sure if someone were to catch me on camera the sight of a grown man creeping through the yard in underwear and flip flops would have been quite hilarious.

False Alarm

Nobody was trying to steal my belongings and there was no evidence that anything had been tampered with.  Relieved I made my way back into the house but immediately began to think about what had happened.  If I were to go about this exercise again, how would I do it differently?  What did I do well and what needs improvement?

After Action Review (AAR)

The objective was to confront evil doers out in the front of my house, those who might be attempting to take what was not theirs.  You might be thinking physical objects might not be worth defending but I suppose that depends, in this case I knew I wanted to go outside to assess the situation and if necessary, directly confront individuals who might be on my property illegally trying steal my property.

Sustain (What went well)

1- I actually thought through my options (quickly) before making a decision on what to do.

2- I had weapons and other materials (flashlights) at my disposal.

3- Tactics were decent, the listening halt was key in assessing the situation.

Improve (Things I might do better next time)

1- Lighting:  I have quite a bit of lighting out in front of my house but it does create some issues.  There is a large blind spot if looking at the image my camera(s) produce because the light creates a large glow.  Additionally and as mentioned the light creates quite a bit of shadows which I found out by looking through my second story window.

2- Weapon’s choice:  I grabbed the shotgun but in reality, probably should have gone for my pistol.  While the shotgun is more intimidating (if on the wrong end of the barrel) I have substantially more training with my pistol, not to mention it is lighter and easier to carry.  In the future I’ll have to look at either snapping the Streamlight to my G19 or carrying a flashlight, leave the shotgun for the “top of the stairs, defend the castle” type stuff.

3- Communication:  What if I had corralled 1 or 2 evil doers in my driveway?  What was I to do after I had them face down on the pavement?  I was in my underwear with no communication and my wife was sound asleep in her bed.  Was I going to yell at the top of my lungs until my wife woke up, or maybe I could ask one of the bad guys if he had a cell phone so I could call her.  Point being I should have woken her up prior to me going outside to assess the situation, stupid move on my part.

4- The Dog:  I was so fixated on getting the drop on the potential bad guys that I left my biggest asset INSIDE!  Not only could my dog go ahead of me and give me signs (via barking) as to what was going on, if there were bad guys out there I have no doubts he would have done most of the work for me thus reducing my exposure to risk.  German Shepherds don’t tear flesh when they bite, they break bones.  Next time you’d better believe I won’t leave my boy in the house while I try to do it alone.

The Bottom Line

I wanted to share my experience to get you thinking about what you might do in similar circumstances.  Do you have something readily available to defend yourself with?  What’s your (Pre and Post SHTF) plan for intruders in the front, rear, side of your home?  Do you have a communication plan with loved ones, maybe a pet which you could use as a first alert buddy.  We have very specific plans for some circumstances but almost no plan for what I just wrote about, talk about a huge gap!  While you might have all of your gear staged at your bedside if you only have 30 seconds to make a decision before moving out will you truly have time to strap it all on?  What about the easy stuff…lighting or camera angles?  Concepts are one thing but if you have a real world situation you might find that there are improvements which should be made to increase the effectiveness of your response.  Good luck and let me know how it goes!