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!

 

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    • J on July 5, 2015 at 7:20 PM
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    overall I agree with your actions and would have acted similarly, I think. 2 thoughts for you to consider. I would have taken the shotgun simply because you have a much larger spread than with a pistol. in low light that can make a lot of difference.

    also, I would have taken the dog as well. my military police training taught me that a criminal may trade shots with you but a dog will greatly increase their chances of breaking and running. and no one wins a foot race with a highly motivated GSD

    I have motion sensor lights around the house, might be something to think about if you don’t have them.

    • TPSnodgrass on July 5, 2015 at 8:45 PM
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    Is that not why we have GSDs’ in the first place? I let our respond outside prior to ME going in potential harms way.
    As J said, “NO ONE(emphasis added) “wins” a foot race with a highly motivated GSD.”

    I’ve never seen anyone lose to a GSD or Malinois in my decades in law enforcement in a past career.Just my experience is all.
    Glad everything turned out well for you and your pooch!

    • PJ on July 5, 2015 at 9:57 PM
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    J and TPS,

    Both of you are correct and as I stated, in the heat of the moment I guess I placed more weight on being able to “get the drop” on the perps than overwhelming them with force. Hindsight 20/20 I should have taken the dog. He is trained and obedient but only to a point and nowhere near a police dog. For instance he has great recall and I can have him sit, walk across the street and he will stay frozen until I give him the sign to follow. Yet he is very protective, part of the reason I chose not to originally take him because I knew he would charge out front (which probably would have been for the best). Today I stopped by the hardware store and parked my truck in their lot/yard with the windows rolled down. Two of the employees were 20 yards away and turned to address me while walking my way. I hadn’t taken 3 steps their way and my GSD jumped out of the truck window and got in between us with his hair up and not very pleased. I immediately recalled him back into the truck, but I was like damn….dude does NOT play.

    • J on July 5, 2015 at 11:24 PM
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    the main thing is everything worked out for you. on the other side of this, not sure if you live near a well traveled road or not but it would be bad form to bring a dog out in a situation where maybe someone was approaching for assistance. As you described the situation, that scenario wasn’t likely. I only bring it up as an unlikely possibility.

    it sounds like you have thought the situation through and are objective enough to admit to yourself where you think you can improve and that is what matters.

      • PJ on July 5, 2015 at 11:42 PM
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      Thanks J. Definitely open to improvements and I think that’s key no matter what the scenario, look for ways to make it better the next go around. I’ve read other sites which shall remain nameless where the authors come across as pretentious and all knowing, this is the ONLY way! I think we all should remain open to feedback, both good and bad. I’d venture a guess that there is not one “expert” out there, be it military / law enforcement / survivalist that could not benefit from an AAR.

    • J on July 6, 2015 at 9:27 AM
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    Armchair experts annoy me to no end. One thing I have appreciated here is that advice is given constructively. I think I have been to some of the sites you mentioned before myself

    • NRP on July 6, 2015 at 5:24 PM
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    Ok Ok I can’t keep my mouth shut on this….

    I know if I was a “bad guy”/ten foot tall/bullet proof’/with 10 buddies if I saw you coming around the corner of the house in your boxers, flip flops, and a shotgun I would be hauling azz so fast it would look like Star Trek going into Warp Drive….. Dog or not, I’m gone.

    Other than that I see nada wrong with what you did, besides like everyone else, the dog thing. Don’t get me wrong I love the hell out of my K-9, but he’s first into the fight. I’m his backup.

    NRP

  1. I had a similar incident with a power outage and the electric company using radios to communicate outside that I couldn’t quite make out at the time. The thing I noticed the most was my breathing. I really didn’t like how my heart rate had increased with the situation, but the only way to reduce that stress level is to do more training in similar situations.

    • MATTLBS on July 16, 2015 at 7:50 PM
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    One thing I do that you might want to consider as well. I keep a pair of mesh gym shorts (summer) or a pair of old sweat pants (winter) at the foot of the bed along with an old pair of running shoes that I can jam my feet in quickly for emergencies and things that go bump in the night. I figure if it is an evacuation type of emergency or if I might end up in hand to hand combat I am not really good enough to go at it UFC style in tights and barefoot (as I’m sure flip flops would immediately fly off, or just get in the way and my boxer briefs, while comfortable aren’t really set up for mass consumption). I’d be better off covering my rear, so to speak. My wife complains about the junk at the foot of the bed, but I figure she’d appreciate my preparedness if I was standing inside the red cross tent in some shorts or sweats rather than my “fundies” following the disaster.

      • PJ on July 16, 2015 at 11:44 PM
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      Matt

      Great point about keeping some handy slip on gear close, nobody wants to be running in flip flops!

    • Older Cow Girl on August 6, 2015 at 11:20 PM
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    I sure appreciate all the feedback from such an informative article. Thanks guys for the extra advice. My husband and I had a similar experience. To make the story real short…5am, stupid druggie, shotgun, and large husband and 2 big dogs (Great Pyrenees and Lab/Pit cross).

    Ended well…nobody got shot. My favorite part is when my husband told the guy, after he racked his shotgun, “It’s a good thing my wife didn’t catch you…she would have shot you!”. I think he said this just to make the guy consider the possibilities.

      • PJ on August 7, 2015 at 9:37 PM
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      Thanks for sharing your experience, it’s a good day when nobody gets hurt.

    • Roger on October 13, 2015 at 4:20 PM
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    Some thoughts come to mind, first-night vision gear might have been very handy. Second, fenced-in property will keep ‘causal’ trespassers away, climbing a 6 foot+ fence can put you in a trap. Third, have a second and maybe third dog (don’t even have to be large dogs), I don’t care how bad-ass you think you are, when a pack of several dogs are tearing into you, you will be happy when the owner shows up, least you become road kill in very short order. Even three aggressive ‘lap’ dogs can be very distracting especially when the home owner may well be on the way, shotgun in hand! A pack of dogs tends to be much more aggressive than one. Lastly, as you already mentioned, wake up your SO and arm her/him, and if you want to try to sneak up on a thief, then have her stand by the front door with the dog(s), give you a minute to get out there, then release the dogs and maybe call 911. If you’re not sure if you want to kill an intruder or maybe a child has wandered onto your property, then chamber a rock-salt round into your shotgun; won’t kill but hurts like hell, been there, will never forget! Good Luck!

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