The "Run, Hide, Fight" Strategy is Flawed. Die Resisting Your Enemy, Not Running From ThemsteemCreated with Sketch.

in security •  7 years ago  (edited)

In 2015 on a beach in Sousse, Tunisia, a man went on a shooting spree. I will not provide his name, for he does not deserve the honor. He used a rifle in an open space, and the people there had no where to run, no cover to take, and no where to hide. The police response was also extremely slow.

The above strategy is taught by government agencies around the world however. You are expected to abide by it when there's an "active shooter." It is not the way of the warrior though. Besides, no matter how skilled you are, you cannot outrun a rifle round. It will not work when you're in an open space with an attacker who has a rifle.

You should not run.


There will be no place to hide. Waiting until the end to fight will be too late. By waiting until the end, far more people die. The police will not respond in time, and the shooter will have more time to continue their rampage. That strategy therefore is completely unacceptable.

It is a strategy for cowards.

Should we act like them in the face of death?! If people have the means and intent to murder, you must fight them. Running and hiding from them is exactly what they expect you to do. They are predators, and they expect you to be prey.

A warrior does not run from their attacker or the risk of death.

In the Tunisia attack, the man murdered 30 people. What if just one person had been a warrior and resisted instead? A lot more people would still be alive. The same is true of the Columbine shooting in America. While the police hid behind a fire truck, children inside were slaughtered.

No, I will not run and hide.


The strategy is recommended because governments do not want people to defend themselves. They want us fearful and in need of outside protectors. You should be armed, but being unarmed still changes nothing.

When confronted with an enemy intent to kill you, you embrace them with violence!

My children are taught to take cover, and then they are taught to run. I teach them that the more distance between them and the firearm, the safer they are. They are taught that only because they do not have the means to resist. They cannot defend themselves.

I can and will whether I have a firearm or not.

That is the way of the warrior. We do not welcome death, but we are not going to avoid it at the cost of our honor either. I will not sit idly by while innocent people die due to my inaction. Predators need to understand that there are far more valuable things than the life of an individual.


One of the problems with the world today is that so few people understand this concept. Apparently we live in a world full of predators and prey.

Where are the warriors and protectors??

Where are the heroes?!


finnian steemit.gif

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This Seems to fly in the face of our societal conditioning and instinct.

In many instances what you say is true. In the interests of self preservation many will stand by idly while watching loved ones and strangers abused or even killed.

I know this method the way of the warrior can work, althought it is not it is not foolproof.

For example is a large aggressive dog squares up with you and begins running toward you many people would instinctively try to escape or run away. Most people cannot outrun a dog on foot though, and many times will be bitten anyway.

Something I have tried on a couple of occasions.

•Take off running Toward the large agressive dog at a dead sprint while screaming and yelling loudly the tables were quickly turned and I soon became the chaser and the dog the chased.

Bottom line. If you are waiting for someone to come and rescue you: You might be severely injured or dead by the time they arrive. We own ourselves, so we should act accordingly.

Once, in a dark street of Bangkok at night, a horde of a half dozen errant dogs started circling me: I responded in a very menacing way. They knew, I wasn't going to be pray. I got away without a bite, walking. What is funny, is that I am not particularly brave in front of danger. But here, I let my instincts rule me, because I knew that if I ran, I'd just become dog meat! It was quite an adrenaline rush though!

"Run, hide, stay hidden and silent forever" - Unknown government official

Yeah, the objective is pretty obvious. Rulers don't want their subjects armed.

Not sitting on the sidelines either if ever in a situation like this. Always been taught you don't pick a fight, but if you are in one make sure to win.

I'm an active duty officer in the military. No one on my base is allowed to carry concealed (or bring weapons/ammo on base at all).

Literally the largest cross-section of society that shoots pistols/rifles most often and should have the highest aptitude in these situations, and we can't even carry to defend ourselves!

The best argument for why we shouldn't be able to carry on base is this:

Ok, Marine. Let's say you're at the commissary and you hear gun shots. You race to the front, toward danger, and see the bad guy and begin to exchange fire. The OTHER Marine who also hears gunfire comes running out of the freezer section and sees you at the end of the bread aisle doing God's work. He thinks you're the bad guy and starts shooting at you. Because you have a gun. And are shooting at people.

Hostile fire situations are tough. There is no perfect solution. But I'd still want to carry to prevent having to hide behind a hollow-core door, hoping an active shooter doesn't hear my cell phone go off and kick my door in...

Yeah, I was in an MP unit once that did VIP protection details. They were not allowed to have loaded pistols though. /boggle It was all just a show.

I know people deployed to very safe zones in other countries. They are all armed all the time. The argument above for some reason doesn't work there though.

Friendly fire incidents do happen, but I'd rather have a gun fight than a massacre. I work in a building where I'm disarmed, but at least we have private security (they call themselves police but they are just armed security imho), actively patrolling the place.

Even as a reserve deputy for the county and as a sworn officer, I was still not allowed to have my gun here. That's just stupid. Oh, we can't forget regular concealed carry laws too and how at least in Virginia I can carry in a bar or bank, but I cannot carry in a post office? Again, it's stupid.

I cannot carry a cop, and a cop doesn't give a damn about my life or the lives of my children. That's the bottom line. There's no good excuse to disarm people, and it only helps the predators do more damage before they are rightfully removed from society.

WOWZA. I love your spirit and I am pretty close to this topic. I think that it is really hard to imagine what it feels like when another person breaks out a gun on you randomly. I am extremely sensitive, but there is an energy exchange that is so intense... It really gives you an entirely new understanding of what it means to be a warrior, as you call it. Where ARE the heroes at? Jeeze sometimes it is really unbelievable how much humanity has been manipulated by government, isn't it?

They want to keep people fearful, for fearful people are easily controlled. I'm really looking forward to your story. Shootings like the one you were involved in don't happen often, but they do happen and happen enough to pay attention to the events and learn from them. Everyone here will learn a lot by what you share.

Societies across the world have been taught to trust their governments, especially those put in place democratically. Part of a governing bodies functions is security and justice. Should you or anyone else take the time to entertain the thought of what that entails in contrast to basic human freedom and liberty, you will find a massive flaw.

You can not, under the umbrella of government, effectively protect yourself and your family in a manner that is equal to the threat. While there is about 1.5 million miles of gray area between those two stances, the constant is that the victim generally loses in the end.

So what is one to do? Don't be the victim of course! Nature has a weird way of solving the problem of destructive behaviors. In this case, that would be safety in numbers. Many fleeing make great targets, many adversaries create peace. Well, something like that anyway, haha~!

Indoctrination has led to a very passive herd I suppose.

There is too much programming to be in fear and defenceless for sure.
These tactics are used in non-physical situations such as sharing truth, putting fear in people to not speak out and share the hidden agenda and what is happening. If we don't stand for integrity and what is right then we are all going to die of poisoning from all the ways the elite are poisoning us, chemtrials going into land, food, water and of course our air, chemicals in food and water, and also in products.
We need to stand up for integrity, truth and liberty before AI takes over and we all get killed by robots or humans mind controlled and micro-chipped!

It's sad though that most people don't seem to care. I stopped trying to awaken people years ago. People have to make their own way. They have to find the path on their own. We cannot force them to it. That means very few will get there.

I agree that it is sad that people can keep turning a blind eye.
I do my best to share awakening, I wrote a book called 'Awaken' to guide people to be more aware without taking on all the fear. It's not been a hit yet!!
People do awaken at their own pace, but more are now than several years ago, so progress is happening.

It's interesting that you used the sub title that you did about energy. To me energy is "god." It connects us, is eternal, and doesn't require faith to believe in. There's no way to use it to divide people either like traditional religions tend to do.

Yes some people do consider 'god' to be energy, I had a catholic upbringing so I tend to dislike that word now!
Energy is outside of religion and that does end the disagreements on religious beliefs!

I was raised to be Catholic too, but I'm a Deist now of course.

Yes I think Catholics either totally take it in or totally reject religion!

While I completely understand the sentiment @finnian, there are a host of reasons why "Run, Hide, Fight" is a good rule to remember:

  • Some people have more to risk than just themselves, by confronting the attacker. If you have a spouse or children with you, you just draw attention to them as well.
  • If you have no weapon or means of defeating the attacker, your gesture is bold and ineffective. By running or hiding, you may be able to take advantage of an opportunity that pops up.
  • If you are unable to help, then getting help there can be of great importance in a lot of scenarios. Even if you don't immediately save lives, you may prevent the attacker from killing more people later.

There are a number of reasons why you would want to follow this rule of thumb. Francis Marion, known as the "Swamp Fox" during the Revolutionary War, practiced a strategy of attacking the enemy when they were not expecting it and running and hiding as soon as they regrouped. He successfully tied up the enemy in his region. Running and hiding are useful tactics, especially when you can't fight toe to toe.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

In warfare, irregular warfare especially, what you wrote at the end is very true. Your entire force is withdrawing though. It isn't leaving behind a great number of innocents who will be immediately slaughtered. The analogy doesn't hold up in other words. I'm all for running to fight another day, but in active shooter situations the strategy benefits the attackers way too much.

Yes, but if you are unequipped to fight the attacker, your gesture is useless. By all means confront them if you can, but if you run at a shooter with your fists up, I don't like your chances. In many cases, running or hiding is all you can realistically do for the moment.

If you learn Ninjutsu, you will learn that the philosophy of their approach is to avoid fighting at all costs - but to effectively be undefeatable when fighting. The logic is that escaping and initiating contact on your own terms has the highest chance of success. You may not be able to out run a bullet, but you also aren't going to be able to stop a bullet with bravado either.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

For what they were doing, their tactics were excellent. Warriors do not always have a choice to escape to fight another day though. The objective in active shooter situations should be to have people armed. If people are not armed though, you should still resist. No, bravado will not stop bullets, but people have to reload. They make mistakes. There are ways to defend yourself without cowering or running. Yes, some of the people putting up a fight are going to die, but that's better than a massacre.

Everyone has free will and the essence here is to understand why we are experiencing what we are experiencing in the moment and to respond with what is needed and nothing more or less. Everyone is unique and so I agree that it is unwise to follow any kind of 'voice of authority' with regards the 'correct' thing to do in such a situation. While it may be unwise to blindly follow 'advice' to run away in some situations - it is also unwise to try to intimidate people by judging their own feelings that guide them towards their own survival as being indicative of being 'cowardly'. The problem in all cases here is a lack of love.

It's a personal choice for sure. If someone brings violence to me, those I love, or even a stranger when I'm around to do something about it, they will not be allowed to easily continue. I will resist them.

Did you know that your website link on your profile page doesn't click through?

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Yes, thank you! @grow-pro is still building it, but he's a busy guy. I've debated not linking it for now or leaving it up. It will be working soon though.

Oh ok!

Well perhaps you would like to share with me what sort of private investigation work you do and check out this new Steemit Project to help find missing children and let me know what you think or any advice you can share with us - @olaat
Thanks! :)

Honestly, I saw that initiative, and I was wondering if it was real or a scam. I'll have to take a closer look. One of the areas of interest for me as a PI is missing persons and skip tracing, and I'm definitely interested in missing children's cases. You don't have to be a former LEO to do quality work in that area either. It just takes learning and training as most things.

We are genuinely wanting to help find missing children. I've messaged you in another reply somewhere, but we'd be delighted to have you join us. I personally don't have a clue where to start, I'm doing the writing and replies! Look forward to chatting in Discord https://discord.gg/GczykmB or on Steemit chat

I can't use Discord here at work, but I have added it to my "to do" list for tonight to get on the server. Thanks!

Great, look forward to chatting later. I'm in the UK so different time zone but @inthenow is USA.
I'm excited to hear what you have to say!

The fight or flight programming we were taught is the basis of their fear based system. Like you said this is how they trick you into thinking government will come to the rescue.

I'll never forget Columbine. I know policy has changed since then and because of it, but other people, strangers, will never protect you, your loved ones, and your neighbors, as well as those people could protect themselves. The more local the defense, the better. They cannot be corrupted by outside influences either.

I agree to your post but just to some extent. as I mention in another comment, I am not the bravest, but I do apply what you say instinctively. I believe in the predator- prey principle, and not only theoretically.

However, I imagine myself at the Bataclan (you know this shooting that occurred in Paris November 2015). In that situation, confrontation is certain death. Your answer is to say, yeah, but if I fight the shooter, I have a tiny chance of saving lives... Maybe so, but with 3 guys with a Kalash in front of you, you unarmed, the only way to fight effectively is a collective and coordinated attack, which cannot be done because of the panic. In such a situation I'd rather run and hide, because of a higher chance of survival. And try to run and hide intelligently, I mean...

On the other hand, for a standard aggression, that strategy can work. But again, the situation needs to be assessed depending on your skills and weapons present. I practiced Aikido for a few years, that's always useful...

So, in my humble opinion, your post is true but just to a certain extent: the response strategy should always be adapted to the situation. Sometimes run and hide, sometimes confront and fight. I admit though that one needs to train to keep his cool to make the right decision, not easy...

Agreed. My response is biased due to the fact that I'm always armed. That changes a lot.