Author of Be Ready for Anything and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
(May 22, 2019) Over the weekend, hundreds of angry migrants took over Terminal 2 of the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. They were demanding papers that would allow them to stay in France indefinitely.
For me, the question in these scenarios is always, “What would I do if I was caught up in a similar situation?”
Let’s talk through this. Your answers may be very different from mine and that’s cool because the goal here is to come up with not only Plan A but the whole darned alphabet. And if you want to smugly proclaim “I wouldn’t be there in the first place because I don’t travel” please just go away and let the grown-ups talk. Any of us at any time could get caught up in an unexpected situation and war-gaming it ahead of time can really help us to take action quickly. Crazy stuff happens in small towns too – you don’t have to go to Paris to encounter aggressive or insane people. If it makes you feel better, pretend you’re at the post office.
As a side note, there was an exercise in Selco’s Urban Survival Course for Women that would have prepared me for it. During the course, we were sent into a mall to locate exits, cover, and concealment throughout. We found some pretty interesting ways out as well as locating a map with fire exits. I found it interesting that this lesson was immediately relevant and it just goes to show how timely the information in Selco‘s course is.
How can you escape?
When you are in a dangerous and evolving situation, your first strategy should always escape. I know that a lot of you aren’t going to like this suggestion because it feels cowardly. But how could you possibly take on 500 people and win? They don’t even need weapons to collectively kick the snot out of you.
Toby Cowern, the big Kahuna at Tread Lightly Survival (be sure to check out his YouTube channel, too) has top-level qualifications as a risk management specialist and is a former member of British Military Intelligence. I asked him for his advice regarding the Terminal 2 situation. Here’s what he had to say.
To address this issue could be a book in and of itself, with various and multiple influencing factors that would demand consideration. But at the heart of it all, the simple and best advice is:
- When a group is looking to clash with an authority, regardless of size or location it is in your best interest to not be there.
- Be mindful and observant. Take a moment to identify escape routes and exit options. BE PREPARED to use them. A huge amount of social conditioning occurs especially in ‘higher security’ environments. The signs saying ‘door is alarmed’ should not cause you ANY hesitation in using it in an emergency…
- If in doubt, go early, if you feel a moral/ethical responsibility to ‘help’, encourage people to go with you.
- Once successfully exiting from the immediate problem, KEEP MOVING towards safety. Don’t just stop and stand outside the exit door…
- If possible communicate with authorities (this maybe face to face or via the ‘phone or similar) and provide as much relevant information as possible about the emerging problem(s) you are moving away from…
With Toby’s advice in mind, here’s a map of Terminal 2.
Terminal 2 is a long corridor. Each gate offers a potential escape route but there’s a long drop if you can get the doors open. Keep in mind the doors in an airport are usually alarmed. But remember what Toby said? You don’t care about an alarm going off. You have to overcome your social programming and open the door, alarm or no alarm, in order to escape. It could be good in that it will alert security to a problem. It could be bad because it will alert the folks who are taking over the facility that someone went astray.
If you decide to escape, as Rory Miller says in his book, Facing Violence, commit fully to your action. Don’t do it halfway. Drop everything and run like a gator is snapping at your butt. And for the love of cats, don’t stop when you get to the other side of the door. You don’t want to be anywhere near that situation.
Here are a couple of videos from the bombing of the airport in Belgium back in2016. Yes, this is different, in that it is the aftermath of a bombing. But there are definite similarities and you can learn a lot from the mistakes people are making given the situation.
Do you see how people are paralyzed? They’re hiding, keeping their heads down, instead of getting out. Instead of running full speed, they’re gathering up their luggage. And when they get outside, why on earth are they standing right by the door?
So many people wait around for someone official to tell them what to do, but in situations like these, you’re going to have to make decisions.
Can you hide?
There aren’t a whole lot of hiding places. Here’s a photo of the terminal.
If you’re going to hide, stealth is your friend. You want to just slip away and blend into your surroundings with no fanfare whatsoever. Keep in mind that in a situation with 500 aggressors, there could be a lot of eyes on everyone, so make it appear nonchalant. If you generally travel with children, this can become a game that you play on a regular basis. Just slipping away and hiding silently.
If you try to escape or hide and you get caught, it’s probably not going to be pretty. You’re accepting the risk of becoming an example to deter others from trying the same thing.
How can you blend in?
If you find yourself in a situation like the one at Charles de Gaulle airport, blending in is the best way to hide in plain sight. Search for the baseline of people around you. Do they look scared? Angry? You don’t want to stand out. Don’t look as though you’re calmly plotting an assassination when everyone else looks terrified.
I know that you want to be defiant. “You don’t scare me, Mr. Bad Guy. Eff you.”
That is a horrible idea, regardless that you want to do it down to your little pink toes. Do nothing that captures the attention of the folks who are in charge.
I always travel with a scarf that I can quickly put over my head if I’m in a situation where I feel it might be a better option to cover my hair. Aside from this, try to keep your expression similar to everyone else’s. If you have children, do your best to keep them quiet. Don’t make eye contact with the hostage takers or deliberately engage with them. You are invisible.
Like Toby, Selco‘s best advice is “Do not be there.” However, if you do find yourself in the midst of a situation like this one, the author of The Dark Secrets of SHTF Survival talks about hiding in plain sight.
If you are there go with a flow until reach safety. Be a new press reporter, a volunteer, carry a sign of support, be pregnant, sick or whatever.
In this situation, being just another scared passenger would be a good way to avoid being noticed.
Danger signs
There are certain dangers signs that should compel you to take more dramatic action.
A question I would ask in a scenario like the one in Terminal 2 would always be “What do they want?” because this will somewhat influence my response. (Although not being there, by escaping or hiding, should still be your first choices.)
In this situation, it was a protest, not an attack. Because the group had a goal other than “kill all the people” your response could be slightly less dramatic. But remember, even when the initial goal is something other than killing people, things can go sideways fast.
In an attack, the chances you’re going to die increase dramatically, which means your plan should be likewise dramatic. Attackers usually hope to spread terror by hurting or killing as many innocent people as possible. In an attack your goal should be 1) getting away or 2) fighting back.
If someone gets hurt you’ve learned that the hostage-takers aren’t afraid to commit an assault or even murder. If a hostage is injured or killed, you know that the situation has the potential to escalate dramatically. Escape just sped up your list of potential actions (if it wasn’t already there). You should make every effort possible to get yourself and your family out of the situation.
If the situation shows signs of being an Islamic hostage siege, your chances of dying have also increased exponentially. This isn’t a Muslim-bashing thing, but a realistic warning that ties into numerous attacks in recent history.
Greg Ellifritz of Active Response Training wrote a fantastic article about this topic. It was written with law enforcement in mind, but we civilians can get a lot from it.
Look at every event worldwide where Islamic terrorists have taken hostages. In EVERY event, the terrorists refused to negotiate or used the negotiation time to build better fortifications or attract more media attention. Every minute spent in negotiation with Islamic terrorists strengthens their position and gives them the media attention they crave. They don’t want to get away. They want to kill all the hostages and die a martyr’s death. Your negotiation tactics just buy the terrorist the time he needs to optimally complete his plan.
Need some examples? How about starting off with the Beslan school hostage siege. That’s the most famous event of this type. The terrorists used the government’s attempts to negotiate solely as a delaying tactic. While the military was “negotiating,” the terrorists were killing hostages, ringing the school with explosives, and setting up machine gun nests to prepare for the inevitable raid to come.
For more recent examples of Islamic terrorist hostage sieges, look at the Australian Lindt cafe hostage siege. Or the Bangladesh restaurant hostage siege. The French Bataclan Theater hostage incident fits the profile as well. (source)
In the article, which you really should read, Ellifritz discusses the signs that you are not just in an average hostage situation, but a martyr situation. And here’s where it applies to civilians.
How does this information affect the reader who isn’t a cop? If you get caught up in a terrorist hostage siege, you must fight or escape. You cannot wait for the police to save you. They aren’t coming. They are too busy trying to “negotiate” with a terrorist who is only leading them on and buying time to increase his fortifications, media exposure, and body count. By the time the cops figure this out, it will be too late for you. (source)
This is the reason why I personally want to understand why the event is occurring. In the case of Terminal 2, there were no signs that this was a martyr situation. A person present would be better off blending in than taking on one of the hundreds of attackers. But if it had been, for example, if you witnessed the hostage-takers rigging up explosives, then your response would need to escalate to fit the threat.
Fighting back
When you’re outnumbered and/or outgunned, fighting back isn’t always the sensible choice. Fighting back in these situations should generally be an option of last resort.
But if you know that you are about to be killed, then it’s time to take action. If the hostage-takers have already killed a hostage, that increases the likelihood that others are going to die, too. If it’s obvious that you are in a martyr situation, then fighting back is the only choice left if you cannot get away.
This is the point at which you have nothing left to lose. If there are others in the crowd who are willing to fight, you will have a slightly better chance. In the article How to Survive a Terror Attack, I wrote about the 2015 attack that also took place in Paris.
In Paris, unarmed hostages were at the mercy of their captors. One hundred people were kept in line by just a few men with guns. Keep in mind that fighting back doesn’t always mean a fancy Krav Maga move that takes down two armed men with one trick maneuver. There are many ways to fight back, and not all of them require physical prowess. Don’t let fear incapacitate you. Your brain is a weapon too.
Are you going to wait for someone to save you or are you going to save yourself? Don’t be a kamikaze, but look for your opportunity. There comes a point in some of these situations in which survival is unlikely. Don’t go down without a fight.
To do this, training on a regular basis is essential. Being fit, practicing self-defense skills, and being strong will serve you much better than being a couch potato with dreams of glory. Check out this article about fighting back for more advice.
Again, take care that you are not escalating the situation by fighting back. You don’t want yours to be the dead body that makes hostage-takers decide they have nothing left to lose.
So, what would you do?
It’s very important to understand that this article isn’t about migrants demanding their paperwork. It’s not about France or being at the airport.
It’s about being in a situation outside your control, where you’re suddenly outnumbered and things have become dangerous.
After reading the analysis and looking at the photos, what would you do if you were in a similar situation? Please share your thoughts in the comments and let’s learn from this.
About Daisy
Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting blogger who writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, voluntaryism, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, The Organic Prepper. She is widely republished across alternative media and she curates all the most important news links on her aggregate site, PreppersDailyNews.com. Daisy is the best-selling author of 4 books and runs a small digital publishing company. She lives in the mountains of Virginia with her family. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
I agree with you that in most such cases flight is a better strategy than fight. And calling the authorities is a great idea if you have time and can pull it off undetected. But part of my EDC is a credit card sized foldable billfold knife that passes through airport scanners without setting them off. Because it lacks a guard it’s better for slashing than stabbing, but if it came to a fight it’s better than nothing.
In addition to looking for exits and hiding places look for things that can be re-purposed as weapons. Example: in a bar a pool cue or a cue ball in a sock can be a wicked weapon. The leg of a chair, a cup of hot coffee (think McDonalds or any restaurant), a steak knife or a heavy plate can be weapons of desperation. Even a plastic straw can be a weapon if you jam it in someone’s eyes. Look around and I’ll guarantee you’ll see something, even if it’s your own luggage.
Above all be aware of your situation so you aren’t taken by surprise. Paying attention to what’s going on around you can clue you in to developing problems in time to ease your way out of them.
The fold-up credit card knives DO NOT (always) make it through TSA scanners. I know, I lost both my CC knife AND… my Ready Man Credit Card Survival Fishing card that was in my carry-on. Not intentionally trying to ‘smuggle’ a knife on an airplane but I had completely forgot they were in my bag from a previous trip of multi-day vehicle traveling. I flew from East coast to West and they made it through on the first leg , but… on the return trip, they found them during the secondary scan… oh well. I told the young TSA agent to NOT throw them away but to keep them and take them home. Don’t know if he did or not…
I’m an Alpha and I try to keep things under my control. That being said in a situation like this you gotta humble yourself and realize that you ain’t in control and your actions will result in overwhelming violence on you and others around you. Do whatever it takes to just GET OUT. If you gotta look weak and take some verbal abuse or even a kick then do it just GET OUT.
That being said if it happens here I’ll be back, with some friends, better armed, better trained and you will pay the price for messing with my people. That ain’t gonna be tolerated no matter the PC climate.
Be safe out there
First, evaluate the situation. Are you injured. If not life threatening or disabling, get away first, then treat the injury. You do have some first aid stuff in your EDC, don’t you?
Second, GET AWAY. This breaks down into 3 parts. 1. Get away from the crowd, 2. Now, find the exits and get out of the building. 3. Get away from the building. This is called Escape and Evasion or sometimes E&E.
Remember that you are in a public building. Public buildings, at least in the US, are designed with multiple Fire Exits. The have the lighted red sign saying “EXIT”. Try to get out one of those. In an airport, if your in the gate area your most likely exit is the exit in one of the gate to plane loading chutes.
Buy a good book on Escape and Evasion. A quick look on Amazon and I don’t see one that applies to a civilian situation. Perhaps a prepper supply site has one.
Looking at the map of the airport, the only exits that I do not think would be covered by a gunman, at least early in the event, would be the terminal plane access ramps. If there is a group of people near one, that does not have the terrorists already watching them closely, I would blend in with them and work toward the ramp entrance. (If they are being watched, then I would look for another ramp that I could get to unobtrusively.)
I carry several lengths of paracord, #42 bankline, and a length of kevlar cord. I would look for (and am sure I could find) something to use as a grappling hook or crossbar. I would either tie off to whichever one I found, or if I could see a spot where either could be wedged near the door, I would loop the paracord preferably around it and with it hidden against my body the best I would, I would ease over to the door to the ramp.
Once I get into the ramp I would wedge the anchor at the door opening, and once I know how far the drop is, I would tie two hand/wrist loops in the paracord that would be about six feet above the pavement.
This is because, unless it is less than eight feet to the pavement, I do not want to go straight down. I would move to the other side of the door from the anchor, place my hands in the loops, lie down, and then ease over the edge. Hopefully it is a wide opening. If it is I would swing down in a curve, rather than going straight down.
If there is slack in the cord because the width of the door is less than the the drop, then there will be a jolt, but I will still swing the last part of the way, reducing the impact significantly when I reach the ground.
Then, using any and all cover and concealment that will be in the area, I would head for the nearest spot I could get completely out of sight. If it is a spot with the authorities then I cooperate with them. If there are no authorities I keep going until I am someplace I know will be safe.
One of the keys to getting out of the airport in any way except the regular exits/entries is going to be getting to ground level from the elevated floor of the building. I have found that the swinging method rather than the drop method is a great deal easier on my feet, ankles, knees, and hips.
I carry a plain wooden T-handle walking stick when I know I might have to go through security. It has been a while since I have flown, but there was no problem with me having it after it went through the x-ray. I did have to let a cabin attendant stow it for me on the plane, though. Which is no problem as I can hang onto seat backs while moving down the aisle.
However, if push comes to shove, I am capable of using the walking stick to defend myself to a significant degree. I have not tried getting a weighted gill net or similar through security. If I could it would be something else I could use for defense and to aid in an escape.
Other venues would require different actions, but the actual tactics are much the same. Get away or fight without mercy.
Just my opinion.
Daisy,
I have given this some thought. I’m probably considered “elderly” now and a woman to boot. Probably the prime target for hostage taking. And, trying to blend in would be impossible. But, I would be committed to trying to escape, if I could.
I’ve looked at the map of the terminal and the picture.
At first I thought of going into a restroom and with other’s help barricading the door. But when I thought that through I realized that if the “bad guys” get in, we would all be trapped with no other escape. So, that plan probably isn’t the best.
I’m sure there are stairwells for exits. The problem there would be being caught in there with the wrong people. But, maybe a group of people trying to get away could accomplish that. Safety in numbers, you know.
Then, I saw that there is a Sheraton Hotel. Looks like it might be attached to the terminal. I enlarged the map, but I can’t tell for sure. If people could get inside the hotel, there would surely be exits to the outside. This is of course provided that the hotel hadn’t been taken over.
My next thought was – if there are any restaurants in the terminal, that might be a good place to go. Again, I can’t tell by the picture, but there are usually some snack areas, Starbucks, etc. These places must have a kitchen area behind the counters. That might be an option. And, I would imagine there would be some sort of exit from there. If not, then there should be some pretty awesome items there to use as a weapon. If only a pot of hot soup.
Being older now poses a problem. Hopefully some of your readers will have some suggestions.
A lot would depend on factors I don’t know in this situation. Am I by myself or traveling with a disabled person? Where did the protesters come from to get to the terminal? Did they come from the outside, on a shuttle, or from the Sheraton? Also where am I in the terminal when things go south? Maybe getting into the Sheraton wound be the easiest and then getting outside from there. They did not seem vicious in this case and not against the travelers in particular as they might in other situations.
It would be easier to see more info on a map.
Someone mentioned a cue ball in a sock as a weapon. How about a hard object wound in a scarf for a little longer range? A scarf would be fashionable and more easily accessed. Generally be as unobtrusive as possible. A weapon would be last resort.
Well to start I am a 64 year old female that has had a broken spine. It has been fused but I’m limited in agility. My husband is 89 years old and is wheelchair bound.
If anyone thinks that this won’t happen to you, you are completely wrong. We were at the Ft. Lauderdale airport in 2016 when the shooting took place. We were extremely lucky to be outside at the taxi stand when it started. We had been waiting for a handicap taxi and were the last of our group to get picked up. As the taxi pulled away, people came flying out of the terminals. We had no idea what was happening until we reached the hotel. If we had been delayed getting our luggage, or a push cart for our luggage by 5 to 10 minutes we would have been right where the shooter was. I have no idea what we could have done if we were. Getting on the floor, blending in, fighting or fleeing ?
I look back and try to visualize what we could have done. I know one thing for sure, I would have tried anything and everything I could to protect me and my family.
This is the best thing to do. Strategize every type of problem that can happen and what you can do to avoid being caught or killed.
This is a good challenge to think through. Human nature is a funny thing when it comes to emergency situations. We always are at the mercy of woulda, coulda, shoulda. Hiding and/or getting away from danger is always the better part of valor. But as we see so often now, people want to huddle along the edges so they can see what’s going to happen next. Maybe that is conditioning that comes from safely watching disasters in the movies. DH and I have been re-watching the Bourne series. He’s very quick and adept at assessing his means of survival. But being in our 60s and basically untrained, it seems the real training would be to over ride our natural curiosity and get as far away from Dodge as possible. We are finding that we do not like large public places anymore simply because large groups of modern people seem to be so into themselves as individuals that they really do not care about others at all — in general. Sports and amusement parks do not appeal to us at all anymore
To be caught in the post office in a crowd — there’s no good way out in our PO. The counters are solid. There’s a loop around a service pony wall. No exit except the way in. Depending on where the threat is coming from, hiding behind the furniture may be the only option as long as someone else hasn’t beat me to it. A prayer life that’s always in motion seems the best way to overcome fear. Asking the Almighty for wisdom has always worked for me in the various smaller emergency situations I’ve found myself in. There’s a lot of power behind the promise to supply wisdom to those who ask. This is true in my experience.
I know how you feel about being in crowds now. Not a fun experience anymore. We avoid them as much as possible.
Our mobility is somewhat limited now because of age and chronic diseases. Post polio and rheumatoid arthritis.
Daisy, I know you said “Don’t say you wouldn’t be in the airport” but in our case, we wouldn’t be unless there was a REAL emergency. And, I dare say, those who would be there would rather NOT have us old folks in their way.
Interesting the videos of the 2016 airport attack. Hard to believe that folks actually froze and seemed like they were trying to blend in. Maybe pretending to themselves that nothing bad was really happening if they just kept on gathering their luggage.
I was hunting a woodchuck once, had him in my gun sight and he just froze. Right there in plain sight like I wouldn’t see him! Fatal mistake for him.
I learned something from that for me and it would apply here. I absolutely agree with the blending in and get the heck out of Dodge! Be alert and use some critical thinking skills.
I have gotten to the point in my everyday life where I tend to blend in. I don’t even put bumper stickers on my car anymore. No yard signs of any kind. Don’t want to give anyone a real reason to remember me.
Really good lessons here and you make them plain and rather simple.
Most of all-NO PANICKING!
Good ‘thought exercise’. (And yes, Daisy, I am one of those who doesn’t fly LOL) But it all boils down to situaltional awareness, regardless of where you are. I am the daughter of a cop. When in a restaurant, I always sit facing the door, and know where the exits are. I’ve gotten kind of lazy, living in a small town, but anytime I am out of my ‘comfort zone’, I am on high alert. Don’t forget the importance of knowing ingress/egress point where you work, where you shop, anyplace you regularly frequent.
This is something that keeps me up at night and you are right, you could be caught up in this situation anywhere, malls, amusement parks, Walmart…..anywhere there are crowds of people. I would try to hang onto my knitting bag if I was at an airport because it has my only hope for a weapon the. Try to blend in until I can get to an exit and then exit. I would have to help the kids…..that’s who I am….but getting myself and my family out would be key. As to the comments about only Muslim terrorists, I think of the Ferguson Riots and Some of the mall takeovers. Those weren’t Muslim. My point, don’t assume it will only be one specific group that will aggressor.