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DiamondDoug
Posts: 35 Member
scary places it might be prudent to be properly armed and accompanied
DiamondDoug
Posts: 35 Member
Do you remember the 1981 police action film, Wolfen? During the creepiness of the night, two plain-clothes policemen played by Albert Finney and Gregory Hines are staking out some abandoned old buildings slated for demolition in the South Bronx of New York City. It's suspected some wild animals are holing up there and might be killing people over the city. One cop (Finney) is positioned at the old church and another (Hines) is positioned in an adjacent building on the third floor looking out a window toward the church. It's believed the church itself serves as the lair of dangerous wild animals, wolves possibly. None of the cops even have a human partner or police dog right by his side. They only stay in contact by walkie-talkie headset. They can't hear their immediate surroundings very well with headsets covering their ears. Each cop has an AR-15-type rifle with a night scope mounted on it. (Hines) has his rifle pointing out the window of the third floor. (Finney) walks around the area with his rifle. The rifles are rather unwieldy in the tight confines of the dark and creepy buildings. The crumbling old buildings are full of holes and are in ramshackle condition. (Hines) eventually gets jumped by a wolf through a hole in the ceiling behind and above him. He couldn't swing that bulky scoped rifle around fast enough and the wolf did him in. A human partner should have been facing inward away from the window to watch the rifleman's back with a handgun or a police shotgun to cover him from anything or anybody that might otherwise sneak up from behind. A good police dog would have also warned him of danger approaching from the rear and offered some protection.
After seeing this film, I have always been scared to death to be inside dark buildings alone or being in any dark/remote place alone and especially at night. Scary and/or dark places might be abandoned buildings, inside large buildings or houses alone, mines, caves, city parks, hiking trails, the woods or campsites. However, I have no fear of being in such places with a weildy gun and at least one big dog and preferably at least two big dogs. I can always walk comfortably through the woods at night with a .357 handgun in my waist pack (legal where I am) and my two loyal black German shepherds. Large dogs will most likely deter any nearby criminal elements by their mere intimidating looks.
In the army, I once had to do a security check inside a dark unoccupied barracks. The woman CQ NCO said she was afraid to go inside an empty building alone at night. I did the security check with only a flashlight. It would have been nice to have had a weapon, a buddy and/or a dog. Another time, I did a security check on a large helicopter hangar at night. It was big, dark and creepy inside. Again only a flashlight and no weapon, buddy or dog. I thought about all those horror films I used to watch. It was silent as a grave inside that hangar. One time in the army again, I was on maneuvers in the field. I had to do guard duty at the entrance of the perimeter at night. We were at Fort Hunter-Liggett in California in the summer of 1991 south of Ford Ord, Monterey, where I was stationed. I was all alone in the dark woods with an M16 but no ammo (except blanks), buddy or dog. They don't usually issue soldiers live ammo with bullets that shoot and wound on "training exercises". I could hear coyotes howling and yipping. I saw something tall and dark moving nearby. It turned out to be a tree in the wind but for a moment my mind had flashbacks of a Bigfoot film I saw years earlier on which gave me a few nightmares.
What are your thoughts about being in dark and/or remote places alone and what you feel you might have on you to give you peace of mind in those situations?
Replies
For me the having a gun has been more important than the type of gun.
I nominate Planet Earth.
I hunt deer in an area with mountain lions. Never seen one, but have seen tracks and found the scene of one's kill. It eventually crossed my mind that , in the process of sneaking into my various hides in pre-dawn darkness, I'm basically walking from A to B like a deer might, during Kitty's prime hunting hours. They see, hear, and smell far better than I do, move far more quietly than I do, and they contact-kill with their teeth and fingernails what I need a rifle and traditionally about a hundred yards for. A sobering little thought that is cause to have a handgun on the journey along with the rifle.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
Even so, you might still prefer a fast-handling gun and sights in tight places or in thick cover. Having a protection dog or a human buddy might be even more important than any gun too. Dogs can detect troublesome things early; guns can't. Living things grouped in numbers can be intimidating to possible enemies nearby. Two men together or a man and a big dog together in the woods might easily deter a cougar from attack. A lone person, maybe not so much. A buddy once told me that a younger woman he saw jogging on a hillside fire trail alone should have a big dog with her. I would add a pistol too.
How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and [how] hard it is to undo that work again! -- Mark Twain
How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and [how] hard it is to undo that work again! -- Mark Twain
Spectral wolves? Ghosts? Ok, I don't believe in the supernatural. It's not likely wild animals would inhabit city buildings like that anyway. Bums, junkies, fugitives and stray dogs, maybe. In the film, only one "wolf" jumped the character of Hines from behind at the window of the building and killed him. Assuming it were a natural animal, even a rabid dog, a trained person in police work or gun marksmanship sitting facing away from the window could have easily hit it with a police pump or a handgun. In a real-world stakeout there would or should have been two personnel (one might be a K9) together at all times. The rifleman at the window would have a buddy or police dog right there watching his back for any threatening member of the animal kingdom which might otherwise try to jump the rifleman from behind. I would not have both ears covered with a headset. Maybe an earphone in one ear only and the other ear open to what's going on at my post. If Hines weren't a real policeman, I wonder why he would even be on a stakeout anyway. Some law enforcement experts here might explain how stakeouts in abandoned ramshackle buildings, in areas not well lit at night to boot, might be conducted in the real world. The character of Finney should have also had another person or a dog right by his side too whether seated at a window or walking around checking things out. I would be personally scared to death not to have a human partner or a dog right at my side in those dark and hellish rundown buildings.
How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and [how] hard it is to undo that work again! -- Mark Twain
Do cops ever get ordered to do stakeouts in buildings all alone or get fired? It could be police departments won't supply extra officers, dogs and etc. for a detective in some cases because of money issues. I think if I were a cop I would own a private police dog for my own personal protection if I had to work the streets alone. I'm thinking of Tom Hanks in Turner & Hooch. I wouldn't want a slobbering Dogue De Bordeaux, however, but rather a nice black German shepherd male properly trained.
Pardon?
What do you mean?
Please tell me what this is all about. This whole thread was supposed to have been about taking measures to feel secure in places that might otherwise be very scary to be there unarmed.
Fair play, he does get the posting count up and in a way, he brightens the place up.
In a molotov cocktail through your living room window sort of way.Are we positive G&A don't hire him to post, just to have the forum be more active.