SEAL Survival Guide (62 page)
Read SEAL Survival Guide Online
Authors: Cade Courtley
Situational Awareness
As mentioned, civil unrest does not spring up overnight. Be alert to social issues that are creating a ripple of controversy in your community, especially ones that seem to stir up emotions.
BOSTON MASSACRE
An event that had a significant impact on America’s formation was the result of a riot. The colonists felt unfairly treated for many years, but this resentment came to a head in March 1770. A crowd of sixty had gathered around a customs house. After someone in the crowd threw a snowball at British soldiers on guard duty, the sentries pointed their rifles at the protesters and fired. Eleven Americans were wounded and five killed.
In the age of instantaneous news coverage, topics that could cause massive civil disobedience are widely broadcast. Don’t ignore bad news. Although you may think it less stressful to focus on the latest happenings among celebrities or spend most of your time chatting electronically with friends, survival in the modern world requires a measure of due diligence. Keep informed of organized rallies, especially those designed for protest. Make a note of locations where these activities are planned. Remember, the site of a protest might be the epicenter of a riot, although once anarchy sets in, there is no limit to how far it could spread.
• Be alert to social issues.
• Stay informed and note the location of protest rallies.
• Know if the roads or streets you plan to travel will intersect with areas ripe for a potential civil disturbance.
• Check to see if commuter lines, subways, or bus routes you use will put you in contact with these areas.
• Avoid these areas and know alternate evacuation routes that will get you away from the places where disturbances
are most likely to occur. But remember, anarchy has no defined boundaries, so also study evacuation routes that encompass a large radius from the areas in which trouble is likely to brew.
SOME AMERICAN RIOTS
In 1863, President Lincoln passed the nation’s first draft law, yet allowed a person to be excluded if he made a payment of $300 or hired a replacement, both of which were something only the rich could afford. What was called the Draft Riots ensued, leaving a thousand dead. The worst labor riot was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, when hundreds of thousands of workers went on strike in twenty-six states, seeking better wages. In Philadelphia and Baltimore, these protests turned into riots, which left a death toll of nearly eighty. In 1937, a protest by striking Republic Steel workers killed ten and wounded 211. Race riots took place in 1965, when six days of rioting in the Watts section of Los Angeles left at least thirty-four people dead and more than a thousand injured. In 1966, in Chicago, two were killed and sixty-five injured in rioting. In 1967, Newark’s riots resulted in twenty-three dead and 725 injured. Simultaneously, five days of violence in Detroit killed forty-three and injured 324. Seven thousand people were arrested, thirteen hundred buildings were destroyed, and twenty-seven hundred businesses were looted. In April of 1968, again in Chicago, rioting left nine dead. In 1992, when four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of using excessive force against a black motorist, the Police Protest Riot erupted. Riots surged, killing fifty-three people and injuring two thousand. Three thousand six hundred fires erupted, bringing four thousand National Guardsmen. There was $1 billion in damages.
If You Are in a Riot
One of our constitutional freedoms is the right to peacefully assemble, and you could be part of a rally or march, for example, to voice your opinion. However, be exceptionally alert to the mood among the crowd. Riots stem from emotional responses, whether they’re based on ethnic, political, or financial unrest. If you are part of a rally or march, try to limit your participation by remaining on the flanks or at the perimeter of the crowd. If the situation turns riotous, you want to have evacuation routes. Check a map of where the planned protest or rally will occur and be familiar with landmarks, streets, and environmental factors; know potential spots where you could get boxed in.
Riot police often use tear gas to break up crowds. Tear gas is made of chemical compounds called lachrymatory agents, which aren’t actually gases but solids or liquids that are dispersed by aerosolized pressure. Riot police deliver it via grenades or with the chemicals loaded into blank shotgun cartridges. It causes painful irritation to the mucus membranes of the eyes, nose, mouth, and lungs. It produces tears, temporary blindness, and gagging in those exposed to it. The stuff works! I had the opportunity to be reminded of this several times during training. The odd thing is that each time I got doused, it hurt a little less. Either I was building up a resistance to it, which can happen, or I was prepared for what it would feel like. Flushing your eyes with salted water dilutes the effects, in addition to washing exposed skin with soap and water. Those with asthmatic conditions may need immediate medical attention and the administration of oxygen.
Get Off the X
It doesn’t take much to start a riot, and one violent action, or an action perceived to be such by the police, could happen at any time. If you find yourself in the front and see a wall of riot police ahead, know the situation has escalated to one of high danger. Immediately move in the opposite direction. Stay on your feet and crouch low. Expect tear
gas, rubber bullets, and any number of tools used by law enforcement to disperse crowds.