Recon

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Home Invasion Survival Tips

Let me preface by saying that I am nobody high speed, just a dropout stoner from southern Indiana. But I wanted to bring up a little bit about no-knock defense to those who might be interested in the concept. Take my opinion with the requisite sodium dosage. This actually evolved from Codex Kalachnikova TTP's because one of the Scum Lord's major enemy groups favors these types of attacks.

Note that I'm not going to differentiate between a no knock raid and a home invasion. Why? Because there is no fucking difference, you moron.

So, we all know how a no knock goes down-door goes off the hinges or window gets break and raked, the entry team pours through the door with the breacher going last, everyone bolts out of the fatal funnel and they proceed room to room murdering you in a single, well organized group. They face forward to present their body armor, scream "SEARCH WARRANT-POLICE!" prone out any compliant victims and pump rounds into everyone else. Then they either steal your cash and electronics or haul the survivors off to jail, whatever fits the group's MO.

So how do we engage this kind of attack? How do we recover Violence of Action in this scenario? I've thought of a couple of ways.

First off, it seems almost everything relies on an instantaneous entry. So hardening your entry points is your first step. If they can, they'll get you before you can even open your eyes, so every second they have to waste dealing with your door or window is one of the most precious seconds of your life. There are a lot of ways to harden your entrances, but remember that no method is foolproof-an enemy that can't come through the door can always come through the wall or ceiling. Nothing says "Fuck yo' OODA loop" like not gaining entry. Of course, nothing else I'm going to talk about today applies if your ass doesn't wake up when the hinges come off.

Also noteworthy: many times, they know the layout or have previous intel on the layout of your home. So one thing you can do to completely fuck them up is to alter the layout of your domain. Even something as simple as a hidden tripwire-not attached to a trap, just a strong piece of wire strung at knee level-can have gain you a half second stumble or even a full on clusterfuck if everyone tries to rush the same area at once. The enemy may have reconned your house with FLIR or what have you, but a scattering of ball bearings on the kitchen floor doesn't show up in thermal and can righteously fuck up a bunch of tightly packed, adrenaline fueled thieves. In my particular case, I have a couple of large bookshelves right by the stairs that I can flip down as projectiles and obstacles to someone trying to rush my staircase. Nothing says "Fuck yo' OODA loop" like a full wooden bookshelf dropping on your stack.

Finally, those tightly bunched groups are great for concentrating fire but also means the team is vulnerable to what I like to call "area effect spells." Anything that covers a large area can hit every single member of the stack at once. Remember, these folks stick together at almost touching distance, so operational value increases for things like pepper spray foggers or molotov cocktails that affect multiple targets at once. Nothing says "Fuck yo' OODA loop" like running around screaming on fire.

Finally, I want to say this, and this is really how The Scum Lord gets the better of the NYE PUDs in Codex; when you are being home invaded, you fucking attack. Criminals (legal and otherwise) do not expect to be attacked; they are eternally on the offensive, and they can be shocked by any sort of resistance. Even if you can't get to your web gear, even if you can't get to your rifle, even if you can't get to your knife-FUCKING ATTACK. Get in the middle of their stack; they won't shoot then, and you can do what damage you can. Maybe you won't survive-getting home invaded is dangerous business-but I'd rather the coroner has to saw my thumbs off because they are stuck in some cocksucker's stupid dead eyes instead of just finding me in the fetal position curled up under the covers. None of these fucks are expecting to be seriously attacked by someone who means it-so use it. Nothing says "Fuck yo' OODA loop" like a butt nekkid dude leaping in the middle of your group to strangle you.

Hope this has been food for thought.

14 comments:

  1. Another ponder...
    A single barrel shotgun. That's my primary for a home invasion, as after that I'll be using the pistol (hopefully just a blast of buckshot sends folks packing) but I have to get to my son. Sure, he's in the next bedroom, so a 2 hand weapon in the form of a pump or even an autoloading shotgun loading by tube is recipe for disaster.
    Now, if things get worse, I'll add either the Mak 90 or the Mini 14 as they both have slings and I'd have 1 (scatter, fire then drop), +18 (rifle) plus the pistol. If I'm still living, that is.

    Since some criminals have access to armor, and use it, if life gets a little more interesting, I'll have to add a rifle to the house defense battery.

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  2. "Note that I'm not going to differentiate between a no knock raid and a home invasion. Why? Because there is no fucking difference, you moron."

    If this isn't quote of the year, it should at least be quote of the month. As a former peace officer, I couldn't agree more. And, having been a fan of Kurt Saxon's "Poor Man's James Bond" series of books for many, many years I'm right there with you.

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  3. Now thats what I'm talking about!

    China
    III

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  4. Nothing says "Fuck Yo' OODA loop" like the breacher receiving a dislocated shoulder trying to bust the hinges on a Steel Framed and reinforced door.
    Or trying to shoot it out in a gun fight and hearing "CLang!" when your round hits just below the window.

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  5. Having seen the results of a full bookcase falling on someone, I can say that it would make a nice stack of pancakes.

    Here in the Green Mountains, we like our stack of pancakes with real grade A light as silver maple syrup. In this case however, we would like our pancaked stack drenched in the dark grade crap bottom of the barrel smeg we sell to Flatlanders from Masshole land or Jersey as "Maple" syrup. And then liberally dusted with flour or feathers. Tar ain't got nothing on cleaning this mess up here...

    Added to blogroll. Looking forward to hearing more creative ways to hinder someone's hope and change.

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  6. I would note that, if you DO manage to delay their entry, dousing them with fuel such as gasoline or propane from a 20 lb tank is an effective countermeasure as well.

    "Come on, baby. Light my fire!"

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  7. There is always the pickup truck cargo net (elastic web) hooked to the interior door frame. The door may come off the hinges, but it WILL be retained by the net and bouncy. The intruders will have to cut each strand to drop the door. Buys you maybe 20-30 seconds and adds to the confusion factor.

    Remember also that electric arcs and sparks, however you may produce them (think 70s beaded curtain) will make the most hardened invader backoff momentarily until they make an assesment. Not too many people want to screw around with 110 volts.

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    Replies
    1. Understand they MAY kill your power before forcing entry.

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  8. "Note that I'm not going to differentiate between a no knock raid and a home invasion. Why? Because there is no fucking difference, you moron."

    Not necessarily. Ordinary criminals (as opposed to Nazi robots in the employ of Leviathan) have less resources and ability to follow up or besiege you for as long as it takes.

    Nail-studded boards on the floor?
    _Stryder

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    1. The nails need to be longer than the Storm Trooper boot soles are thick, and sharp enough to penetrate them. That will be a challenge.

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    2. You might also consider filled CMUs, They're relatively inexpensive, portable, and can be used for at least a couple of different functions. Placed randomly on the floor, they provide the equivalent of the old football "tire drill", except if they're not spaced evenly the invaders will have to watch where they're stepping or break an ankle. Nothing like a broken ankle at the front of the stack to mess up an OODA loop.

      You can also use these to make GOOD cover with a line of fire of your choice. If you stack two low walls at right angles to each other, any invader bullets that do not hit the gap between them will ricochet back at them. Nothing like letting your invaders shoot themselves. But please don't be greedy and try to stack these high enough to give you cover for offhand shooting. Settle for prone, kneeling, or sitting instead. You're more accurate from those positions anyway, and present a smaller target to the invaders.

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  9. I read a novel some years ago - the premise was that a spec ops guy had gone rogue, and of course there was another spec ops guy trying to catch him. The US Marshalls had located the rogue's apartment, and decided to visit. Unfortunately, Rogue knew they were coming and had prepared. The 5-man team was wiped out. One of the preps that Rogue used was something like a furring strip with treble hooks attached by short lengths of wire. If you have marked out the stud locations in your ceiling (small pencil marks would do) and also assemble the strips in advance, then it would only take a few minutes with a cordless drill/screwgun and a small stepladder to fasten the strips to the ceiling. You want the hooks somewhere between throat level on a short guy and eye level on a tall guy.

    Of course, the rogue spec ops guy had other preps - and you should too. Maybe some eye hooks screwed into studs in the walls (again, marking the stud locations ahead of time is key). Then you attach your lenghts of baling wire that you have ready with a hook at each end. About 18" from the floor should do it. Nothing says "Fuck Yo' OODA loop" like tripping over a wire and catching a fishhook in the face on the way down.

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  10. Nothing says "Fuck yo' OODA loop" like custom, collapsible porch roof.
    Wire strands inside pillars linked to lynchpins ready for the pulling.
    SWAT sandwich anyone?

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  11. I wish I could remember where I saw it, was in a comments thread someplace, but as it was put, "if you want your own personal Way Coe, you'll get it. The best thing is for them to find is an empty house, with a note reading, "It's on now, Assholes." "

    But since you're very rarely notified in advance of potential after midnight visits by folks intending to either "disappear" you or "find" things in your house to justify your bullet riddled form, then these suggestions are good ones.

    In Ohioland where I reside...I don't believe such a law exists to allow resistance to illegal visits of the swatt kind. Since swatt is used for....well, anytime a person wanted for anything who could have something more dangerous than string near them, and the knock is pretty quiet if at all, I don't see how anybody should be expected to know the difference between thugs from someplace kicking in your door or....thugs from some other place kicking in your door.

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