If You're A Minuteman …
A new series from Security n Cigars
So, I already wrote the first post of the series without realizing it. Go check out If You’re A Minuteman, You Need A Musket if you haven’t seen it already. But now, as I think about it, I think this will be a series of posts.
Historically the Minuteman was the elite of the Colonial Militia in the American colonies. All able bodied men (with some exceptions, like indentured servants and slaves) were members of the militia and could be called upon to defend their colony at need. Or to fight in wars outside the colony’s borders as had happened several times during the wars of the British with the French and the Indian tribes.
However, the Minutemen were special within the Militia. They were the quick reaction force that could assemble in just a few minutes in order to repel attack and defend the local community. They were younger and more fit than the average bear and usually they were single. The Minutemen have a near mythological status in modern America, but the reality is that they were also just citizens of their colony and doing their duty as citizens.
Today, we have police at the city, county, state, and federal level of government and we have military at the state and federal level. What we don’t have, though, is the militia in the way that our Founders intended. What they intended was that the whole of the citizenry would be the militia and that within that there would be Minutemen and Minute companies that could respond rapidly to the threats the citizens and community would face.
I’m going to argue, though, that we both need, and have, Minutemen within our midst. And most people know this instinctively if not actually consciously. Depending on the city and county that you live in, the police response time to a significant emergency 911 call is between 3 and 15 minutes. In rural settings it is even longer than that. And what is the amount of time between the bad thing starting and the 911 call? Probably several minutes.
If you are a combat veteran, you are well aware that 5 minutes is a lifetime. What happens during those 5 minutes? How do you protect yourself and your family, provide critical first aid to someone injured, get a person out of a house on fire, and all the other bad things that can happen in our modern society in the blink of an eye.
What I will call the Minuteman is the citizen that is equipped, armed, and prepared to respond to emergencies. The emergency may be small and local: a single person injured in a car accident, for example. Or it might be a catastrophic event involving hundreds of people and large swathes of the countryside: a passenger train derailment. It might be that thing that every armed citizen thinks about, the criminal with a gun that has to be stopped. But, honestly, that is much more rare than the person with a bad injury from falling and breaking a bone or a car accident or a house fire. So, if you plan to be an armed citizen, you really need to extend your preparation to all manner of emergencies and needs. You need to be a Minuteman, ready to respond rapidly to protect and aid your community every single day.
There is a lot that goes into this, including firearms, concealed carry, awareness, training, how you dress, the other equipment you carry with you, preparedness, understanding the legal implications of your choices, and more. How do you avoid being targeted first by the bad guy? That has a lot to do with how you dress, how you appear, and how you conduct yourself. Do you know how to use a tourniquet or pressure bandage? Do you have one with you? Can you assess someone for injury in order to be able to render first aid?
And so many other things to cover. This series is gonna go on for a while. What happens if you carry a concealed weapon and need to use the restroom? What if someone sees your gear? Suppose you just want to be a normal person and have a beer at your local bar, but you are carrying a firearm? How do you dress to be able to carry gear, but not be obviously tactical? How about training? And practice.
I’ve been doing this in military and civilian settings for 40 years now and figure I have some level of experience as a Minuteman that I can share. I’ve given first aid to a bicyclist hit by a car when I was a 19 year old soldier. The first time I ever used the training the Army gave me in Basic Training. That experience was the catalyst that got me to be prepared 24x7 for all the emergencies and situations that modern life can throw at you.
Next week I’ll tackle every day gear that a Minuteman should carry.
I pulled a drowning girl out of a lake when I was 18. I’d taken lifesaving classes thru the city parks program at 15 so I was prepared.
I broke up a situation where a guy was beating a woman in a park that same year.
Stopped my car to help a drunken homeless bicyclist out of the lane of traffic in my 60s. He had fallen off his bike and was too stoned to get up.
There are plenty of opportunities to help people if you pay attention and are willing and you don’t always need special training. I ran a guy off who I spotted stealing a gardener’s equipment off a truck by just yelling at him from across the street. In my 70s now, I wouldn’t attempt to physically break up the guy beating the woman like I did when I was 18 but yelling at him to stop wouldn’t risk much and he’d probably pause long enough for her to get away.
As a retired 30+ yr ( patrol ) officer, with 2 yr Army Airborne, Vietnam service, I agree with your preparedness mentality, and the desire to see more people address it as a community need. While I see the change in professionalism of law enforcement standards and directions, I still believe that coordination with law enforcement, fire, EMT's in the community is of primary importance - until proven otherwise. It provides a strong foundation when addressing community protection and response needs. Secondly, as a former LEO instructor on safety and tactics, I'm a firm believer that it all starts with mindset. An excellent description of that can be found in a writing titled " Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs." Will follow your writings.