[pax]

Don,

Did you really just say that if/when something bad happens, the guy who never even thought about it before will do better than someone who has thought things through beforehand?

I can't agree.

I think the guy who who knows what he is willing (and more important, not willing) to do has an advantage. You don't get that level of self knowledge without some careful thinking.

I think a guy who habitually looks with "smart eyes" at the area around him, everywhere he goes, has an advantage. A guy with smart eyes looks for alternate ways out whenever he enters an unfamiliar building (as a firefighter how helpful that little habit can be!). He knows -- because he thinks about it ahead of time! -- which direction he will turn if danger comes in the front door. And that means he has a time and decision making advantage over the guy who was caught flat-footed, having never thought about such a thing before.

I also think that a person who is doggedly determined never to learn from the experiences of others is making a mistake.

Frank,

I'd be willing to bet any amount of money you're willing to name that this security guard had pictured this same scenario many times as he sat there at his station facing the front door -- that he had already decided that if a bad guy came in the door, he would draw while standing, that he would move and keep moving while using the podium for cover/concealment, that he would move into the hallway to his left as soon as he could.

He's facing the front door because it's the most likely direction danger will come from. Do you really, really think he'd never pictured trouble coming from that direction? Or that he hadn't already decided what he would do about it if it did?

pax