Tabletop Exercise Based on Paris Attack

[CharlesHarris]

Our Citizen's Corp group and volunteer EMS tabletopped the Paris scenario this morning. Here is the exercise brief and some of the conclusions we came up with:

This Morning's Surprise Tabletop Exercise - the Paris Attack

Reality check.

How many here watching the news reports of the Paris have thought recently about personal/family protection?

First thoughts for many are probably about carrying a concealed weapon. Not an option in many places. So, while altogether bad thing, honestly...think about it... How many here have brushed up on trauma management and made sure they had some trauma supplies?

Did you Google “blast injuries”?

Suppose you walk up on the cafe after being rocked by the blast wave from just around the corner of a building, are you comfortable that you would know what to do and start giving aid?

Gun Owning Americans envision themselves as the Hero Shooter ready to take down the bad guy and preps for such... However.... few of those same dudes don't prep for trauma management, where they may have a daily chance to actually apply their skills in a more realistic random incident as a vehicle accident…

When was your last first aid class? Is your certification current?

When was the last time you actually increased your level of medical training? To what level?

Motivation moment. You might be the first one to show up on a lonely road where one of MY loved ones is injured.... could you do more than call 911 (999)?

Other considerations:

1) how do you avoid being shot by the police SWAT team when they arrive and see you "pawing" at a victim?

2) how do you decide that the violence is over and it's safe to leave cover? A secondary device set to go off as rescuers arrive is a common tactic to maximize victim numbers.

3) Ambulances are not stocked mass casualty, blast injury events......a car wreck with multiple traumas will trash a EMS unit...a hospital ER hit with an mass-casualty incident gets overwhelmed quickly.

4) Consider the best case is ten “good guys” show up on each scene, recent military vets who completed Army Combat Lifesaver training who carry a well thought out IFAK, and are trained knowing how to best deploy and triage victims for the EMS transport.

5) Now add a bit more motivation. The “bad” guys are all wearing the “one way ticket” vest...

The exercise background

Paris attack sitrep:

Paris has been rocked by a multiple, coordinated terrorist attacks, leaving at least 140 people dead. President François Hollande has declared a state of emergency and ordered national borders closed. Police have reported four of the hostage takers killed as elite units brought their operation at the Bataclan concert hall to an end. Paris residents have been asked to stay indoors as about 1,500 military personnel have been deployed across the city.

Terror operations in Paris were apparently intended to fracture French society.
The terrorists want to provoke inter-religion frictions.

France will have to work hard to make sure they don't allow them this success.
There will be little doubt that so-called Islamic State is top of the list of suspects.

France has the highest Muslim population in Europe.

Many peaceful and patriotic followers of the faith live in the poorest banlieues of the nation's cities.

Some feel left out of the wider French social structures even though the country has, for years, followed a policy of assimilation to try to reinforce the notion of 'Frenchness' among all its citizens.

According to a spokeswoman for the Paris Prosecutor:

--Three suicide bombers blew themselves up near the stadium, apparently killing no others;
--Nineteen people were shot dead by two gunmen at a restaurant in Rue Charonne in the 11th district of central Paris;
--Fourteen people were killed by one or more gunmen at a restaurant in nearby Rue Alibert;
--Five people were shot dead in a restaurant in Rue de la Fontaine au Roi, also nearby;
--One person was killed in the Boulevard Voltaire;
--At the Balaclan Theater, also on Boulevard Voltaire, around 75 people were killed, along with the four attackers.

The spokeswoman said of a total of eight terrorists killed, seven had blown themselves up at various attack locations. Hollande declared a state of emergency – only the sixth time in France the measure has been decreed since 1955 – and tightened controls at the country’s borders.

“These terrorists that are capable of such atrocities need to know that they will be confronted by a France that is determined and unified,” Hollande told journalists, “and a France that will not allow itself to be overawed – even if today it is expressing infinite amount of emotion at this drama and this tragedy, which was an abomination and a barbaric act.”

Attack sites:

Bataclan concert venue, 50 boulevard Voltaire, 11th district - hostages held
Le Carillon, 18 rue Alibert, 10th district - gun attack
Le Petit Cambodge, 20 rue Alibert, 10th district - gun attack
La Belle Equipe, 92 rue de Charonne, 11th district - gun attack
Near Stade de France, St Denis, just north of Paris - reported suicide attack near venue as France v Germany football match played

Bataclan Concert Hall - Police say 120 people were killed at the venue after being taken hostage by two armed men on Friday night. One official described "carnage" inside the hall, saying the attackers had tossed explosives at the hostages. A witness told Sky News other victims were shot "one by one". The attackers were later killed themselves in a raid by an elite police unit.

Stade de France - Police say there were two suicide bomb attacks near the stadium in the north of Paris where France and Germany were playing a friendly match. A French football official said there was an explosion near one of the stadium's gate. A police union official said three people were killed in the attacks, near two of the entrances and a McDonalds restaurant. An Associated Press reporter who was inside the stadium said two blasts could be heard above the sound of cheering fans. French President Francois Hollande, who was watching the match, left immediately and hundreds of anxious fans spilled onto the pitch. A general view of the scene shows rescue service personnel working near the covered bodies outside a restaurant following a shooting incident in Paris

Petit Cambodge Restaurant - Outside the Cambodian restaurant in the 10th district - not far from the offices of magazine publisher Charlie Hebdo - police say 11 people were killed. Witnesses said gunmen armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles fired at diners through the plate-glass windows.

Rue de Charonne - There were reports of shootings in rue de Charonne in the 11th district. Witnesses have described seeing bodies lying in the streets.

Les Halles Shopping Mall - There were also reports of shootings at the shopping centre close to the Pompidou centre.
The deadliest attack appears to have targeted the Bataclan concert hall, with unconfirmed reports saying that concert-goers were being shot one by one. Police sources told AFP news agency that more than 100 people had died there. At least three gunmen are reported to have been killed at the venue. Other attacks hit Le Petit Cambodge restaurant and nearby Le Carillon in the 10th district, where a BBC reporter said he could see 10 people lying on the road, either dead or seriously injured.

Police said four attackers were killed at the Bataclan – three had detonated bomb vests and a fourth, who was also fitted with a bomb vest, was shot dead when police stormed the venue. Elsewhere, gunmen opened fire at patrons at city restaurants, and suicide bombers detonated their explosives near the country’s national stadium, Stade de France, where French President Francois Hollande was among a large crowd watching a soccer game between France and Germany.

According to U.S. Central Command, France is one of the few partners in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) that has joined the U.S. in carrying out airstrikes in both Iraq and Syria.

Earlier this month Hollande announced that he was deploying the flagship of the French Navy, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, to the eastern Mediterranean in support of the airstrikes.

[NorthernRaider]

A most first rate and excellent high quality post, best I have read for many a day, thanks for sharing.

[CharlesHarris]

Takeaways based on more current intel:

All seven of the militants wore identical explosive vests and did not hesitate to blow themselves up!

Unlike the London 2005 attacks where bombers’ explosives were stored in backpacks, Friday’s attackers used the sort of suicide vests normally associated with bombings in the Middle East…

French authorities say the vests appeared to have been made with TATP, or triacetone triperoxide [sic], that is easy for amateurs to make at home but is highly unstable.

The vests also included a battery, a detonation button and shrapnel to maximize injuries.

(This is why the US Transportation Security Agency imposes restrictions on liquids carried aboard commercial passenger planes. The take-home lesson is to pay more attention to people who don’t seem to have good reason for wearing backpacks!)

Source: http://www.thelocal.fr/20151115/paris-at...in-tactics

[NorthernRaider]

The Froggies reckon the 8th Terr got away and they have named the suspect and issued an international arrest warrant.

[CharlesHarris]

FYI concealed carry permit holders in US, when police arrive have been instructed to shout "USA Friendly" as they go prone, arms exteneded, face down, to avoid being shot by police as they are handcuffed and sorted out. Expect "UK Friendly" will work for you chaps!

Cheers and beers!

[CharlesHarris]

Yes, concealed carry permit holders are encouraged to be armed all the time, as "force multiplier". I normally carry .38 Special revolver and a Bianchi Speed Strip with a reload of ammo all the time.

[Steve]

(16 December 2015, 07:11)CharlesHarris Wrote: Yes, concealed carry permit holders are encouraged to be armed all the time, as "force multiplier". I normally carry .38 Special revolver and a Bianchi Speed Strip with a reload of ammo all the time.

We are encouraged to carry all our ID documents. Should an officer need assistance we will wade in with a rolled up-copy of the Daily Telegraph, watch out Jihadists.....

[CharlesHarris]

Have gardening and carpentry tools been outlawed yet?

A framing hammer and prybar could do well, or maybe Grandma's weeding fork!

Or perhaps a VERY LARGE spoon!

[CharlesHarris]

I appologize what could be taken as a flippant condescending Yankee remark. I do appreciate the plight rendered unto you by well intended but naive ninnies and do-gooder politicians... We aim to prevent that from happening here.

I could say more, but think it would be better if I did not.

[Tartar Horde]

(17 December 2015, 03:10)CharlesHarris Wrote: I appologize what could be taken as a flippant condescending Yankee remark. I do appreciate the plight rendered unto you by well intended but naive ninnies and do-gooder politicians... We aim to prevent that from happening here.

I could say more, but think it would be better if I did not.

Not at all Charles, we like a bit of Irony and Humour, even more so when it's the truth