Question for the experts in tactical situations

[Allen]

I've tried to think out what I'd do if I heard a noise in the other part of the house during the night. Our bedroom is at one end of the single level house with an 18' hallway leading to the entry foyer (two bedrooms and bath exit off the hallway also), the family room, and on to the kitchen and out to the garage.
I sleep with the CM9 (which I've recently gotten it broken in) under my pillow, the wife has a Beretta .380 at her disposal, and there's a Mossberg 20 gauge pump loaded with buckshot/slugs standing in the corner behind the bedroom door, which is closed during the nighttime. Us scared, not from anything, just careful.
If I heard a noise during the night should I slip down the hallway into the rest of the house completely in the dark (with CM9 in hand), have my 6V flashlight on as I leave the bedroom shining ahead of me, or turn the hallway ceiling light as soon as I step out of the bedroom (which the switch is at the bedroom end of the hall) then turn on room lights as I progress through the house? Or just stay put in the bedroom and just dare anyone to open the door (which might cause the lose of lots of sleep)?

I know this is a heck of a "what if" scenerio but with all the house break-ins showing up in the news I feel I should have some forethought as to what would be the best approach and what to definitely avoid doing.

Any thoughts, experiences, or ideas on this will be very much appreciated.

This may not be the correct place in the Forum for this question, and if not maybe the Administrator can re-direct it.

[wyntrout]

I'm no expert, but if you and your wife are the only occupants of the house... she's next to you and you hear a noise that you can't attribute to normal noises, I would get a light and the shotgun(having the pistol as a backup) and go investigate, while your wife waits with the phone and her pistol. You should have discussed hailing her before opening the bedroom door again! But if the noises continue... as there are definitely intruders, I would say call 911 and stay in the bedroom with your wife, ready to defend against intruders. Stay low and behind the bed , if possible, and challenge the intruders with the police have been called and that you're armed and ready to shoot. Be prepared to do so should they open the door, especially if they assault the locked door!

One transient noise might not mean an intruder, but if someone is ransacking or making continuous noises, then you do have a problem and should call the police and protect yourselves.

If you have others in the house, especially children, then more immediate action would be called for, but 911 should be a first action, before that capability is lost.

Again, I'm no expert, but I have responded to noises and threats outside my house before... with great caution and a dependable weapon and light... as well as a cell phone.

Wynn:)

[chrish]

I'm sure some LEOs can chime in here. There are some great videos (can't find them, but will post them if I can find them) on YouTube on how to clear your home. Some great advice about moving from dark-to-light (i.e. not making yourself a silhouette coming into a dark room from a light room), best ways to keep your night vision, etc. But it basically says to use your flashlight to move from room to room, using the light to disorient anyone that might be there. Obviously get something bright. Also, consider that TOO bright in a house can kill your night vision reflecting off a wall. In other words, you don't need a gazillion lumen outdoor purposed torch to move thru your home.

There is raging debate, likened to the 9mm vs 45 argument, as to whether a weapon light is better than a seperate flashlight. Not sure I have an opinion. I figure either _could_ make you a target, but a weapon light is guaranteed to be pointed in the direction you need it to and will also continue to function if your other hand needs to do something or becomes injured.

Would be interested in tips from experienced folks as well, great topic...

[Mike Brownhouse]

Nice to have guns in the house to stop intruders, but it's always better to keep intruders out in the first place. Lock the door, bar the door, secure the windows, set the alarm and lock the bedroom door. And if you REALLY think there's an intruder in your house, why would you purposely put yourself in harm's way by leaving the relative safety of your bedroom to go looking for them? Having children or other loved ones in another room is the only reason I can conceive of, and then, it would only be to relocate to their room to hole up there. Call the police at the earliest possible moment, call out that you're armed and the police are on the way if you'd like, and then wait. Confronting an intruder and having to make a life and death decision in a split second in the dark after just having woken up would be my very last resort. It's good to prepare for a confrontation, but I'm not going to be the one to initiate it, even in my own home, unless that's how it works out. Just my opinion.

[skiflydive]

nice to have guns in the house to stop intruders, but it's always better to keep intruders out in the first place. Lock the door, bar the door, secure the windows, set the alarm and lock the bedroom door. And if you really think there's an intruder in your house, why would you purposely put yourself in harm's way by leaving the relative safety of your bedroom to go looking for them? Having children or other loved ones in another room is the only reason i can conceive of, and then, it would only be to relocate to their room to hole up there. Call the police at the earliest possible moment, call out that you're armed and the police are on the way if you'd like, and then wait. Confronting an intruder and having to make a life and death decision in a split second in the dark after just having woken up would be my very last resort. It's good to prepare for a confrontation, but i'm not going to be the one to initiate it, even in my own home, unless that's how it works out. Just my opinion.

^1000

[JustinN]

As has been stated, if you "go looking for trouble" you're likely to find it. That definitely applies to if you KNOW someone has broken in. If its just you and your wife, hole up, call the police and loudly announce the police are on the way. If you try to go confront them, they could be better prepared than you are, have two or three people together, etc. Your stuff isn't worth your life. If they come and challenge you, things change considerably, but just for someone breaking in, or trying to break in, let the police do their thing.

If you aren't sure, need to go investigate, etc, darkness is your friend when trying to be sneaky. Definitely don't turn on lights as you go. You'll not be able to see off into the dark and you'll make yourself a very very very nice target to anyone in the dark looking towards the light. Take your flash light, but learn how to use one tactically, aka quick flashes to check a spot before proceeding, but not just leaving it on, once again making yourself an easy target. Personally I can move around my house much easier with a handgun, than a shotgun, even though the shotty would be better if you are in a gun fight. I'd say let your wife remain safe with it, but make damn sure she knows its you before you go back to her.

One thing I do, with a very similar layout (I can step out of my bedroom and see through my whole house, except the bedrooms and the dining room) The kitchen/laundry room are the last rooms. My laundry room has a motion light in it, so if it's lit up, we have a problem, and I leave the Microwave light on in my kitchen. It's not super bright, but definitely lights up the room really well, as well as makes a large beep to turn it off. Basically I can step out into the darkness of my hallway and see everything in the rest of the house pretty well. Now, if the power goes out, etc, I'm kind of out of luck, but Night Lights in the far rooms are always good. You can see what's in that room without killing your night vision or giving away your position.

Learn to USE that flashlight. Flash lights can be extremely effective at giving you the upper hand....or they can make you an easy target. I used a weapon mounted light when I was a cop, but to me that called for different situations (needing to keep a gun aimed at someone, while keeping them in the light, while talking on the radio, etc). They are nice, but if you don't practice with it a lot, you can push your aim off when trying to use one, plus you're pointing your weapon at things you may not want to shoot, which can be dangerous. Best situation is a weapon light AND a flashlight, one in each, but again training is key to make that effective.

[wyntrout]

I have a lot of LED night lights and several LED motion lights around inside the house to aid in getting around, so if one of those is illuminated before we get close enough to activate them, it would give us a warning. I also have entry alarms and surveillance cameras, but the monitors are usually just in my "computer room", though I do take a wireless one about with me during the day, especially when I'm expecting packages.

Wynn:)

[les strat]

Whatever you do, don't walk around the house with the flashlight on. A tactical light is for quickly illuminating a room for a splash to ID, then back off. If you leave the thing on, you will most definitely be a walking target. Splash the light quickly to ID or disorient then move on (or shoot!). A good tactical flashlight between 100-200 lumens will more than illuminate a room if splashed on the floor for a second. If mounted, it does not have to sweep the person as so many argue against.

You should know your house better than any BG. And as mentioned. Do not walk around backlit by a nightlight, etc.

And get a dog - better than any security system.

[chrish]

I should have qualified my comments with that, most definitely, stay put if it's possible. That being said, the most obvious scenario to be prepared to move thru the house is to get to family members. You cannot stay put in that case. Once there, stay put and call the police.

There are other scenarios though, and from my own experience, the most frequent one is that a noise is heard and while I may not register it as significant and be fully confident that its 'nothing', others might not be and will require that we (me) confirm no one is in the house. Am I going to call the police every time somebody gets spooked? Probably not. But am I willing to trust my spidey sense that nothing is wrong, nobody is there, and walk thru the house unarmed? No way!

Also, for those not aware, there is a pile of X10 equipment that can wirelessly connect motion sensors or door/window magnet sensors to light switches in other parts of your house. You can have your bedroom light come on when they are tripped. Excellent way to know ahead of time that something is going on...with or without noise.

[chrish]

Whatever you do, don't walk around the house with the flashlight on. A tactical light is for quickly illuminating a room for a splash to ID, then back off. If you leave the thing on, you will most definitely be a walking target. Splash the light quickly to ID or disorient then move on (or shoot!). A good tactical flashlight between 100-200 lumens will more than illuminate a room if splashed on the floor for a second. If mounted, it does not have to sweep the person as so many argue against.

You should know your house better than any BG. And as mentioned. Do not walk around backlit by a nightlight, etc.

And get a dog - better than any security system.

Excellent point about flashing the floor. With a good light, that works wonderfully. You can always bring it up to disorient. Great tip!

Wish I could have a dog. Allergic. Terribly.

[TheTman]

I like Wyn's system of keeping night lights around the house so you can see well enough to navigate without having to turn on lights or use a flashlight and announce your presence to any bad guy that might be lurking. Motion dectector lights would be good near the entrances or places a thief might break in, if they are on, then you know something's up. I'm use to living out on the farm and investigating bumps in the night myself, that I just go look to see what is going on. Plus I have an alarm system that will open up a two-way conversation if the alarm goes off. It comes with one of those "I fell down and can't get up" necklaces that acts as a two way radio. I thought that would be handy if I buggered my self up and couldn't get to a phone.

[Allen]

Thanks for all the excellent responses to my original question. Always wondered about turning on lights or using a flashlight and definitely got that answered very well.
This problem particularlly surfaced a few nights ago when the wife woke me about 4:00 in the morning saying she "thought" she heard the motion detector buzz that we have setting in the entry hallway also pointed toward the family room. As has been suggested we did stay put behind the locked bedroom door for about an hour hearing no more noises at all. Knowing we'd never go back to sleep without being sure there definitely wasn't any intruders (figured after an hour they'd surely have taken anything they wanted and left) I left the bedroom with flashlight (had it on too long though) and proceeded through the house with my CM9. Thought about the 20 gauge but couldn't decide whether or not it would be that usefull at close range.
Found no problems at all. Figured the wife must have had one of those occurances where a person jerks awake thinking a noise woke them.
Thankfully everything was fine but really got me to thinking if I did the right moves and thus decided to ask for advice. Thanks again guys.

[JLeephoto]

I had an occasion where I confronted an intruder later to learn that there was a second intruder that could have blind sided me and gotten to my wife. Luckily no shots fired and the intruders fled in my car. I later received training that emphasized you never clear a home by yourself. It's a powerful temptation but defending a safe room and calling for help is the proper course of action.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

[rhd04]

It's nice to keep a canine around to help also.

[Barth]

I've tried to think out what I'd do if I heard a noise in the other part of the house during the night. Our bedroom is at one end of the single level house with an 18' hallway leading to the entry foyer (two bedrooms and bath exit off the hallway also), the family room, and on to the kitchen and out to the garage.
I sleep with the CM9 (which I've recently gotten it broken in) under my pillow, the wife has a Beretta .380 at her disposal, and there's a Mossberg 20 gauge pump loaded with buckshot/slugs standing in the corner behind the bedroom door, which is closed during the nighttime. Us scared, not from anything, just careful.
If I heard a noise during the night should I slip down the hallway into the rest of the house completely in the dark (with CM9 in hand), have my 6V flashlight on as I leave the bedroom shining ahead of me, or turn the hallway ceiling light as soon as I step out of the bedroom (which the switch is at the bedroom end of the hall) then turn on room lights as I progress through the house? Or just stay put in the bedroom and just dare anyone to open the door (which might cause the lose of lots of sleep)?

I know this is a heck of a "what if" scenerio but with all the house break-ins showing up in the news I feel I should have some forethought as to what would be the best approach and what to definitely avoid doing.

Any thoughts, experiences, or ideas on this will be very much appreciated.

This may not be the correct place in the Forum for this question, and if not maybe the Administrator can re-direct it.

I'm no tactical expert. But this isn't complicated.

Without loved ones in other parts of the house?
IMHO - You should always keep your advantage.
Stay in your bedroom prepared to repel boarders.

You can lose sleep or potentially lose your life.

Personally, without kids or pets,
I would consider motion detectors to positively identify a perimeter breach.
Lock and load, call 911 on a cell and wait for the cavalry to arrive.

When lives are at stake? K.I.S.S. is a fine idea.