Marcus Alden, a recent guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Osoyoos, yells at a reporter to “Get back!” as he brandishes a collapsible baton. Alden was showing how a potential victim can turn the tables on a “bad guy” attacker. He warned the reporter ahead of time that he would be part of the demonstration. (Richard McGuire photo)
If a “bad guy” is attacking you Marcus Alden has plenty of advice on what to do.
Alden, who now lives in Molson, WA, was guest speaker recently at the Rotary Club of Osoyoos.
He talked about how he and his company, Seven P Solutions can help people to be prepared for emergency situations.
His company’s name derives from an old British and U.S. military adage, which has various versions, such as, “Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.”
After a 28-year career with the U.S. Coast Guard, Alden retired to Molson, which is just south of the border from the Anarchist Mountain-Bridesville area.
But back to that bad guy.
Most people, said Alden, try to be helpful to society and to live within the law.
But “bad guys” have decided to disregard the laws of society.
“We teach people that being a victim is something that you do without realizing it,” Alden told the Rotarians. “People walk with their head down, shoulders rolled forward, and not engaging what’s around them. They give off the impression of a sheep. Most bad guys are predators, they have resorted back to the baseline, caveman theory of evolution, which is, ‘I’m going to take what I want, when I want it.’”
Looking for someone in the room to be the “bad guy” in a demonstration, he turns to a reporter.
He suddenly pulls out a collapsible metal baton that suddenly telescopes to a couple feet long and he brandishes it over his head. His left hand reaches out toward the reporter’s face.
“Get back!” he yells at the reporter in his most authoritative voice.
“That action right there zeros out in the predator’s mind that you are a victim,” explained Alden. “You’ve just demonstrated authority.”
By signaling that you have a tool and are ready to fight, it almost always disarms the situation, Alden said.
The idea is not to actually engage in a fight, but to stop the attacker, gain space, and give time to call 9-1-1, he explained.
Training also teaches skills such as being cognizant of your surroundings and manipulating your voice to be more baritone, he said.
Alden’s company will sell these batons to Canadians by mail, but he couldn’t sell any that he brought with him for the demo due to customs laws.
He regularly wears one on his belt.
Next, he put on what looked like a regular ball cap. Suddenly, he pulled a hard-plastic tool from the brim that could be gripped in a fist and used to do serious damage to an attacker.
These hats, he said, can get through metal detectors because the tools are plastic.
These are among the gadgets he finds at the annual SHOT Show (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show) in Las Vegas each January, which shows tools and weapons of interest to law enforcement, security personnel, hunters and others.
Some of the popular weapons, such as Tasers or pepper spray can backfire he explained.
Tasers need to be fired at close range, and if the bad guy’s arms are longer than yours and he grabs you, you might both experience a powerful shock.
Pepper spray can blow back in your own face.
Being prepared, he said, often involves planning for emergencies ahead of time.
Alden gave the example of a man who got two German Shepherd dogs and installed an alarm system, but didn’t have a plan for how they would be used.
When he ran a test, the guard dogs ran as far away as they could from the piercing alarm. The man’s wife immediately went to the alarm panel, putting herself between the man, who had a gun, and the would-be attacker.
“Having your wife and kids between you and the bad guy is never a good thing,” said Alden. “We go through some of these common sense approaches, but what we try to do is make you more resilient.”
Not all emergency situations Alden trains people to be prepared for involve bad guys.
He opened with the hypothetical situation of an electromagnetic pulse from a solar storm, that would shut down the electronic devices we now rely upon as a society. Cars wouldn’t start. Cell phones wouldn’t work. The lights would go out.
“Everything you know for common communications is now dead,” he said. “So what would you do?”
How many people had a rendezvous spot where they could meet with their children in such a situation, he asked.
If people had to walk 19 km to get home, would they have a pack that included medications as well as food and water with them?
Alden said the last such solar storm occurred in 1859, long before modern electronics, and we are overdue for another.
Finishing his talk, Alden gave another pitch for his collapsible batons.
“A baton is good for breaking out windows, it’s good for self defence, it’s good against rabid dogs,” he said. “They’re cheap. They can shatter a two-by-four… They break bones.”
Rotarian Jim King, an Osoyoos town councillor, posed the first question: “Can you talk a little bit more about the ice fishing? We’re lovers here, we’re not fighters.”
It was the January Molson ice fishing event on Sidley and Molson Lakes that first led Gail Scott, managing director at Destination Osoyoos, to make contact with Alden and later invite him to speak.
She and Alden discussed the possibility for cross-border tourism promotion in connection with that event.
The all-day event next takes place on Jan. 14, 2017. The 2016 event saw 32 fish caught for a total weight of 39.5 pounds.
There’s a prize for the largest fish caught and a contest for the best ice shack, Alden said.
The ice, he added, was 14 inches thick.
Organizers won’t supply a shack, but they can supply hole drilling – on the day of the event.
“Nobody sneaks up the day beforehand and preps stuff,” said Alden. “We’re very clear that there’s no shenanigans.”
Catching a fish before and sticking it in the ice and the next day pretending to catch it is not allowed, Alden warned.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
