drill gone poorly!!

[Terminal Lance]

So this evening I decided to test my wife's responsiveness to a possible intruder. We were in the bedroom watching a flick and after she fell asleep I tied some string to a kitchen chair and placed some empty beer bottles on the seat just for extra noise. Well once prepared I gave a good tug and made the ruckus and the gave the Rottweiler the command to seek and destroy. I grabbed my H&K and At this point I shook her awake and handed her the knife my platoon commander gave my in Iraq and my cell phone and told her to get on the floor between the foot of the bed and the wall and to call 911 if she heard shots. Then grabbed my surefire and was about to clear the house when I heard the worst possible words I could have heard her say. As she placed the knife and phone back down she said "what's going on? I have to pee". Highly disappointing. Obviously work needs to be done here. Any one out there have any similar experiences like this?

[kelcarry]

I've got a real problem with your "sneak attack". I think you get more out of a "test", if it is done with a conscious participant in an orderly and instructive manner, followed by live fire at a range. It strikes me as being a more "prankish" than a thoughful exercise. I apologize in advance for my negative comments; maybe others will agree with you but this just does not equate properly with me.

[upnorth]

I've got a real problem with your "sneak attack". I think you get more out of a "test", if it is done with a conscious participant in an orderly and instructive manner, followed by live fire at a range. It strikes me as being a more "prankish" than a thoughful exercise. I apologize in advance for my negative comments; maybe others will agree with you but this just does not equate properly with me.

I agree, but the pee part is funny, I think she had you made from the start!!!

[Axeanda45]

I applaud your attempt, even though I agree with the others that it wasnt quite the optimum way to go about it. At least you did a drill..... I have failed to do more than just talk about it a few times.

However, 2 years ago, we had a real incident of a break-in... Ended up the barking dog that alerted us scared the perp away before I had to ventilate him... Very fortunately, we had not yet fallen asleep (were in bed for the night) so we were still able to respond in a decent/ungroggy/alert way. I am a very deep sleeper, and this thread has reminded me that I need invest in more/bigger dog alarms to give me more time to respond/earlier advance warning times.....

[bob16066]

How often do you have these "drills?" Is this a case of "crying wolf?"

Or

Some people just don't get it. So you might get better results if you played "what if" rather than staging "drills" that could go horribly wrong if she really becomes really frightened and shoots you accidentally!

"Honey: what if we heard noise in the kitchen right now? What should we do?"

Just a suggestion.

[localgirl]

Are you joking?

[Treo]

DW wife and I have pretty much got our plan down we drill it about once a week this is what we do BTW, I am, of course, usually carrying a pair of ceramic plates in my briefcase so that I can shield my head. My wife (we work as a team when necessary) has a similar accessory containing a breakdown NEF single-shot 300 WinMag with an 18" bbl. The plan is that I shield us with my body and “catch the rounds” while she assembles the NEF. I lay down covering fire with my 23 (Bar-Sto .357 Sig barrel) and she makes the long shots. I will then throw smoke grenades to obscure the area while continuing to lay covering fire.

[chapinjs]

I'm with Kelcarry. But I wasn't going to be so polite. Nice. YOU had a plan all mapped out in your head, and were alert, but you're disappointed in your wife because you surprised her out of a dead sleep with no planning? I will try to avoid profanity.
Part of the deal is having a plan. In advance. That you discuss with her in advance. Most people with no training don't respond properly in this kind of situation and it's YOUR DUTY as her husband to make sure she gets that training or take the responsibility yourself. This is YOUR failure, not hers.
First, apologize. Then let her know you were trying to do something good and protective and that you think that your family has the best shot at survival if you work out a plan together and get trained, and ASK HER IN ADVANCE if she would like to take some training and create a plan together, with you.
You are the husband, and it is your duty to protect. So you follow her lead and allow her to grow and gain confidence (since you just wrecked it if she had any) until she is a more equal member of your team.

[charlieinthebush]

sorry man, I have to go with the growing opinion here. unless your wife is current or ex military and is used to such things, you are going to need to understand her perspective better to guide her into being an actual partner with you in the event things get tactical. seeing what she would do like that is a bit bush-league. and I don't say that to be mean, superior or negative. I truly appreciate you sharing that, because many people reading these forums need to learn.

[FloridaBlue]

Treo, do you prefer the colored smoke or just your standard Tactical smoke? I could see a house being filled with purple smoke kind of interesting. If I tried this with my wife I'd get a frying pan upside the head. She knows how to shoot, knows how to hide and knows to escape if at all possible. She can clear her firearm and load it without looking at it. She knows to grab said firearm and her cell phone and do what is needed. Should we ever have to separate rooms we also have a challenge phrase but that is the extent of our drills and even then her training is still less than mine so I still have to be mindful of that fact and hope I'm never on the accidental receiving end of her bullet.