The Fort Hood Massacre: Being prepared as well as the right time and place ensures success; and even create heroes.

Yes! Preparedness as well as the right time and right place can and do create heroes.
Most of us had read about the extraordinary courageous civilian police officers, Sergeant Kimberley Munley and her partner, Sergeant Mark Todd, who acted instantly to prevent more casualties in the massacre of unarmed soldiers in Fort Hood, Texas. In the incident Sergeant Todd was just behind her and could possibly be the one to fire the last shot that brought down the gunman before handcuffing him.

Apparently, the Fort Hood’s Special Reaction Team had been practicing a new protocol whereby the first responder to a shooting scene must act immediately to eliminate the gunman to prevent more deaths.

Sergeant Kimberly Munley and Sergeant Mark Todd have been trained in this new protocol for more than a year. So, they were well-prepared to tackle the 5th of November 2009, Thursday afternoon massacre.

The above mentioned new protocol was put in place as a result of lessons learned from another shooting which took place at Virginia Tech in 2007 where 32 people died as a result of cautious first responders to the scene waiting for sufficient backup as the gunman went undeterred from classroom to classroom on a killing spree.

From the above, we ought to realize the present situation has improved because someone did learn from a mistake and acted on it by introducing a new protocol for such circumstances.

Another lesson we can learn from this episode is the preparedness of the officers. The scene occurred at the time and place they were available for action. As well- trained police officers, they were ready for it.

Coming back to us in our everyday life, how often are we ready for some of the things that happen in our lives? Apart from technical and professional knowledge which, of course, is out of our reach, what about daily happenings and opportunities?
Many things happen in our lives but, quite often, we are not ready for them. That is the reason we and our children should learn whatever there is to learn, as knowledge; even though such knowledge may seem unnecessary at the moment; is valueable and we can never know when fate dumps something into our path and such knowledge becomes useful. Preparedness for whatever we desire in life is necessary so as to be in the position to benefit from life’s happenings taking place at certain times and places in our lives. Can you think of the knowledge that may become increasingly important to you as the years go by?

Okay, back to our brave Sergeant Kimberly Munley. According to Sergeant Kimberly Munley, the scene was so chaotic that she did not think but responded with the training she was given, a training which requires automatic action of skill and courage. Her courage took her to face the gunman who was merely a few feet from her, without waiting for the fellow officer behind her. Her skill at handling her weapon resulted in her ability to bring the gunman down even as she was shot in her legs and knuckle. No doubt about it, she was obviously a courageous person ready to face death in the course of duty, certainly an exemplary law enforcer. Such an attribute ought to be immortalized in a film for our future generation.

God must have watched over her as she went into duty to save others even as she placed her own life on the line.

God bless her. May God bless every one of us too as we move forward towards our unforeseen future.