All war is deception

• Beau Doboszenski, Owner/Lead Instructor

• Originally published March 29th, 2018

Through all citizen defenders there runs a streak of the heroic.

You started working on your defensive skills because you want to help. Not just to help yourself, but also to help others.

So in the middle of the night let's say you hear screaming outside of your front door. A woman begging, pleading for help. What do you do?

Though we think our inner hero will suddenly rise from within us to conquer our threat, stress does funny things to our ability to rationalize situations. And if we're not extremely careful and deliberate, we might do what this man in Oregon did: walk straight into a trap.

From the news article:

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - A Portland man said he was nearly beaten to death in his Portland home after getting ambushed by strangers. 

Morrison said a woman screaming for help knocked on his door. But after he opened the door to help he said the woman started punching him in the face.

Then, Morrison said he was ambushed when two men appeared in his doorway, they knocked him out and tied him up.

“They just all three of them started attacking me,” said Morrison. “They’d work on my face while they held my wrist. I thought I was actually going to die. I was telling myself in my mind, I’m going to die now, this is it - just keep fighting, just keep fighting."

He said each intruder took turns beating him, hitting him in the face with the butt of his shotgun that they found inside.

“They knocked me out probably seven different times,” said Morrison. “As they were hitting me with the shotgun, I could hear bones crushing and I literally thought I was going to die."

Morrison said the suspects even hurt his cat, who he found days later with a broken shoulder.

“They said, 'we’re going to kill your cat, we’re going to kill your cat,'” said Morrison.

Portland police responded to Morrison's home and thought the suspects could still be inside, but that was not the case. The suspects had already taken off.

Sun Tzu wrote in his classic battle strategy work The Art of War that: "All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."

This invasion crew operated on a massive deception, pretending the woman in front was really in danger when she was actually a decoy. This isn't a new strategy. Below is a picture from an attempted home invasion a few weeks ago in New Mexico that employed a similar tactic. Notice the threat in the back with the MSR? These guys were as serious as the Portland attackers, but their intended victim had the good fortune to recognize the threat and withdraw before the threat could open the door.

There are several steps you can take right now to combat this tactic of deception.

1. Do not rush to open the door. 

It will take a lot of effort to hold back, especially if you hear screaming and pleading, however you must work to restrain your desire to open the door and rush in to help. Gather more intel before taking any action.

If possible, have multiple ways from which you can view your front door so people from the sides or flanks of the front door cannot see you. Elevated or lower positions work very well for this. Also cameras that cover your entire front door area like a Ring doorbell system could give you valuable intel and the ability to talk to the person outside while deciding what to do next. You also want motion activated lights near the door. Having those lights come on removes night vision from your threats and while giving you a tactical advantage as you scout from the dark inside the house.

2. Have multiple layers to your front door.

Have an inner and outer door, and ensure that both are regularly locked and secured. In the example from New Mexico, the decoy was calm, quiet, and nice - hardly a threat. The approaching second member of the invasion crew is what spooked out the homeowner. If you have two layers to your front door, you could open the inner door to gather more intel, while still having a locked barrier between you and the threat.

3. You don't have an obligation to intervene, regardless of the situation. 

The safest way to provide assistance to someone in need is to summon law enforcement.

Remember that all war is deception. It's your job as a citizen defender to learn to see this strategy and avoid it.