Tuesday, April 7, 2009

quoteable quotes

A year ago or so, HF was sharing with me some of his manly words of wisdom, when he shared this little tidbit:

"Be nice. Be polite. Be friendly. And always have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

I told him he was crazy, but he insisted that it was good advice. Something he heard from a family friend growing up who was in the CIA or had some other top secret government job. (he grew up in a suburb of DC, his dad was in the Navy, and they apparently had lots of friends that were FBI, CIA, etc.)

Fast forward to now. HF comes home and says, "GUESS WHAT?! One of my instructors said, "Be nice. Be polite. Be friendly. And always have a plan to kill everyone you meet." The instructor said he didn't care if it was a biker, a grandma, or a young mom with kids, by the time he gets to your window when he's pulled you over, he's already planned how he was going to kill you.

Awesome. That really isn't going to do much for my fear of cops. Now when I get pulled over for speeding, or doing CA rolls through the stop signs, I have to assume, while I shift uncomfortably in the driver's seat, that the cop has most likely planned my death.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking I'm going to come off too serious on a lighthearted post. But I can't help myself.

The way I look at this is that someday this might help my husband come home to me at night instead of the alternative. You can't tell just by looking at someone if they are a bad guy or not. If so, my biker dude looking dad would be rotting in jail instead of being the nice guy he is. If my husband has a plan to kill everybody, from the nice little old lady, to the biker dude looking guy, when and if something happens, he will be ready. The person that isn't planning something bad doesn't have to worry - the dirt bag that is ...

Natalie said...

That's totally my man's mantra! I've always been a bit of an optimist at heart, so it was a bit hard to me to grasp this mentality. However, after reading Gavin deBecker's Protecting the Gift (a MUST read for every parent, not just LEO families!) I've learned that I can still be an optimist as long as I play it safe.

Also thanks for posting on my blog. The carcass looked the offspring of an ROUS from The Princess Bride (Rodent Of Unusual Size). Still not cute!

Texas Ghostrider said...

When I was a FTO I taught the same thing. You never know what is going to happen when contact is made with a citizen. I had a 14 year old pull a knife on me. He was small and I tossed him over the hood and I went home and he went to kiddie jail. Point is, anyone can kill you so if the cop is always thinking "what if" they have a better chance going home to their love ones.

Dori said...

So many people on the outside looking in do not realize the split second decisions between life and death that are made every. single. day. But, yeah, that plan is in place. And as long as the plan ends with him coming home then I'm okay with it. We just don't reveal it to his mom. Or my mom, for that matter.

DEL said...

This was DH's favorite quote from the academy and he repeats it to me often.

It's true though the other day a 4 year old came up to DH and said "you touch my dad and I'll cut you!"

You just never know...

PS found your site through MJ at Note to Self

Anonymous said...

Play on old Marine quote "be polite, be professional, have a plan to kill everyone you meet".

CIA is more like "be invisible, hide in plain sight, kill the target, don't even leave footprints" ;)