Home Defense Series - Remain Awake and Alert

Defending your home from armed or otherwise dangerous intruders is a situation no one wants to find themselves in - but just like any other emergency situation, you prepare the best you can for it now, regardless of its likelihood or potential outcome. Read on as we delve into the ins and outs of ensuring you’re ready for whatever - or whoever - may attempt to invade your home.

Four critical aspects of home defense have been discussed in this series, with several more to come. However, none of these points will matter if you cannot stay awake and alert when you need to. Chances are, the individual breaking into your home at 3 AM will be wide awake. You do not want to be caught off-guard, half-asleep in that situation.

Step 5: Remaining Awake and Alert

Imagine this.

You’re sleeping peacefully in your home on what feels like any other night. Then, sure enough, you hear that dreaded bump in the night. Fearing the worst, you spring out of bed ready to respond… only to get dizzy and fall over because you got up too quickly. You gradually recover, stumble over to where you keep your home defense weapon, and fumble around getting it ready to fire while trying to snap yourself out of that dream you were just having. You bring up your shotgun, fiddle with the action release for a few seconds, and eventually chamber a shell. The weapon is finally ready to go - albeit you were too sleepy to remember to take it off “Safe” - hopefully you’ll have time to correct that in the moment - then remember that your 11-year-old daughter is asleep in her bedroom on the floor above you. You hustle up the stairs, tripping on one and stubbing your toe on another,, get to her room, attempt to open the door for a solid 5 seconds before remembering she locks it every night, and now she’s petrified with fear on the other side at someone trying to force open her door in the middle of the night.

All the while, your ill-intentioned and very-much-awake home intruder has been aware of virtually every action you’ve taken up to this point, has adapted to each move you’ve made, and is ready to steal, kill, rob, kidnap, or whatever his or her intentions are that night.

You’ve already failed. You don’t want this to be you. It may be the worst case scenario, and maybe no one is that unlucky… but are you willing to take that chance? I’m not.

Home invaders typically don’t wait for your preferred time of day - or not - to be ready for them.

Okay, but everyone sleeps, right? Our bodies need sleep, and if we don’t get it or are suddenly awoken from it, we can get tired and drowsy. There’s no getting around that. There is, however, getting around the impacts of drowsiness when you need to be combat ready - for the most part. And it’s more than worth taking an entire article in this series to discuss. All the badass home defense gear and tactics in the world won’t save you if you’re mentally capable of using them properly.

Here’s the thing - some people are morning birds, others are night owls. Simple as that. Some people can wake up and fall asleep on a whim, others cannot. Some people can force themselves to wake up at 5 in the morning for years, but the day they try to do it naturally, they sleep in until 9 (yeah, that’s me). Everyone is drastically different when it comes to their own individual sleeping habits, and sometimes that cannot be fully corrected one way or another. But for most people, it definitely can be worked on to some appreciable degree. I am not saying you should change up your entire bedtime and morning routines around being mentally awake enough for a potential home invasion, but there are absolutely little things you can do to be more prepared than most are.

First? Training, training, and… more training.

If you’re going to choose one thing to work on for counteracting drowsiness in the middle of the night, it should be to develop muscle memory. Know the ins and outs of your preferred home defense weapon, know the ins and outs of your home defense plans, and run through them on occasion - enough for it to be second nature, which realistically should not require too much for the average person. I like going over plans quarterly, going to the range as often as I can, and practicing with my home defense weapon each time I do. Some people might need more intensity or frequency, some might need less. Think of it like a workout routine. The only way to find out is to actually do it. Like we’ve always said, everyone trains and learns differently. There’s no universal program that will be perfect for everyone.

Train NOW. Iron out the kinks NOW. Learn what works for NOW. NOT tomorrow.

The point, as mentioned, is to develop muscle memory - you want your training to become second nature so that you do not need to even think about it when crap hits the fan. All of your focus should be on outsmarting and outgunning those who have invaded your castle, not on how to properly rack your weapon or come up with a good home defense plan on the spot. If you’re needing to adapt your plan in the middle of the night, being burdened by a lack of training and drowsiness will do you no favors - especially since the perpetrator is likely wide awake.

Second - Maintain a perpetual state of readiness

This goes hand-in-hand with training, and is typically a bi-product of it.

Have you ever laid out your clothes, wallet, keys, and everything else the night before, so you can wake up and be ready to go? You know how satisfying that feeling is when you wake up? Well, you should also apply it to home defense. Not only should you have muscle memory programmed into yourself to be able to operate your gear after just waking up - you should have that gear ready to go as much as is reasonably possible.

Have a plate carrier? Make sure it’s all set up and ready to be thrown on and secured. Have ear protection? Keep it near that carrier. Suppressor? Better be on the gun. The gun itself? Keep it close, if safe to do so (out of reach of kids, etc), keep one in the chamber and keep the trigger covered. Again, you don’t want to be guessing as to where things are at when someone is already in the process invading your home. Just like setting out your clothing the night before eliminates any morning guesswork when you're drowsy, keeping your gear perpetually ready for action will allow you to focus your mind on much more important priorities. Hopefully you see a pattern with that train of thought.

Third and Final - Make positive lifestyle changes

I’ll say this again - some people are morning birds, some are night owls. I’m not telling you to change your life entirely for a situation that, hopefully, you will never ever have to deal with. But there is a line between being prepared and being paranoid, and well… Most people are either ill-prepared, or overly-paranoid.

If fitness is not made a priority, body armor will likely be the very least of your worries

You could say this goes in conjunction with our first article, about assessing your situation to create your plan. When you make assessments, don’t just stick to situational assessments - make personal ones as well. Having a badass kit doesn’t mean much if you’re 200 pounds overweight. Buying a 75 pound ballistic shield doesn’t mean much if you’ve never worked out your arms in your life and can’t move it. So, make assessments of yourself. Eat healthier, exercise often, create consistent morning and bedtime routines, and you will be amazed by not only how much more “efficiently” you can wake up, but how much better you’ll feel across the board.

And no, this isn't meant to “body shame” or whatever the phrase is in 2024. Some people can’t help it. Some struggle more than others. Everyone knows what they’re capable of, and if they can do better. And in a nation where heart disease has been the leading cause of death since 1950, you’re damn right I’ll tell you to do better if possible.

Remember - the results and benefits from these changes are not usually realized at first - hence why so many people create New Years’ Resolutions and give up on them quickly. Our society has been conditioned to accept instant gratification as the norm, hence why those resolutions are so easily abandoned. No, be patient with yourself, be consistent, and stay motivated. Being able to effectively protect yourself and your loved ones in a home invasion is just one of many benefits that will come from creating healthy routines and sticking to them. I can personally attest to it. You’ll quickly find that the many other benefits - increased mood, being stronger, feeling better throughout the day, 

Be fit. Be healthy. You owe it to yourself and anyone you look after, and it feels great.

Wrapping Things Up

The most efficient key to surviving a home invasion is to consider and prepare for anything and everything that may happen, within reason. You can absolutely make those considerations and preparations without being “paranoid” - despite what the media or social media trolls tell you. In fact, you should feel obligated to do so; particularly if you care for other people or are considered the primary defender of a home where other people reside. Being prepared doesn’t make you crazy. It makes you a good human being. You owe it to yourself and to them to be the best you can be.

So, BE that.

And stay tuned, because we’re about to get into what I would consider the absolute most important aspect of home defense that not many people every think about:

What happens after.