Alabama Kidnapper Threatened to Kill Schoolchildren

[DGuller]

I guess they took my idea.

Jam the breathing tube with blueberries?

Not funny. 

[Ed Anger]

 Too soon?

[lustindarkness]

Too soon?

He finds it a waste of blueberries.

[DGuller]

In any way, blueberries are out of season.

[CountDeMoney]

I guess they took my idea.

Gassing them like a Chechnyan Ladies' Auxiliary Bridge Club?  No, I don't think they did.

[Ed Anger]

In any way, blueberries are out of season.

I own a freezer.

[DGuller]

I guess they took my idea.

Gassing them like a Chechnyan Ladies' Auxiliary Bridge Club?  No, I don't think they did.

Putting a hidden camera through the chute, silly.

[Ed Anger]

DG falls back on his KGB training.

[CountDeMoney]

I guess they took my idea.

Gassing them like a Chechnyan Ladies' Auxiliary Bridge Club?  No, I don't think they did.

Putting a hidden camera through the chute, silly.

That's not a contingency plan.

[DGuller]

That's not a contingency plan.

I've had good ideas in a lot of different areas.

[grumbler]

Actually CdM simply said you do not always have a contingency plan, he didn't say there was no contingency plan in this scenario. What he said was you wouldn't have a contingency plan if someone was in a reinforced underground bunker that couldn't easily be breached. I've seen no pictures or descriptions of this bunker. It could have had a door that any tactical team could blow through in seconds, or he could have rigged something that collapsed large amounts of earth over the entrance after going inside and the only real access would have been a long digging operation. He could have piled a half ton of sand bags behind the door, he could have piled a half ton of sand bags in front of the door and been monitoring the entrance. In those scenarios there's no way you get in without him knowing well in advance, and that means dead kid--and in such a scenario CdM is pretty much right. You may not have any contingency plan.

DG stated that "Of course you try to talk him out, that's done in every situation like that.  However, what you also have in every situation is a contingency plan to end the standoff forcefully if talking it out doesn't work."  That's exactly what happened, contrary to Seedy's argument that DG was watching too much TV.

The argument that you don't have a contingency plan if a contingency plan is difficult is also false, from my experience.  The contingency plan might not be one you look forward to implementing, and it may have a low probability of success, but you always prepare one (or, at least, I always did, and every competent commander and staff I knew always did, as well).  Standing around with your thumb up your ass because the problem is difficult was never an option in any organization I was a member of or led.

[Caliga]

Standing around with your thumb up your ass because the problem is difficult was never an option in any organization I was a member of or led.

Were you ever in a union?

[Grey Fox]

So, was the camera in the toy car or one of the color pens?

[OttoVonBismarck]

DG said you have a contingency plan in every situation, CdM said not necessarily every situation. "Exactly what happened" doesn't apply here, because DG made a universal claim and this is just one incident.

[CountDeMoney]

You're not going to win this one, Otto.  Once grumbler's got his jaw locked onto something, can't pry it off with a crowbar.