Let me first of all say that I have really enjoyed Bear Grylls’ survival videos. Many of are them packed with useful advice, and I find some of his physical stunts really impressive. So yes, if I were to get lost in the wild with a companion, Bear would be high on my wishlist.
He has however expanded his advisory role to other walks of life, one of them being kidnapping, apparently without posessing the same level of expertise. His article in GQ Magazine, see http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/bear-grylls-survive-kidnapping , offers one piece of advice that could be down right dangerous.
Grylls states without reservation that: ‘Your best chance of thwarting an abduction attempt is in the first few seconds. You must do everything you can to fight off your assailant. Forget about compliance.’
Interestingly, some other security actors suggest the opposite.
The International Red Cross Committee’s guidelines Staying Alive, (1999) witten by David Lloyd Roberts, says categorically that ‘escape must not be considered’ during the abduction phase.
The UN handbooks for UN Civilian Police and Military Observers say about hijacking that ‘ no attempt is to be made to flee.’ Both these sources direct you to comply and obey the hijacker’s or kidnapper’s orders.
So who is right?
Clearly none of them, in the sense that the advice is far too general and categorical.
The assault situation may be your best chance to escape, and fighting could make sense. This depends on a number of factors, such as your fitness, your location, other people in the vincinty, places to hide, the number of attackers, the number of victims and whether/how the attackers are armed. The purpose of the abduction, provided you can guess it, is another. Are you an American being assaulted by ISIL, or are you a resident in an area where the typical kidnapper will take you for a short visit to a minibank? In the first case you might be willing to risk your life to escape, in the second hopefully not. I have discussed fight and escape issues in my book Surviving Kidnappers, but without going into further detail here, I would like to observe that no absolute rule can apply.
Fighting attackers without a chance of succeeding, can be suicide, and complying if you could escape, may be tragic.
My general advice is to make your best assessment on the spot, before deciding whether to comply, fight or flee. (My book offers advice on how to prepare for such situations.)
Olav Ofstad
He has however expanded his advisory role to other walks of life, one of them being kidnapping, apparently without posessing the same level of expertise. His article in GQ Magazine, see http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/bear-grylls-survive-kidnapping , offers one piece of advice that could be down right dangerous.
Grylls states without reservation that: ‘Your best chance of thwarting an abduction attempt is in the first few seconds. You must do everything you can to fight off your assailant. Forget about compliance.’
Interestingly, some other security actors suggest the opposite.
The International Red Cross Committee’s guidelines Staying Alive, (1999) witten by David Lloyd Roberts, says categorically that ‘escape must not be considered’ during the abduction phase.
The UN handbooks for UN Civilian Police and Military Observers say about hijacking that ‘ no attempt is to be made to flee.’ Both these sources direct you to comply and obey the hijacker’s or kidnapper’s orders.
So who is right?
Clearly none of them, in the sense that the advice is far too general and categorical.
The assault situation may be your best chance to escape, and fighting could make sense. This depends on a number of factors, such as your fitness, your location, other people in the vincinty, places to hide, the number of attackers, the number of victims and whether/how the attackers are armed. The purpose of the abduction, provided you can guess it, is another. Are you an American being assaulted by ISIL, or are you a resident in an area where the typical kidnapper will take you for a short visit to a minibank? In the first case you might be willing to risk your life to escape, in the second hopefully not. I have discussed fight and escape issues in my book Surviving Kidnappers, but without going into further detail here, I would like to observe that no absolute rule can apply.
Fighting attackers without a chance of succeeding, can be suicide, and complying if you could escape, may be tragic.
My general advice is to make your best assessment on the spot, before deciding whether to comply, fight or flee. (My book offers advice on how to prepare for such situations.)
Olav Ofstad
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