I went to the new Clint Eastwood produced and directed movie The 15:17 to Paris, and wanted to point out a couple of lessons we can all learn from the movie. Eastwood took a risk by having the three childhood friends turned heroes play themselves in the film. But it’s a risk I’m glad he took. Those heroes-turned-actors are Spencer Stone, a former U.S. Air Force Airman, Alek Skarlatos, a former Oregon National Guardsman, and Anthony Sadler, a senior at California State University at the time of the incident. On August 21, 2015, the trio was riding on a Thalys train headed towards the French capital when a man armed with an assault rifle and pistol opened fire, shooting one passenger. Stone and Skarlatos instinctively decided to charge at the assailant, and Sadler was not far behind. Despite several injuries, including a slashed neck and thumb for Stone, the three friends managed to overpower the gunman with the assistance of a British passenger. The four were hailed as international heroes and received various honors for their valor. The movie was adapted from the three men’s co-authored memoir of the same name.
It is obvious that Stone, Skarlatos, and Sadler are not actors. It is a risk Eastwood took and the film is taking some criticism for it. Personally, I didn’t mind that the acting and dialogue wasn’t as smooth as it would have been with A-list actors playing the three. I thought it was pretty cool that they were the actual heroes playing themselves, and I enjoyed the movie and am glad I went to see it. There are two lessons related to my work in teaching Active Shooter Response that I want to share.
There is a scene in the film when Stone is in a class at a military base when an Active Shooter alert is sounded. The instructor in the class tells people to lock the door and then get under the desks. I wanted to scream in the theater. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!! Hiding under desks is not a strategy to survive. Little spoiler here. Stone gets up and prepares himself at the door with a pen held in a hammer fist. If the shooter came through the door, he was going to take him out with the pen. YES, YES, YES, YES!!! I still wanted to scream at the instructor and everyone hiding under desks, but having Stone do the right thing eased my blood pressure. (Even though the instructor in the movie criticized him for it.) You lock doors and barricade to keep the shooter out, but you then prepare to ambush him at the door with whatever you have in case the locks and barricade fail. This is what I and others teach, and I was glad that at least one person in that class room figured it out on their own. It is the best strategy in a bad situation. When the instructor who told everyone to get under the desks asked Stone why he did what he did, Airman Stone replied, “I don’t know, ma’am. I just didn’t want my family finding out that I died hiding under a table.”
The other lesson from this movie is that people, even unarmed people, can and have stopped killers. I get tired of so many people saying the only way to stop a killer with a gun is with a gun yourself. These four men, the three Americans and one British passenger, prove that quote wrong. And there have been many others in similar incidents.
As I said earlier in this book, yes, if I had to face an active shooter, I would prefer to have a firearm myself. But I refuse to say that people without a firearm must resign to being victims. I sure won’t, and I don’t want anyone I teach to be a victim either. I teach people to be survivors. If all they have is a ball point pen like Stone in the movie, use it. If there is a fire extinguisher handy, use it. If you are naked with absolutely nothing, use your hands, feet, elbows, knees, teeth, and anything else to attack back and stop the attacker.
I like that this movie shows regular people deciding to act, and their actions saved many lives. Not only did they stop the killer, they kept the wounded man alive until professional medical personnel could take over. That’s a reason stopping bleeding is part of my book and courses. People can and do save lives. This movie was a great example of what people can do, and I applaud the men who acted on that train, and I applaud Clint Eastwood for bringing the story to us in this film.
