TacticalThunderPunch

This question absolutely hits a very sensitive nerve with me. I take medication because of these two stories.

• During late 2017 my crew and I witnessed Another Armored Truck Company slide through an intersection and t-bone a small truck similar to a Ford Ranger. The elderly woman driving the small truck died at the scene. I took a picture as it happened because I knew Law Enforcement would ask around and find out that another Armored company witnessed it. Here is that picture

https://imgur.com/C0g5nsj

• My last story is pretty personal. Before I met my wife (happily married and blessed with a 1 month old son). I was in a serious relationship with another Crew Leader. This was kept very quiet because the rules for relationships were very strict. Most people “kinda knew” because both of us would roll into the parking lot at the same time nearly every morning.

Anyways, I believe this to be early fall of 2015. It was business as usual. We rolled into the parking lot, pretended to hate each other in front of the other officers, load our trucks up and go our separate ways. She had a new-hire driving for her. This new-hire had all the pre-existing symptoms of undiagnosed sleep apnea and other crew leaders had reported him falling asleep behind the wheel on extended drives between contracts.

During this transit (90 minutes between contracts) the New-Hire fell asleep behind the wheel and rear-ended a Semi Truck at 65 Mph. The semi was fully loaded, so Gross weight of......65,000-80,000lbs? The impact was so forceful that my Significant Others’ seatbelt buckle snapped. The seatbelt flung to the side and she hit the Bulkhead door at 65mph. (The bulkhead door is a heavy door that separates the front cab to the rear. It locks open while in transit and stays closed while sitting on site. This is due to the side door the messenger uses to climb in out of the Truck.)

My route was running late that day. After we cleared my truck of all liability and parked it. I sent her a text message that went unanswered. Then, a phone call that went straight to voicemail. While sitting in my car, that’s when I saw the tow truck, and it was her Armored truck on the flatbed. In disbelief I waited for the tow truck to drop it in the back corner of the parking lot. That’s when my supervisor walked over to me, handed me some disposable gloves, and we spent 2 hours bleaching the entire rear of the Armored Truck. The insurance company refused to determine if the truck was totaled or not until all the blood was removed. I still have nightmares and I can’t seem to reconnect with her due to the event. Here is the pictures of what I think Reddit will allow.

The Truck was totaled. The driver survived, was fired, and she was airlifted to the closest hospital with multiple skull fractures, broken collar bones, broken ribs, wrist, and left arm. The only reason she didn’t die is because the entire crash was so abrupt, she had zero time to react. She was honorably discharged from the military, became one of our dispatchers, but soon quit and faded from existence. The Last I heard, she moved to a different state.

https://imgur.com/PsxqoZP

https://imgur.com/VsAlQgj

We were trained for such event. The Threat will be eliminated.

Our rules of engagement are:

•Prove intent: he’s pointing a Ar-15 at my driver •Prove opportunity: he took the time to figure out the general time of when we show up. •Prove means: he’s literally holding an Ar-15 and ready to fire •Prove ability: His finger is on the trigger •Did my driver attempt to tell him to stop?: yes he honked.

Let’s assume worst case. The Ar-15(s) are loaded with black-tip ammunition. The front windshield will hold up the best due to the angle of the glass; my driver would have plenty time to run your A*S over. My driver was under strict directions to NEVER shift the transmission into park, foot on the break; nothing else.

My concern would be the lack of any angle on the driver and passenger side glass. If you land black tip ammunition directly on top of each other.... it’s going to go through, usually within 2-3 rounds. It honestly depends on the age of the glass from my personal testing.

This scenario is why I made safety glasses and body armor mandatory on my truck. Shards of glass will certainty be flying everywhere.

If we were engaged while the messenger and I were in the truck we would always attempt to flee. We are in a moving bank vault after.

If the driver is engaged while the messenger and I are inside a bank or other contracted establishment. The company policy is that the Armored Truck drives away, leaving the crew leader and messenger to defend themselves. Yes you heard right.... the truck drives away! Under this circumstance we were contractually bound to defend the client. Our standard operating procedure would be to evacuate all employees to cover, or concealment, and wait for Law Enforcement. (This area would’ve been established during the clients first day of service, during our risk assessment walk through.)

Finally, if the truck is engaged while we are walking out, we would move to cover and eliminate the threat. I really make all of this sound easy, it’s not. It’s scary as hell, but our faces wouldn’t show it.

A somewhat similar event happened to my truck in 2016. No shots were fired. All three us noticed that a sedan had been following us for 15 minutes. We contacted Local Law Enforcement. By the time we arrived at our next client. The Leo’s swarmed the sedan. The driver fled, he had a pistol. The front passenger had a 12 gauge shotgun ( grey hooded sweatshirt, cigarette in mouth.) I was able to take 1 picture of this event for my report to my Branch Manager.

https://imgur.com/Fi3Heb2

Ha! My typical daily route varied from 65-87 miles per day. My truck was gasoline driven, and at the end of the day we refilled around 13-15 gallons. Around 4-5mpg? I’m certainly glad we weren’t driving them on our personal dimes. Glug, Glug, Glug.

•401k sucks. No company matching • health insurance is an HSA plan. You pay the first $2200 out of pocket. Then they cover 80% • life insurance has an added clause stating that if you perish while performing duties and you weren’t following any company policy. Your family won’t be paid out. An example of this is would be: requesting a company issued bulletproof vest and being fatally shot not wearing it.

•The Dental Insurance was actually better than my new full time job

I operated a 3 man crew. 1 officer had to have direct control at all times. That was my truck rule, once you’re in, you’re in.

However, Our policy was updated shortly before I left to allow “solo” trucks. Trucks with a sh*t ton of cameras inside and out, as well as a mandatory panic button you wore around your neck.

Edit: “solo Trucks” being defined as a crew of one officer that drove and left the truck to collect money.