I participated in an active shooter drill. Here's my story/thoughts

About 2 years ago, I was working for a local college and was asked to participate in the yearly active shooter drill. I was chosen to be standing at the door the shooter entered, and due to the route he would take, I would be the first victim to be assisted by EMS. I was given a "sheet" that detailed my victims name, age, and condition post-gunshot. 2 officers were posted in the parking lot closest the entrance to campus. A 911 operator was on-scene to field the initial call, and coordinate radio operations with police/fire/paramedics. The initial 2 officers would wait 2 minutes after the 911 call to enter the building (About the average response time, based on patrols). SWAT was required to wait some additional time before entering to account for their response time as well.Shots fired: The active shooter walked into the building, and fired upon myself (blanks, fired into the ceiling), and 2 others. I "collapsed" and assumed my role of "barely" conscious. I had positioned myself with a view down the hallway that police would enter through, to watch how they handled things. I gotta say, those were the longest ~2:30 minutes of my life. Laying there, pretending to bleed out, helpless. Not a fan. The first 2 officers entered, rifle and shotgun respectively (All firearms prior to exercise had been ziptied to prevent a closed bolt). I had fallen with my left hand under my body, and the officers yelled at me to display my hands. Barely conscious be damned, my hands shot out palm down on the floor. Once they had ensured the 3 of us victims were not a threat, they proceeded in the direction of the shooter telling us "People will be here to help you soon". And we began waiting again. A few more, excruciatingly, minutes go by and SWAT comes in. Shields, full gear, a wall of green and rifles/pistols. SWAT again checked our hands to ensure none of us had weapons. Trailing behind SWAT were several firefighters. They began working on us and loaded us onto, what could best be described as, sheets and dragged us back down the hallway where EMS was staged outside.My takeaway: Carrying on a college campus is against the state law here. That said, I now no longer work there for that reason. Laying there helpless for several minutes was an eyeopener for me. The ~5 minutes felt like an entire lifetime. I now carry much more regularly and keep a tourniquet in my bag. I typically am not fond of the militarization of police, but damn did it feel nice to see SWAT come in loaded for bear. My only complaint with the exercise was that the "active shooter" barricaded himself in the cafe and turned it into a bomb threat. Typically, to the best of my knowledge, active shooters keep going until stopped. via /r/CCW http://bit.ly/2V1kbyn