Imagine you are a 19-year old soldier manning a military checkpoint in Iraq or Afghanistan. It's close to sunset, so it's getting hard to see clearly. You observe what appears to be a civilian vehicle about 300 yards away rapidly approaching your checkpoint. How do you decide the best way to handle this situation?rnFirst, you rely on your military training. Your first duty is to protect your fellow soldiers from this unknown possible threat. Your next duty is to warn the driver to safely stop the vehicle. Let's think about the numbers to support your decision process. If the vehicle is about 300 yards away and moving at 55mph, it will take only seven seconds for that car to come within 100 yards of you. So you have roughly seven seconds to think about and apply the tools you have in your toolkit to warn this driver to step on the brakes and safely come to a stop at least 100 yards from your position. What's so special about 100 yards? It's the edge of the blast safety zone if that car is filled with explosives.
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