The First Five Minutes
A scored readiness self-assessment for people who are
responsible for someone other than themselves.
This is not a quiz you pass. It is a list of specific things that either exist or do not exist in your life and in your building, measured against federal guidance and published research.
Every question is scored and weighted — you will see exactly what each answer is worth and why, as you go. It takes about eight minutes. Nobody sees your answers; nothing is stored.
RESPOND · SECURE · STABILIZE · SUSTAIN | SierraBravo On Target, LLC · Helena, Alabama
Two clocks start at the same instant.
The tactical clock — is it over, is there another one, where is my family, what happens when police come through that door and do not know who I am.
The medical clock — someone is bleeding, and it is shorter. Meanwhile EMS stages off-site until someone declares the scene secure.
For a window measured in minutes, whoever is already in the building is both jobs. That is not a philosophy. It is what the numbers describe.
One more, and it is the one that started this program. CISA's own security guide for houses of worship — the leading federal document on the subject — contains no medical response element. No trauma kits, no bleeding control, no tourniquets, no AEDs. It is a good guide. Medicine is simply not in its scope.
That is the gap. Somebody has to be trained for both halves, and it is going to be whoever is standing there.
Four courses. One expanding clock.
RS³ is a four-level training ladder that teaches the tactical response and the trauma care as one continuous event. Every course is two days and sixteen contact hours: day one tactical, day two trauma medicine, taught by a separate combat-experienced medical team.
RS³ stands for Respond · Secure · Stabilize · Sustain — one word per level, in order. It is the course architecture, not a slogan.
The program is organized on the Incident Command System — the framework FEMA administers under NIMS and the one your local police, fire, and EMS run on. FEMA's NIMS doctrine names nongovernmental organizations and faith-based groups directly as intended users.
RS³ is ICS-aligned, not ICS-accredited. Not a FEMA course, not affiliated with or endorsed by FEMA, and confers no FEMA, NIMS, or ICS credential or continuing-education credit. For real ICS certification, FEMA offers it free at training.fema.gov.
Answer honestly. Nobody is watching.
There is no benefit to scoring well here. The only useful outcome is an accurate picture of where you actually are. Answer the way things are on a normal Tuesday, not the way they are when you are thinking about it.
How the scoring works
Every answer is worth 0, 1, or 2 points, and every question carries a weight of ×1, ×2, or ×3 based on how much that item actually changes an outcome. A question about whether your tourniquet is reachable is weighted ×3. A question about which brand it is, ×1. Both matter; they do not matter equally.
Point values are shown on every option before you pick, and the weight is printed on every question. Nothing is hidden and nothing is rigged — you can audit the whole thing.
Your results break down by domain, not just an overall number, because a person can be excellent at one half of this and have nothing at all on the other. That split is usually the most useful thing on the page.
One step before you start
The assessment is free and your results appear on this page — you can print them or save them as a PDF when you finish. We ask for an email so we can send occasional training notes and let you know when the classes that match your gaps are scheduled.
Readiness snapshot
Where your points came from
A low overall score with one strong domain is a different problem than an even spread. This is the part worth reading twice.
Your gaps, ranked by points lost
Biggest first. Each one is specific and closable, and the citation is there so you can check me.
Every question, scored
The full audit trail. Print this and hand it to whoever needs convincing.
| Question | Your answer | Score |
|---|
Keep this scorecard
Your results are on this page. Use Print my scorecard above to print it or save it as a PDF — the page is formatted for it, and the full question-by-question breakdown comes with it. Want to talk through your gaps? Write training@sierrabravoontarget.com.
Sources used in this assessment
- ALERRT Active Attack Data, Texas State University — 597 attacks, 2000–2024.
- FBI, A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States 2000–2013, U.S. Dept. of Justice.
- FBI, Active Shooter Event Quick Reference Guide, 2015 — 911 caller information; behavior on law enforcement arrival.
- Stop the Bleed / U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security — bleeding death window.
- Hartford Consensus III (2015), American College of Surgeons — bleeding control bags “able to be used within three minutes,” placed “next to all automatic external defibrillators based on local need.”
- McCarty JC et al., Injury, 2019 (n=317) — 35.8% correct tourniquet application among those with prior first aid + hemorrhage control training; 14.4% among the untrained.
- Systematic review, European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery, 2024 (35 studies) — knowledge retention 39–72% at 1–9 months; optimal refresher interval not yet established.
- American Heart Association, 2025 Guidelines for CPR and ECC, Part 12 — CPR skills “often show decay by as early as 3 months”; Class 1 recommendation for booster sessions.
- ANSI/ISEA Z308.1-2021 — a tourniquet is required only in Class B kits, not Class A.
- North American Rescue — C-A-T shelf life voided by exposure to heat, cold, sand, or dirt; single use.
- FEMA/DHS, National Incident Management System, 3rd ed., October 2017 — applies to NGOs and faith-based organizations; optimal span of control 1:5; transfer of command includes a briefing and notifying all personnel.
- FEMA IS-362.a, Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schools — effective span of control three to seven.
- U.S. Dept. of Education, HHS, DHS, DOJ, FBI, FEMA, Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans, 2013 — ten functional annexes; annual review, nothing unreviewed beyond two years.
- DHS and U.S. Dept. of Education, Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Houses of Worship, June 2013 — five named functional annexes, explicitly “not a complete list.”
- CISA/DHS, Mitigating Attacks on Houses of Worship: Security Guide, December 2020 — safety team composition; security personnel must meet state licensing, training, and insurance requirements. Contains no trauma-kit or bleeding-control element.
- U.S. Secret Service NTAC, Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model, July 2018 — Step 1, multidisciplinary threat assessment team; Step 3, central reporting mechanism.
- NFPA 3000, Standard for an Active Shooter/Hostile Event Response (ASHER) Program, 2024 ed.
- FEMA/DHS, Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) — progressive building-block exercise approach.
- FEMA P-1094, Create Your Family Emergency Communication Plan, July 2018 — paper copy; out-of-area contact; “TEXT IS BEST.”
- Ala. Code § 16-1-44 — Alabama school EOP requirements; lockdown drill in the first six weeks of the fall and spring semesters.
- Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I., “Armed security and your insurance coverage,” 1 March 2024.
- NENA-STA-020.1-2020, NENA Standard for 9-1-1 Call Processing.
- Reducing Inherent Danger, New York State Task Force on Police-on-Police Shootings, 2010.
Where research is genuinely unsettled, this assessment says so rather than inventing a number. There is no published refresher interval for bleeding control training, no authoritative kit-per-occupant ratio, and no federal mandate on exercise frequency for private organizations. Anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing.
This assessment is informational only. It is designed to challenge your thinking and to help you work out the right strategy for your own situation. It is not a certification, not a professional security assessment, and not an audit of your site.
We cannot and do not guarantee your results. No score here predicts what will happen to you, to your family, or to your building. A high score does not make you safe and a low score does not make you a casualty. Real events are chaotic and no amount of preparation removes that.
Nothing here is legal advice. Use-of-force law, duty to retreat, carry restrictions, and the liability attached to armed volunteer teams vary enormously by state and by the specific facts of an incident. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before you act on any of it.
Nothing here is medical advice. Bleeding control and other interventions discussed in this assessment carry real risk and should be learned hands-on from a qualified instructor, then practiced. Reading about a tourniquet is not the same as being able to apply one.
Any decision you make, and any action you take, based on this assessment or on the training we offer, is yours alone. SierraBravo On Target, LLC accepts no liability for outcomes arising from it.
SierraBravo On Target, LLC · Helena, Alabama · in partnership with Valkyries Austere Medical Solutions
Training at DoubleTap Training Grounds, Calera, Alabama ·
Upcoming classes ·
training@sierrabravoontarget.com
Until they arrive, you are the response.
This assessment is informational only. It is built to challenge your thinking and to help you work out the right strategy for your own situation. It is an educational self-check — not a certification, not an audit of your site, and not a professional security assessment.
We cannot and do not guarantee your results. No score here predicts what will happen to you, to your family, or to your building. A high score does not make you safe, and a low score does not make you a casualty. Real events are chaotic, and no amount of preparation removes that.
Nothing here is legal advice. Use-of-force law, duty to retreat, carry restrictions, security licensing, and the liability attached to armed volunteer teams are state-specific and in places unsettled. Take those questions to an attorney licensed in your state and to your insurance carrier — not to a training company, and not to the internet.
Nothing here is medical advice. Bleeding control and the other interventions discussed carry real risk and should be learned hands-on from a qualified instructor, then practiced. Reading about a tourniquet is not the same as being able to apply one under pressure.
Any decision you make and any action you take, based on this assessment or on the training we provide, is yours alone. SierraBravo On Target, LLC accepts no liability for outcomes arising from it.
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