World War Three warning from Turkey sparks fears of attack - but how do you survive nuclear bomb?

[Aryeh Jay]

Nobody is going to nuclear war over Syria. We might, in different times, have done so over Israel--we did go up a DEFCON notch in 73 when it looked like the Sixth Fleet was going to duke with the Soviet navy in the eastern Med.

A much, much scarier four days occurred in November 83. I was terrified--didn't even leave the SAC underground the entire time. Even the generals had faces as gray as concrete. We were really, really preparing for war as furiously as we could. I was praying, "Jesus, stop us!"

But nothing like that is on the horizon now.

If the worst did happen, the southern hemisphere will not only be nearly unscathed, their lives won't even change appreciably (South Sudanese will hardly notice, although granted their lives are pretty nasty already).

There won't be a "nuclear winter" to any appreciable extent--that was debunked long ago scientifically. New and better computer models.

Back in the latter 70s, President Carter ordered us at SAC to think beyond the Major Attack Option and create a plan for a nuclear "Enduring Deterrence."

I was involved in that, which was pretty tough because I knew I'd be dead. But we did the calculations on who would be able to survive and where. Essentially, if you're more than 100 miles from the nearest detonation (and most will be counter-force strikes, not population center strikes) and have sealed supplies for 30 days, you can make it. Initial radiation problems will be alpha particles--dust--for a couple of weeks. Avoid ingesting it. Wash frequently, eat and drink only from sealed containers. But alpha particles have a short half life.

Life will ratchet back in many ways about 150 years. If you want to use the gun in the mouth option some time later, that's always available. But life can go on.

Don't expect a lot of warning, though. You probably didn't even realize the scares of 73 and 83 even happened.

As I recall during some of my training on an SSBN in the Navy 20 or more years ago, we were informed that the public would not be notified at all because your chances of survival are better if everybody is not outside trying to get away from a warhead you can’t outrun.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Q: How do you survive a nuclear bomb?

A: You don't.

Or by being a cockroach.

 

[RDKirk]

As I recall during some of my training on an SSBN in the Navy 20 or more years ago, we were informed that the public would not be notified at all because your chances of survival are better if everybody is not outside trying to get away from a warhead you can’t outrun.

Advising the public just really wouldn't be practicable. The hope that the situation could be racheted back would continue to the very last minute.

In a "normal" confrontation, say, like 62, there would be lots of saber rattling, several steps of escalating confrontations, et cetera. The public would be aware of those.

At some point of escalation, the DEFCON levels would ratchet upward. The public today would likely become aware of the rise from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 4 (although the public was not aware of it in 73). That shift would take a couple of days to complete before the president can step forces to the next level.

Frankly, it was my opinion in the early 80s that the Soviets would launch a strike as forces moved from DEFCON 3 to DEFCON 2--we would never get to DEFCON 1 before the war started. Their problem is that they would not know that our forces were moving to only another point of readiness and then would stop.

An abnormal situation would be like that in 83, when the Soviets were afraid the US was launching a flat-footed attack (no preparation of forces) and then the US thought the Soviets were doing it. The public had zero awareness of that one.

Ironically, right at that same time the television production "The Day After" aired--a dismal view of what very nearly happened. When I watched that program, the only image I had not already imagined was the scene where the security personnel at a Kansas missile silo suddenly saw the doors blow open and their missiles zoom upward into the sky...realizing they had maybe thirty minutes left themselves.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Advising the public just really wouldn't be practicable. The hope that the situation could be racheted back would continue to the very last minute.

In a "normal" confrontation, say, like 62, there would be lots of saber rattling, several steps of escalating confrontations, et cetera. The public would be aware of those.

At some point of escalation, the DEFCON levels would ratchet upward. The public today would likely become aware of the rise from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 4 (although the public was not aware of it in 73). That shift would take a couple of days to complete before the president can step forces to the next level.

Frankly, it was my opinion in the early 80s that the Soviets would launch a strike as forces moved from DEFCON 3 to DEFCON 2--we would never get to DEFCON 1 before the war started. Their problem is that they would not know that our forces were moving to only another point of readiness and then would stop.

An abnormal situation would be like that in 83, when the Soviets were afraid the US was launching a flat-footed attack (no preparation of forces) and then the US thought the Soviets were doing it. The public had zero awareness of that one.

Ironically, right at that same time the television production "The Day After" aired--a dismal view of what very nearly happened. When I watched that program, the only image I had not already imagined was the scene where the security personnel at a Kansas missile silo suddenly saw the doors blow open and their missiles zoom upward into the sky...realizing they had maybe thirty minutes left themselves.

We had just moved from LRAFB to Maxwell-Gunter before the Titian Missile exploded in 1980. Sometimes you don’t even need a war. Luckily the warhead stayed intact and did not arm.

 

[AlexDTX]

Has anyone ever pondered how the world is actually more peaceful because of nuclear weapons? They are in reality, despite their terrifying power, the biggest peace makers of all time (unless someone is crazy enough to actually use them). There hasn't been a 'big' war since they came into existence.

You would think after 2 world wars, humans would have lost their taste for war....but I have no doubt in the 50's, in a nuclear free world, we would have seen World War 3 (probably between the Allies and Soviets) and depending on how that went, maybe a few more 'World Wars' may have happened over the next 50 years.

Heck there is a good chance that without nuclear weapons, a few (or many) of us may not even exist today, as our ancestors might have died in 'nuke free' World War 3. I can only imagine that would have been a real nasty one.

Vladimir Putin agrees with you. Listen to what he says:

 

[TheOldWays]

sweet!

 

[RDKirk]

We had just moved from LRAFB to Maxwell-Gunter before the Titian Missile exploded in 1980. Sometimes you don’t even need a war. Luckily the warhead stayed intact and did not arm.

I remember that! I levied a requirement to TAC to have some imagery taken of the site. When I got the film back, I scanned it to have photographs made to brief the SAC staff. I started at the silo, expecting to see a lot of concrete debris from the door...but it was a relatively clean hole. I didn't see any level of debris that could have been the door.

I started searching wider circles, still seeing nothing but field and dirt. I found the door--mostly intact--a half mile away.

A few years before that, though, the US Navy was transporting a nuke warhead in Hawaii from the Magalapa magazine to Pearl Harbor suspended from a helicopter...and dropped it on the freeway.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

World War Three warning from Turkey sparks fears of attack - but how do you survive nuclear bomb?

I'm not that old, but we were still doing bomb drills in my school until the wall fell. So the answer is easy... I will hide under a desk.

 

[pgp_protector]

Yea, hope you don't survive is the reality.
30+ Years ago the yields were quite smaller.
Pick your closest big city and let a Tsar hit it
http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap

 

[TerranceL]

Yea, hope you don't survive is the reality.
30+ Years ago the yields were quite smaller.
Pick your closest big city and let a Tsar hit it
http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap

That is pretty dang nifty.

Turns out if you nuke the high school I graduated from, using Fat Man you'll take out both my elementary school and junior high school.

I'm ok with this.