duck and cover

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

I was a wee lad who grew up worrying about the threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union.  I'm younger than most of the folks on this forum, so I know you all remember what that felt like.  We still did "duck and cover" drills at school, to the tune of a 1950s black-and-white commercial made by the government (Timmy was a gentleman and covered the little girl--that wouldn't go over well these days).

 

I remember the movies, "Threads," and "The Day After."  In both cases, the kids at school were silent the next day as our wee little minds considered the possibilities. 

 

But with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, we all got complacent and forgot about this menace, relegating it to the back of our collective minds as a relic of the past. 

 

What brings this up now?  Don't forget what I do for a living.  I'm convinced we are closer to nuclear holocaust now than we have ever been, including the Cuban Missile Crisis and several other critical events.  I'm so convinced, in fact, that I've begun researching how to build a bomb shelter for my family. 

 

Here's the Threads full length movie for free.  If it doesn't sober you up, I don't know what will: 

 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

I was an Air Force Brat and lived on a RCAF Interceptor base, (RCAF Cold Lake, Alberta), where CF-100 "Canucks" provided interceptor coverage for the waves of Soviet bombers we expected, coming over the Pole.

When our teachers, at the base school, started trying to gives Duck & Cover Drills, the kids started to laugh. When asked why we were laughing, we reminded the teacher, we were on Ground ZERO teacher, in case of an attack and our classrooms were right next to the flight line.

Picture the suddenly pale faces of a couple of the teachers.

If memory serves, a couple of them did break their contracts and left.

Today, I live close to Uplands Airport, (YOW) which shares a civil and military facility, so if there is a bright flash, I won't worry about it too long.

[JD Lud]

 

[Pat Riot]

If nukes ever get tossed around for whatever reason I truly hope me and my loved ones are right under one of the first to go off. 
In the Navy we learned about life after a nuclear war. Not the stuff they teach civilians or what can be found in libraries or online, the real skinny on what must be done to survive. I want no parts of it. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I attended many different school systems and I don’t remember a single d&c drill. I have a very long memory.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

I remember the drills clearly.  They left a hollow feeling, alrighty.

 

Oddly, just before I saw this thread, I was toying around with the nuclear blast simulator site (below).  Right sobering, it is.  

 

https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

 

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Russians were always ready for a nuclear attack. They all had state supplied gas masks.

 

 

[J-BAR #18287]

I remember the teacher saying, "If you see a flash, don't look at it."

 

Right.

[Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L]

I remember the duck and cver drills in early elementary school.  Then they went away at some point.

[Dantankerous]

We never had duck and cover drills.  We had tornado drills. I guess the reasoning was with local Boeing, 30 some nuke missle sites surrounding us and a local AFB, we so effed no matter what.

[Dantankerous]

Back in HS we watched Threads and The Day After.

 

I suspect they only, ever so slightly, begin to show the horror.

[Cypress Sun]

I lived in Fort Myers, Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember the duck and cover drills and the turtle cartoon. I don't remember anything about the Crisis other than the constant sonic booms and roar of the jets. When we moved to the Tampa/St. Pete area, there was a house with a underground bomb shelter, we went inside it once. If living in that for month is what it takes...no thanks.

 

I now live about 20 + or - miles away from MacDill AFB...ground zero for the Russians or Chinese. I've seen both "The Day After" and "Threads" and several other nuclear war movies/documentaries. If or when nuclear war takes place, I hope they miss and drop it right on top of me (not that it would matter at 20 miles away) so that it would be instant vaporization.

 

I'm with Cyrus as I think that we are closer to becoming involved in a nuclear exchange than we have ever been since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet sub almost launching a nuke torpedo during the Crisis is probably the closest (that we know of) ever been. If Putin takes much more losses in Ukraine, he may believe (falsely) that he is in a position to loose his Russian Top Dog position and react stupidly with nukes. IMO, once one flies...the situation escalates rapidly and they all fly.

 

Humans would survive...at first. Then starvation and disease would slowly kill the rest. No Thanks.

 

Millions of years from now, a new form of life will be saying that a meteor strike caused a mass extinction of life on the planet.

 

 

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

I grew up in Southern Calif.  We did the drills but they stopped after the Cuban missile crisis went past. I guess they thought the threat was over.l Later as an adult I realized we would have all been killed should the nukes sow up. March AFB, Norton AFB, Edwards AFB Pendleton, Long Beach Naval base, San Diego Naval base, LA harbor, San Diego Harbor, McDonald Douglas, Boeing, Northrup.

 A target rich location.

Funny bite of reality. I was designing projects at March AFB. Strategic Air Command base. Watched the B52's taking off and landing. Then they disappeared. I asked a Captain what happened. He laughed. He said some one with a map finally figured out we were within 40 miles of the coast. Well within Submarine range. They moved them inland somewhere!

[J-BAR #18287]

1 hour ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

Millions of years from now, a new form of life will be saying that a meteor strike caused a mass extinction of life on the planet.

 

 

Intelligent cockroaches.

[Pat Riot]

12 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

I remember the drills clearly.  They left a hollow feeling, alrighty.

 

Oddly, just before I saw this thread, I was toying around with the nuclear blast simulator site (below).  Right sobering, it is.  

 

https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

 

 

Ah boy, you sure know how to have a good time, Hardpan. 

[Pat Riot]

17 minutes ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Intelligent cockroaches.

We have those now. 
They walk on 2 legs, not 6. Not too intelligent though. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 hours ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

I grew up in Southern Calif.  We did the drills but they stopped after the Cuban missile crisis went past. I guess they thought the threat was over.l Later as an adult I realized we would have all been killed should the nukes sow up. March AFB, Norton AFB, Edwards AFB Pendleton, Long Beach Naval base, San Diego Naval base, LA harbor, San Diego Harbor, McDonald Douglas, Boeing, Northrup.

 A target rich location.

Funny bite of reality. I was designing projects at March AFB. Strategic Air Command base. Watched the B52's taking off and landing. Then they disappeared. I asked a Captain what happened. He laughed. He said some one with a map finally figured out we were within 40 miles of the coast. Well within Submarine range. They moved them inland somewhere!

 

I was raised about 10 miles south of Camp Pendleton and went to Catholic school.  Our version was, "Get out your Rosary and kneel by your desk."

  

[Pat Riot]

I remember D&C drills in 1st and 3rd grades and 1 in 4th grade in a different town they called a “Civil Defense Drill”.

In 7th and 8th grades in the South I recall tornado drills. 

[J.D. Daily]

If you see a green shooting star or stars bend over and kiss your ass goodby.  I observed a Vandenburg ICBM test in 1985 while on Kwajalein Island.  The plasma created when reentering the atmosphere emits a green light.

I vaguely remember the duck & cover drills or were those EQ drills?

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

I've taken inventory of potential target assets in Ohio and concluded that a nuclear exchange will make an ash out of me in short order.

Might as well have some pie and spoil my supper.

 

[sassnetguy50]

We did both depending on the school.  Pull out the chair then duck under the desk, face down on our knees.   For tornados we sat in the hallway against the wall with our heads tucked to our knees.

[Count Sandor, SASS #74075]

20 minutes ago, sassnetguy50 said:

   For tornados we sat in the hallway against the wall with our heads tucked to our knees.

As late as 2001 our Junior High did tornado drills in the same way, except that as they left the room each kid grabbed a heavy book.  After assuming the position, they opened the books and held them over the back of their heads and necks, ostensibly for protection against flying sharp debris.   The fun part was maintaining decorum among about a hundred 13–14-year-olds sitting in that position until the all-clear sounded...when everyone knew it was just a drill.

 

CS

[Alpo]

We never did this.

 

I lived in Norfolk, which is completely surrounded by naval bases. I lived in Pensacola - large naval Air station. I lived in Tampa. MacDill Air Force Base. And we have a fairly large Air Force Base here which is the home of a fighter interceptor wing.

 

The point being, that any place I've ever lived, if there was a nuclear war my town would get hit. Duck and cover doesn't make sense when the bomb lands on top of you.

 

And tornado drills? Never heard of them until this thread. I was up in Georgia, 2000, maybe '01. First time I went to Mule Camp. And I'm sitting in my motel room and this loud siren goes off. Afterwards I find out that that was a tornado siren, and everyone was supposed to go to the lobby, which was hardened. Huh?? In the fifth grade we had a tornado land in the schoolyard. Took out a oak tree and a jungle gym. Then it jumped back up in the air and went a couple of miles down the street before it came down again. We all stood there in the classroom staring out the window at it.

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

 

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

9 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

I'm with Cyrus as I think that we are closer to becoming involved in a nuclear exchange than we have ever been since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet sub almost launching a nuke torpedo during the Crisis is probably the closest (that we know of) ever been. If Putin takes much more losses in Ukraine, he may believe (falsely) that he is in a position to loose his Russian Top Dog position and react stupidly with nukes. IMO, once one flies...the situation escalates rapidly and they all fly.

 

I've spent the past six years studying Vladimir Putin professionally, and with access to information the public doesn't get to see.  I'm 100% serious about building a bomb shelter at home.

[Trailrider #896]

I recall only one D&C drill in an elementary school on the South Side of Chicago. Didn't really bother me, as the most likely threat were Soviet bombers, and the city was ringed with Nike-Ajax and later Nike-Hercules anti-aircraft missile batteries.  When I was in the Air Force, I was generally at one ground-zero or another, and was more scared of QC and the IG conducting a no-notice Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI)! The Reds could only kill us...the IG could make life miserable! 

 

Once we had moved to Denver, and were only about 60 miles from NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain, I figured they would target it with a large megaton warhead or two, and we were likely to catch a short round, so no use worrying about it.  Actually, if we had any warning at all, I figured to grab my M-1 rifle, and in the ultimate act of defiance, shoot at the incoming warheads! 

[Cypress Sun]

21 minutes ago, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said:

 

I've spent the past six years studying Vladimir Putin professionally, and with access to information the public doesn't get to see.  I'm 100% serious about building a bomb shelter at home.

 

You have the training, a younger age and  a great location to build, stock and protect a bomb shelter and your family. I sincerely wish you luck in building it and hope you can somehow keep it a secret from everyone near you.

 

In my location, if the bomb didn't get us, the hoards of desperate people would quickly overwhelm any armed resistance with just sheer numbers. There would be no escape and a bomb shelter wouldn't be of much use. If we received a real warning of nuclear attack, I think that I'll just turn off the media, snuggle up to my gal and say goodbye to each other.

 

 

[Three Foot Johnson]

My daughter & granddaughter live a mile from the Malmstrom AFB gate.