I think today will wrap up the Nuclear 201 series. I think I’m going to be concentrating more on coverage of current events and preparedness in the coming days. For today, I think I will address a valid and fair question: What are you going to do if things go nuclear?
My honest answer: it depends. Most of it depends on time, and exactly what happens. It may be that the use of chemical or nuclear weapons does not tip over to strategic, though I’m sure not going to bet that way. Pray for it, yes. Count on it, no.
If at all possible, I’m going to do the bugout boogie. If there is time I will have a trailer hitch put on my car, buy/rent/other a trailer, load up with essentials and gear, and head out. Heck, if worse comes to worse, I will infantry engineer a hitch and get a trailer. If things work out really well, I’m headed to visit a friend well out of blast range who lives in the country. If things are tight, I’m going to be just headed out and trying to clear various zones and potential areas of fallout. The further I can get past 465 the better. Planning to take back roads/alleys/yards as main streets/highways are likely to be gridlocked.
If for some reason I can’t do the bugout boogie, I’m going to dig in. If there is time, I’m getting sandbags from the local home & garden store and covering the basement windows all around. If not, try to improvise. If things get grim, I’m cutting off the main power breaker and all other breakers, unplugging all electronics/appliances, dropping my essential electronics in a special container in the basement (and if possible covering it with sandbags/other), and doing anything else I can to mitigate EMP damage. Transmission wires are great for picking up EMP, so by popping your main and breakers, then unplugging things, you may get lucky and minimize damage.
The special container may or may not work to shield, but is worth a try. In it will be my laptop, cell phone, and the multi-power multi-band emergency radio at a minimum. Do I wish I had the super radio with short wave as well? Yep, and if anyone wants to buy it for me and ship it, sing out. 🙂 Things may go down here, but they may bounce back and other areas could get lucky. Have the electronics for when you can use them (and recharge them). If I had a geiger counter and such, they would be in there as well, save for one dosimeter on me. Again, hit the tip jar or sing out if you’d like me to get that gear. 🙂
Then, if time allows, I’m kitting up and armoring up as best I can. If not, headed into things as is. There’s a couple of places where I can get that should stay reasonably protected if the house comes down. Of equal importance, if it does, I’ve got a good chance (and tools already laid in) to try to get out before the fires come. Where I am is (hopefully) well outside the main blast radius but is within the zone for potential fires/firestorm. Again, why I want to be on the other side of 465. Get into the zone, hunker down, and hope the light show is cancelled.
If not and I get to experience a different version of God’s own flashbulb (the lightning hit counts as one type of flash bulb as well as a stun gun in my book), it depend on how bad things get. Best case is that we have broken windows upstairs, some damage to the house and roof but nothing too extensive and the fires don’t reach us. In that case, plastic, tarp, tape, nail, etc. and try to check on radiation/fallout. Get a safe room/area set up and prepare to hunker down for a couple of weeks.
If the fires head our way, see if any car works, get one or more going, load up with gear and supplies, and try to get beyond 465 and to a relatively safe area. If not, ruck up, start walking, and try to clear 465 as fast as possible and look for travel options other than shank’s mare. Since I’ve got a good idea of local winds and when fallout will start to get bad, you can bet I’m headed away from the anticipated worst and keeping an eye out for a good safe place where I/we can hunker down at need.
If this were not a target area, my preference would be to stay despite a not-good security situation (no town/city, esp. larger city, is going to be a good security situation). I’m close to a major hospital and there are other resources nearby. Plus, here I have access to food, water, and the other joys of preparedness. Any form of bugout drops the amount of resources available (hence trailer if possible). That said, if it comes down to survival opportunities versus dying, life wins. Keep that in mind and we do need to talk staging soon. Also, the advantage to having friends along the way.
That’s the short and sweet for today. Good question, and the best answer I can give under the circumstances. We are going to talk preparedness soon, and as with all of it, hope we never truly need it.
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SOME PREVIOUS POSTS:
Nuclear 201 Posts In Order
Nuclear 201: Will You Be My PAL?
Nuclear 201: Additional Thoughts On Coms
Nuclear 201: Targeting, Take 2
Nuclear 201: Policy, SIOP, and Escalation
Nuclear 101 Posts In Order:
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If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, feel free to hit the tip jar in the upper right or the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo. Getting hit by lightning is not fun, and it is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.
Mine is to bug-in. Plastic sheeting (to block dust laden with alpha/beta-emitters) over windows, doors, attic vents, etc., followed by a crude “pillow-fort” living-room shelter against whatever gamma might be in the fallout. It won’t be perfect, but it probably doesn’t have to be; you can survive small amounts of ionizing radiation just fine (it’s the large doses that get you).
But, the answer has to be be very personal. Everyone’s situation is unique. Geography (where are you in relation to valid strategic targets, where do your necessities come from, what is the security situation in your neighborhood once the mad panic sets in?) matters. Your resources, and where they’re located, matter. Your access to transportation (and bottlenecks thereof) matters.
For 90%+ of the population, the bad part is what happens *after*. And that’s where an emphasis on more-generic preparedness comes into play. Imagine being caught in a nasty hurricane, such as Katrina… but it hit the entire country, so you know that a nation’s worth of outside help isn’t coming in 72 hours, and maybe not within 72 days. And everybody else knows it, too. Expect amazing levels of panic (most people have forgotten how to live with the threat of hardship and loss). Waiting until the last minute… is far too late.
My god. You can’t do any of this AFTER the fact!!
Okay, my initial take is to respond with fire, but instead I will just ask for now: What are you talking about? The article clearly states what I would do before, then during (mostly curl up and pray), and then after. After depends on a lot of things, but keep in mind that unlike the radiation from the blast, fallout is not immediate. Even close in you will have a period of time (not huge, minutes) in which to do things/make decisions. Depending on winds and other factors, you can do a surprising amount in many cases after with relative safety (relative being the operative word). As for bugging out after, yes, you can. Some vehicles ARE going to work, and if yours (or neighbors) isn’t one of them, if the choice is between burning to death or dealing with radiation, guess what, I’ll deal with the radiation as at that point it’s negotiable and burning to death isn’t. The options are up to you and how well you have prepared. Now, tell me what specifically is and is not doable based on your take?
Our honest answer is, We’re gonna die.
In a full exchange, or even a partial, the loss of life will be beyond horrific. That said, with a bit of planning and prep, more than many may think can and will survive.