40 years since the Stanislav Petrov incident - where were you on Sept. 25/26, 1983? Would you have survived if the nukes were launched?
- Thread starter ILPD45
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If the Caucasus is hit eh... My parents are goners...but Anatolia would be completely obliterated.
My parents didn't know each other at the time. My mom would probably survive the first strike since she lived out of possible blast areas. My dad was doing his stint in the Army and was deployed on the border with Turkey so probably not an immediate goner since there were four allocated targets for my country, Greece and his unit was far away from all of them but the aftermath would certainly be brutal. Suffice it to say I am butterflied away in this timeline.
Rural Deep South Island of New Zealand so would be fine?
No one has been able to demonstrate hard proof NZ gets any nukes in such a situation but even if it did, the nearest urban settlement was about 20km away and the nearest military base about 250km away. So I'd be fine in the short term even if they flew.
I was absolutely terrified of nuclear war all the same as a child as we consumed much of the media from USUK on that topic.
No one has been able to demonstrate hard proof NZ gets any nukes in such a situation but even if it did, the nearest urban settlement was about 20km away and the nearest military base about 250km away. So I'd be fine in the short term even if they flew.
I was absolutely terrified of nuclear war all the same as a child as we consumed much of the media from USUK on that topic.
Maidstone in Kent, south east England as a young boy. Unlikely to be a target however Chatham dockyard was nearby, albeit scheduled for closure but likely still to have taken one. The North Downs may have shielded some of the blast effects and we actually had a purpose built world war II air raid shelter (a lot of the houses along my road had them as they were all built in the late 30's. Nonetheless I suspect radiation poisoning or starvation as the likely outcomes. A lot of fall out coming up on the prevailing south westerlies from Hampshire and Wiltshire (Portsmouth, Southampton etc). If the wind comes from the north then we get the worst from London.
Ok, I am was 8 years old, living in my village in Northern Spain and I think the chances are quite good in short and medium term in case of a counterforce attack, not so sure about a counter value attack. I elaborate. Spain is the newest NATO member, not even minimally integratred but there are the old american bases, all more than 500 km away, I think they are the priority targets. The only barracks in the region are more than 30 km away with an infantry regiment each and with 2 or 3 mountain ridges between them and my village. Not very high in the target list I think. No other military infraestructure in the region.
In a countervalue I am not so optimistic, the biggest steel mills, aluminium plant and zinc smelters are less than 15 km away. From an industrial point of view a primary target.
The wildcard, the regional airport is less than 3 km away, it is small only one small and short runway (only 2 engined planes and turboprops) no air force equipment, I think threre are other civilian airports higher in the list but had the soviets enough warheads for going after all.
For the aftermath, the region is self suficient in water and coal and electric power, local food too, no petrol the only shortcoming, and the mountains give a good fallout coverage from the most probable targets all in the center and south of Spain except the naval bases in Galicia.
In a countervalue I am not so optimistic, the biggest steel mills, aluminium plant and zinc smelters are less than 15 km away. From an industrial point of view a primary target.
The wildcard, the regional airport is less than 3 km away, it is small only one small and short runway (only 2 engined planes and turboprops) no air force equipment, I think threre are other civilian airports higher in the list but had the soviets enough warheads for going after all.
For the aftermath, the region is self suficient in water and coal and electric power, local food too, no petrol the only shortcoming, and the mountains give a good fallout coverage from the most probable targets all in the center and south of Spain except the naval bases in Galicia.
I was 23. I would either have been in York, in which case not going to make it, or on Thistle Alpha an oil platform north east of the Shetlands (mudlogger at the time), might survive the initial bombings but wouldn't give much for my long term survival.
Watched this when it first aired. At that time Dad was in the Navy Reserves, he was an intelligence officer who came home from reserve duty, he walked in the front door to hear that a nuclear device had gone off in Charleston. We heard him say "Oh shit!" Saw him rush to the phone and start dialing, he saw the disclaimer and was really pissed.
Lived in Central Pa at the time (still do) not sure if we were a first strike target, we had a couple of defense contractors. I doubt I would be alive for long, to the south 3 Mile Island, DC, and Baltimore, Fort Indiantown Gap to the south, in between Pittsburgh and Philly, and to the north NYC.
I was 27, and living in Southend-on-sea. downstream on the Thames from London.
Surrounded by targets.
London (multiple targets, military, government, industrial, ...), Chelmsford (barracks), Shoebury (Army research and nuclear research), Chatham dockyards, Southend airport, Thames docks).
Dead as the dodo.
Surrounded by targets.
London (multiple targets, military, government, industrial, ...), Chelmsford (barracks), Shoebury (Army research and nuclear research), Chatham dockyards, Southend airport, Thames docks).
Dead as the dodo.
I'd never even heard of this movie, just finished watching it and omg... even today it's a shocker. At the end, when the reporter kept asking "Is the radiation coming now? Are we going to die?", all I could think of was "it's allready there... you're dead...". Still shivering from the last 15mn...
I've replied to these kinds of surveys before; at least one was in a "Protect and Survive" spinoff focused on Florida, which tempted me to try an ATL for myself where I chose to go to UF in Gainesville. But in fact I chose no such thing and in September 1983 I was actually in Pasadena CA, as a freshman just a few weeks into my first trimester. (We had trimesters where I went to school, not 'quarters' because there was no summer session, but of similar duration to a "standard" quarter vs semester). Being very very new to the campus (less so than most Frosh, since I spent the prior summer living on campus, but still not very tied to the social structure as of yet) I don't expect any privilege that might be extended to the more important folks of the campus community (quite a lot of them, it was a very prestigious campus) would apply to me save by chance--nor would there have been a lot to do for even the most favored campus bigwigs save evacuating them days before the balloon went up, which is not something I noticed happening OTL. Here presumably there is no extraordinary early warning and things go as OTL until the Soviet missiles start launching. So even the most favored folks on our little campus would be caught at ground zero--it is possible there was some kind of shelter infrastructure I was unaware of, we would not be likely to be a direct hit target nor get a strike dead on by accident, but in all my years there (enough for me to have graduated, though I didn't) I never heard even rumors of such a thing, and we'd be likely to I think.
So bottom line, just another one of most of 10 million southern Californians, among the majority of them concentrated in greater Los Angeles with a dozen or so focused strike targets some of them multiply targeted, surrounded by 500 square miles or so of very flammable urban/suburban zones; any short term immediate survivors of blast, flash, fire and immediate irradiation would be breathing in heavy fallout and full of desperation to get the hell out on very limited and decimated transport arteries.
Oh, someone or other would survive, some by exceeding toughness, others by sheer luck, most of them doomed to die pretty soon from radiation, mostly inhaled fallout as the flash-irradiated would not last a day. A few would hunker down in place and last it out, if they were some kind of prepper, though a lot of them would be targeted by mobs who would dig them out much as a starfish eats a clam--then they'd die in turn.
I am neither tough, nor a prepper, nor connected to be guarded by squads of Marines or gangs or city police/LA county Sheriff deputies (these latter would just be well armed gangs at this point, somewhat decimated to the degree they dared or were foolish enough to attempt to carry out their duties instead of run for it) so I figure I'd be dead within hours if not seconds.
I'm not a big fan of mid-80s WWIII threads by and large you see. I bet my life it would not happen and thank God it didn't. I would not be around to spectate, let alone participate, in any ATL redistribution of the ruins.
Moving the war later into the '80s and even the '90s hardly helps me either, I stayed in Pasadena until the early '90s. Where I went after that might have been more survivable, maybe.
I don't like my odds anywhere I'd want to live though. WWIII with (or without) nukes is something to avoid, not a toy IMHO. Not just for me of course but if asked to make it personal--I don't see any upside to it any way shape or form for anyone.
Nor are we out of these woods yet, and probably never will be.
So bottom line, just another one of most of 10 million southern Californians, among the majority of them concentrated in greater Los Angeles with a dozen or so focused strike targets some of them multiply targeted, surrounded by 500 square miles or so of very flammable urban/suburban zones; any short term immediate survivors of blast, flash, fire and immediate irradiation would be breathing in heavy fallout and full of desperation to get the hell out on very limited and decimated transport arteries.
Oh, someone or other would survive, some by exceeding toughness, others by sheer luck, most of them doomed to die pretty soon from radiation, mostly inhaled fallout as the flash-irradiated would not last a day. A few would hunker down in place and last it out, if they were some kind of prepper, though a lot of them would be targeted by mobs who would dig them out much as a starfish eats a clam--then they'd die in turn.
I am neither tough, nor a prepper, nor connected to be guarded by squads of Marines or gangs or city police/LA county Sheriff deputies (these latter would just be well armed gangs at this point, somewhat decimated to the degree they dared or were foolish enough to attempt to carry out their duties instead of run for it) so I figure I'd be dead within hours if not seconds.
I'm not a big fan of mid-80s WWIII threads by and large you see. I bet my life it would not happen and thank God it didn't. I would not be around to spectate, let alone participate, in any ATL redistribution of the ruins.
Moving the war later into the '80s and even the '90s hardly helps me either, I stayed in Pasadena until the early '90s. Where I went after that might have been more survivable, maybe.
I don't like my odds anywhere I'd want to live though. WWIII with (or without) nukes is something to avoid, not a toy IMHO. Not just for me of course but if asked to make it personal--I don't see any upside to it any way shape or form for anyone.
Nor are we out of these woods yet, and probably never will be.
I wonder how many suicides there would be afterwards in the countries struck by nuclear weapons.
Many. Despair, starvation, desease (from radiation and other reasons)... all those would cause many suicides.
when Dad was still on active duty (Norfolk I think) said to us kids, if we hear that nukes are coming in, kiss your mom goodbye and go outside and watch the sun rise.
People talking about the nuclear apocalypse assume there would be a lot of suicide. But there isn't much empirical evidence that disasters cause increased suicide, if anything probably leans the other way toward *lowering* rates. Perhaps by 'validating' feeling miserable? The thing is suicide and depression are very loosely connected to 'objective' quality of life (or even each other for that matter).
In the medium term depression rates may go down. Depression seems to be more common in urban, developed, and less traditional populations. They may be less depressed, but also less happy, self-reported happiness tends to be higher in developed countries. Suicide is hopelessly culture linked so hard to say (for instance in the US whites have something like 2-3X the rate of suicide compared to major depression of other races, keeping in mind also cultures where suicide is less depression-connected and more shame).
In the medium term depression rates may go down. Depression seems to be more common in urban, developed, and less traditional populations. They may be less depressed, but also less happy, self-reported happiness tends to be higher in developed countries. Suicide is hopelessly culture linked so hard to say (for instance in the US whites have something like 2-3X the rate of suicide compared to major depression of other races, keeping in mind also cultures where suicide is less depression-connected and more shame).
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