Remember "Duck & Cover"?

[REWahoo]

Looks like it's coming back into vogue: U.S. rethinks strategy for unthinkable attack

 

[Gumby]

Where's the fun in preparedness? Blind, unreasoning panic is so much more enjoyable.

 

[W2R]

Oh goodness. Yes, I do remember.

I remember asking my teacher what earthly good it would do for us to cower under our desks in the classroom, if we had been hit by an A-bomb. (All that question did was get me in trouble, BTW.) If an elementary school child can see that incongruity, one wonders about the mental capabilities of the jokers who thought up "duck and cover".

From the article,

Suppose the unthinkable happened, and terrorists struck New York or another big city with an atom bomb. What should people there do? The government has a surprising new message: Do not flee. Get inside any stable building and don’t come out till officials say it’s safe.

I am sure the same folks would say I should run out and get more plastic and duct tape in case of chemical/biological attacks...

 

[powerplay]

Oh goodness. Yes, I do remember.

I remember asking my teacher what earthly good it would do for us to cower under our desks in the classroom, if we had been hit by an A-bomb. (All that question did was get me in trouble, BTW.) If an elementary school child can see that incongruity, one wonders about the mental capabilities of the jokers who thought up "duck and cover".

From the article,

I am sure the same folks would say I should run out and get more plastic and duct tape in case of chemical/biological attacks...

Wasn't the new term for this 'shelter in place'?

 

[stevenst]

And just in case anyone hasn't see the brilliant national training campaign from the '50's, here's what to do when attacked by atomic weapons.

YouTube - Duck and Cover

Yes, this is what our government actually told us!

 

[M Paquette]

I remember asking my teacher what earthly good it would do for us to cower under our desks in the classroom, if we had been hit by an A-bomb. (All that question did was get me in trouble, BTW.) If an elementary school child can see that incongruity, one wonders about the mental capabilities of the jokers who thought up "duck and cover".

It makes the cleanup easier. All the bodies are under desks, or against the wall on one side of the sidewalk, so the emergency and cleanup crews can move through more easily. That's the explanation Master Chief gave us, anyway.

 

[ls99]

Where's the fun in preparedness? Blind, unreasoning panic is so much more enjoyable.

Especially watching it on TV, when living far away from potential targets, and any possible fallout.

In my case three mountain ranges to Washimore-NY corridor.

 

[Walt34]

In my case three mountain ranges to Washimore-NY corridor.

Part of WV's disaster planning is how to deal with the hordes of refugees fleeing the DC area.

The more insensitive residents make remarks about Browning, Remington, Marlin, Smith & Wesson....

 

[HFWR]

Those were tornado drills in the midwest, a much more useful exercise.

But, as the saying goes, when you see the blinding flash of a nuclear detonation, bend over, place your head firmly between your legs, then kiss your ass goodbye.

 

[veremchuka]

jeesh if only the japanese had newpaper and a table clothe they'd have been safe! our govt really is run by morons and we are lucky to have avoided anything so far.... ever hear of emp, well it's all over... period.

 

[BTravlin]

My parents moved us into a new home when I was 8 yrs old and I loved it because it came with a fully stocked bomb shelter. It was located in the walkout basement off the garage. It had extra thick concrete walls reinforced with extra rebar. Also had a thick prefab concrete slab ceiling. Bunkbeds for four, several gallons of fresh water and a supply of can goods. Wasn't really sealed off from the outside though so while it might help you survive the initial blast you would soon be toast from the fallout. No generator for power either. Made a great fort though!

 

[mickeyd]

I recall D&C as a kid in school. I recall thinking that it was strange that we practiced it at school, but not at home. I assumed that the bomb was planned to hit during school hours and we were pretty safe at other times. Of course some "rich people" had bomb shelters in their back yards. They perhaps knew something the we other folks did not know about. (Hey I was a little kid, OK?)

I attended a Catholic school as a youngster and recall that we used to always pray for the "conversion of Russia." Seems like we should have been praying for the conversion of the USSR, but, like I said, I was only a kid and never questioned these things that adults seemed to have full knowledge of. Also it was never clear what we were praying for them to convert to. I assumed it was to Catholicism, which would, no doubt, bring them commies down!

 

[TromboneAl]

Many laugh that ducking and covering would be useless in the case of an atomic bomb explosion, but I figure that the explosion could be far enough away that D&C could save your life or eyesight.

If you're at ground zero, no help. If you are 1,000 miles away, no help. But somewhere in between...

 

[braumeister]

I like this alternative:
YouTube - dr. strangelove - survival plan

 

[tmm99]

If you haven't watched The Atomic Cafe (movie), I highly recommend it.
The Atomic Cafe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Brat]

Maybe this hitting the press right now could have been in response to the saber rattling of North Korea. My husband was surprised when I told him that PRNC was testing long range rockets in the last couple years together with the implication that they could reach the US mainland. Now that would cause the freeways to jam! Husband seemed to think we could shoot it down.. oh great faith has he. He also observed, should that happen, PNNC would soon be gravel.

The other nuke risk would be if terrorists got a hold of one. That event would come with no warning, all people could do is shelter from fallout.

 

[Dancer373]

I remember duck and cover as a child in California. It was for the bomb or earthquakes. My children growing up in northern Florida had duck and cover for tornadoes. D & C is a multipurpose reaction to disasters

 

[Sue J]

I remember practicing this in elementary school, must have been first grade. I thought it was great because I got to duck and cover next to a boy I liked.

 

[clifp]

Oh goodness. Yes, I do remember.

I remember asking my teacher what earthly good it would do for us to cower under our desks in the classroom, if we had been hit by an A-bomb. (All that question did was get me in trouble, BTW.) If an elementary school child can see that incongruity, one wonders about the mental capabilities of the jokers who thought up "duck and cover".

Trouble maker. Which remind me of a story. My smart but weird college roommate Joe, friends decided to play a prank on their high school.

Inspired by Duck and Cover, and with complete control of their high school's copying machines, PA system, and student government, Joe friends organized a Flood Drill. The passed out flyers to all classrooms, and then on the PA system announced the flood drill at the appointed time.

According to the drill instruction, students were to stand on top of their chairs in case of flood until the all clear signal was given. Joe's teacher dutifully followed instructions. Joe, being a trouble maker like W2R, pointed that 1. The nearest river was the LA river which is generally dry most of the year and it is 5 miles away. 2. There were on the second floor of the building, and 3. standing on top of chair during a flood was really stupid thing to do. (I can't even imagine New Orleans officials being that stuck on stupid). So Joe sit in his chair while his classmate stood on top of theirs.

 

[clifp]

If you haven't watched The Atomic Cafe (movie), I highly recommend it.
The Atomic Cafe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A fine movie. Also for those of you visiting Vegas and tired of the casinos or shopping. I recommend the Atomic Museum, it has lots of unintentionally funny posters and PSA from the duck and cover days. Also lots of way cool pictures of atomic bombs blowing up. As boy I can say I never get tired of seeing stuff blow up especially when nobody gets hurts,. Atom bombs are 'the bomb' for blowing stuff up. You know the guys on Mythbuster would love to do an episode on nuclear weapons.

 

[Brat]

While I do remember the duck & cover drills my feelings about the atomic bomb testing may be different than yours. My father worked for the Corp of Army Engineers and their employees and members of the military, including my father, would go the NV to watch. In high school I remember an experiment with radio active materials.

They really had no clue of the risks.

 

[samclem]

Many laugh that ducking and covering would be useless in the case of an atomic bomb explosion, but I figure that the explosion could be far enough away that D&C could save your life or eyesight.

If you're at ground zero, no help. If you are 1,000 miles away, no help. But somewhere in between...

Yep, I never quite understood all the laughter about the futility of the drills. Do people think that every school is going to be at ground zero? A fireball and really intense heat cover a fairly small area, and the overpressure waves decrease as a square of the distance. There's a very large area where the structures will still be standing but the windows are blown out. There are a lot of windows in some schools.

Sure radiation/fallout is a hazard, but not nearly the killer many people assume.

Besides, what else have you got to do if the alarm goes off? Seems a few minutes under the desk provides as good an opportunity to reflect as any other course of action.

 

[braumeister]

Do people think that every school is going to be at ground zero?

You're right, it was pretty reasonable, and another aspect, often forgotten, is that in those days the threat wasn't from ICBMs but rather from manned bombers, and accuracy wasn't exactly pinpoint.

As I remember it from my misspent youth in NYC, they would start the explanation with something like "Let's assume the bomb falls over in New Jersey ..."

That made everyone feel better, because nobody would care or even notice if New Jersey were turned into a slag heap.

 

[eridanus]

Richard Feynman was the first person to see a nuclear bomb blast. All of the military brass ducked and covered and he watched it behind a pick-up windshield.

 

[veremchuka]

[QUOTE

As I remember it from my misspent youth in NYC, they would start the explanation with something like "Let's assume the bomb falls over in New Jersey ..."

That made everyone feel better, because nobody would care or even notice if New Jersey were turned into a slag heap. [/QUOTE]

LOL, too funny!