EMP Prep, What would you do if you had 45 minutes to prepare?

[3930dave]

I am surprised that nobody commented on that statement, especially as old as most of y'all are, lol!
Alas Babylon was one of the doomsday books written about the time Sputnik hit the sky. Actually pretty good, mostly about how people survived "after" the bomb.
David from jax

Didn't read that one. Up here, I remember reading On the Beach in HS English class.

On the Beach (novel) - Wikipedia

I had a conversation recently with a guy venting about his teenage sons being taught in HS here that MJ is not a gateway drug (IMO, just our govt preparing to harvest taxes next year).

Every generation thinks they have it tough, but growing up with the real prospect of nuclear war is hardly humanity's finest moment.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

The first thing I would do is go to the fridge in the utility room and drink up all my cold beer!

Who knows how long it will be before I can get another.

RSKY

Truth there.

We were hit with the big NE blackout in August, something like 10 years back. (Big station fire in one of the NE states, which cascaded up across the border for reasons I don't recall now.....).

Our power came back relatively quickly. That day, I heard on the radio about an area about 20 minutes north of me that had power restored, so I loaded up my emptied gas cans and headed there.

ATM - hardly anybody there, so was able to get more cash quickly. Later, swung by a grocery store for one or 2 items - shelves were less full than normal, but hardly anybody was there.

Gas station - busy, but was able to get my cans refilled after not a terribly long wait.

Driving back home, I passed what looked like a monumental lineup for a rock concert. BY FAR THE LARGEST GROUP OF PEOPLE I SAW WERE LINED UP OUTSIDE THE BEER STORE. (HERE, you mostly can't buy beer in grocery stores....)

Queue Bob and Doug Mackenzie voice over - There's Beers getting WARM, we have to save them ! :shocked:


That taught me that in the short-term, beer matters far more than cash, gas, food, water to many folks.

Rgds, D.

 

[Garandman]

I don't think any of us can comprehend this. Preparation might extend your comfort a bit. But within a couple days your neighbor that doesn't have what you have will attack you and take yours. The next day the people from town/city will show up and finish you off. So your best defense is a good offense. You will be the attacker or the attacked. It's up to you.

If you look at actual events, people generally move to cities, which in Boston case have resources like international airports, seaports, hospitals, food warehouses, highways and train tracks (and cars). And lots of banks and ATM’s because Cash is King.

Every army unit has an NBC [Nuclear, Biological, Chemical] Officer and Senior NCO whose job it is to plot any attacks and determine the affected zones. This would vary based on the type and size of the initial attack, altitude, prevailing winds, temp, etc. At the time (1983-85) we were deployed on the Iron Curtain so this was considered a rather likely circumstance.

We discussed EMP but it was way down the list of concerns. Other than shutting off/unplugging your electrical and electronic devices (and flipping your generator switch so you are off grid) not sure anything would help.

In the Northeast, radioactive fallout from attacks farther west will be carried to us by the prevailing winds, contaminating everything (food and water) and that is going to kill you if you are outside a blast zone.

Reality:

• The most likely life threatening emergency in New England is a Northeast snow storm or ice storm, bringing heavy snow, high winds, and below freezing temps for days, and making movement difficult.
• Lightning strikes on your electronics are far more likely and far more damaging. Solar events could be a problem and are naturally occurring.
• Most New Englanders have enough food, fuel and water to survive even the worst storms.
• What most New Englanders do not have is adequate medical supplies and training.

 

[Garandman]

I heard stories about Katrina and cops stealing generators and booze, holding up in hotels basically looking after themselves, keeping others away from their little oasis. I think this is quite telling of human nature.

Generator thefts are reported after every major days-long power outage, but always heresay: “somebody in the next town over came home from work and their Generator was gone.”

The Briggs and Stratton Q6500 we just got has no place to lock it to anything.

 

[/pine]

I don't think that the chest beaters who think they will be able to shoot their way out of disruption fully comprehend the meaning of the term "zero tolerance"...

 

[ovrszd]

I don't think that the chest beaters who think they will be able to shoot their way out of disruption fully comprehend the meaning of the term "zero tolerance"...

I totally understand "zero tolerance" as a rule. What I question is the ability to initiate it.

You can correct my wild numerical estimates here. We have approximately 2 million people in the military. We have approximately 320 million people in this nation. First thing that will happen is 50% of the military personnel will go AWOL. That will happen because your "nephew" (choose your own relative here) that's in the local military unit will not be a part of knocking your door down and disarming you. That gets us to 1 million in uniform. 200,000 of those are on foreign soil and can't get here to join the "fight". So now we are down to 800,000 in uniform to enforce ML. 500,000 of those will be utilized to guard all military and governmental sites. Now we are down to 300,000 in uniform to patrol the public. Those will be spread much too thin to effectively control the masses. That is unless they use WMDs. So a tough governmental choice has to be made. Let the majority of the 320 million population kill themselves off? Initiate the use of WMDs and quickly kill off the majority of that population?

Wild speculation on all our parts. My scenarios are assuming there is no infrastructure left to provide life sustaining support to the masses.......

 

[/pine]

Your numbers are not wild...they are entirely absurd as is your theory of military desertion...
As far as zero tolerance...it will be initiated from the onset...
like I said...some folks watch too much TV...!

 

[ovrszd]

Your numbers are not wild...they are entirely absurd as is your theory of military desertion...
As far as zero tolerance...it will be initiated from the onset...
like I said...some folks watch too much TV...!

So correct my numbers as you see fit.

I have a very realistic understanding of the military. And I understand zero tolerance. As I mentioned, your "Nephew" isn't going to disarm you or apply "zero tolerance" to you.

I don't watch National News programs or Reality TV shows. Actually I don't follow any network TV.

 

[/pine]

Granted it is small scale compared to some of the scenarios imagined in this thread...but all you have to do is look at recent history...military enlistments generally increase during/following disasters etc...
I don't recall hearing about throngs of the national guard deserting their posts during Katrina when they were instructed to confiscate firearms etc...

 

[ovrszd]

Granted it is small scale compared to some of the scenarios imagined in this thread...but all you have to do is look at recent history...military enlistments generally increase during/following disasters etc...
I don't recall hearing about throngs of the national guard deserting their posts during Katrina when they were instructed to confiscate firearms etc...

Yes enlistments rise after disasters, but not to kill Americans.

Comparing Katrina to this scenario is where you go "entirely absurd". Katrina was a Spring Shower.