A Soldier's Viewpoint on Surviving Nuclear,
Chemical and Biological Attacks
From: SFC Red
Thomas (Ret)
Armor Master Gunner
Mesa, AZ
Unlimited
reproduction and distribution is authorized. Just give me credit for
my work, and, keep in context.
Since the media
has decided to scare everyone with predictions of chemical,
biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf I decided to write a paper
and keep things in their proper perspective. I am a retired military
weapons, munitions, and training expert.
Lesson number
one: In the mid 1990s there were a series of nerve gas attacks on
crowded Japanese subway stations. Given perfect conditions for an
attack less than 10% of the people there were injured (the injured
were better in a few hours) and only one percent of the injured died.
60 Minutes once
had a fellow telling us that one drop of nerve gas could kill a
thousand people, well he didn't tell you the thousand dead people per
drop was theoretical.
Drill Sergeants
exaggerate how terrible this stuff was to keep the recruits awake in
class (I know this because I was a Drill Sergeant too). Forget
everything you've ever seen on TV, in the movies, or read in a novel
about this stuff, it was all a lie (read this sentence again out
loud!). These weapons are about terror, if you remain calm, you will
probably not die. This is far less scary than the media and their
"Experts," make it sound.
Chemical Weapons
Chemical weapons
are categorized as nerve, blood, blister, and Incapacitating agents.
Contrary to the hype of reporters and politicians they are not weapons
of mass destruction they are "area denial," and terror
weapons that don't destroy anything. When you leave the area you
almost always leave the risk. That's the difference; you can leave the
area and the risk but soldiers may have to stay put and sit through it
and that's why they need all that spiffy gear.
These are not
gasses, they are vapors and/or air borne particles. The agent must be
delivered in sufficient quantity to kill/injure, and that defines
when/how it's used. Every day we have a morning and evening inversion
where "stuff," suspended in the air gets pushed down. This
inversion is why allergies (pollen) and air pollution are worst at
these times of the day.
So, a chemical
attack will have it's best effect an hour or so either side of
sunrise/sunset. Also, being vapors and airborne particles they are
heavier than air so they will seek low places like ditches, basements
and underground garages. This stuff won't work when it's freezing, it
doesn't last when it's hot, and wind spreads it too thin too fast.
They've got to get this stuff on you, or, get you to inhale it for it
to work. They also have to get the concentration of chemicals high
enough to kill or wound you. Too little and it's nothing, too much and
it's wasted.
What I hope
you've gathered by this point is that a chemical weapons attack that
kills a lot of people is incredibly hard to do with military grade
agents and equipment so you can imagine how hard it will be for
terrorists. The more you know about this stuff the more you realize
how hard it is to use.
We'll start by
talking about nerve agents. You have these in your house, plain old
bug killer (like Raid) is nerve agent. All nerve agents work the same
way; they are cholinesterase inhibitors that mess up the signals your
nervous system uses to make your body function. It can harm you if you
get it on your skin but it works best if they can get you to inhale
it. If you don't die in the first minute and you can leave the area
you're probably gonna live. The military's antidote for all nerve
agents is atropine and pralidoxime chloride. Neither one of these does
anything to cure the nerve agent, they send your body into overdrive
to keep you alive for five minutes,
after that the agent is used up. Your best protection is fresh air and
staying calm.
Listed below are
the symptoms for nerve agent poisoning:
Sudden headache,
Dimness of vision (someone you're looking at will have pinpointed
pupils), runny nose, excessive saliva or drooling, difficulty
breathing, tightness in chest, nausea, stomach cramps, twitching of
exposed skin where a liquid just got on you.
If you are in
public and you start experiencing these symptoms, first ask yourself,
did anything out of the ordinary just happen, a loud pop, did someone
spray something on the crowd? Are other people getting sick too? Is
there an odor of new mown hay, green corn, something fruity, or
camphor where it shouldn't be? If the answer is yes, then calmly (if
you panic you breathe faster and inhale more air/poison) leave the
area and head up wind, or, outside.
Fresh air is the
best "right now antidote." If you have a blob of liquid that
looks like molasses or Kayro syrup on you; blot it or scrape it off
and away from yourself with anything disposable. This stuff works
based on your body weight, what a crop duster uses to kill bugs won't
hurt you unless you stand there and breathe it in real deep, then lick
the residue off the ground for a while. Remember they have to do all
the work, they have to get the concentration up and keep it up for
several minutes while all you have to do is quit getting it on
you/quit breathing it by putting space between you and the attack.
Blood agents are
cyanide or arsine which affect your blood's ability to provide oxygen
to your tissue. The scenario for attack would be the same as nerve
agent. Look for a pop or someone splashing/spraying something and
folks around there getting woozy/falling down. The telltale smells are
bitter almonds or garlic where it shouldn't be. The symptoms are blue
lips, blue under the fingernails rapid breathing.
The military's
antidote is amyl nitride and just like nerve agent antidote it just
keeps your body working for five minutes till the toxins are used up.
Fresh air is the your best individual chance.
Blister agents
(distilled mustard) are so nasty that nobody wants to even handle it
let alone use it. It's almost impossible to handle safely and may have
delayed effect of up to 12 hours. The attack scenario is also limited
to the things you'd see from other chemicals. If you do get large,
painful blisters for no apparent reason, don't pop them, if you must,
don't let the liquid from the blister get on any other area, the stuff
just keeps on spreading. It's just as likely to harm the user as the
target. Soap, water, sunshine, and fresh air are this stuff's enemy.
Bottom line on
chemical weapons (it's the same if they use industrial chemical
spills); they are intended to make you panic, to terrorize you, to
herd you like sheep to the wolves. If there is an attack, leave the
area and go upwind, or to the sides of the wind stream. They have to
get the stuff to you, and on you. You're more likely to be hurt by a
drunk driver on any given day than be hurt by one of these attacks.
Your odds get better if you leave the area. Soap, water, time, and
fresh air really deal this stuff a knock-out-punch. Don't let fear of
an isolated attack rule your life. The odds are really on your side.
Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear bombs.
These are the only weapons of mass destruction on earth. The effects
of a nuclear bomb are heat, blast, EMP, and radiation. If you see a
bright flash of light like the sun, where the sun isn't, fall to the
ground! The heat will be over a second. Then there will be two blast
waves, one out going, and one on it's way back. Don't stand up to see
what happened after the first wave; anything that's going to happen
will have happened in two full minutes.
These will be low
yield devices and will not level whole cities. If you live through the
heat, blast, and initial burst of radiation, you'll probably live for
a very, very long time. Radiation will not create fifty foot tall
women, or giant ants and grass hoppers the size of tanks. These will
be at the most 1 kiloton bombs; that's the equivalent of 1,000 tons of
TNT.
Here's the real
deal, flying debris and radiation will kill a lot of exposed (not
all!) people within a half mile of the blast. Under perfect conditions
this is about a half mile circle of death and destruction, but, when
it's done it's done. EMP stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse and it will
fry every electronic device for a good distance, it's impossible to
say what and how far but probably not over a couple of miles from
ground zero is a good guess. Cars, cell phones, computers, ATMs, you
name it, all will be out of order.
There are lots of
kinds of radiation, you only need to worry about three, the others you
have lived with for years. You need to worry about "Ionizing
radiation," these are little sub atomic particles that go
whizzing along at the speed of light. They hit individual cells in
your body, kill the nucleus and keep on going. That's how you get
radiation poisoning, you have so many dead cells in your body that the
decaying cells poison you.
It's the same as
people getting radiation treatments for cancer, only a bigger area
gets radiated. The good news is you don't have to just sit there and
take it, and there's lots you can do rather than panic. First; your
skin will stop alpha particles, a page of a news paper or your
clothing will stop beta particles, you just gotta try and avoid
inhaling dust that's contaminated with atoms that are emitting these
things and you'll be generally safe from them.
Gamma rays are
particles that travel like rays (quantum physics makes my brain hurt)
and they create the same damage as alpha and beta particles only they
keep going and kill lots of cells as they go all the way through your
body. It takes a lot to stop these things, lots of dense material, on
the other hand it takes a lot of this to kill you.
Your defense is
as always to not panic. Basic hygiene and normal preparation are your
friends. All canned or frozen food is safe to eat. The radiation
poisoning will not effect plants so fruits and vegetables are OK if
there's no dust on em (rinse em off if there is). If you don't have
running water and you need to collect rain water or use water from
wherever, just let it sit for thirty minutes and skim off the water
gently from the top. The dust with the bad stuff in it will settle and
the remaining water can be used for the toilet which will still work
if you have a bucket of water to pour in the
tank.
Biological Weapons
Finally there's
biological warfare. There's not much to cover here. Basic personal
hygiene and sanitation will take you further than a million doctors.
Wash your hands often, don't share drinks, food, sloppy kisses, etc.,
.... with strangers. Keep your garbage can with a tight lid on it,
don't have standing water (like old buckets, ditches, or kiddie pools)
laying around to allow mosquitoes breeding room. This stuff is carried
by vectors, that is bugs, rodents, and contaminated material. If
biological warfare is so easy as the TV makes it sound, why has Saddam
Hussein spent twenty years, millions, and millions of dollars trying
to get it right? If you're clean of person and home you eat well and
are active you're gonna live.
Overall
preparation for any terrorist attack is the same as you'd take for a
big storm. If you want a gas mask, fine, go get one. I know this stuff
and I'm not getting one and I told my Mom not to bother with one
either (how's that for confidence). We have a week's worth of cash,
several days worth of canned goods and plenty of soap and water. We
don't leave stuff out to attract bugs or rodents so we don't have
them.
These people
can't conceive a nation this big with this much resources. These
weapons are made to cause panic, terror, and to demoralize. If we
don't run around like sheep they won't use this stuff after they find
out it's no fun. The government is going nuts over this stuff because
they have to protect every inch of America. You've only gotta protect
yourself, and by doing that, you help the country.
Finally, there
are millions of caveats to everything I wrote here and you can think
up specific scenarios where my advice isn't the best. This letter is
supposed to help the greatest number of people under the greatest
number of situations. If you don't like my work, don't nit pick, just
sit down and explain chemical, nuclear, and biological warfare in a
document around three pages long yourself. This is how we the people
of the United States can rob these people of their most desired goal,
your terror.
SFC Red Thomas
(Ret)
Armor Master Gunner
Mesa, AZ
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