Nuclear War
The world hopes that the Russian invasion of Ukraine does not escalate into a nuclear war. This will not happen if Putin and/or our President is sane. Of course we do not know about Putin's current mental condition.
NCP - Nuclear Catastrophe Planner
I was working as the Planning Director of Will County, Illinois (Joliet, Naperville, Tinley Park, Park Forest) in 1976 when a man came in to see me. He gave me a plain business card, which showed his name and indicated that he was an NCP.
"What is an NCP", I asked? "Nuclear Catastrophe Planner", he replied.
I have another live one, I thought. He proceeded to show me a large old colorfully printed document that showed the areas that would be destroyed by a nuclear attack. All of the six County Chicago metro area would be destroyed except a small corner in the southwest corner of Will County - my County!, unfortunately not the part I lived in.
"Interesting and depressing", I said. "What do you want me to do about it?"
"Prepare an evacuation plan." he said.
"You want to evacuate the entire Chicago metro area before an attack?" I asked. "Won't you have only 15 minutes or so to evacuate 8 million people? Where would they go?" The roads would be impassable."
"They will go to rural areas outside of the metro area," he said. "You will direct your people to the Bloomington Normal area."
"What is an NCP", I asked? "Nuclear Catastrophe Planner", he replied.
I have another live one, I thought. He proceeded to show me a large old colorfully printed document that showed the areas that would be destroyed by a nuclear attack. All of the six County Chicago metro area would be destroyed except a small corner in the southwest corner of Will County - my County!, unfortunately not the part I lived in.
"Interesting and depressing", I said. "What do you want me to do about it?"
"Prepare an evacuation plan." he said.
"You want to evacuate the entire Chicago metro area before an attack?" I asked. "Won't you have only 15 minutes or so to evacuate 8 million people? Where would they go?" The roads would be impassable."
"They will go to rural areas outside of the metro area," he said. "You will direct your people to the Bloomington Normal area."
"Where will they stay?" I said. "In gymnasiums and schools." he said.
And then what he said made some sense. He told me that the Soviet Union had plans and actually practiced evacuation of their large cities. If we got into a toe to toe confrontation with the USSR, Russia, or PRC, as we did over the Cuban missile crisis, things could once again get very tense.
"If we see they are evacuating their cities it would be best to start evacuating our cities.
Otherwise we would be pressured to strike first." he said. Both the USSR and USA might take several days to evacuate their cities.
Our NCP seemed to be a free lance individual rather than a representative of a government agency. I asked if any of the other planning agencies were preparing such plans or if there was a Federal agency coordinating or funding this effort. There was no funding or sponsoring Federal agency.
We never did prepare evacuation plans. So far, so good, although I was unhappy to find out that Russia practices evacuations. Maybe as a nation we should have developed those evacuation plans.
__________________
Click to see a fun video on nuclear fallout from 1955. Anytime you get depressed about how things are doing now politically, think back to fun times of the cold war.
And it is a wonderful thing that the USA, USSR and then Russia, and the PRC avoided blowing up the world. Let us hope that Russia will continue to march and quit rattling rockets, and that Putin is not off his rocker.
Bend over, put your head between your legs, and kiss your ass goodbye.
And then what he said made some sense. He told me that the Soviet Union had plans and actually practiced evacuation of their large cities. If we got into a toe to toe confrontation with the USSR, Russia, or PRC, as we did over the Cuban missile crisis, things could once again get very tense.
"If we see they are evacuating their cities it would be best to start evacuating our cities.
Otherwise we would be pressured to strike first." he said. Both the USSR and USA might take several days to evacuate their cities.
Our NCP seemed to be a free lance individual rather than a representative of a government agency. I asked if any of the other planning agencies were preparing such plans or if there was a Federal agency coordinating or funding this effort. There was no funding or sponsoring Federal agency.
We never did prepare evacuation plans. So far, so good, although I was unhappy to find out that Russia practices evacuations. Maybe as a nation we should have developed those evacuation plans.
__________________
Click to see a fun video on nuclear fallout from 1955. Anytime you get depressed about how things are doing now politically, think back to fun times of the cold war.
And it is a wonderful thing that the USA, USSR and then Russia, and the PRC avoided blowing up the world. Let us hope that Russia will continue to march and quit rattling rockets, and that Putin is not off his rocker.
You probably recall the old joke
What to do in the event of nuclear attack?
Bend over, put your head between your legs, and kiss your ass goodbye.We did this in grade school. Depending on the type of building, we would duck under our desks, or in a larger building we would leave the classroom and go to the central corridor where we would sit down with our heads bowed.
And now in 2022-24 Putin has invaded another county and is killing numerous civilians and destroying cities. He is a war criminal. I think our government and NATO are navigating this well and doing their best to not make this a full scale shooting war between Russia and NATO.
Nuclear war takes all the joy out of warfare.
