I’ve been listening to a lot of doom and gloom on YouTube lately, mostly about WW3 and nuclear survival. And while I try not to be bleak on this blog, today isn’t that day. Of course, this isn’t to say that nuclear war survival isn’t possible–it certainly can be–but I fear many of us, preppers included, have an unrealistic expectation of a positive outcome.
Truth be told, I’ve given little to no effort over the years preparing for any sort of nuclear exchange as I’ve always felt that such a world wouldn’t be worth trying to survive. But then here I am preparing to survive economic collapse and all manner of other SHTF scenarios, so maybe I’m more hopeful than even I will admit.
In any case, I wanted to share a few thoughts today as to why I believe we need to readjust our nuclear survival expectations. In so doing, maybe we can adjust our preparedness strategies to survive.
More Than Just One Bomb
It’s inevitable that whenever I hear people discuss the nuclear threat, the assumption is there will only be one event…one threat and then it’s over. They usually start by saying, “In the event of a nuclear attack over your city…” as if our enemies only have one bomb in their arsenal. China has hundreds they admit to; Russia has many thousands. Who knows what the real numbers are.
Aside from a lone terrorist attack, like a dirty bomb scenario, if our enemies ever choose to strike with nukes, it won’t a single bomb over a single city. It would surely be many bombs over many cities. (In fact, they even have nukes with multiple warheads.) So, if your assumption is that because you don’t live in the heart of the city, for example, then you’ve got a chance. Odds are that any major city and its surrounding suburbs will not go unscathed. Just look at this US Nuclear Targets Map. It covers almost all of the United States. Sure, there are some areas that a less likely to be targeted, but they are few and far between.
More Than Just One Event
Another assumption I believe most people wrongly make is that it will only be a one-time event. That is, the nukes hit and then we attempt a long recovery. I beg to differ. Although it’s a fair assumption to make that one VERY major strike will occur, there’s no telling how many more times our enemies may choose to strike at us. Even if Russia used a thousand nukes on the US mainland, they still have many thousands left! Gee… what might they choose to do with those? If it were me, I would continue to hit America until it were obliterated, and that means striking over and over again until there’s nothing left besides radiated soil a hundred feet deep.
Even if you survived the initial strike, who’s to say that additional reconnaissance via satellites, for instance, won’t pinpoint areas that survived the initial wave and then strike those areas even harder? Or, maybe they just hit all the major cities again and again just in case. It could be days, weeks, or months later when they strike! You’ll have hope that you survived only to be struck when you least expected it.
Bombs Unlike WW2
My guess is that most folks assume a nuclear war might be like what Hiroshima and Nagasaki experienced, just more of it. Or, maybe they think it’s like the movies: a wall or two gets knocked over, you dust yourself off, and set off after the bad guys. In either case, such scenarios are far from what’s possible these days. Sure, many people survived the strikes on Japan, but the nuclear weapons used in WW2 pale in comparison to what we have–and no doubt what we’ve yet to admit to having–these days. The yield of today’s nuclear arsenal is ridiculous.
Interestingly, much of today’s nuclear arsenal is weaker than those stockpiled in the 1960s, but still 20-30 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. They can be “weaker” because they’re more precise, but don’t let that fool you; they’re still much more powerful than anything humans have ever unleashed on one another in an act of war. And if you multiply the use of such weapons by hundreds or thousands, who cares if they’re “weaker” than their predecessors.
You’ll Have No Warning
Experts suggest you’ll have “up to 30 minutes” of warning before a strike so that you can take shelter. That’s complete B.S. The American government may have that much time, but you won’t. By the time the government determines the threat is real, and as they rush off to their own secure bunkers (that you and I paid for), odds are good that you may get little to no warning whatsoever.
And even if the powers that be were kind enough to send out a hasty text to everyone as they, themselves scurry underground, you may not even take it seriously. Apparently, when Hawaii accidentally sent an emergency alert text, many people ignored it. Would you?
What’s worse is that with the use of nuclear bombers and submarines, our nation’s reaction time will decrease significantly…and that means yours, too.
What if You’re Not Home?
I think most of us expect that if/when such an extreme situation were to occur that we would be at home. And, with all of our wonderful preps, we would have a chance to hunker down and wait things out.
But that’s just not realistic either. We work, go shopping, take vacations, and live our lives. Unless you never go anywhere, you could very well be away from everything you need to survive. But this situation is less about having preps to see you through, and more about avoiding the deadly threats posed by a nuclear attack, especially fallout…assuming that you don’t die from the initial blast or the effects of the initial blast (like third degree burns or a lethal dose of radiation).
Most experts suggest you need several feet worth of material between you and the outside world. Where are you going to find that? A vehicle certainly won’t do. Most commercial buildings may suffice, but then you might not have any supplies to survive. Experts also suggest that you need to hunker down for weeks to reduce the effects of radioactive fallout. And it’s not like you’d have much time to, for instance, run to your vehicle from your place of employment, grab your bag, and run back in. You’d just have to shelter in place wherever you are and hope/pray for the best.
May be Preceded (or Succeeded) by an EMP
Let’s make matters worse, shall we? Although nuclear detonations produce EMPs, why not make sure the grid and all communications are as devastated as possible by purposefully striking with an high-altitude electromagnetic pulse, HEMP? Such a device could wipe out the grid, thereby assuring warnings can’t be sent out, at least to the general public, like you and me. Now, this might seem silly because, if they’re going to just nuke the place to kingdom come, then why bother with an HEMP beforehand? Wouldn’t that just alert us to what’s to come? Yes, probably. But it could also cause us to become confused and disoriented just long enough to launch the real strike.
Honestly, I’m just making this HEMP scenario up. I really haven’t a clue whether an HEMP preceding an all-out strike would be useful or not, but it sounds plausible. 🙂
But what about using an HEMP after an all-out strike? After all, you’ve devastated the nation, why not do a little bit of cleanup and ensure any power generation equipment, large or small, has been obliterated? Maybe this way Russia or China can save a few hundred nukes for someone else. Isn’t that nice of them. 😉
It Really Does Get Worse
Assuming you survive whatever is thrown at you while at home and that you have plenty supplies stockpiled, too, the nation would be a wasteland, literally! Just think about how much radiation would be strewn about by hundreds or thousands of strikes. It would affect nearly everything on the ground, like crops and animals, the water would surely be contaminated, and the very air you breathe would probably be unsafe for months. Some say we could encounter a nuclear winter, block out the sun, and make recovery all but impossible for years to come. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have enough supplies to wait that scenario out.
Final Thoughts
Look, I’m by no means an expert on nuclear survival. Perhaps some of my assumptions are even wrong. I don’t know. What I can say is that nuclear war survival won’t be easy, even as a prepper. So, to those who continue to push for the use of nukes, or those who say that surviving them “won’t be so bad,” please stop. It would be a nightmare unlike any humanity has encountered before. WW2 was just the warmup.
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