Bugout - would you?

Pilgrim

Pilgrim

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I wonder about really bugging out if SHTF, like a nuke coming in close by... maybe Boston and NY at the same time.. maybe other cities in a coordinated attack.

Ok lets say the blast won't hit me but the radiation will. Would I bug out? I'm not sure...probably not. Constantly running from something you can't see, and don't know where it's heading because there's no radios,TV, weathermen to let you know, and trying to eek out a life in the woods or on the road just really doesn't seem like something I'd like to do at my age. Life is more than just being alive.

I'd hope that my family would survive somehow but at 60 years old, I'm not sure that I'd bug out and try to survive in a post apocolyptic world.

I think, I'd just settle in with my wife and let things happen...until it got too much. Knowing when you're going to leave this world sometimes can bring a sense of serentity and togetherness.

Anyone else feel this way?
 
If it's only one bomb, the radiation will eventually dissipate over a few weeks. I would get out of the area and come back when it's safe again.
 
Either I'm dead already or I'm not. In the first case, I'll just fall down and begin to decompose. In the later, I can still do something worthwhile. I can do a pretty good job outrunning some kinds of radiation; alpha and beta are pretty short range, so all I've got to do is beat the fallout. Even if I've managed to pick up way more than my LD50, I can still head north with afew hundred rounds and cover my son's 6 while he and his family dig in or move further away from the urban refugees. (Some dead men can inflict a lot of damage and are often damn hard to put down.)

Ken
 
Depends on the scenario.

Escaping radiation isn't rocket science, but some folks have a hard time grasping it. What is your downwind threat risk from a radiation producing incident in Boston? If you're outside the immediate radiation zone, just about ZERO. Look at the standard weather pattern. Now, an incident in Albany, NY, if I was in Mass, I'd move either North or South, and probably North at that.
 
Nickle said:
Depends on the scenario.

Escaping radiation isn't rocket science, but some folks have a hard time grasping it. What is your downwind threat risk from a radiation producing incident in Boston? If you're outside the immediate radiation zone, just about ZERO. Look at the standard weather pattern. Now, an incident in Albany, NY, if I was in Mass, I'd move either North or South, and probably North at that.
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The problem as I see it is that without comm, you wouldn't know what areas had been hit, or which way the upper winds are blowing , so therefore you wouldn't know from where (or if) the radiation was coming.
 
You operate on prevailing winds. You already know the patterns for your area.

In my case, the remote chance that fallout from lets say Boston would reach my area (due to the prevailing winds) is worth the risk of not doing anything, other than watching the government and getting ready to offer assistance as needed.

Also, this is the same way for Derek. Boston's problems would effect him either immediately (Blast, EMP) or not at all.
 
Most folks don't really understand radiation and fallout.

I admit no real expertise, but ~50 hours of nuclear propulsion training when I worked as a nuclear project engineer on submarines and crawling over nuke reactors (both subs and commercial) , we were taught some things of use here.

At/near Ground Zero in a nuclear attack, I'd be better off standing under the bomb as it drops! No chance of survival!

Twenty miles out, fallout can be a problem or not depending on where the GZ is located and wind currents. Chaos will be rampant, so nobody is going to tell you anything unless you have a Ham Radio setup (maybe).

Boston, NYC, DC, etc. are targets but the 'burbs won't be!

Being outside is more dangerous to radiation exposure than staying inside with doors/windows closed.

"Coming back when it's over" is pure Hollyweird (or DC, same thing, same <lack of> mentality). The half-life of bomb materials is measured in hundreds - tens of thousands of years! I don't expect to be able to come back then!

In these cases, the safest thing to do is "bug out in place", assuming you live at least 20-30 miles from the major target areas.
 
You can return fairly soon, IF it's an airburst. That takes an ICBM, and therefore won't happen these days. A far more likely scenario is a "Dirty Bomb", as mentioned. Len's comments on the length of contamination are true.

Bear in mind that I'm no expert in this field, but am relying on my military experience as an NCo, and having served during the Cold War. The units I was in tend to take this subject seriously, so, I've had some training, but mostly am self-taught.
 
LenS said:
"Coming back when it's over" is pure Hollyweird (or DC, same thing, same <lack of> mentality). The half-life of bomb materials is measured in hundreds - tens of thousands of years! I don't expect to be able to come back then!
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Only at the point of impact. There is hardly a measurable about at the two sites in Japan where the big bombs were dropped, and that is at ground zero.

Radiation in the first hour after an explosion is about 90 percent, with it going down to about 1 percent of the original level after two days. Radiation only drops to trace levels after 300 hours.
 
Being a 36 y/o single guy I am going to look for a hottie so I can go out with a smile :D
I just dont see anyway of running from it if it happens. It will be too quick and the long lasting effects if you live will probably make you wish you were dead. There are some people that I know of who had fallout shelters built back in the day, would you really want to live like that ? Underground with hope that you might be able to go "up there" at some point and see whats left. What kind of a life is that ? Not the kind for me.
There are just way to many senarios to what might or could happen if this were to take place.
 
I don't much worry about TEOTWAWKI scenarios. If the modern pharmaceutical industry goes tits up, I won't last long, anyway.

Thus, my survival planning is mostly focused short-term, surviving a Katrina-level catastrophe, an earthquake, a major ice-storm, a major terrorist incident, stuff like that.

Old joke:

Where's the safest place to be during a nuclear attack?

Answer:

Anyplace where you'll have to turn your head quickly and say, "What the Hell was that?" [lol]

I already live someplace that fits THAT criterion, so I'm planning on staying put.

Regards
John
 
edin508 said:
Being a 36 y/o single guy I am going to look for a hottie so I can go out with a smile :D
I just dont see anyway of running from it if it happens. It will be too quick and the long lasting effects if you live will probably make you wish you were dead. There are some people that I know of who had fallout shelters built back in the day, would you really want to live like that ? Underground with hope that you might be able to go "up there" at some point and see whats left. What kind of a life is that ? Not the kind for me.
There are just way to many senarios to what might or could happen if this were to take place.
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Ed,

We are talking about one terrorist device.
 
derek said:
edin508 said:
Being a 36 y/o single guy I am going to look for a hottie so I can go out with a smile :D
I just dont see anyway of running from it if it happens. It will be too quick and the long lasting effects if you live will probably make you wish you were dead. There are some people that I know of who had fallout shelters built back in the day, would you really want to live like that ? Underground with hope that you might be able to go "up there" at some point and see whats left. What kind of a life is that ? Not the kind for me.
There are just way to many senarios to what might or could happen if this were to take place.
Click to expand...

Ed,

We are talking about one terrorist device.
Click to expand...

These days one terrorist device could be anything.
Being less than 20 miles from Boston at home and usually working closer to Boson during the day seems to make my chances a bit worse if anything were to happen in a large scale. Keep in mind that some of the terrorists are MIT graduates, not just mindless pawns. I just wont put anything by them at this point. Granted they haven't used anything of this magnitude yet but the good old USA would be the first place they would love to try. I guess I don't want to underestimate their capabilities anymore.
 
My greatest fear

during any of these scenarios will be any interface with the government or what's left of it
 
One of my yet-to-be-fulfilled new years resolutions is to get some things together around the house, just in case. Watching New Orleans slip into anarchy after Katrina was pretty damn scary. I think we could experience similar chaos, or worse, if Al Qada could pull off simultaneous hits on two or three east-coast cities. Nukes, sarin, an engineered virus, whatever. If a million people are killed within a day's drive of us there will be serious problems as society breaks down. I believe my best bet would probably be to hunker down and ride things out. That means some common-sense stockpiling of food and water, as well as being alert and prepared for possible trouble.

I have a question. Does anybody know how or where to get potassium iodine tablets to take in the event of a nuclear exchange to ward off thyroid cancer?
 
There are several places that I know of mail order for potasium iodide tablets one being Major Surplus and Surviavl. You can get their catalog or here's a link to their website... www.majorsurplusandsurvival.com another I know of is Emergency Essentials, also can get catolog or here's their website www.BePrepared.com
The latter can be pricier. It will give you a start.

[ed to fix URL - ken]
 
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