I just got this from (of all sources) a CPA. The wonders of the net, where clicking the forward button makes you an authority. That being said, it looks to me like some really good advice in these times. It's not a fun read, but it is a useful one.
The "Real" Deal about Nuclear, Bio, and Chem Attacks by SFC Red Thomas
(Ret)
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 1990's 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 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 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; 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 airborne 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 pollution is
worst at these times of the day. So, a chemical attack will have its best
effect an hour of 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 going to 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 Karo 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 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 effect 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 they're 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 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 in 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 electromagnetic 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 newspaper 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 them (rinse them 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.
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 eat well at home 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 (as the media and politicians are [kmp]) 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
Unlimited reproduction and distribution is authorized. Just give me credit
for my work, and, keep in context.
