Thread: Are you prepared?

The key to a successful nuclear attack -kinda the whole point, some would say- is the element of surprise.
The falling sattelite was being tracked for days or weeks beforehand, but you'd have very little warning of a launch, so the engineers would not even have had the chance to get a decent cup of coffee.

Actually it would surprise me if an engineer is needed in the process. something flying at mach 10 or greater would be severely limited by human intervention.

Furthermore, I think -I am obviously not an expert- that an ICBM would have the capability to deviate from its course in order to evade an interceptor. I have no knowledge, but it could be. I also don't know if mach 10 is the real upper limit. if someone develops an ICBM that can do mach 12, it's a whole new ballgame.

To be honest, I realize that guessing at specs of military equipment is a bit silly. It is a known fact that submarines in international battle excercises carry noisemakers to hide their real sound levels, and they are also kept at a margin above their real max depth.
So I could be wrong about the technology involved in ICBM warfare. After all, my knowledge is based on Tom Clancy novels and wikipedia.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

The trajectory was known because the engineers figured it out, just like they would do with an enemy missile. It wouldn't have been any easier to track any other object that was spotted.

Unless of course the object was being tracked over a period of days or weeks. That would not be as difficult. Think before you post, Lee

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Unless of course the object was being tracked over a period of days or weeks. That would not be as difficult. Think before you post, Lee

I suppose your president could ask Kim Jong Il to call a week in advance

Originally Posted by jockeys

eh, they were still doing this when I was a kid in the 80s, in the Kentucky school system. (who would bomb kentucky???)

when I moved to Texas, they did the EXACT same drill, they just called it a tornado drill

Back to the original topic:

we have always had tornado drills. Go into the hallway of the school, sit in lines along the interior walls, put your head between your knees, cover your neck with you hands, say a quick prayer ( I went to parochial school) and kiss your ass goodbye. See I still remember and didn't even have to watch the vid

Originally Posted by Wildtim

Back to the original topic:

we have always had tornado drills. Go into the hallway of the school, sit in lines along the interior walls, put your head between your knees, cover your neck with you hands, say a quick prayer ( I went to parochial school) and kiss your ass goodbye. See I still remember and didn't even have to watch the vid

Over here we have no tornados, but don't the schools have a dedicated shelter?

I've stood at ground zero, Nagasaki Japan.


I did not see any desks remaining there...

Originally Posted by Bruno

Over here we have no tornados, but don't the schools have a dedicated shelter?

The hallway was our dedicated shelter. It was usually only once every year or two that we'd have to do that for a real tornado. But the "disaster" drills were two or three a year

Originally Posted by Kees

Are the Russians still considered a threat?

The Russians are less of a threat, but their nuclear arsenal will never go away. There's been a lot of speculation about the direction their new leader is going, and that has caused some hesitation in the US. But even more of a threat is the consideration that a rogue group could get access to one of their ICBMs. Osama wouldn't hesitate to shoot one off if he could get one.


Consider how you guys would feel if the US went under, and our Nukes were no longer as secure... It's going to be a bad day when anyone with enough $$$ can set off that kind of fire works show.

Most of that is all to make people feel they can do something to save themselves if the bomb ever fell. Plus most people back then were of the WWll generation so it seemed right back then anyway.Also it was a more naive time and people actually trusted the government back then. We look at that stuff now and we laugh.

Originally Posted by Seraphim

I've stood at ground zero, Nagasaki Japan.


I did not see any desks remaining there...

That was pretty much my point.