subject: not that I encourage running around like a frightened rabbit.. posted: Sun, 8 Dec 2002 06:01:53 -0000
...but here's some stuff FYI (I can't vouch for authenticity or accuracy, however)
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"Real" Deal about Nuclear, Bio, and Chem Attacks
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 there 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. Instead, 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 air borne 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 inversion is why allergies (pollen) and
air pollution are worst at these times of the day. So, a chemical attack will have it's 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 gonna 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 Kayro
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 there 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 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 Electro Magnetic 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 news paper or your clothing will stop beta particles,
you just have to 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 em (rinse em 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 home you eat well 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 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.
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