Hypothetical scenario: Nuclear war begins today... what do you do?

There is a cavern in my home town that I would likely go to if I heard the sirens go off. The main entrance would likely be locked but since the whole area is glenrose limestone, it's honey combed with caves and I could go to some that are less known. I would take my gear and get as deep in the cave as I could. Water wouldn't be an issue because it filters through the limestone so I would just need rations. I have tools that I could use to dig myself out incase of a collapse. I'm actually pretty experienced with caves so I have faith that I could stay in one for a while as long as I have a small scout tent and a wind up flashlight.

What's your plan if you heard today that you might have an hour before a nuclear strike?

 

It sounds just like Farnhnam's Freehold.....just make sure you have sufficient genetic diversity in your thermo-nuclear war survival group. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farnham's_Freehold You may be in that cave for some time.

 

If it were landing in my immediate AO, I'd quickly organize a party...

 

Old USSR joke, if there is a nuclear war, strip naked, wrap yourself in a sheet, and walk slowly to the cemetery. Why walk slowly? We don't want to start a panic.

In reality, try to contact my kids, grand kids, great grand kids, say good by, pray a lot, hunker down in the shelter and try to muddle through. Once it starts, it is going to depend on what you have done to prep and the outcome will be a combination of fore thought and Gods will, chance, luck or what ever your belief set chooses to call it. It isn't going to be fun, we will have the final exam on survival and then we will learn what we should have done, prepared for, had for supplies etc. I hope I find out things the easy way, ie not enough toilet paper or hot sauce for my beans and rice, and not the hard way, the "authorities" confiscated all my food and preps and I and the rest of the town died in the local school shelter of starvation and radiation 2 weeks after the event.

 

Being the hardcore atheist that I am....I'd commence a rampage of random acts of kindness....and baby eating...oh yes...baby eating!

 

I would pull out my stash

 

I'm no expert, but one would think that...

If it's a limited exchange, you may have a chance if the winds don't blow your way. Otherwise all the animal life and plants that you would feed on won't be there or it'll be contaminated. In that instance, when the freeze-dried food runs out....

If the winds don't blow your way, then you won't need the cave. You may be able to hunt and eat some wildlife or even cattle if it didn't stray into your area from a contaminated one. But then, how would you know?

A real roll of the dice, even if you survive the initial blasts and can hide out till the radiation from the fallout dissipates, it may be a long slow path to starvation if you're not killed by someone else over that last Snickers bar you've got squirreled away in your pocket.

As Chelloveck says, you may be in that cave for some time.

 

If you are genuinely concerned there are some outlines on fall out shelters and supplies for the event on line..
A nuclear bomb is stupid , because it makes the land useless for decades to come so not even the enemy can have use of it.
How long has Chernobyl been empty , Fukushima and several others that have have atomic disaster the blast will damage our nuclear plants as well, beyond the blast it's self contaminating the land .
If your not prepared for life underground for years and no equipment to clear the toxic waste from the surface of the ground after word there is no future.
In a post apocalyptic event it will take a lot to get back in the game.
1.organized group serious professional individuals.
2. under ground bunkers
3.water and complete recovery system.
4. canned food and canning routine.
5. aquaponics hydroponics and green house and their personnel
6. fuel and equipment ( the spectrum of equipment is to broad to list every thing, but any thing from manufacturing to farming on a large scale and heavy earth moving equipment. this might well include a section of land that is prepared and covered with a seal to keep radio active fall out from penetrating it . After an event the land is scraped off removing the seal and gardening can begin again, ASAP.
7. Hospital and personnel and equipment. and electronics experts that are capable of building/rebuilding the equipment
8. offensive/defensive teams and extensive equipment both rudimentary and state of the art. land based and airborne.
9, scientists and engineers
10. professionals ,construction and maintenance professionals .
11. extensive plans and organized teams practicing and disproving ideas to improve living conditions.
12. extensive zoo and animal husbandry with professionals to support it.
the list goes on but you get the idea.

 

Well, I think @ghrit has it right because if they were to start throwing nukes around it's game over and I am not sure I would want to even live in the aftermath. Better to open a bottle of the good stuff (I have been saving), get a steak on and spend the last few moments with my wife. We have no other family here so don't have to worry about anyone else.

 

If more than one player is involved in a nuke exchange, it's over. There will be no restraint as those pushing the buttons will know they have been targeted, won't survive and won't have to deal with the aftermath. I wouldn't say the planet would be uninhabitable but pretty damned close. There is a very real probability that human life on this planet would go extinct. Pass that fifth @ghrit. Hell, at that point I'm going to smoke my first joint too!

 

Mr thinks this may be part of the reasons for "allowing" certain Nation States to become/maintain Status as Nuclear Powers in today's world! As far as an all out exchange would go, I think smart money would be on a Limited strike, then pull back and re asses before instituting the M.A.D. program!!! Ether way, we have a few Loose Canons in the world that we should concern ourselves with and leave the Russians the hell alone! China is getting pretty big in there britches and Iran is getting closer to having a working bomb, N. Korea needs to be wiped off the face of the earf, and the rest need to be held under threat!

 

It seems like all nation's have been in a kind of Mexican stand off with each other ever since nuclear weapons were invented. Hiroshima was a hell of a gut check for the rest of the world. I can only imagine what times were like before that.

 

I'm about the same distance from two or three targets! I figure Kit Peak and the Springs will be likely targets. Would be a hell of a light show. Got an 18 year old Bottle and a pound of really good Scandinavian Pipe Tobacco to enjoy in the company of my lovely Bride! Toss a few Elk Steaks on the BBQ and do up a couple of nice big spuds and kick back on the deck and enjoy a little Vivaldi Concerto in D minor and have one last taste of a good life!

 

would thank the great spirit for a good life and await his judgement

 

I guess I have the Noah instinct.

 

It will be my luck I will live thru the darn nuclear holocaust! (I think I need more alcohol in my preps!)