You have 15 minutes to...

[jimLE]

ut oh.im on a list..lol

 

[SheepDog]

I am probably on every list out there.
I used to write e-mails and replies with as many of the "key watch words" that I could fit.
Words like constitution, president, congress, bomb, and phrases like bill of rights, military equipment, and act of war.
I am sure they had to lay people off when I stopped doing that.

 

[The Lazy L]

Just remember to smile when the flash goes off.

 

[Supervisor42]

Stupid question..........But how would people get the alert. Seriously how......???

I believe this is the most important question in the thread.
Every level of government, country, state, local, does not want to cause a panic.
They are not going to break into the news and issue an alert that will cause thousands of deaths by people panicking.
It's actually as illegal as screaming "fire" in a movie theater.

In answer to @VirginPrepper's question:
Numerous main channels in your satellite TV go 'off-air' at the same time.
You check OTA TV and stations are missing.
Same for local radio stations.
Internet access stops too.

Nobody is going to be on the air saying "A nuclear attack is underway and all people are advised to head to their local fallout shelters".

It won't be what you hear.
It will be what you don't hear.

 

[Amish Heart]

I think if we get an alert, it's too late.
Granddaughter noticing food stocking shortages with me at the store. Asked wouldn't we be told there would be a food shortage?
No. We wouldn't. We would have to notice. Then it would all be gone.
Our govt would of taken care of themselves first. Not to cause a panic or anything.

 

[Sentry18]

I believe this is the most important question in the thread.
Every level of government, country, state, local, does not want to cause a panic.
They are not going to break into the news and issue an alert that will cause thousands of deaths by people panicking.
It's actually as illegal as screaming "fire" in a movie theater.

In answer to @VirginPrepper's question:
Numerous main channels in your satellite TV go 'off-air' at the same time.
You check OTA TV and stations are missing.
Same for local radio stations.
Internet access stops too.

Nobody is going to be on the air saying "A nuclear attack is underway and all people are advised to head to their local fallout shelters".

It won't be what you hear.
It will be what you don't hear.

I disagree. They not only have the alert system in place, they have every intention on using it. So much so they have already put out false alarms by accident, like the missiles inbound alert that went out in Hawaii a year or two back.

 

[SheepDog]

All the government fallout shelters were shut down decades ago. You won't be told to go to shelters because the only shelters are for the politicians.
I think they should be treated like gophers; when they pop their heads of of their burrow you pop it with a good varmint rifle.

 

[Supervisor42]

I disagree. They not only have the alert system in place, they have every intention on using it. So much so they have already put out false alarms by accident, like the missiles inbound alert that went out in Hawaii a year or two back.

I remember that. I sure hope they still have one stateside that actually works.
Only things I've heard out of ours has been tornado alerts from the NWS.
....Then again, that could be a good thing.

 

[Weedygarden]

I disagree. They not only have the alert system in place, they have every intention on using it. So much so they have already put out false alarms by accident, like the missiles inbound alert that went out in Hawaii a year or two back.

Does anyone ever talk about this or do any staff training about emergencies in any level of government?

 

[Sentry18]

Does anyone ever talk about this or do any staff training about emergencies in any level of government?

Yep, all the time. The weather alert system and the civil alert system are integrated. Homeland Security controls most of these emergency notifications on larger levels and local emergency managers handle them on the local level. President Trump tested one of the systems some time ago when he sent an alert message to every cell phone in America.

 

[Sourdough]

I understand that there are a lot of (not for general public knowledge) state and local government shelters that are for "only" their government use. Is that accurate......??? There was talk about extensive an shelter constructed under the new Denver Airport.

 

[Sentry18]

I can't speak for every state, but most do indeed have special shelters. As does the Federal gov't, the White House, and the military. Where they all are is both common information, common misinformation, and closely guarded secrets.

We have such an underground shelter in a sub-basement that is well stocked and highly secured, but it is only large enough for a few dozen people. It was built before my time under the guise of being a security retreat area for high level dignitaries and politicians. It is not as cool as it sounds.

 

[Tacitus]

I would immediately get a cup of coffee. Then leave a message for each of our kids. By that time the coffee would be cool enough to drink.

An amazingly careless response...depending on the type of coffee.

 

[Tacitus]

...I would also check the Fusion Center to see if I could gain access to more intel as to what the threat is.

What is the "Fusion Center"?

 

[Tacitus]

You are sitting at home when a Civil Danger Warning (CDW) alert is sounded though the National Terrorism Advisory System. You don't know what the threat is, but the alert indicates that it is going to be catastrophic and nationwide. You have 15 minutes to do something, to call someone, to seek shelter, to evacuate, to... whatever. What would you spend that 15 minutes doing?

I wouldn't do anything irreversible, or that I wouldn't be able to explain if it was no big deal. After all, I only have 15 minutes to wait until I really know what is going on.

But, I think I would go to the grocery store with cash, and load up on water and fluid based foods (canned goods).

Then I would start gathering the family. Although, my kids know how to get home. I can rely on them to act in an appropriate manner.

 

[Tacitus]

Text the wife and get her home. Text the kids (all adults with their own families). Head for the basement - fire up the TV and the shortwave to get more info. ...

Might want to consider putting one or two of those electronics inside a Faraday cage. I'd put the shortwave in a cage, and use the phone and TV to develop information on the crisis.

 

[ssonb]

That is the center of the blast area where everything is "fused" together

 

[Sentry18]

What is the "Fusion Center"?

Every state has a Fusion Center where intel is shared between Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies. They were created after 9/11.

https://www.dhs.gov/fusion-centers

 

[Tacitus]

Every state has a Fusion Center where intel is shared between Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies. They were created after 9/11.

https://www.dhs.gov/fusion-centers

Well, I'll be...thanks...I'm checking out the local ones now. Not sure if they let ordinary civilians like myself access their information. We shall see.

 

[Sentry18]

Well, I'll be...thanks...I'm checking out the local ones now. Not sure if they let ordinary civilians like myself access their information. We shall see.

My fusion center sends me a weekly email, a daily email, pushes out text message alerts, or makes emergency calls depending on how urgent the info is. This information is all LEO only and you have to go through a 3 step verification process to get on the contact list. But they do also push out some information and warnings to the general public.

 

[hiwall]

I live roughly 200 miles from any kind of target. If it is nuclear, the normal wind drift patterns will keep us safe. If it is biological we are still 200 miles from any urban center and quite capable of closing the gate and riding anything out for many months. If it is mass civil unrest I cannot see how it would find us. If it is an alien invasion I will check and see if they are bullet-proof.
Until I got additional info I would go nowhere and just relax with my coffee.

 

[Tacitus]

I live roughly 200 miles from any kind of target. If it is nuclear, the normal wind drift patterns will keep us safe. If it is biological we are still 200 miles from any urban center and quite capable of closing the gate and riding anything out for many months. If it is mass civil unrest I cannot see how it would find us. If it is an alien invasion I will check and see if they are bullet-proof.
Until I got additional info I would go nowhere and just relax with my coffee.

If it is nuclear, and it is a single nuclear ground detonation...the fact that we will likely be far from it is good news for us. For people like us, who are far from an individual target, I think the the bigger nuclear risk is a high altitude EMP that doesn't target a specific city. 200 miles away is not far enough away to escape the effects, depending on how high it is.

If it is an alien invasion...well, this is actually just one of those fun things to think about, but the military has people who are tasked with creating contingency plans for all kinds of crazy scenarios, so if a crazy scenario happens, they aren't starting from scratch, and I assume they have thought about many such scenarios.

I have a theory that the war will be fought with small arms. If aliens are capable of traveling galactic distances and are still capable of waging war after arriving, then the aliens will likely EMP the entire world as a first step to conquest. Thus, any war for the Earth will be a guerilla/militia action to deny territory from being comfortably possessed by the alien enemy.

Once it is clear that a pitched battle is impossible to win, I would think that the US military would disperse into very small units (platoon size) and work quickly to decentralize control of all military arms...arming the populace better than they are now armed. The aliens might be unstoppable...or they might be like Hernando Cortes, traveling a great distance with unlikely resupply, in which case we may have a chance.

 

[Supervisor42]

... If aliens are capable of traveling glactic distances and are still capable of waging war after arriving, then the aliens will likly EMP the entire world as a first step to conquest. Thus, any war for the Earth will be a guerilla/militia action to deny territory from being comfortably possessed by the alien enemy. I would think that the US military would disperse into very small units (platoon size and smaller) and work quickly to decentralized control of all military arms...arming the populace better than they are now armed. The aliens might be unstoppable...or they might be like Cortes, traveling a great distance with unlikely resupply, in which we may have a chance.

Wow, I haven't thought about that!
I'm certain bringing hundreds of thousands of soldiers across light-years of space would be a big logistics struggle.
Likely if there was an alien invasion to take over, it would probably just be a handful and they would show up........on the election ballot.

 

[The Lazy L]

Wow, I haven't thought about that!
I'm certain bringing hundreds of thousands of soldiers across light-years of space would be a big logistics struggle.
Likely if there was an alien invasion to take over, it would probably just be a handful and they would show up........on the election ballot.

ASSUMING they don't have warp drive. Possible they could travel light years in a short period of time that would allow quick resupply. Think about it. Would you put your neck on the line if you weren't sure you could successfully invade an alien world?

 

[Supervisor42]

ASSUMING they don't have warp drive. Possible they could travel light years in a short period of time that would allow quick resupply. Think about it. Would you put your neck on the line if you weren't sure you could successfully invade an alien world?

Well, the ones that have visited before just wanted to change our DNA, leave us some written advice, and make some pyramid-things that they could park their ships on.
You have to think about it logically. Conquer us for what? Food? We're not that tasty. Conquer us and turn us into slaves to support them? We'd just be adding a few more politicians. They would be more interested in some mineral that is plentiful here on earth but scarce elsewhere.
To them we are nothing but a bunch of cows wandering around in a giant petre-dish.

 

[Tacitus]

ASSUMING they don't have warp drive. Possible they could travel light years in a short period of time that would allow quick resupply. Think about it. Would you put your neck on the line if you weren't sure you could successfully invade an alien world?

True. If they have faster than light travel, and if it is significantly faster than light, and they can therefore be easily resupplied, then they are much more technologically superior, and we would lose any war that pits our technology against theirs. We would have to negotiate a formal surrender, or fight an asymmetric war...or more likely both...and probably still lose.

Of course, it is still possible that they arrive like Cortes arrived in Mexico, in which case we would have a chance. I am reminded of a book called "Footfall" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. The aliens arrive on a sleeper/generation ship that travels at high speeds but less than the speed of light. It takes them 80 years to reach Earth, and because of the politics of their homeworld, they cannot go back. Thus, they are motivated to fight, and they have superior weapons, but they are not the "gods" that a faster-than-light alien civilization would be in comparison to us. (If they were that, then the book would be much shorter.)

It occurs to me that aliens have not come yet during recorded history. If they came now, there would have to be a reason that they had not come yet. Perhaps we are at a distance which challenges them.

[Note: The book Footfall was written before the fall of the Soviet Union, so a lot of it is somewhat dated. The USSR plays a role in the story. But, if you can put aside the anachronisms in the book, it is still a good read, I think.]

 

[Tacitus]

Well, the ones that have visited before just wanted to change our DNA, leave us some written advice, and make some pyramid-things that they could park their ships on.
You have to think about it logically. Conquer us for what? Food? We're not that tasty. They would be more interested in some mineral that is plentiful here on earth but scarce elsewhere.
To them we are nothing but a bunch of cows wandering around in a giant petre-dish.

Indeed, if they are so far advanced, that we are to them like ants are to us, then their interest in us would likely only be academic. And, to survive, we would just have to make sure we don't become a pest that must be exterminated. Hopefully they don't need to build a highway or a house on top of our solar system.

I doubt we have any minerals that they cannot find in their own solar system. But, if they need living space or "lebensraum", we could be in trouble.

 

[Caribou]

ASSUMING they don't have warp drive. Possible they could travel light years in a short period of time that would allow quick resupply. Think about it. Would you put your neck on the line if you weren't sure you could successfully invade an alien world?

You seem to make the assumption that they put the same value on life that you have. Different societies on earth value life differently. Bees have a hive mentality.

 

[ssonb]

A hive mentality sounds and reads good but will not function in a high order industrial civilization. To make the leaps in technology to become a interstellar traveler race requires an innovative class that thinks separate and out of the box and that does not mix well with the control and drones.

 

[Terri9630]

A hive mentality sounds and reads good but will not function in a high order industrial civilization. To make the leaps in technology to become a interstellar traveler race requires an innovative class that thinks separate and out of the box and that does not mix well with the control and drones.

Tell that to the Borg.