What If? Nuclear Armageddon what do you do?

[Free-Stater 101]

This has crossed my mind more than once over the past few years, and I will ask you the same question.

"If Nuclear Armageddon starts on your average day, what will you personally do?"

Will you attempt to survive and find cover with the twenty-minute forewarning you got before the bombs drop? Will you call relatives? Or even just sit-down sip coffee and accept the inevitable?

Keep in mind this isn't a strictly political scenario as who started it and why is a mystery although today's geopolitics are in place for this scenario, so you are free to think up the usual suspects, but regardless it's happening

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

What kind of armageddon is this? Are nukes going to cover the entire face of the earth? In that case, it depends on where I'm at. If I'm near a park or the outdoors, then I guess I'll go take a stroll and think to myself. And pray.

If nukes aren't going to cover the face of the earth, then I presume only a few places are going to get hit, like nuclear silos, submarine docks, and the pentagon. There is a navy arms military base near me but I doubt it would be a high priority (unless the Russians or Chinese have intel that some super weapon is being kept there). So presumably I'd be fine. Real problem is if the food supply chain or the waterlines are cut. I was a boy scout and have hiked outdoors and it is extremely difficult to survive in the wilderness for a long period of time, so I would only attempt it as an absolute last resort. Might be better to stay put in the city, eat canned food and try to recycle water somehow. There are lakes and water reservoirs nearby so we shouldn't run out for a few months, or possibly a year or two. Waterlines might be fixed by then.

 

[Bacle]

Depends on how many nukes are flying, where they are going, and if we are talking a full nuclear exchange with second strikes involved, or if this is a limited exchange targeting only specific military locations.

Because some of those scenarios might be survivable for me, but many aren't, and I want to know whether I need to prepare for the afterlife in the next few minutes, prepare for a 'Red Dawn' type-conventional war after a limited exhange, or prepare to deal with a Fallout-type post mass nuclear exchange world.

I guess in most scenarios I load a bowl, crack open the reserve wine/liquior, and put on some Jimmy Buffett while I wait for the world to end.

 

[ATP]

This has crossed my mind more than once over the past few years, and I will ask you the same question.

"If Nuclear Armageddon starts on your average day, what will you personally do?"

Will you attempt to survive and find cover with the twenty-minute forewarning you got before the bombs drop? Will you call relatives? Or even just sit-down sip coffee and accept the inevitable?

Keep in mind this isn't a strictly political scenario as who started it and why is a mystery although today's geopolitics are in place for this scenario, so you are free to think up the usual suspects, but regardless it's happening

Since i live in capitol of Poland - i would die.22 minutes - i woud talk to family,and ask God for purgatory instead of hell.

 

[Agent23]

I live in a 2bit country that stays away from any overly-direct commitments, any nukes lobbed at us will probably be low yield and targeting NATO assets, those are far away from me.

I do not live in the capitol city, but I call my closest relatives and order them to meet me at a cottage in the boonies.

We have 20 minutes before the nukes are launched, or 20 minutes before they fall, because the former option gives me a bit more time.

I have stocked up with provisions, and I have a gas mask, I will probably need Iodine, though.

I guess it is the life of a subsistence-level farmer from here on out.

 

[Scottty]

It's the late 1980's, and rather than go quietly into the good night, the Soviet leadership have decided to take the whole world down with them!

They let fly with the missiles, and retire into their underground bunkers. After a few years they come back out, only to find that... civilization on the surface has already been rebuilt. All traces of the war have been cleared away, everything looks great.
Then they notice something... and they exclaim in horror and sudden understanding...
"The South Africans! We forgot to nuke South Africa!"

All of the street signs are now in Afrikaans.

 

[ATP]

It's the late 1980's, and rather than go quietly into the good night, the Soviet leadership have decided to take the whole world down with them!

They let fly with the missiles, and retire into their underground bunkers. After a few years they come back out, only to find that... civilization on the surface has already been rebuilt. All traces of the war have been cleared away, everything looks great.
Then they notice something... and they exclaim in horror and sudden understanding...
"The South Africans! We forgot to nuke South Africa!"

All of the street signs are now in Afrikaans.

In that case,it would be true,at least in Africa.

 

[Bacle]

It's the late 1980's, and rather than go quietly into the good night, the Soviet leadership have decided to take the whole world down with them!

They let fly with the missiles, and retire into their underground bunkers. After a few years they come back out, only to find that... civilization on the surface has already been rebuilt. All traces of the war have been cleared away, everything looks great.
Then they notice something... and they exclaim in horror and sudden understanding...
"The South Africans! We forgot to nuke South Africa!"

All of the street signs are now in Afrikaans.

Which is precisely what Soviet/Russian doctrine has them nuking most nations of the world, or at least their major cities, in the event of MAD with the US/NATO.

They reason it gives whatever the successor state to the USSR/Russia is a better chance down the road; if the whole world, even neutrals, has to rebuild from nuclear Armageddon, then everyone is on a more even footing.

 

[Scottty]

Which is precisely what Soviet/Russian doctrine has them nuking most nations of the world, or at least their major cities, in the event of MAD with the US/NATO.

They reason it gives whatever the successor state to the USSR/Russia is a better chance down the road; if the whole world, even neutrals, has to rebuild from nuclear Armageddon, then everyone is on a more even footing.

I know this. The joke here is that they emerge to find the world now being ruled by the country that they overlooked.

 

[Captain X]

Probably call my parents and say my goodbyes and die since my state is full of silos and I have no where handy to shelter.

 

[Simonbob]

I wish I'd practiced yoga, so I could kiss my ass goodbye

 

[Agent23]

I have 20 minutes before the missiles start flying, so it is time to stock up quickly before panic sets in.
Tell all friends and family to do so, head for the boonies.

 

[Aaron Fox]

I'm dead fifty ways from Sunday, so I'll have to get a .22 revolver out and commit suicide. Why? The last nuke maps I've checked had everything east of the Rockies plastered with red, and that's just for Montana. That red? It means I'll die within 24 hours of acute radiation poisoning... and add to that I'm literally just down the street from a major target (a railyard), down the hill from a second (GF International, which also serves as the ANG base), and across town from a third (Malestrom AFB... which takes care of the missiles, launchers, and sites at the very least... though they do handle the warheads as well).

Also, it's a reoccurring joke at my high school that I would be the one most likely to survive a nuclear war. The crazy story is that I answered an extra credit question about my science teacher splitting an atom rather thoroughly, enough that he had to actually do research about it... and the crazier part is that I was surprisingly on the nose on how it'll all pan out (he expected 'very far away', I gave him a few dozen miles and broke it down by zone).

 

[What's the sitch?]

Embrace the end, on the off chance I survive the initial bombs and radiation radius I'm fucked anyway. I have no survival skills and am not really interested in living in such a world anyway.

If it's just a couple choice nukes and it doesn't turn into fall out style global mass nuking, were probably fine-ish (comparitively) assuming you aren't in the nuked area.

 

[Aaron Fox]

Funny thing is that one of the customers I served yesterday had this to say: he'll just go to his porch with a six-pack because he lives near five silos... make of that as you will.

 

[Tiamat]

Well, this seems a rather ghoulish and depressing subject, but since it is asked in earnest...

Oh what the duck, I'll ask if it's still possible they could strap me to one of those Minutemen that are about to blast off.

 

[Agent23]

Funny thing is that one of the customers I served yesterday had this to say: he'll just go to his porch with a six-pack because he lives near five silos... make of that as you will.

You ask random people in meatspace about stuff we talk about here?

 

[Aaron Fox]

You ask random people in meatspace about stuff we talk about here?

Eh, came up when talking about Ukraine and how it's largely a no-win scenario.

 

[Tiamat]

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

 

[Aaron Fox]

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

- note: only applies to those that are within the semi-rational and rational tier of leaders