CAP and the Nuclear Tests

[tarheel gumby]

Good point, my 18yo son thinks that we were using muzzle loaders when I was in the NCARNG back in the mid 80's

[BuckeyeDEJ]

PLEASE STAY TUNED to 640 kilocycles for more CONELRAD broadcasts on this subject. 

The older I get, it amazes me to think of how many things a young cadet (or other teenager) has no idea what we are talking about... in that sentence alone imagine the confused look upon a cadet's face... "stay tuned" (what do you mean, tuned?) AM radio (what's that?)  kilocycles (huh?) CONELRAD (is that some CAP colonel's CAP TALK screen name?)

Heck, they don't remember this one, either, though it was a little chilling to the ears of a five-year-old (me) living in northeast Ohio in 1976:

"This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters in your area, in cooperation with the FCC and other authorities, have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the attention signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions. This station serves the greater Cleveland area. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System."

Of course, we didn't live too far from an Army ammunition plant and arsenal, a large General Motors assembly facility, a ball-bearing production complex and a bunch of other assets that were fairly decent targets. Within an hour's drive, there was PLENTY of other possible targets.

Even the PBS station played the darned thing during a pre-dumbed-down "Sesame Street."

[Major Carrales]

"This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters in your area, in cooperation with the FCC and other authorities, have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the attention signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions. This station serves the greater Cleveland area. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System."

I remember asking my mother if they were ever going to provide any "official information, news or instructions," I would even wait patiently for it.  My mother told me that I shouldn't want any "official information, news or instructions" because they would be my last.

What I found odd is that the EBS system was never used when we had foul weather and other such occurrences, like tornadoes.  It seemed to me that a tornado, flash flood or severe thunderstorm constituted an emergency. During those emergencies there was no "Signal," they just interrupted the programing.

Little did I know the "toooooooooooooooooooooo" "this is a test" was the warning for "the BIG ONE!!!"

That was one thing that CONELRAD had over EBS.  EBS was one of the first attempts at "politically correct" parlance.  Instead of saying "there is a real Atomic threat" where we need to Control [the effects] of Electromagnetic Radiation, we had what seemed to be a general Emergency Broadcast System that really was meant for one Emergency Only.

This concludes your CONELRAD message...we now resume your broadcast day!!!

(by the way, Civil Defense has concerned me from before I entered Kindergarden and asked what the "CD" in the triangle was.  An uncle said is stood for "Countdown [to] Doomsday."

[PHall]

PLEASE STAY TUNED to 640 kilocycles for more CONELRAD broadcasts on this subject. 

The older I get, it amazes me to think of how many things a young cadet (or other teenager) has no idea what we are talking about... in that sentence alone imagine the confused look upon a cadet's face... "stay tuned" (what do you mean, tuned?) AM radio (what's that?)  kilocycles (huh?) CONELRAD (is that some CAP colonel's CAP TALK screen name?)

Heck, they don't remember this one, either, though it was a little chilling to the ears of a five-year-old (me) living in northeast Ohio in 1976:

"This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters in your area, in cooperation with the FCC and other authorities, have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the attention signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions. This station serves the greater Cleveland area. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System."

Of course, we didn't live too far from an Army ammunition plant and arsenal, a large General Motors assembly facility, a ball-bearing production complex and a bunch of other assets that were fairly decent targets. Within an hour's drive, there was PLENTY of other possible targets.

Even the PBS station played the darned thing during a pre-dumbed-down "Sesame Street."

We still get tests of the Emergency Broadcast System, or as it's now called, The Emergency Alert System, all the time here in California.
Of course we use it for Fires, Tsunamis and Earthquakes in addition to the Big One.

[Major Carrales]

PLEASE STAY TUNED to 640 kilocycles for more CONELRAD broadcasts on this subject. 

The older I get, it amazes me to think of how many things a young cadet (or other teenager) has no idea what we are talking about... in that sentence alone imagine the confused look upon a cadet's face... "stay tuned" (what do you mean, tuned?) AM radio (what's that?)  kilocycles (huh?) CONELRAD (is that some CAP colonel's CAP TALK screen name?)

Heck, they don't remember this one, either, though it was a little chilling to the ears of a five-year-old (me) living in northeast Ohio in 1976:

"This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters in your area, in cooperation with the FCC and other authorities, have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the attention signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions. This station serves the greater Cleveland area. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System."

Of course, we didn't live too far from an Army ammunition plant and arsenal, a large General Motors assembly facility, a ball-bearing production complex and a bunch of other assets that were fairly decent targets. Within an hour's drive, there was PLENTY of other possible targets.

Even the PBS station played the darned thing during a pre-dumbed-down "Sesame Street."

We still get tests of the Emergency Broadcast System, or as it's now called, The Emergency Alert System, all the time here in California.
Of course we use it for Fires, Tsunamis and Earthquakes in addition to the Big One.

Well then, good luck with the Big One.<sup>1


1</sup> Made in Korea.

[BuckeyeDEJ]

Well then, good luck with the Big One.<sup>1


1</sup> Made in Korea.

You owe me a new keyboard, pal. Coffee all over the place.

[Major Carrales]

Well then, good luck with the Big One.<sup>1


1</sup> Made in Korea.

You owe me a new keyboard, pal. Coffee all over the place.

Charge it to the Corpus Christi Composite Squadron's "One Minute to Midnight" fund, see Lt. Strangelove or Lt Col Jack D. Ripper as a cosignatory.

[SarDragon]

Regarding CONELRAD, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, check out the movie Matinee, showing this week on HBO.

[RRLE]

If this had been an actual emergency,...

... which any teenager of the period would interrupt with:


"You would have been instructed to put your head between your knees and kiss your *#@ good-bye."

[Nomex Maximus]

You know, I sort of think a good learning exercise for a cadet squadron might just be to watch the movie "The Day After" and then have a discussion about what it was like and what was going on right when that movie was aired in 1983 (which also a teenager does not remember, for that matter no one under 30 remembers). If you can believe the recent TV shows, we very close to having a Soviet attack that fall because the Soviets were misinterpreting some of our actions, war games and Ronald Reagan.

[Nomex Maximus]

. . .
(by the way, Civil Defense has concerned me from before I entered Kindergarden and asked what the "CD" in the triangle was.  An uncle said is stood for "Countdown [to] Doomsday."

You know, the whole nuclear war thing sort of concerned me and I always wondered why it didn't seem to concern anyone else when I was a kid in the 1960s. People had just given up on emergency preparedness by the time I was a kid. By that time it was sort of considered "wrong" to try and do anything to prepare for a nuclear war. You would have been considered to be a nutcase if you were to build a bomb shelter in your backyard. To work towards being able to survive a nuclear war was seen as helping enable our evil government to start a nuclear war. I remember reading books at the library (from the 1950s) that showed how a relatively simple to build shelter could give you a high chance of survival even close to a big blast. But just *reading* such a book made people think you were a kook.

[Nomex Maximus]

. . .
We still get tests of the Emergency Broadcast System, or as it's now called, The Emergency Alert System, all the time here in California.
Of course we use it for Fires, Tsunamis and Earthquakes in addition to the Big One.

When I lived in California, the Big One meant earthquake...

or that Skynet had become self aware.

(and when I lived in California I was a software engineer at Cyberdyne Systems at the east San Jose office, so I should know)

[heliodoc]

Such is the business of emergency preparedness.......the cyclical on again off again we better do this 'cuz our political leaders say we should rather than taking the attitude we ought to do this because of infrastructure such as the power grid, problems with possible EMP sources that would affect all the computer equipment, etc etc etc etc.

Its easier just to go crazy, blame FEMA for this and that, leave emergency managers in the lurch and then blame them for all the problems 'cuz of "lack of preparedness," and continue to play political ping pong with the whole thing rather than take a level headed approach to the whole all risk all hazard environment.  But such is as it is now, not just the youth, but the general 30 to 45 yr old public just does not understand the issues of emergency preparedness let alone CONELRAD and the whole CD program.  CAP included.  CAP has not done enough or rather has a risk averse attitude towards even the most basic training of handling current day Ludlums or even communities that have the old CDV series rad detectors.  So CAP, whether or not being in the hot zone, has left even the most basic awareness of the nuclear "daze" in the dust by not even allowing more of the training.

Yes the days of yore and lore are gone.  Maybe if CAP want those DHS type missions back, this would be the place to start.....get with your local emergency manager and get ahold of NHQ to allow the most basic of this type of training.  Maybe some are already doing it BUT I do know CAP isn't always in this arena

[wuzafuzz]

You know, the whole nuclear war thing sort of concerned me and I always wondered why it didn't seem to concern anyone else when I was a kid in the 1960s. People had just given up on emergency preparedness by the time I was a kid. By that time it was sort of considered "wrong" to try and do anything to prepare for a nuclear war. You would have been considered to be a nutcase if you were to build a bomb shelter in your backyard. To work towards being able to survive a nuclear war was seen as helping enable our evil government to start a nuclear war. I remember reading books at the library (from the 1950s) that showed how a relatively simple to build shelter could give you a high chance of survival even close to a big blast. But just *reading* such a book made people think you were a kook.

How true, and it's not limited to war related preparedness.  When I lived in So. California I was prepared for the Big One (earthquake).  Since my house was in an expected dam break flood plain I had a weeks supplies in a roll-away trashcan I could toss in my truck on a moments notice.  Everything from spare clothes, baby supplies, you name it.  I also had my ham radios, camping gear, etc ready to go.  We also had backpack kits in each car.  My neighbors thought it was a little goofy, but guess who they came to after the Northridge earthquake? (Our utilities were down a lot longer than the rest of town.)  Most of them had their heads in the sand and honestly believed Big Brother would make it all OK.  They didn't think they had to prepare.

[Nomex Maximus]

That trashcan idea is a good one... I should do that too.

[Major Carrales]

. . .
We still get tests of the Emergency Broadcast System, or as it's now called, The Emergency Alert System, all the time here in California.
Of course we use it for Fires, Tsunamis and Earthquakes in addition to the Big One.

When I lived in California, the Big One meant earthquake...

or that Skynet had become self aware.

(and when I lived in California I was a software engineer at Cyberdyne Systems at the east San Jose office, so I should know)

Skynet has nothing on "Milo..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWZjb46uzbk

And this is not SciFi, or is it SyFy?

[RiverAux]

I came across a minor reference to CAP taking part in the response to the three mile island accident.  Didn't give any details.  Any info?

[Orville_third]

Well, CAP has been tasked in some instances with monitoring air around nuke plants (and Yucca Mountain) for radioactivity, just in case. I'm sure someone may have been flying above TMI. Anyone in PAWG know about this?

And, besides us, does anyone else in the USA do ARM?

[PHall]

Well, CAP has been tasked in some instances with monitoring air around nuke plants (and Yucca Mountain) for radioactivity, just in case. I'm sure someone may have been flying above TMI. Anyone in PAWG know about this?

And, besides us, does anyone else in the USA do ARM?

Just a couple little outfits, you may have heard of them.

The United States Air Force

The United States Army

Federal Emergency Managemeant Agency

The United States Department of Energy

The United States Department of Homeland Security

[SarDragon]

Don't forget the United States Navy. We have a bunch of ships with nuclear reactor power plants.