Survival

According to the International Herald Tribune, the UK is going to start advising Britons on how to survive chemical or biological attack.

They could do worse than this - a piece from a retired Army master sergeant. The guy's obviously not a writer, and some parts seem to spring from a desire to create confidence more than fact (but not many). But there's some good advice - specifics on surviving chemical, biological and even nuclear attack, plus some general points that are worth noting, if only as general guidelines:

Lesson number one: In the mid 1990s 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.

Worth reading from time to time.

By the way, the Israeli government has been teaching their citizens to build simple "safe rooms" in their homes ever since the first Gulf War, to protect most Israelis from potential chemical attack. Here's how it's done. Never let it be said I'm not public service-minded...

Posted by Mitch at November 16, 2002 01:27 AM