Cold War Relics

Some of the visitors to this site may remember a time when people were building bomb shelters in their basements and back yards.  Those may have been some scary times, but the one nice thing was that the Cold War was a silent war against a known enemy that we by and large understood. 

With advancements in technology, the world has become a smaller place than ever before.  The Soviets are no longer the threat they once were and we have to be even more concerned with anthrax and other terror attacks than we were with Khrushchev dropping a nuke on us.  In the heady days of the Cold War, we could have spotted a nuclear attack from Russia and retaliated.  That mutually assured destruction lead to the backing off of the arms race and a sort of Detente that probably kept us all from glowing in the dark.

Today, enemies from abroad have shown us that they can reach us on our own soil.  So what do you do when shit hits the fan (SHTF)?  How do you prepare?

It's not such an easy question to answer anymore.  It used to be that, if the Soviets attacked, you would go to a fallout shelter and ride it out.  Today, SHTF could be an anthrax attack, a plane being crashed into a building, a car bomb, a small, dirty nuclear weapon or even riots and looting.  How do you prepare for so many different circumstances? 

Start by thinking it through.  You're going to do one of two things if SHTF:  Bug Out or Bug In.  Meaning, you're either going to hit the road and find a safe spot, or you're going to ride it out at home. 

Here's an example: 

There's been a hurricane, there's no power, many streets are impassible and people are looting shops a few blocks from where you live.  Rather than load up your car with your wife and kids and risk getting car-jacked, robbed, beaten, etc, you decide to Bug In.  If you've planned ahead, you've got a generator with fuel, canned food, bottled water, vitamins, warm blankets, a first aid kit, maybe an alternative source of heat like a woodstove and a couple of firearms with plenty of ammo and a cleaning kit.  With proper planning, you can ride things out for a couple of days, not starve and protect your family.  Depending upon the season and your location, you may even have a garden that you can rely on for some food as well.

When preparing to Bug In, set aside plenty of food that won't spoil.  You can can and jar foods ahead of time.  This is especially cost effective if you have a garden of your own.  You can also set aside bags of rice or flour in air tight containers. 

Example two:

A small, dirty nuke has been detonated 30 miles from where you live.  You know that the prevailing winds will bring the fallout towards you and your family.  Time to Bug Out.  Load up your Bug Out Vehicle (BOV) with your Bug Out Bag (BOB) and hit the road for your Bug Out Location (BOL). 

The contents of your BOB may vary, especially depending upon your climate, the members of your party and your particular BOL.  My BOB contains the following:

-pants, shirt, socks, gloves, hat
-frying pan, mess kit
-first aid kit, snake bite kit
-sunblock, bug spray, mosquito head net
-MRE's and MRE heaters
-waterproof strike anywhere matches, magnesium fire starters
-fishing tackle
-potassium iodate (protects the thyroid from nuclear fallout)
-antibacterial soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, towel (keeping clean is important to your overall health)
-gun cleaning kits and oil  
-glow sticks 
-flashlight and spare batteries
-two surplus ammo cans full of ammunition

Your ideal BOL location will be secure, have ample sources of food and water (wildlife, fish, streams, etc) and should be able to be accessed from more than one route.  Plan a primary route that includes highways and a secondary route that you can take should the highways be blocked.  I would try to keep it close enough to be reached on a tank of fuel or less, but far enough away that you could be away from fallout. 

Your BOV again will vary by your location, but I would recommend a fullsize truck or SUV.  Probably the best candidate would be a 1980's K5 Blazer with a 6BT Cummins swap, NP205, 14 bolt FF rear with a locker and D60 front.  Not everyone has access to one of those or the time and money to put one together.  That being the case, I would recommend a domestic fullsize truck or SUV.  They have V8 engines, parts are inexpensive and plentiful and the domestics have always been very good about part interchangeability.  I drive a GMT400 Tahoe.  Damn near everything from a 96 - 99 GMT400 pickup or Suburban will interchange with my truck.  Many parts will interchange all the way back to 1988.

What about EMP?

EMP is always a topic that comes up when you're on the subject of a BOV.  I have a theory, and you can take it or leave it, but here it is.  An EMP is a lot like a lightning strike.  When you're in your car and it gets hit by lightning, you don't get electrocuted and die.  This has nothing to do with the rubber tires, either.  Because the steel body is a good conductor, the current is drawn to the surface.  This is why the dashboard, steering wheel, seats, etc don't fry you.  I know you're sitting there saying, "But the tires are what protect you!  They're an insulator!"  No they're not protecting you.  If an airplane gets hit by lightning while flying, the people inside don't fry, do they?  And the rubber tires are drawn up inside the fuselage while the plane is in flight.  Again, this is because the metal skin draws the current to its surface.  If you drive a Corvette, I'm not sure what will happen to you.  Hopefully your BOV isn't a Corvette though.  They're horrible off road. 

My theory is that an EMP will behave just like a lightning strike and the body of your vehicle will act as a Faraday cage.  After all, a Faraday cage is just an enclosure of conductive metal to protect its contents from electrical fields. 

Of course, I'm not en electrical engineer or a nuclear physicist.  I could be 100% wrong on this.  If I am, your best bet is that K5 Blazer with a 6BT Cummins swapped in.  Why?  Because a 6BT Cummins will run with about three wires and a tank of diesel fuel.   

Keep your BOV in good condition and it will get you and your loved ones to safety. 

I could ramble on and on about SHTF preparation, but it has so little to do with the main purpose of this site that it would be meaningless.  Feel free to e-mail me with thoughts or questions or to tell me that I should never talk about Faraday cages again.