Protect and Survive: A Timeline

I'm enjoying this timeline so much that I've started re-reading it from the beginning. I do find the British end of it more interesting than Operation Prospero (despite you kindly naming it after me ;-) ) but there is one piece of news from America which I'm sure all red-blooded males who's survived a nuclear war in the 80s will be waiting for with baited breath.

Did this lady get through it alright?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwqYsoDqbCQ
 
I'm enjoying this timeline so much that I've started re-reading it from the beginning. I do find the British end of it more interesting than Operation Prospero (despite you kindly naming it after me ;-) ) but there is one piece of news from America which I'm sure all red-blooded males who's survived a nuclear war in the 80s will be waiting for with baited breath.

Did this lady get through it alright?

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

All I see is a graphic with the following message:

This video contains content from EMI, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.
Sorry about that.

At least YouTube's polite about it... ;)
 
Speaking of Operation Prospero, do you have an idea yet of how many people remain alive in the U.S., and how much of the country the federal government actually controls?

And why would Reagan have evacuated to Cheyenne Mountain as opposed to evacuating to Mount Weather, Virginia, or staying on board Air Force One?
 
All I see is a graphic with the following message:

This video contains content from EMI, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.
Sorry about that.

At least YouTube's polite about it... ;)

Sorry, it was working OK for me this afternoon. Anyway, the video in question was Blondie - Atomic (as far as I'm concerned, the world's still OK as long as Debbie Harry's in it).
 
Nice title card.

The President would have indeed been evacuated to the E-4B command plane, which went by the call-sign 'Nightwatch' (though technically it would be entitled to AF1). It would have been able to stay up for several days via in flight refuelling; the only limiting factor is oil for the engines.

After a few days it would be fairly clear what command facilities on the ground had survived. Mount Weather, or Raven Rock might now be huge craters while Cheyenne Mountain has survived (maybe the ICBM target on it went wrong?). NORAD/SPACOM would have excellent comms facilities which would be very useful to the President.
I suppose there is always the chance that he wants to use the Stargate to evacuate to somewhere safer. :D

and how much of the country the federal government actually controls?

Knowing America I wonder if it controls more, or less of the country than pre-strike? :D
 
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Knowing America I wonder if it controls more, or less of the country than pre-strike? :D

Probably less, considering how much power the States have. I wouldn't be surprised that some states that still have living Governors or Lt. Governors could be de facto independent.
 
Mount Weather, or Raven Rock might now be huge craters while Cheyenne Mountain has survived (maybe the ICBM target on it went wrong?).

It would have depended on if the Soviets knew about Mount Weather, which if I understand correctly was supposed to have been kept secret not just from the Soviets but from the Americans. The Greenbrier Hotel, in West Virginia, was set up the same way, being the intended destination for the Vice-President and members of Congress.

Given the hints Macragge has provided thus far, it's possible that Mount Weather/Greenbrier (and Raven Rock) were known to the Soviets and thus nuked; Cheyenne Mountain was discovered to still be viable; and the decision was made to send Air Force One there.

The question would be, then, how to get Reagan and the others onboard into the facility without risking them to radiation. Colorado Springs is nearby; the Air Force Academy and Petersen AFB are both in the vicinity and undoubtedly would have been targets in as thorough of a war as Macragge has suggested.
 
Probably less, considering how much power the States have. I wouldn't be surprised that some states that still have living Governors or Lt. Governors could be de facto independent.

Most probably at the local level. Unless the state government has a strong military to enforce the peace statewide, I doubt its influence in the short term is going to expand beyond the area of the state capital.
 

Macragge1

Banned
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


MESSAGE AUTHENTICATOR: HATEFULNESS/HATEFULNESS


THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ACTION NOTIFICATION (EAN) DIRECTED BY THE

PRESIDENT. NORMAL BROADCASTING WILL CEASE IMMEDIATELY. ALL

STATIONS WILL BROADCAST EAN MESSAGE ONE PRECEDED BY THE

ATTENTION SIGNAL, PER FCC RULES. ONLY STATIONS HOLDING NDEA

MAY STAY ON AIR IN ACCORD WITH THEIR STATE EBS PLAN.

BROADCAST EAN MESSAGE ONE.


MESSAGE AUTHENTICATOR: HATEFULNESS/HATEFULNESS

21 FEB


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


The last order from Washington D.C. The first device hit CONUS some six minutes after this message.


Hatefulness/Hatefulness.
 
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Macragge1

Banned
Hatefulness is an appropriate authenticator.

It's the perfect authenticator - what makes it so chilling is that I didn't make it up - this message, word for word, was accidentally sent out to some radio stations across the US in the early '70s -

Hatefulness/Hatefulness

What makes it even more chilling is the fact that these authenticators were randomly assigned - still, that message there is more Protect and Survive - even the writing style - than Protect and Survive is, so I decided to throw it in. The only thing I changed was the date - strangely, the real date on the message was February 20th, whereas the Exchange happened the next day - February 21st. Very odd.

Brilliantly, one account from a Texas DJ who received the message recounts his 'taking a deep breath and putting on another Jackson 5 record'. It's the sort of poetic license I'd take with P&S (like the 'hatefulness' bit), so it's cool, if strange, that stuff like this actually went on.
 
It's the perfect authenticator - what makes it so chilling is that I didn't make it up - this message, word for word, was accidentally sent out to some radio stations across the US in the early '70s -

Hatefulness/Hatefulness

What makes it even more chilling is the fact that these authenticators were randomly assigned - still, that message there is more Protect and Survive - even the writing style - than Protect and Survive is, so I decided to throw it in. The only thing I changed was the date - strangely, the real date on the message was February 20th, whereas the Exchange happened the next day - February 21st. Very odd.

Brilliantly, one account from a Texas DJ who received the message recounts his 'taking a deep breath and putting on another Jackson 5 record'. It's the sort of poetic license I'd take with P&S (like the 'hatefulness' bit), so it's cool, if strange, that stuff like this actually went on.

It is amazing to read, in this thread and elsewhere, some of the bizarre occurrences that happened during the Cold War. I suppose paranoia / fear of nuclear war does strange things to people (although, not as strange as an actual nuclear war would...)
 
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


MESSAGE AUTHENTICATOR: HATEFULNESS/HATEFULNESS


THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ACTION NOTIFICATION (EAN) DIRECTED BY THE

PRESIDENT. NORMAL BROADCASTING WILL CEASE IMMEDIATELY. ALL

STATIONS WILL BROADCAST EAN MESSAGE ONE PRECEDED BY THE

ATTENTION SIGNAL, PER FCC RULES. ONLY STATIONS HOLDING NDEA

MAY STAY ON AIR IN ACCORD WITH THEIR STATE EBS PLAN.

BROADCAST EAN MESSAGE ONE.


MESSAGE AUTHENTICATOR: HATEFULNESS/HATEFULNESS

21 FEB


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


The last order from Washington D.C. The first device hit CONUS some six minutes after this message.


Hatefulness/Hatefulness.

Those subs must've been awfully close to the Eastern Seaboard to hit D.C. only 6-10 minutes.

It's the perfect authenticator - what makes it so chilling is that I didn't make it up - this message, word for word, was accidentally sent out to some radio stations across the US in the early '70s -

Hatefulness/Hatefulness

What makes it even more chilling is the fact that these authenticators were randomly assigned - still, that message there is more Protect and Survive - even the writing style - than Protect and Survive is, so I decided to throw it in. The only thing I changed was the date - strangely, the real date on the message was February 20th, whereas the Exchange happened the next day - February 21st. Very odd.

Brilliantly, one account from a Texas DJ who received the message recounts his 'taking a deep breath and putting on another Jackson 5 record'. It's the sort of poetic license I'd take with P&S (like the 'hatefulness' bit), so it's cool, if strange, that stuff like this actually went on.

So that's where the Feb. 21st date came from...........nice. :D

It is amazing to read, in this thread and elsewhere, some of the bizarre occurrences that happened during the Cold War. I suppose paranoia / fear of nuclear war does strange things to people (although, not as strange as an actual nuclear war would...)

I agree with you on that.
 
They hit Alaska first, IMO

Alaska is closer to the Soviet Union...remember the Secretary saying that as they were being evacuated, Anchorage and Thule (site of an early-warning station) had been hit. So Alaska was likely hit first, then the rest of the US.

Just my $.02.

Waiting for the next update.

I'm guessing the exchange occurred in the mid-to-late-morning in the U.S. (depending on the time zones), given the time of the first nuclear exchange in Germany.
 
Alaska is closer to the Soviet Union...remember the Secretary saying that as they were being evacuated, Anchorage had been hit. So Alaska was likely hit first, then the rest of the US.

Just my $.02.

Waiting for the next update.

I'm guessing the exchange occurred in the mid-to-late-morning in the U.S. (depending on the time zones), given the time of the first nuclear exchange in Germany.

That's always very possible, given how close far eastern Siberia and Alaska are.........after all, how else could Sarah Palin say, "I can see Russia from my house!"......LOL :D
 

Macragge1

Banned
Alaska is closer to the Soviet Union...remember the Secretary saying that as they were being evacuated, Anchorage and Thule (site of an early-warning station) had been hit. So Alaska was likely hit first, then the rest of the US.

Alaska had just been hit by the time the EAN was activated - it was the Continental US that was hit six minutes after its broadcast; at least one Russian sub got very close to one of the seaboards.
 
A really chilling coincidence, damn...:eek:

One small question: How many hours have elapsed between the Soviet response to the American first tactical device and The Exchange?
 
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