Would you have lasted in 1983?

[Oldbill]

A year earlier and I'd have been shooting at Migs or subs in the Bering Sea or the Pacific. Not much hope of survival in either. A couple years later and it would have been the Atlantic. In 83, I was stationed in Cleveland, so the only hope I'd have had would have been if I were on leave and three hundred miles further south.
There was another scare in (trying to remember, its been awhile) 1980, we were in town, drunk, and got recalled. Loaded the tubes, brought up ammo from the magazines and were about to get underway (its amazing how the thought of imminent death will sober one up) when the message to stand down came in. I honestly don't remember all the incidents that happened back then. And there are some that I don't know if I can even talk about.

 

[Shevek23]

I was in Los Angeles, and expect I would not survive. I might not die instantly, but if flash, blast, or being caught in firestorm did not finish me in an instant to minutes, smoke and fallout inhalation, lack of potable water (or drinking very non-potable water in crazed desperation) or starvation would get me eventually, if not simply shot or otherwise murdered by some other desperate semi-survivor.

The rest of my family was in Hampton, Virginia. At least they did reside directly on Langley AFB, which we did in 1979-81, but they'd be in easy blast range of it, and the base was the headquarters of Tactical Air Command as well as there being a NASA campus in one corner. What with neighboring Newport News being a major shipyard and Norfolk just across the James River being the single largest USN base, with the world's record concentration of nuclear weapons by sheer number in the world, the entire region was just lousy with major military installations within the swing of a cat and would glow in the dark afterward.

 

[fastmongrel]

lets be honest: UK resident = dead or dying ( unless you live in the highlands or the Outer Hebrides!

Nope not even safe there. Rosyth naval Base, Dounreay reactor, Sullom Voe oil terminal, Benbecula rocket range and Balmoral castle. In the words of private Fraser "we're all doomed"

 

[sloreck]

In 1983 I was an orthopaedic surgery resident in Baltimore. University Hospital was downtown a couple of blocks from the inner harbor. Assuming this happens as a no notice out of the blue attack, there won't be time for the USN to call me to active duty (was in reserve status). Whether at my home of at the hospital I and my family are toast - hopefully from the immediate strike. Where we lived was in the city but on the edge so depending on where the bombs hit, air vs ground burst, weapon size it is possible my house does not go up instantly but really no way to get out the devastated zone...

 

[CobaltCloyster]

My parents were in college in Athens, Georgia. Which from all of the maps I found would be one of the state's largest surviving cities, so ignoring butterflies, I probably end up surviving. My extended family may or may not make it however, as my hometown would be somewhat affected by anything used on Fort Benning.

 

[Sully]

Both of my parents were living in Cork in the early 80s (although my mother would probably have returned to her family in Waterford if WW3 was to break out). They may have survived, it really depends if the Soviets decide to attack/nuke locations in the Republic of Ireland.

In Protect and Survive, “only” Dublin is destroyed so they would have been safe initially, but given that they actually first met in Northern Ireland a few years later (which would no doubt be sealed off given the flood of refugees that would try to head south after the devastation up there) I doubt they would end up ever knowing each other. In any case, given how austere life would become (and as western nations go Ireland was a fairly grim place to live in the 80s) I can’t imagine anyone in Ireland would have had the luxury of travelling far from their town/city/parish.

 

[MrBill]

In 1983 I was 43 living on Twin Peaks in San Francisco with a view of NAS Alameda across the Bay. I would be toast. I remember sometime in the 80's an aircraft carrier (I think the Carl Vinson) went aground in the Bay. I think it was there for most of a day.

The San Francisco Bay Area would have been a prim target during that time.

Thank You,
MrBill

 

[Jeeves]

Let’s see, November 1983 I was -6 months old. (Born may 1984).

Same here - my parents were around 30 km from the FRG-GDR border at the time. Even if they had survived the tac nukes that probably would've headed towards the tank brigade in the vicinity, the radiation would've done interesting things to my vaguely dolphin-shaped self...

 

[chankljp]

I wasn't born yet in 1983, so I would have gotten butterflied regardless.

As for my parents, they were both at university at the time in Hong Kong. In fact, 1983 was the year that they started dating. Considering that this is an Able Archer scenario, and that from my understanding, as part of the USSR's nuclear strike plans, China would have been targeted along side the NATO member states in order to prevent the PRC from taking advantage of the situation to move against the Soviet Far East. So, Hong Kong, a major trading hub that is a British colony in the middle of China, with US navy ships semi-frequently visiting the city (The aircraft carrier USS Midway was in Hong Kong just a few months ago before Able Archer), the city would have certainly been target by a Soviet ICBM.

Even if Hong Kong wasn't directly targeted, the city of Guangzhou up north in Mainland China, with it both being a major city and the HQ for the PLA's Guangzhou Military Region, would certainly have been targeted, with the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone possibly being a target as well. With a city as dependent on international trade as Hong Kong, even if the nuke and the radiation doesn't kill us all right away, the contamination of the Dongjiang river where the city gets almost all of our water from, and the cutting off of food supplies from the Mainland and the rest of Southeast Asia most certainly would.

And unlike back in WW2 during the Japanese occupation, people fleeing up north to the Mainland in search for food wouldn't even be an option since.... Well, they were also nuked, and the refugees will just be walking right into a radiation zone. Nor will fleeing south as boat people be a real option, since I am sure that Vietnam, with it's capital of Hanoi and the Soviet navy base at Cam Ranh Bay would have gotten nuked as well.

So.... Yeah, my parents are so utterly dead.

 

[cpip]

I was four and in New York City.

Yeah, I don't see my fifth birthday.

 

[Jack Brisco]

November 1983, was a first lieutenant, instructor in the USAF Signals Intelligence Officer course at Goodfellow AFB, TX. A definite target. No flight line, but an intelligence training base. We lived right next to the base, walking distance. Normally walked to work. My daughter, first child, was to be born in December 1983.

At least it will be quick.

 

[Kaze]

No, I was in the target zone: the nearby military base, the nearby university, and the nearby nuclear power-plant - I am going to be toast.

 

[M79]

The nuclear firestorm would be a quick death. With even half an hour warning it was thought people might go *into* the cities to avoid what would come next.

Anyone caught in the blast was dead or likely so within a few days. Anyone with chronic illnesses that require treatment or medicine - diabetes, persistent infections, breathing compromise requiring oxygen, etc. - likely dies a few days after that. Same for anyone injured by the blasts or riots/warfare after.

Then go the allergics and those without supplies. Most people have 3 days of food at home and even less water. In 1983 there were still stockrooms and reserves unlike today, but watch for the first gangs and warlords to appear by the end of the week.

Civilization is shattered though out West and in Appalachia pockets/very rural areas survive that become the future nuclei of restored government. That will take a generation to fully realize and a half decade to really even get started in force, until then government is very local or near-local and much of the northern hemisphere above 20N reverts to the Middle Ages.

 

[M79]

A year earlier and I'd have been shooting at Migs or subs in the Bering Sea or the Pacific. Not much hope of survival in either. A couple years later and it would have been the Atlantic. In 83, I was stationed in Cleveland, so the only hope I'd have had would have been if I were on leave and three hundred miles further south.
There was another scare in (trying to remember, its been awhile) 1980, we were in town, drunk, and got recalled. Loaded the tubes, brought up ammo from the magazines and were about to get underway (its amazing how the thought of imminent death will sober one up) when the message to stand down came in. I honestly don't remember all the incidents that happened back then. And there are some that I don't know if I can even talk about.

Could be worse. The Norse got it right about Odin having to give his eye for knowledge and never being able to get it back, though.

 

[M79]

I was four and in New York City.

Yeah, I don't see my fifth birthday.

Actually you might...

 

[SsgtC]

My mom was pregnant with me at the time. And living in Connecticut. That section of New England was going to get turned into a glass parking lot. Where they lived was just outside Hartford. Home of Pratt & Whitney and the ANG 118th Air Lift Wing. And only 30 minutes or so to the New London Submarine Base. Plus being bracketed by Boston, New York and, oh yeah, Naval Station Newport in RI, home of several prime USSR targets. Basically southern New England was about to become completely uninhabitable. So, yeah, I wouldn't be here.

 

[Green Mountain Boy]

12 years old. Not near any obvious targets and surrounded by hills and mountains. So probably would survive the initial attack. Small close-knit town (lots of relatives) that was pretty well armed.

35 years later I'd be the baddest warlord on the East Coast.

 

[Laqueesha]

Wasn’t born yet, but NC and WV getting blown all to Hell would ensure that I would never be.

Man, the Soviets really had it in for MD:

 

[sloreck]

Looking at Laqueesha's map - the hospital I worked at and my home are all in the "dead right now" zones. Having treated burns, and also taken courses in medical effects of nuclear weapons, working in trauma units with "ordinary" injuries, and more being inside any of those circles (even the most distant ones) and not dying right away is not going to be fun. Radiation and "ordinary" injuries or diseases are synergistic. If you get any significant whole body radiation dose you don't heal even a simple cut normally, let alone more serious injuries. Likewise whole body radiation reduces your immune response in terms of being able to avoid disease/infection, or the ability to fight an infection if you have one. Don't forget that if you have a broken arm from flying debris (a major risk from a nuke going of whether air or ground burst) the odds of finding a medical professional, or even a boy scout with a first aid badge to splint it, let alone take an xray and try and put it right, is close to zero.

 

[llameadrpc]

17 in Memphis. We're scheduled for 2 blasts. One for Millington Naval Air base and one for the port and bridges on the Mississippi. Extra crispy.