" But now, thus says the Lord, you Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you,
O Israel, "Do not fear , for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name;
you are Mine!
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the
rivers, and they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you
will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you."
Is. 43:1,2
SFC Red Thomas (Ret)
Armor Master Gunner, Mesa, AZ
Reproduction and distribution is authorized and encouraged. Just give me
credit for my work.
Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of
chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf I decided to write
a paper and keep things in their proper perspective. I am a retired
military weapons, munitions, and training expert.
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. Chemical weapons are categorized as
Nerve, Blood, Blister, and Incapacitating agents Contrary to the hype of
reporters and politicians they are not weapons of mass destruction they
are "Area denial," and terror weapons that don't destroy anything. When
you leave the area you almost always leave the risk. That's the
difference; you can leave the area and the risk; soldiers may have to
stay put and sit through it and that's why they need all that spiffy
gear.
These are not gasses, they are vapors and/or air borne particles. The
agent must be delivered in sufficient quantity to kill/injure, and that
defines when/how it's used. Every day we have a morning and evening
inversion where "stuff," suspended in the air gets pushed down. This
inversion is why allergies (pollen) and air pollution are worst at these
times of the day. So, a chemical attack will have it's best effect an
hour of so either side of sunrise/sunset. Also, being vapors and
airborne particles they are heavier than air so they will seek low
places like ditches, basements and underground garages. This stuff won't
work when it's freezing, it doesn't last when it's hot, and wind spreads
it too thin too fast. They've got to get this stuff on you, or, get you
to inhale it for it to work. They also have to get the concentration of
chemicals high enough to kill or wound you. Too little and it's nothing,
too much and it's wasted.
What I hope you've gathered by this point is that a chemical weapons
attack that kills a lot of people is incredibly hard to do with military
grade agents and equipment so you can imagine how hard it will be for
terrorists. The more you know about this stuff the more you realize how
hard it is to use.
We'll start by talking about nerve agents. You have these in your house,
plain old bug killer (like Raid) is nerve agent. All nerve agents work
the same way; they are cholinesterase inhibitors that mess up the
signals your nervous system uses to make your body function. It can harm
you if you get it on your skin but it works best if they can get you to
inhale it. If you don't die in the first minute and you can leave the
area you're probably going to live. The military's antidote for all nerve
agents is atropine and pralidoxime chloride. Neither one of these does
anything to cure the nerve agent, they send your body into overdrive to
keep you alive for five minutes, after that the agent is used up. Your
best protection is fresh air and staying calm. Listed below are the
symptoms for nerve agent poisoning. Sudden headache, Dimness of vision
(someone you're looking at will have pinpointed pupils), Runny nose,
Excessive saliva or drooling, Difficulty breathing, Tightness in chest,
Nausea, Stomach cramps, Twitching of exposed skin where a liquid just
got on you.
If you are in public and you start experiencing these symptoms, first
ask yourself, did anything out of the ordinary just happen, a loud pop,
did someone spray something on the crowd? Are other people getting sick
too? Is there an odor of new mown hay, green corn, something fruity, or
camphor where it shouldn't be? If the answer is yes, then calmly (if you
panic you breathe faster and inhale more air/poison) leave the area and
head up wind, or, outside. Fresh air is the best "right now antidote".
If you have a blob of liquid that looks like molasses or Kayro syrup on
you; blot it or scrape it off and away from yourself with anything
disposable. This stuff works based on your body weight, what a crop
duster uses to kill bugs won't hurt you unless you stand there and
breathe it in real deep, then lick the residue off the ground for while.
Remember they have to do all the work, they have to get the
concentration up and keep it up for several minutes while all you have
to do is quit getting it on you/quit breathing it by putting space
between you and the attack.
Blood agents are cyanide or arsine which effect your blood's ability to
provide oxygen to your tissue. The scenario for attack would be the same
as nerve agent. Look for a pop or someone splashing/spraying something
and folks around there getting woozy/falling down. The telltale smells
are bitter almonds or garlic where it shouldn't be. The symptoms are
blue lips, blue under the fingernails rapid breathing. The military's
antidote is amyl nitride and just like nerve agent antidote it just
keeps your body working for five minutes till the toxins are used up.
Fresh air is the your best individual chance.
Blister agents (distilled mustard) are so nasty that nobody wants to
even handle it let alone use it. It's almost impossible to handle safely
and may have delayed effect of up to 12 hours. The attack scenario is
also limited to the things you'd see from other chemicals. If you do get
large, painful blisters for no apparent reason, don't pop them, if you
must, don't let the liquid from the blister get on any other area, the
stuff just keeps on spreading. It's just as likely to harm the user as
the target. Soap, water, sunshine, and fresh air are this stuff's enemy.
Bottom line on chemical weapons (it's the same if they use industrial
chemical spills); they are intended to make you panic, to terrorize you,
to heard you like sheep to the wolves. If there is an attack, leave the
area and go upwind, or to the sides of the wind stream. They have to get
the stuff to you, and on you. You're more likely to be hurt by a drunk
driver on any given day than be hurt by one of these attacks. Your odds
get better if you leave the area. Soap, water, time, and fresh air
really deal this stuff a knock-out-punch.
Don't let fear of an isolated attack rule your life. The odds are really
on your side.
Nuclear bombs. These are the only weapons of mass destruction on earth.
The effects of a nuclear bomb are heat, blast, EMP, and radiation. If
you see a bright flash of light like the sun, where the sun isn't, fall
to the ground! The heat will be over a second. Then there will be two
blast waves, one out going, and one on it's way back. Don't stand up to
see what happened after the first wave; anything that's going to happen
will have happened in two full minutes. These will be low yield devices
and will not level whole cities. If you live through the heat, blast,
and initial burst of radiation, you'll probably live for a very very
long time. Radiation will not create fifty foot tall women, or giant
ants and grass hoppers the size of tanks. These will be at the most 1
kiloton bombs; that's the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT. Here's the
real deal, flying debris and radiation will kill a lot of exposed (not
all!) people within a half mile of the blast. Under perfect conditions
this is about a half mile circle of death and destruction, but, when
it's done it's done. EMP stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse and it will
fry every electronic device for a good distance, it's impossible to say
what and how far but probably not over a couple of miles from ground
zero is a good guess. Cars, cell phones, computers, ATMs, you name it,
all will be out of order.
There are lots of kinds of radiation, you only need to worry about
three, the others you have lived with for years. You need to worry about
"Ionizing radiation," these are little sub atomic particles that go
whizzing along at the speed of light. They hit individual cells in your
body, kill the nucleus and keep on going. That's how you get radiation
poisoning, you have so many dead cells in your body that the decaying
cells poison you. It's the same as people getting radiation treatments
for cancer, only a bigger area gets radiated. The good news is you don't
have to just sit there and take it, and there's lots you can do rather
than panic. First; your skin will stop alpha particles, a page of a news
paper or your clothing will stop beta particles, you just gotta try and
avoid inhaling dust that's contaminated with atoms that are emitting
these things and you'll be generally safe from them. Gamma rays are
particles that travel like rays (quantum physics makes my brain hurt)
and they create the same damage as alpha and beta particles only they
keep going and kill lots of cells as they go all the way through your
body. It takes a lot to stop these things, lots of dense material, on
the other hand it takes a lot of this to kill you. Your defense is as
always to not panic. Basic hygiene and normal preparation are your
friends. All canned or frozen food is safe to eat. The radiation
poisoning will not effect plants so fruits and vegetables are OK if
there's no dust on them (rinse them off if there is). If you don't have
running water and you need to collect rain water or use water from
wherever, just let it sit for thirty minutes and skim off the water
gently from the top. The dust with the bad stuff in it will settle and
the remaining water can be used for the toilet which will still work if
you have a bucket of water to pour in the tank.
Finally there's biological warfare. There's not much to cover here.
Basic personal hygiene and sanitation will take you further than a
million doctors. Wash your hands often, don't share drinks, food, sloppy
kisses, etc., ... with strangers. Keep your garbage can with a tight lid
on it, don't have standing water (like old buckets, ditches, or kiddie
pools) laying around to allow mosquitoes breeding room. This stuff is
carried by vectors, that is bugs, rodents, and contaminated material. If
biological warfare is as easy as the TV makes it sound, why has Saddam
Hussein spent twenty years, millions, and millions of dollars trying to
get it right? If you're clean of person and home you eat well and are
active you're gonna live.
Overall preparation for any terrorist attack is the same as you'd take
for a big storm. If you want a gas mask, fine, go get one. I know this
stuff and I'm not getting one and I told my Mom not to bother with one
either (how's that for confidence). We have a week's worth of cash,
several days worth of canned goods and plenty of soap and water. We
don't leave stuff out to attract bugs or rodents so we don't have them.
These people can't conceive a nation this big with this much resources.
These weapons are made to cause panic, terror, and to demoralize. If we
don't run around like sheep they won't use this stuff after they find
out it's no fun. The government is going nuts over this stuff because
they have to protect every inch of America. You've only gotta protect
yourself, and by doing that, you help the country. Finally, there are
millions of caveats to everything I wrote here and you can think up
specific scenarios where my advice isn't the best. This letter is
supposed to help the greatest number of people under the greatest number
of situations. If you don't like my work, don't nit pick, just sit down
and explain chemical, nuclear, and biological warfare in a document
around three pages long yourself. This is how we the people of the
United States can rob these people of their most desired goal, your
terror.