We used to have to either hide under our desks or crouch down in the halls.. Man they scared the crap outta me. I was always waiting for the siren at home. Plus they showed us what would happen if the bomb dropped. It no wonder we boomers grew up to be paranoid and neurotic.
I think this went on all through elementary school, until we were old enough to know they only reason we were putting our heads between our legs was to kiss our butts goodbye....

Get thee a copy of The Atomic Cafe at your earliest possible convenience, or just google "Atomic Cafe", and you'll find a Google Video link to the 1982 documentary that features some of the coolest (and most unintentionally hilarious) stuff that ever came out of the cold war era. 

We used to have to either hide under our desks or crouch down in the halls.. Man they scared the crap outta me. I was always waiting for the siren at home. Plus they showed us what would happen if the bomb dropped. It no wonder we boomers grew up to be paranoid and neurotic.
I think this went on all through elementary school, until we were old enough to know they only reason we were putting our heads between our legs was to kiss our butts goodbye....


  Did you have to watch those "duck and cover" PSA films..?

  We had to do that in grade school, hide under the desk, but they told us it was earthquake drills...

Greenjello, living about 18 miles from New York City, we all knew that we would be evaporated before we hit the floor, so when we had those drills crotching down covering our heads with our coats in the school hallways was just time to horse around and usally turned into a farting contest. If I'm correct, I think they started those drills in 1959 and stoped them in 62' because I think the teachers knew it was a joke to have them, they would show us those movies of house's and dummies turning into dust in a second and scare the crap out of us and then expected us to believe that our coats would protect us from dying...duh!

PS... fyi, it wasn't just boys in the contest.

Greenjello, living about 18 miles from New York City, we all knew that we would be evaporated before we hit the floor, so when we had those drills crotching down covering our heads with our coats in the school hallways was just time to horse around and usally turned into a farting contest. If I'm correct, I think they started those drills in 1959 and stoped them in 62' because I think the teachers knew it was a joke to have them, they would show us those movies of house's and dummies turning into dust in a second and scare the crap out of us and then expected us to believe that our coats would protect us from dying...duh!

PS... fyi, it wasn't just boys in the contest.


I grew up about 45 mins from NYC and those films scared the crap outta my little ass. I knew we'd be toast, but why did they have to scare us like that??? I also was afraid of planes crashing into my house when I was little.
Did you ever see the antimarijuana flim made by Sonny and Cher? It was funny as hell, in the early days of drug education. School in the 60s was a weird experience.

They used to call them Tornado Drills in the 70s in Ohio.  Had to always interlock your fingers behind your neck so that when the ceiling came down in the hallway, at least your neck would be ok (from the protection of your laced fingers!)  lol  ::)

They used to call them Tornado Drills in the 70s in Ohio.  Had to always interlock your fingers behind your neck so that when the ceiling came down in the hallway, at least your neck would be ok (from the protection of your laced fingers!)  lol   ::)


The Tornado Drills made sense and served a real purpose, do they have them today?

The Tornado Drills made sense and served a real purpose, do they have them today?

Oh yes, we still have tornado drills (although without the laced fingers), fire drills, and now the infamous "Lockdown" in the case of extreme measures.... Not so fun stuff...  But we do not scare the life out of the students, they have no more "movies"; at least not at the school in which I teach.

They stopped the air raid drills by the time I got into school but my sisters told me that they used to have to do it.


If you live in Tornado Alley, I understand tornado drills. I have been through a few tornado warnings myself and they were pretty scary-even though the tornadoes miss where we were which I am very grateful. I also understand earthquake drills, too if you live in California.




Cat

I remember them, and they did tell us that if we hid under our desks we wouldn't be hurt if the Russians dropped the bomb on us.  I know where there is a fallout shelter.  It is at a house near Sigs, you can see the top of it in the side yard, I wonder if the people use it for a gameroom or something like that.  I remember trying to get my father to by one so we all wouldn't die.  He told us not to worry about it, we could just go into the cellar.  I know now that he knew the cellar wouldn't save us, and neither would the shelter, but he had to tell us something. 

They stopped the air raid drills by the time I got into school but my sisters told me that they used to have to do it.


If you live in Tornado Alley, I understand tornado drills. I have been through a few tornado warnings myself and they were pretty scary-even though the tornadoes miss where we were which I am very grateful. I also understand earthquake drills, too if you live in California.




Cat



Hi Cat, living on the east coast we don't get many tornados, if any they are small twisters that knock down dead trees or pull off some roof shingles, but nothing like what the people who live the mid-west have to live with almost everyday, it's like a crap shoot with their lives and property, how do they do it? year after year holding your breath with near misses and one day without much warning, BAM! it's all gone. I don't get it...move out of there and save your lives and stuff, it's only a matter of time and when that crap shoot throws them snake eyes. Although, I did see twin twisters touch down at the Ft. Lauderdale airport, they where about a mile away from the terminal and it was very exciting to watch them dance with each other, not realizing the damage they could have done if they came closer to all the planes, but they blew themselves out after a few moments and all was well, but it was a cool to watch. Hey! we all have problems, twisters, hurricanes, earthquakes and drive by's, we pick our poison and deal with it...good luck. 

I remember them, and they did tell us that if we hid under our desks we wouldn't be hurt if the Russians dropped the bomb on us.  I know where there is a fallout shelter.  It is at a house near Sigs, you can see the top of it in the side yard, I wonder if the people use it for a gameroom or something like that.  I remember trying to get my father to by one so we all wouldn't die.  He told us not to worry about it, we could just go into the cellar.  I know now that he knew the cellar wouldn't save us, and neither would the shelter, but he had to tell us something. 


The funny part about "Duck and Cover" is that it wasn't quite as futile as it sounds.  The problem is, explaining exactly why it wasn't futile would have demoralized the population more than it would have helped them.  So, much like your Dad and the shelter/cellar, they went with "duck and cover" drills.  They had to tell the people something, and it had to be better than telling them to do nothing at all. 

If you watch the old test footage at real-time speed, rather than slowed down, you'll notice something.  The heat (being induced from the light of the fireball, and therefore travelling at the speed of light) comes a lot faster than the shockwave (which, although supersonic, is orders of magnitude slower than the light).

If you're close enough that the light's a problem, you're (quite literally!) toast.  If you're lucky, you'll be smashed to a pulp a few tenths of a second later.  If you're unlucky, you'll end up like one the burn victims from the Hiroshima footage. 

But if you're far enough away that the light's not a problem, you're not necessarily dead.  You've got one or two seconds to "duck and cover".  If you stare at the light, going "Whoa, we got nuked!", or even "Dude, WTF?", you'll not only get toasted, you'll get pulped by a faceful of window and brick a few seconds later.  If you duck and cover, you'll still have a very bad day, but those who aren't killed outright by falling debris will probably survive with relatively minor injuries.  Sort of like surviving a 7.0+ earthquake, or having a tornado rip through your classroom.  The people who made it under their desks or into confined spaces, and who didn't get buried by rubble, tend to do OK.

Now, those aren't the kinds of things you want to tell kids, because they're pretty scary.  But if you're planning on dealing with millions of casualties, those are the kinds of things you need your population to do. 

If nobody ducks/covers, you've got a bunch of dead outright, a lot of seriously wounded, who cost a fortune in support because they have to be triaged, and an even bigger fortune in morale as they slowly die), and a few lucky people that get away with cuts and bruises.

If everybody ducks/covers, you've got basically the same number of dead outright, but a lot more "lucky" people (minor injuries that can be treated) and a lot fewer seriously wounded. 

If you're in the business of triage, a population trained to duck and cover makes your job a lot easier.  If you're just some kid going to class, it also helps you, because as bad as your day is turning out to be, it's still better to lose (a) a few friends quickly, a few friends slowly, and have most of your friends basically OK, than to lose (b) many friends quickly, many friends slowly, and be the only "basically OK" person who hast o watch 'em go.

Anyways, just typing that out was a pretty good reminder of why they never told people the truth about duck and cover.  Although it would have produced better results than "well, you're screwed, might as well stare at the fireball until the shockwave kills ya", trying to convey the explanation of what "better" meant would have done more harm to morale than good, especially to grade school kids. 

~alternate timeline history begins~

Teacher: "So, Johnny, would you rather lose half your friends or only a quarter?" 
Johnny: *quizzically*  "Umm, how about none?" 
Teacher: "Don't be silly, Johnny, that's not an option on this quiz"
Johnny: "Why not?"
Teacher:  *stares blankly because that's not on the curriculum*
Johnny:  *pencils in '1/4 of my friends die' to get good grades on the test, but he never believes another word the teacher tells him*

~alternate timeline history ends~

It was the cold war, and ya just couldn't let kids go down that path.  So ya told 'em to duck and cover, and hoped for the best.

Hi Cat, living on the east coast we don't get many tornados, if any they are small twisters that knock down dead trees or pull off some roof shingles, but nothing like what the people who live the mid-west have to live with almost everyday, it's like a crap shoot with their lives and property, how do they do it? year after year holding your breath with near misses and one day without much warning, BAM! it's all gone. I don't get it...move out of there and save your lives and stuff, it's only a matter of time and when that crap shoot throws them snake eyes. Although, I did see twin twisters touch down at the Ft. Lauderdale airport, they where about a mile away from the terminal and it was very exciting to watch them dance with each other, not realizing the damage they could have done if they came closer to all the planes, but they blew themselves out after a few moments and all was well, but it was a cool to watch. Hey! we all have problems, twisters, hurricanes, earthquakes and drive by's, we pick our poison and deal with it...good luck. 



I understand totally. That is what I love about where I am, we have mountains-lots of them so any tornado (which we do get from time to time) do not have a chance to develop and most of the time we never really know if it was indeed a tornado or just a big gust of wind. I have lived in Tornado Alley before and hated it (which is why I moved back to the Northeast. I would much rather deal with nor'easters than any of the other "poisons."



Cat

By saying you remember air raid drills is also admitting that you're old :D Just kidding

In the city where I was born, they still have a big air raid siren around the corner from where my grandmother used to live.  When I was a kid, I used to always wonder if it would ever go off.  One day, it actually did, but I never found out why

By saying you remember air raid drills is also admitting that you're old :D Just kidding

In the city where I was born, they still have a big air raid siren around the corner from where my grandmother used to live.  When I was a kid, I used to always wonder if it would ever go off.  One day, it actually did, but I never found out why


Do you remember they used to test them all for a couple of minutes at 12:00 noon every Saturday, they stopped not to long ago but we all knew when it was 12:00 noon when you out in the school playground or wayout hiking in the woods sirens were everywhere.  After WWII they would have nightime black out drills along with sirens drills. we all had to shut off out house lights and cars would have to pull over and shut their lights too, it lasted about 30 minutes.

Us "older" baby boomers lived under the gun all our lives, you kids have it easy today.

If everybody ducks/covers, you've got basically the same number of dead outright, but a lot more "lucky" people (minor injuries that can be treated) and a lot fewer seriously wounded. 



I must beg to differ.  The effects of the blast may leave people without visible wounds, but the accompanying radiation sickness can show itself decades later.

library.thinkquest.org/3471/radiation_effects_body.html

Do you remember they used to test them all for a couple of minutes at 12:00 noon every Saturday, they stopped not to long ago but we all knew when it was 12:00 noon when you out in the school playground or wayout hiking in the woods sirens were everywhere.  After WWII they would have nightime black out drills along with sirens drills. we all had to shut off out house lights and cars would have to pull over and shut their lights too, it lasted about 30 minutes.

Us "older" baby boomers lived under the gun all our lives, you kids have it easy today.



We still have a noon whistle (the fire alarm).

I don't know if they still have it (they probably do), in Brattleboro, VT (very close to Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant), the first Saturday of every month they have a whistle. It wasn't just a few seconds (like our noon whistle), this thing would last for what seems like a long time-probably a full minute but when something is loud and obnoxious, it seems so much longer. There have been many times when the whistle goes off that people will lay down on the ground to protest the nuke plant.



Cat

I must beg to differ.  The effects of the blast may leave people without visible wounds, but the accompanying radiation sickness can show itself decades later.


Entirely correct -- but once the bombs have begun to fall, there's not much that can be done about it in the short term beyond sheltering in place.  The purpose of "duck and cover" was to get as many people as possible through the next 15 minutes.  The purpose of the civil defense and home basement shelters was to get you through the next 15 minutes.  For time periods of 15 years, the thinking was that anyone who lived long enough to die of radiation-induced cancer (as opposed to acute radiation poisoning from exposure to fallout or from consuming contaminated food/water, starvation due to a collapsed agricultural infrastructure, dehydration due to cholera or the other diseases that spring up without running water, or raiding parties launched by your neighboring tribal warlord) can be assumed to have done pretty well. 

During the early years of public school they had a pole mounted siren & used it very little.
We didn't do much like tuck & cover stuff....(Nuclear..Whats the point)
I think it depended what school zone in what county you were in....
All in a by-gone era!