Cold war memories

Emp_Fab

What with all this talk of nuclear annihilation now that we've got a maniac in charge of the world's second largest arsenal, I was thinking about what it was like in the 80's when the threat was very real indeed.

I remember seeing adverts on the telly telling us what the sirens meant and what to do in the event of a nuclear attack.  There were leaflets too.  It was quite a scary time to say the least.  Lots of conversations about what would you do if you only had four minutes to live (four minutes being the estimated time from warning to impact for the UK).

I also recall going to a site of some importance (though for the life of me I can't remember what went on there!), but I distinctly remember having to enter via some seriously heavy doors and asking the bloke there what the weird foot-wide pipes were with big steel and rubber flaps over the ends that were in the walls of every room, close to the ceiling.  Apparently they were to equalise the pressure on both sides of the wall in the even of a nuclear strike so that the walls wouldn't collapse.

It seems bonkers now to anyone under 40 that we were all living under the real threat of nuclear war in recent times.  "Fallout shelter" was a phrase in very common use.  It's weird to me that enough time has passed for there to be (almost) middle-aged people living in Britain today who have no idea of any of this !

I don't want to go back to living with that hanging over my head.

Plukky

Yep - all that 2 minutes to midnight stuff scared the crap out of 10 year old me.

ICBM

Protect And Survive

Two of the most misleading words ever printed.

Fretwired

Emp_Fab said:

What with all this talk of nuclear annihilation now that we've got a maniac in charge of the world's second largest arsenal, I was thinking about what it was like in the 80's when the threat was very real indeed.

I don't think Trump will press the button. Besides he is great mates with Putin and about to do a trade deal with China so I really don't get this two minutes to midnight crap. I think , from a nuclear war point of view, the world is a safer place. These days you can promote proxy wars, spread fake news, engage in social media campaigns and cyber warfare. Nukes are fast becoming obsolete.

littlegreenman

Fretwired said:

  Nukes are fast becoming obsolete.

An obsolete but still pretty effective way to fuck the world up incredibly quickly if they are ever actually deployed, n'est pa?

Emp_Fab said:

What with all this talk of nuclear annihilation now that we've got a maniac in charge of the world's second largest arsenal, I was thinking about what it was like in the 80's when the threat was very real indeed.

I remember seeing adverts on the telly telling us what the sirens meant and what to do in the event of a nuclear attack.  There were leaflets too.  It was quite a scary time to say the least.  Lots of conversations about what would you do if you only had four minutes to live (four minutes being the estimated time from warning to impact for the UK).

I also recall going to a site of some importance (though for the life of me I can't remember what went on there!), but I distinctly remember having to enter via some seriously heavy doors and asking the bloke there what the weird foot-wide pipes were with big steel and rubber flaps over the ends that were in the walls of every room, close to the ceiling.  Apparently they were to equalise the pressure on both sides of the wall in the even of a nuclear strike so that the walls wouldn't collapse.

It seems bonkers now to anyone under 40 that we were all living under the real threat of nuclear war in recent times.  "Fallout shelter" was a phrase in very common use.  It's weird to me that enough time has passed for there to be (almost) middle-aged people living in Britain today who have no idea of any of this !

I don't want to go back to living with that hanging over my head.

I remember growing up during the 70's and 80's Cold War also and fuck me it was scary as a child having to think about the reality of it, however unlikely. Sometimes I'd hear planes overhead whilst awake in bed in the dark, just circling to land at our airport looking back, but thinking what if that's one on it's way and they're not going to give us any warning? Brezhnev squaring up against Reagan, etc.

Watching The War Games as a young teenager, having teachers who were in CND. Being taken to a theatrical version of When the Wind Blows (way before the Waters album) at the Everyman in town by my Mum. It wasn't exactly a hopeful time.

I do think, however, that the threat of MAD has passed, but the nuclear threat has not. Smaller scale weapons and dirty bombs are now the thing to watch for. The "suitcase nuke" so beloved of spy fiction in the 80/90's being an actual reality now.

Plenty of other shit to be worried about these days, but the Atomic Punk taking power over the pond hasn't eased my worry much...

TheBlueWolf

I was a kid and remember the paranoia really well. Films like "Threads" stuck with me too.

There's no doubt that Trump is a petty, childish egomaniac but blowing the planet up with nuclear weapons isn't as effective as all the fake stories, "alternative facts", etc that one could spread round the internet. 

Deadman

Anyone who was in the forces will tell you that exercises that would be based around nuclear, chemical and biological warfare (with a bit of an invasion by Russian Spetsnaz at your base thrown in for good measure) was sometimes a weekly occurrence. 

I loved those days (not at the time, but now I think about it). Powdered eggs, chemical toilets, fullers earth, living in nuclear hardened personnel shelters, no daylight, no telly, hot bunking, the list goes on. Everyone was involved. How we afforded it is anyone's guess. The defence budget was obviously bigger in the good old days.

mike_l

Considering I lived on the flight path into RAF Alconbury (bang in  the middle) and about a mile from the runway at RAF Wyton and saw the aircraft every single day, I never once felt that there was a proper threat. Moreso after a friends brother (who was in the army) said "The Russians won't attack, they'd only attack if they need food, so they won't nuke if they did".

RocknRollDave

We were shown Threads at school. Or possibly The Day After...or possibly both. This, IIRC, was at junior school, so no older than 10. WTF were they thinking?!

ICBM

I never felt at threat from a deliberate Russian attack either - I never believed they wanted to conquer Western Europe. The real danger was an accidental war triggered by a mistake or a misunderstanding, or one caused by something that got out of hand elsewhere in the world and escalated. We came very close to it a couple of times - Cuba in particular, but there was also one in (I think) the early 80s where a NATO exercise was misinterpreted by the Russians as an attack.

ToneControl

rlw

Never, ever, bothered me.  Even with all the military stuff  - airshows, navy days, army days - I did with my dad, it never occurred to me what all the stuff was for or that we were in any danger.

thecolourbox

I saw Cold War Kids at the Barfly in Birmingham just as they released their second album, they were brilliant as it happens

Emp_Fab

Well, we were very very nearly all turned into dust in 1983....  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident

RobDavies

I lived almost next door to RAF Uxbridge and can remember the air raid siren test they did, just once and without warning, around 1980. 

As a ten year old, I really did think that was my lot.  

gubble

ICBM said:

 We came very close to it a couple of times - Cuba in particular, but there was also one in (I think) the early 80s where a NATO exercise was misinterpreted by the Russians as an attack.

Operation Able Archer 1983

That's probably the closest we've ever come to it.

If North Koea manage to make a proper Nuclear ICBM that's the biggest worry. If for some reason there's serious threat to the current regeime there then Kim probably will press the button. He's 100% the 'I'm going down and I'm taking you with me' type.

axisus

The one thing that really got to me was the scene of nuclear war in the Terminator 2 film. Sarah Connor has a dream, bombs going off, massive blast, empty playground etc. I remember being freaked out for ages by that.

Axe_meister

Germany in the 80s.
first Monday of every month at 10am. Air raid siren tests 

FX_Munkee

I think we'll be ok as long as no one posts Nena's 99 red balloons.

Stevepage

axisus said:

The one thing that really got to me was the scene of nuclear war in the Terminator 2 film. Sarah Connor has a dream, bombs going off, massive blast, empty playground etc. I remember being freaked out for ages by that.

Frightened the shit out of me as a kid. Shouldn't of been watching it of course.

Our economies play a bigger role now days so for any one to nuke the shit out of another would spell economic suicide. 

failed_astronaut

I've been listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast about the Blitz. I'm 2 hours into a 6 1/2 hour long show and it's sobering stuff! I'm too young to remember any of the cold war paranoia but I vaguely remember the Berlin Wall coming down. The worst part of it so far was when he talks about Truman ensuring that it would be the presidents decision whether to "push the button" and I just though of the buffoon who's sitting in that chair now!

Of course, as a fan of the Fallout series, it's all morbidly fascinating to me!