In the event of nuclear war, what would you do?

[Thaluikhain]

As a major US ally and member of NATO, right next to the US with alot of important strategic resources I'd guess it's more likely to get thoroughly plastered. Denial of strategic reources to the enemy was pretty high on the prorities of both the US and the soviets. Basically, if the other side might be able to use it in some way, expect it to get a very unwelcome present.

Not sure how important Canada's alliances would be, given most of those allies would cease to exist (in the normal sense) during the war. Likewise, strategic resources are a concern, yes, but not an immediate one after the war, possibly it'd be enough merely to cripple the government and infrastructure, rather than cause widespread physical destruction.

Also, the USSR/Russians have a limited amount of weapons, especially given the US's ABM systems. They know a certain amount of missiles won't get through, but not which ones, so many targets they need to be sure of would be targeted by many missiles so that at least one can be guaranteed to get through, meaning many weapons would be wasted.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

What a fucking depressing thread.

OT: Die. Or get raped then die. One of the two.

Like I said, fucking depressing thread.

Edit: Wait, I forgot, there's a third option. Get eaten. Can't leave out the cannibals.

 

[Bobbovski]

Would probably die from the fallout. I live fairly close to the capital and a military base.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Not sure how important Canada's alliances would be, given most of those allies would cease to exist (in the normal sense) during the war. Likewise, strategic resources are a concern, yes, but not an immediate one after the war, possibly it'd be enough merely to cripple the government and infrastructure, rather than cause widespread physical destruction.

Also, the USSR/Russians have a limited amount of weapons, especially given the US's ABM systems. They know a certain amount of missiles won't get through, but not which ones, so many targets they need to be sure of would be targeted by many missiles so that at least one can be guaranteed to get through, meaning many weapons would be wasted.

Canada's a major NATO partner, and was vital to SIOP and the North Atlantic, & NORAD. There are plenty of shared military assets. It'll be important enough for long enough that it'll get a lot of bombs. Even though the USSR is no more, any Russian/US exchange would happen pretty much along the same lines. Once it's broken down to the point of chucking nukes at each other's cities then it's not just going to be the US and Russia in the fight, no matter how much Canada might want to be left out of it.

I'm not saying they'd be hitting every bit of tundra, or indeed any bit of tundra, but they are pretty much the same target as far as military and industrial targets go. In retrospect I probably should not have used the phrase "thoroughly plastered". That's left for North Dakota etc.

8,500 warheads give or take. More than enough.

 

[Heathcliff84]

Well I live in the northern Plain of Germany.
I was a conscript so if I were to survive I would rejoin the army to repell any conventional followup attack on Germany or its NATO-Allies. Sounds to me like as good a Plan as any, at least there is the possiblity to get some payback.

 

[demoman_chaos]

I live in a small redneck town several hours from anything worth a damn. I doubt the fallout would even get here (though we would just barely be within the fallout range on the two areas I can think of worth hitting according to the nukemap if the wind went in the perfect way).

 

[spartan231490]

Thankfully, my location has no real tactical value or terror value for a nuclear strike. Closest target is some 50-100 miles away. My greater concern is that I'm on the downwind side of the US, meaning long-term fallout has the potential to be very high. In the event of a nuclear war, I would probably pull out an atlas and map out a route that could get me to a location with lower fallout risk. Maybe Montana or southern California.

 

[OctoberFox]

I would obviously die, just not certain if quickly or slowly. As bad as people are to each other when things are well, when they go bad people get a lot worse. The police and governing bodies in Louisiana in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita, for example. I'm not a killer of men, not in principle alone, but in just sheer force of will. If it came to it, in a post-nuclear wasteland where it's every man for himself I would get murdered in a hurry, of this I've not doubt, especially since I live in America, where other people are quite a bit shootier than I.

 

[General Winter]

Nothing would fundamentally change after a nuclear war. The radioactivity would be concentrated in small areas and would be gone within 48 hours. Only very concentrated population centers and military targets (troop concentrations and bunkers) would be hit. There is nothing "end of the world" about nuclear bombs.

I would have to disagree.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_winter

The main problem with nuclear war for most people would not be the nukes themselves, it would be the dangerous aftereffects.

Back to the original post, my city would probably be targeted, but I'm far enough from the center that I would probably not die from the initial hit.

 

[mavkiel]

So nobody else had the idea of grabbing a hockey mask and perfecting your road warrior esque type speech?

 

[Yellowfish]

I live right in the center of Moscow, my house's just a short walk away from the Kremlin. I guess I'll either get vaporised or crawl around all blind and deaf and blistered and in horrible pain for a couple hours before finally dying. There's literally no chance of me surviving.

Wow, this thread is depressing.

 

[Synthetica]

Not sure. Either I'd be dead (40 km from Amsterdam, the closest realistic target nearby), or I'd be getting to somewhere it's NOT raining nukes. We do have a cellar filled with wine and potatoes though, so you might find me there.

 

[Moloch Sacrifice]

I'm pretty much in the best place to survive.

I live in a small town with only a few thousand residents. on two sides, we have mountains for pretty much forever. On one side, we have a peat bog, and the other is the sea. We are miles from any major city or other nuclear target, and all of which are on the far side of the aforementioned mountains.

HOWEVER:
Despite the small size of the town, it has a reasonably successful university, which, due to it's location, is particularly well funded in the agricultural and biological sciences. There is a significant amount of farmland that has been squeezed in and around the mountains, and there is also a small fishing fleet.

In short, my town is protected by both distance and natural barriers from any potential fallout sources. It possesses ample food supply, and has a large body of knowledgeable specialists.

You speak of merely surviving. We will flourish.

 

[bdeamon]

I'd just not die.

 

[Barbas]

What a fucking depressing thread.

OT: Die. Or get raped then die. One of the two.

Like I said, fucking depressing thread.

Edit: Wait, I forgot, there's a third option. Get eaten. Can't leave out the cannibals.

I think you made the thread even more depressing. Like Caesar's Legion [http://static4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110310031905/villains/images/a/ae/Vulpes.jpg]-level depressing. I think I need some ice cream. :c

OT: Bummer, but I think the lucky people would be the ones who vanish in the initial fire - they won't have to live to see hell come to Earth, or pick through the ruins of a dead world...or suffer mutation and blindness.

...The hypocrisy displayed in my own contribution makes me even more sad. Now I'm going to need some Skittles too. :C

 

[Scarecrow1001]

I have been collecting bottle caps for this exact reason!
OT, I live in the south of Australia, who is going to bomb us? We're needed for materials.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Die most likely. I don't live that far from Oakland, which will either be a target or San Fran across the bay. In such a case, suicide wouldn't seem like that bad of an option.

 

[Darren716]

I'm pretty fucked, first off if Albany or Schenectady get hit it's almost guaranteed that I'll get killed in the initial blast. Even if they don't get hit New York City definitely will and with a pretty good sized bomb at that and since I'm directly up wind by about 180 miles we'll get some pretty bad radiation poisoning. Man this was an uplifting thread.