November Alpha; The Edge of the Night
There are times when you learn things that you will never, ever use in your life; It is the so-called useless knowledge, knowledge of things such as "what is the average distance between the earth and the moon?" (384,400 km), "How many hearts does an octopus have?" (3), "what is the furthest island from the mainland?" (Tristan da Cunha), things that are still interesting or have some intellectual appeal, but that very likely will not serve any useful purpose during your life (unless you are an astronaut, marine biologist or sailor).
This concept of useless knowledge was unknown to me until it was presented to me at the most unusual moment imaginable; during a nuclear attack drill.
During my high school years in the 1980s, I had the opportunity to attend high school in a small town in the United States. This city was relatively close to several places of military importance.
At that time the Cold War between the West and the Soviet bloc was in full swing, so drills for the possible occurrence of a nuclear attack were scheduled within normal educational activities.
I had to attend one of them.
The drill would start with the sound of an air raid siren, which would continue sounding for several minutes.
Our teacher had to direct us to our benches and show us the duck an cover position we had to adopt under the tables, with our hands on our heads. She should do the same while the siren sounded. All this was as indicated in an informative brochure.
On the day of the scheduled drill the siren began to sound and sitting at our desks we waited for our teacher to give the instructions to follow.
But she didn't move, so I asked her if we should do what the instructions said. She said no, that we should not do anything, just wait for the end of the siren call.
I understood that safety-related activities were important, so I asked our teacher why we weren't doing what we were supposed to practice.
She responded that this knowledge and its practice was useless, because if a real nuclear attack ever happened there would be nothing we could do but wait.
Her response left me thinking for a long time, until today.
Since that event I have never seen myself in a similar kinf of drill again. In fact, I don't even remember ever talking to anyone about the possibilities of a nuclear war.
I have come to the conclusion that the possibility of nuclear war is some kind of a taboo in our society; something that is not thought or talked about, even knowing that this is a real issue.
This at least in the Latin American society in which I live.
I understand that in other latitudes there are elaborate evacuation plans and special shelters for the population in the event of an attack with nuclear weapons. This is understandable in a country that possesses these weapons and has enemies who also possess them. Both will find themselves in each other's sights.
But in Latin America this is not the case.
We have our own problems with natural disasters or political problems, but there are no nuclear weapons. For our society it is not an issue simply because the actors in this case are too far away.
However, I am going to make a parenthesis on this apparent Latin American cultural taboo regarding nuclear weapons.
November Alpha
One day, one afternoon or any other night someone is going to give a radio warning:
"November Alpha, November Alpha"
"Nuclear Attack, I repeat, Nuclear Attack confirmed in a defined region of the country...".
A warning signal will spread across the entire planet like wildfire through the networks, radios and television.
The first nuclear attack carried out against an enemy since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of World War II.
From here on everything will be a dense cloud of possibilities. Many things can be triggered, whether an escalation that involves more actors with greater violence for much longer or an armistice that stops all hostilities.
I am not going to describe anything that a war of this type means, as it is not the objective of this article.
We can only imagine that the human and natural ecosystem disaster would be of a magnitude never seen before.
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The call
What calls me to address this topic is rather to make sense of the concern that my high school teacher left back in the 80s with her response; "In the event of a nuclear attack there is nothing to do but wait."
Although my teacher's answer made perfect sense then and still does, there are four things that can be done, if you have enough time, resources and common sense to do so.
1) Given that the vast majority of nuclear targets are located in the northern hemisphere, after a nuclear exchange the lifting of large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere will be generated, which will give way to the so-called nuclear fallout from radioactive clouds that will travel around the globe in a few days, mostly enveloping the northern hemisphere, depending on the prevailing winds.
The first strategic action would be to be as far as possible from a nuclear target, positioning ourselves in the opposite hemisphere of the planet, under the Equator, including the territories of southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the southern cone of South America.
2) Given that an event of this type will trigger the most basic human instinct, that of survival, there will be vandalism and looting in many cities, apart from a logistical disruption, so the second strategic action would be to live in places with low population density, far from large cities, with access to uncontaminated agricultural water and food.
Even in cities you could live if you have the knowledge to preserve food, get clean water and if madness does not exceed the limits of civility, surviving until normality and the rule of Law returns.
3) If the first victim of war is truth, the second is trust.
For this reason, a third strategic action would be to have a circle of reliable people to withstand both emotionally and practically the times to come.
We are social animals. If we do not have our own tribe, we could find ourselves facing other larger aggressive groups or desperate lone wolves who, in the absence of containment, would be willing to do anything to survive.
4) The impact of a nuclear war will not only happen where the bombs fall, but on every screen that has the capacity to connect around the world, since the networks and the media will be constantly showing the most terrible details in each video and journalistic report, fueling people's anxiety.
Achieving enough peace in a troubled world will require you to cultivate your inner self. If you are a believer in a higher Being, then strengthening your faith and reinforcing your spirituality will be key to maintaining your sanity.
The fear
Although the idea of a nuclear war seems distant and even strange in our time, nothing I have proposed is fictional.
At this very moment there are countries with nuclear capabilities engaged in low-level conflicts that can escalate in a few hours without prior warning.
Although the Cold War ended with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, nuclear weapons did not disappear. Furthermore, their technology expanded and now more countries can have these destruction capabilities.
Right now there are dozens of nuclear missiles ready to be launched from silos underground, from bombers in flight and from submarines hidden somewhere under the sea.
The purpose of this article is not to sow fear, on the contrary, according to what I have stated, fear is already installed; the fear of talking about the possibility of nuclear war.
And yes, actions can be taken, they just have to be considered long before events unfold.
A nuclear conflict is one of the least accessible ideas in our minds, relegated to the bottom of the trunk of nightmares, however, this possibility is real and if it happens, it will be the border that is crossed from our world full of distractions and light entertainment to another full of new challenges.
It will be like going from day to night.
But even at night you can survive, until dawn comes again, and so each day that passes the nightmares that we humans have decided to create go further away.
Blessings,
Luis Leighton