[Promotum] Bio/Chem/Nuke facts

[Edmund A. Hintz]

Seemingly a pretty good article on the various bogey weapons. Thanks to 
Marjorie for the forward.

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The Real Deal About Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Warfare

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. 

Lesson number one: 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 gonna 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 nitrite 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 in 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 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. This is how we the people of the United
States can rob these people of their most desired goal, your terror. 
  
SFC Red Thomas (Ret) 
Armor Master Gunner 
Mesa, AZ 

Reproduction and distribution is free and unlimited.   

Addendum of  16 Oct 01: The talking heads on TV have learned to
pronounce the word anthrax and now they're addicted to saying it. 
Let's put this hype to rest: First; Ask yourself honestly "What are the
odds of me getting picked out of 270,000,000 other Americans for this
attack?"  Second; realize that "More people have choked to death on
food than have gotten anthrax in the last two weeks and only one
died."  The terrorists are preying on your fear and the media's
addiction to lazy reporting of sensational news. Here's another real
deal from Red "The fastest way to cut these attacks is to not show them
we're scared, the more times they see us shaking in our boots the
happier they will be."  As FDR said "The only thing you have to fear,
is fear itself."



Peace,

Edmund A. Hintz              **|**     "You may say I'm a dreamer,
Mac Techie, Unix Geek,      *  |  *      But I'm not the only one...
Mac/Unix Consultant        *  /|\  *     I hope someday you'll join us,
<ed@hintz.org>              */ | \*      And the world will live as one.
'78 Westy                    *****      Imagine."
                     http://www.hintz.org