Growing Up In The Cold War...

I remember Nuclear war being a distinct possibility. I remember being getting instructions on what to do if a nuke dropped while we were at School.

I remember getting shown Threads - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MCbTvoNrAg"]THREADS (Nuclear War) - YouTube[/ame] and Where The Wind Blows in Modern Studies.

Horrific time to be growing up.

 

I have a very vague memory of seeing a cartoon in primary school of what to do if we got nuked. I'm not certain if this is true or if i made it up because no one else my age seems to remember getting this :smiley-laughing002:

I did watch Threads pretty young though, it scared the life out of me. I watched it again recently and it had the same effect.

 

I remember watching The Day After in the 80's and it put the * up me then,worse than any horror movie because it could easily have happened or could still happen.Well worth a watch for anyone who hasn't seen it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085404/

[ame]http://youtu.be/r2B7sdLPMfc[/ame]

 

I've read a load of nuclear and survival books written during this period... Crazy times.

 

Growing up during the troubles was worse although thankfully I was raised near the end of it

 

I'm sure it was. That's for a different thread, though.

 

It was a scary time growing up in the cold war. Knowing that one nuke being launched would end it all and the constant posturing between the ussr and the us it was a strange time growing up back then.

 

Thank Stanislav Petrov that you made it through

 

Yep the russian officer that thankfully had a very cool head I guess we all owe a debt of gratitude to comrade petrov, although the kremlin kinda shunned him did they not?

 

"Threads "and "The Day After" scared the * out of me as a little boy. While the threat of a global thermonuclear war is not like it was back then, there is always a threat when thousands of nukes still exist. I hope my kids can live in a world without nuclear weapons some day ("you can say I'm a dreamer....")

 

He effectively got demoted for not filling in the proper paperwork.

 

I remember watching a documentry a few yrs back about the incident, I think due to the cold war the soviets if they heaped praise on petrov for avoiding nuclear destruction, would have exposed the flaw in there early warning system.

Petrov should be given the nobel peace prize imo.

 

Absolutely! On both counts.

 

That will never happen but look at it this way. Nuclear weapons have actually deterred war. None of the big nations will ever fire nukes at each other as there is absolutely no gain from it. Also if there had never been nuclear weapons, the Soviets and the US would of inevitably went to war causing argubly the bloodiest conflict the world will have ever seen. Sure during the cold war there was proxy wars such as Korea and Vietnam but if both the superpowers didn't have nukes then Europe and probably most of the world would still be rubble right now.

 

1983 was a very tense yr just read about operation able nato excercise that once again the soviets thought nato was about to launch a pre emptive strike,thankfully I was 11 and probably waiting on the next episode of auf weidersen pet :smiley-laughing002:

 

I dunno about that if north korea or pakistan india or even israel while these horrendous weapons are still in existence someone could think ah * it

 

I'm not sure how you can say that when the example of Stanislav Petrov has already been mentioned.

One man's judgment, going against all his training and orders, means we are here today.

What's to say that couldn't happen again with a not quite so favourable outcome?

We can recover from a conventional weapons war, no matter how severe. A Nuclear war would destroy civilization.

 

It must have been extremely tense.

I know it was a one off incident but being a young lad watching the twin towers fall was pretty scary. That really put the fear in me for a long time. Mission accomplished Al-Qaeda.

 

I doubt ''ah * it'' is the thought process when launching a nuclear warhead :smiley-laughing002:

 

I hope so mate :smiley-laughing002: