Truth About BioChemical Weapons

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http://www.unknowncountry.com/mindframe/opinion/

 

14-Feb-2003

Taking the Terror out of Terror Weapons

 

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s Viewpoint on Surviving Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Attacks

SFC Red Thomas (Ret) Armor Master Gunner Mesa, AZ

 

Unlimited reproduction and distribution is authorized. Just give me credit

for my work, and, keep in context.

 

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

 

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 but 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 a 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 nitride 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 Weapons

 

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 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 em (rinse em 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.

 

Biological Weapons

 

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 so easy as the TV makes it sound, why has Saddam Hussein spent

twenty years, millions, 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. If you don't like my work, don't nit pick,

just sit down and explain chemical, nuclear, and biological warfare in a

document around three pages long yourself. 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

 

 

" The future of the planet hangs on two words—mystical activism. Without it

we burn out, dry out, disheartened by the onslaught of evil and ignorance.

"

--Andrew Harvey, writer