The Scoop on Chemical, Biological
and Nuclear Attacks
by SFC Red Thomas (Retired)
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.
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 Karo 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 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 herd 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 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 newspaper 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.
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 kiddy 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, 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.
—Red Thomas
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