# "Duck and cover" in the USSR?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-and-cover-in-the-ussr/824759>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 19, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-and-cover-in-the-ussr/824759 "2018-11-19T02:21:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-and-cover-in-the-ussr/824759/1 "2018-11-19T02:21:04Z")

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Does anyone know whether school kids in the Soviet Union had to “duck and cover” during the cold war?

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-and-cover-in-the-ussr/824759/2 "2018-11-19T03:02:44Z")

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Wikipedia says [yes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_cover):

> [@](#):
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> Children in the Soviet Union likewise received almost identical classes on countermeasures, according to Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War authors Zubok and Pleshakov.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-and-cover-in-the-ussr/824759/3 "2018-11-19T03:11:39Z")

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I don’t specifically know about those type of drills, but here’s [a Cold War report](http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/684382.pdf) from the Rand Corporation that says actual civilian defense training began in high school.

[Their civil defense materials don’t seem all that different](https://io9.gizmodo.com/weird-and-disturbing-soviet-civil-defense-graphics-from-1587989156) from the kind of stuff the U.S. put out during the same time (there’s even typical d&c instructions), although I don’t remember an American version of an armored baby carriage. Scroll down far enough and you’ll see it!