# Nuclear War scare: what would be your "get out of town" threshold? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 24, 2024, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162 "2024-08-24T22:57:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/81 "2024-08-26T14:44:16Z")
[Looks](https://www.google.de/maps/place/Minot,+Norddakota,+USA/@48.2373351,-101.3118948,10730m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x52deb78ae5ce7f0d:0xbcc590331b734416!8m2!3d48.2329668!4d-101.2922906!16zL20vMHlzNGY?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDgyMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) like the cemetery I used to take my grandfather for a walk in his old days so he would get familiar with the surroundings. Seems like a nice idea for a very long week-end _after_ the missiles rain down. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/82 "2024-08-26T15:00:38Z")
As most others here have opined I have nowhere to go. I would likely just indulge myself in whatever earthly pleasures I have available and wait for the end. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/83 "2024-08-26T16:26:24Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I doubt anybody but a handful of guys in the Russian military and perhaps some western spy agencies really have any idea where ground zero is. And they ain’t sharing that info with us. Your cabin in the mountains could just as easily be near an undisclosed strategic target as your house in the suburbs. > > Another thing: Why would I abandon my home to looters and squatters just to become someone else’s looter and squatter? All the people who’ve posted saying “I have zero chance because I live near ###” have a pretty good idea where ground zero is. As for abandoning one’s home, I presume that in the ordinary course of things one can go out of town for a few days and return to an intact home. If one’s home ended up vaporized it would be a moot point. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/84 "2024-08-26T16:28:18Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > And the other 8+ million people living nearby doing the same thing? I’ve been stuck in traffic for over three hours and barely moved a few miles on a normal day. No one around here is getting anywhere. Again for the umpteenth time, if you KNOW that’s what’s going to happen in an emergency, at what point do you conclude that leaving early to be on the safe side is a good idea? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/85 "2024-08-26T16:37:31Z")
As a survivor of Minot AFB, I am proud to wax nostalgic with, “Only the Best Come North. . . _and live_” Tripler “Why not Minot? 'Cause freezin’s the reason.” ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/86 "2024-08-26T16:49:41Z")
The Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, Iranians, and other adversaries have near-real time data on our static (non-moving) targets, and damn good intel on our moving assets too. Between watching our social media, flying ‘weather balloons’ over our nation, using orbital assets for photovisual surveying, or eyes-on from “tourists,” they know exactly what to hit, when, and how. This has been going on since prior to World War I. Only the weapons and tactics have changed. Tripler You think Putin’s not watching our Carrier Battle Groups leaving Norfolk? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/87 "2024-08-26T17:37:28Z")
The Titan II silos were demolished in 1986. There is an airbase in Jacksonville which I imagine is a target. I’m more worried about living close to that (in nuclear weapon terms) than when, like Beck, I lived out in the woods. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/88 "2024-08-26T17:59:26Z")
If the alarm went off and I found out a thermonuclear missile was coming my way, I’d run and dive under my desk, then duck and cover like a pro. However, I would not run with scissors—someone could get hurt that way. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/89 "2024-08-26T18:10:30Z")
Damn, you’ve become quite useful. I like your advice. Kinda nice, sharp tongued, clever. Funny and smart. Here’s your chance to write a thin pamphlet. Make alittle scratch for the future. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/90 "2024-08-26T18:14:12Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Damn, you’ve become quite useful. > > I like your advice. I think so too. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/91 "2024-08-26T18:18:36Z")
It helps to have had actual experience…and a person on the very inside for the first ten years ready to give a shout-out when the shit hits the fan. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/92 "2024-08-26T18:45:06Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I’m asking at what point in that deterioration would one contemplate trying to beat the rush? Where am I going to go? I’m in the middle of Europe and I already have my iodine tablets. Bunker’s in the basement. I’m staying here. At least some of my neighbors have said that they wouldn’t go in the bunker because they would prefer to go fast and not suffer afterwards. > **[Switzerland sets ‘gold standard’ for designing bunkers](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/switzerland-sets-gold-standard-for-designing-bunkers/48604892)** > > Switzerland has gained a strong reputation since the Cold War for building and equipping underground bomb shelters. Family members in the US will stay put for the same reasons as my neighbors. Rather die quick than suffer afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/93 "2024-08-26T19:53:08Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > > And the other 8+ million people living nearby doing the same thing? I’ve been stuck in traffic for over three hours and barely moved a few miles on a normal day. No one around here is getting anywhere. > > Again for the umpteenth time, if you KNOW that’s what’s going to happen in an emergency, at what point do you conclude that leaving early to be on the safe side is a good idea? And again, because you seem to not want to understand, what is this early information that I am supposed to know that everyone around me doesn’t? This questions only seems relevant to those already living in the country away from people. I wouldn’t even believe any threat was actually legitimate until something like the President appearing on live TV saying a nuke will hit in x hours/days and then the screens going to the Emergency Broadcast signal. Anything less than that and it’s just crazy conspiracy people doing what they do. There is no “early.” ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/94 "2024-08-26T20:01:51Z")
I’m in SW MT and NW and Central MT is going to get hit and hard. I’ve dirt biked past the very first ICBM silo in the Little Belt mountains. However, that’s 70 miles away as the crow flies and the prevailing winds tend to be southwesterly. So we might survive, and we have solar power, running water, and lots of ruminants traversing the property. We probably wouldn’t survive all that long once the winter sets in and supply chains shut down. And we run out of ammunition. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/95 "2024-08-26T20:14:12Z")
I don’t see the Russians or Chinese targeting the greater Tel Aviv area. Why waste a missile? If a nuclear war breaks out between the superpowers, I’ll hunker down in my building’s bomb shelter and wait to see what happens. The Iranians, though… if they get their hands on nukes, and successfully shoot them at Israel, I’m dead. No question about it. It’s a small country, and there’s nowhere to run. So I’ll probably stay home - but not because I plan to die. Hopefully, not that many missiles will be launched, and missiles can be intercepted, or can fail, or nukes can fizzle. I’ll probably be killed, but maybe I won’t. So I’ll stand my ground, curse at the sky and dare them to kill me. What do I have to lose? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/96 "2024-08-26T21:42:11Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > Where am I going to go? I’m in the middle of Europe and I already have my iodine tablets. Bunker’s in the basement. I’m staying here. At least some of my neighbors have said that they wouldn’t go in the bunker because they would prefer to go fast and not suffer afterwards. In your case it sounds like you’re better prepared than 99% of the population of the USA. You’re **at** the location most Americans would want to flee to. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/97 "2024-08-26T21:46:28Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > And again, because you seem to not want to understand, what is this early information that I am supposed to know that everyone around me doesn’t? The same news reports that everyone around you hears too. The only question is whether you’d be significantly more ~~paranoid~~ cautious than the majority. > [@](#): > > I wouldn’t even believe any threat was actually legitimate until something like the President appearing on live TV saying a nuke will hit in x hours/days and then the screens going to the Emergency Broadcast signal. Anything less than that and it’s just crazy conspiracy people doing what they do. There is no “early.” Okay, question answered. You wouldn’t act unless you were sure, by which time it would be too late. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/98 "2024-08-26T21:55:20Z")
My BFF’s son did an internship in Minot, ND a couple years ago. He was a bit weirded out when he found this out, but I reminded them that they had previously lived in Wichita, which was (and probably still is) a prime target. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/99 "2024-08-26T22:04:39Z")
Here’s a book about the bunkers designed for Congress and other DC-area VIPs. TL : DR - many of them have said over the years that they wouldn’t want to go there unless they could bring their families with them. > **[Raven Rock](https://moonpalacebooks.com/item/qu7Mmis64A-3PgQZmi0g-w)** > > The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself--While the Rest of Us Die ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162/100 "2024-08-26T22:07:28Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Serious answer, I would probably not try to get away. A few months ago I sat in traffic for four hours due to people trying to get out of a major metropolitan area _just to see an eclipse_. If there’s some major nuclear shit going down, I expect traffic to be at a standstill. And even so, where am I going to go? Sorry to hear you got caught in eclipse traffic. But you raise a good point. I have a place to go that _might_ be remote enough to escape the initial exchange, but it’s a 7 hour drive on a good day that doesn’t involve nuclear warfare. In fact, I just got back from spending a week there. I’m outside Chicago. High probability of either instant death or dying horribly within weeks. If the emergency alert thing went off I’d probably try to hunker down and hope for favorable winds. After a week or two bunkering in, when the radiation threat is lessened, _then_ I might attempt the trek to my haven. There really isn’t a good answer for me, given my resources, my job, and where I live. I would have to have sufficient assurance that nuclear exchange/end of the world is going to happen within 48 hours to abandon my life and head out, but not sufficiently widespread knowledge that everyone else would know that far ahead. On eclipse day I didn’t get caught in the traffic jam because I am more than willing to take back roads and avoid freeways, but I wasn’t the only one. Fleeing “certain” death many more people would be willing to take the back roads. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Their arsenal is likely decrepit and exaggerated. Quite likely, but even if only 1 in 100 of their missiles worked/got through that’s still 50-60 nuclear bombs, any one of which can really ruin your day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-scare-what-would-be-your-get-out-of-town-threshold/1006162.md?page=6)