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Before Homeland Security | 68 comments (54 topical, 14 editorial, 0 hidden)

Civil in Defense in Soviet Russia (5.00 / 1) (#50)
by strlen on Mon Apr 7th, 2003 at 01:53:38 AM EST
(strlen)

This wasn't limited to the American side of the cold war. It was proably a lot more intensive in the USSR. Everyone knew where the local bomb shelter was, and as a I kid, I used to crawl all over the bomb shelter from time to time.. it was quite an fascinating place to explore, as it consist of quite a big underground network of basements with entrances into tunnels, into which air came in, through ventilation shaft. In my neighborhood, a World War II era bunker, left there by the Nazis (who occupied the era), was also integrated into the bomb shelter network, as it was too strng to demolish it without damaging near by buildings. That made for even more fascinating exploration.

In school, ever after the cold war, there was a civil defense class. I remember that I even had to keep a notebook for that class, in 7th grade, in 1996. The class, while it included information on what do when the American Imrepalists Enemies (yes, some of the textbooks used that phrasing), focused more on industrial-era disasters, such as spillover of chlorin or amonia ("not in my back yard" and residential/industrial zoning are very much an American/West European luxury from what I've seen) gases.

Those the class included, information on such as how to put on a gas mask (everyone in our class had to do it), and a direct and detailed overview of various chemical weapons. We even had a large poster on the wall detailing every chemical and biological agent, and even vials of agent that were supposed to simulate the look of those chemical weapons! Later-grade version would include basic information on the use of firearms.. but I've was already in the United States when the time to learn that came. And yes the school had a bomb shelter.

All government corporations also had similar civil defense networks. My mom's employer (Belarusian SSR's Academy of Sciences Institute of Cybernetics) included nuclear drills, and had civil defense posters in every room. In fact, when she was layed off (after the fall of USSR), she took one such poster home, but unfortunately we didn't bring it to the US.

What we didn't have, however were fire drills. In fact, I don't think we had fire sprinklers, and in some rooms even smoke detectors in our schools. And there was no smoke detector in our appartement, either.

--
Britney Spears: vast silicone mounds of right wing conspiracy

Before Homeland Security | 68 comments (54 topical, 14 editorial, 0 hidden)

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