Thanks Gary.
The text is very instructive and usefull.
-----Mensagem original-----
De: Gary Shank <shank@duq.edu>
Para: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Data: Terça-feira, 23 de Outubro de 2001 15:55
Assunto: Re: easing up
> "As I write, hundreds of thousands of refugees are facing starvation
>between
>Afghanastan and Pakistan, two countries that weren't very well off before
>the latest round of conflict. Somehow, that situation is more on my mind
>than academic one-up-person-ship these days."
>mike
> Yes, aside the terrible situation of people trying to scape from
>conflict zone there's also the ocidental paranoia that comes from a
>possible terrorist attack (bombs, airplanes, anthrax contamination etc).
>Today, in Switzerland, it was probable found anthrax mixed with
>cocaine... Last week a bomb exploded here, in Brazil, in Rio, at a
>McDonnald's shop... And news from white pownd in letters comes from many
>places...
my brother is a chemist and sent this along to me.
thought it might be of use to xmca readers, esp since the threats are now
worldwide
gary
Words of Wisdom From An Armor Master
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 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 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. 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..
who-is-at @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
PLANETNEWS broadcast...
SFC Red Thomas (Ret)
Armor Master Gunner
Mesa, AZ
Reproduction and distribution is authorized and encouraged..
Just give me credit for my work..
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