We learned about fall-out shelters and the different types of radiation. The half-life of an atom. That cockroaches, rats and chickens were best equipped to handle radiation. There were barrels of crackers and yellow lemon drops stored in the basement of the school. At some point, these were handed out. I remember eating some of the yellow lemon drops and kids took the crackers for their cows to eat.
The basement, where we had physical training, was where the fall out shelter was located. It was in this same area that we had a rifle range. I took the 6 week course on firing a .22 single shot in the basement. The NRA provided the rifles. I just had to get my parents to buy me some shells. As the rifle was single shot, we didn't go through many, so one box sufficed. Teachers taught marksmanship.
I do remember feeling unease around this time. I remember the news casts talking about a war with Mutual Assured Destruction. MAD for short. There were no winners.
I remember during this time that the Air Raid siren would go off from time to time. When I was home, my dog Sam would howl with the siren.
Then I joined the military. I was not keen of the gas chamber in basic training. The CS gas just burned my eyes. I could barely breath. The guy in front of me moving slow, me slamming him against the wall to get out. We went on a field training exercse before graduation from Combat Engineer Advanced Individual Training, and I fell asleep with my gas mask on. I slept the whole night with it on.
I again had to go through the gas chamber for ROTC Advanced Camp. I remember the mucas from my nose was so great that it reached the ground when I bent over. The cadre thought it was hilarious and they snapped a few pictures.
When I was a detachment commander, I attended the two week NBC course at Camp Parks, which was at Dublin CA. This was the summer of 1990. It was old World War II barracks, some of which were literally falling to ground because the Army didn't want to pay for asbestos remediation. We learned to plot the drift of radiation and chemicals.
My units would have NBC exercises and we would put chemical paper on our boots that would change color if it came in contact with chemicals. We also would put up chemical detectors outside of our bivouc area. They would go off if chemcals drifted our way.
I was part of a simulation at Fort Lee, VA concerning combat in South Korea. It was called Operation Prairie Warrior. U.S. forces were hit with a chemical attack. Casualties were high. There was political pressure not to bury the bodies in mass trenches. The solution was to contract for refrigerator vans and put the bodies in cold storage until the combat died down and the bodies could be flown back to the United States.
I remember having nightmares about getting "slimed" by chemicals. I would wake up in a cold sweat.
In the 1990s, I attended a Reserve Organization Association national convention. We discussed
NBC; the conversation was that as a soldier we would most likely not see a biological attack. They were tough to do, compared a chemical attack. Before I deployed to Afghanistan I was given 4 of my 6 anthrax shots. Biological defense.
So here we are today. We are dealing with COVID-19. You can't wear chemical paper outside and it will light up when you are around COVID-19. It is a silent killer. In order to slow the rate of infection, you need for people to shelter in place. But in doing that, you kill your economy. Your service industry people can't earn a living. We did that for awhile, but it was not sustainable.
My wife, who works for a hospital chain, got her first Covid vaccination in January 2021. I searched for vaccines, but it was crazy. A Social Worker Professor at Shippensburg University made the front page because she was a vaccine hunter for the elderly. It was the hunger games, everyone for themselves trying to get the vaccine. I would go to some websites who said I was qualified to get the vaccine, but other websites said I was not qualified. I got a text from the Cumberland VA Clinic which said that they had 300 doses. I was in the office. Before I could get to window to text, all 300 shots were gone. Finally, I got in with the VA.
I got my first Covid shot on St. Patrick's Day the Lebanon VA Hospital. It was like weights were lifted off my shoulders. I got my second shot in April. On Friday, I will go to the VA to get a booster.
At the beginning of the Pandemic, Health Care workers were the heros. Somehow, they have turned into the enemy. Hospitals are overwhelmed with people who refuse to get vaccinated, "freedom".
