Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Duck and cover
Date:	8/9/2017 2:49:30 AM

Do you remember if you were in school during the Cold War, and particularly around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when they taught us to duck and cover our heads in the case of a missile strike?  What the heck were they thinking..... having seen the effects of a strike on Hiroshima, did any adult think that we could save ourselves from ducking and covering? 

Did you know that the center courtyard in the Pentagon, is referred to as Ground Zero? I'm not sure what is out there now, since 9/11 when they used it for victims in body bags from the hit on the Pentagon - but they used to keep it planted with Lilies, there are beautiful old magnolias, and in the summer there was a hot dog stand and sometimes a subset of one of the military bands would be out there playing on Fridays.  (Of course when you work there, you have no time to sit out there and listen to music)

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Duck and cover
Date:	8/9/2017 9:03:33 AM

I had to get coordination signatures on over 125 joint action packages during my four years in the five sided funny farm, and the signers were scattered about the building.  If the weather allows, one finds the shortest way from Corridor 5 to Corridor 9 or 10 is through the courtyard.  They used to occasionally display in the courtyard new weapons under development....one I remember was an artillery piece that was spring loaded.  It would be in the "cocked" position and just before the shell fired the barrel would be released and begin traveling forward.  The momentum of that mass of steel moving in one direction absorbed almost all of the recoil from the firing of the shell, with just enough recoil left to send the barrel back down into the cocked position.  The theory was that using the mass of the barrel to absorb the recoil greatly reduced the amount of re-aiming required due to the piece shifting around from the impact of the traditional recoil.  I don't know if the thing was eventually procured, but it was an interesting concept.  Any Field Artillery guys out there know the answer?

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Duck and cover
Date:	8/9/2017 10:16:41 AM

When I was working on drug interdiction, I had a lot of Joint Actions too.  I used to dread them, not because of the ridiculous suspense, but each line was numbered and I used to have the hardest time keeping those numbers aligned when responding.  I know they changed this right before I left and we didn't have to have numbered lines.  And then there were the staffing runs all over the building.  I imagine that is all done electronically now.  And of course now they have elevators and escalators.  The A corridors are no longer really wide, because they have built offices.  I wonder if they still have those displays around the building.  I hope that they have replaced all the windows now.  I remember on frosty Monday mornings, we would work with our coats on, because the offices would be freezing.  They used to turn the heat off over the weekends. 

Name:	Moldyoldy -	Reply
Subject:	Duck and cover
Date:	8/10/2017 8:16:11 AM

If you were in the immediate blast zone nothing would help you. But if you were on the periphery you were more likely to be injured from falling debris and roof collapse. It may have been a feeble attempt, but t was better than doing nothing and having more kids die. With only a couple minutes notice before a strike, what else could we do?

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Duck and cover
Date:	8/10/2017 11:02:48 AM

You raise a good point.  I grew up in Monmouth County where Ft. Monmouth and it's satellite, Camp Evans was located.  This was in the days when the government actually had labs and scientist and did their own R&D.  So I believe the idea at the time that those sites would be targeted.  Camp Evans was about 5 miles from my school and Ft. Monmouth was about 20 miles.  Back at that time, I'm not sure how accurate missiles would have been with no GPS.  I don't know, maybe they just wanted to do something, rather than nothing.  But in 1st grade is was scary.  I remember going home, locking the front door and told my mother "The Russians are coming".