Authored by: KAlden on Wednesday, January 25 2012 @ 10:05 AM GMT+5

I remember seeing this-and other films in grade school and every week we would have a day where we would all practice our "duck and cover" techniques.
Unbelievable that the government; our parents, all adults actually thought this would save us from an attack. As I remember it we were even instructed to duck and cover if we were outside when an attack came and we would be safe. Our current "evacuation routes" are just more of the same ridiculous propaganda-as though anything will be able to protect us when VY finally blows.

Authored by: cgrotke on Wednesday, January 25 2012 @ 10:16 AM GMT+5

You just reminded me of bomb threats at school.

There was one year when someone was calling our Middle
School and threatening to blow it up. That would trigger an
alarm that meant we all had to open our lockers, then go
stand outside while the school was searched. It happened
a few times during a short period.

Our (great) science teacher spoke to us about it one day.
He said that any smart bomber would probably wire a
bomb so that it would be triggered by a student putting
their key into their locker to complete the circuit.

Needless to say, the next alarm freaked us all out. We all
were looking at one another while we put our keys into our
lockers - perhaps for the last time! Eek!

It was a fun version of being scared, as we really doubted
that anyone was doing anything other than calling in to
harass the school, but there was that slight possibility...

I wasn't the Duck and Cover generation. My class didn't
expect to survive nuclear attacks, though we thought the
US and Russia would launch them someday. We just
assumed we'd die.

I wonder which was better for us little kids - thinking we'd
perish, or thinking it would be safe under the desk.

And what do kids today think of all this?

Authored by: KAlden on Wednesday, January 25 2012 @ 12:37 PM GMT+5

I remember being terrified every time we had a "practice" wondering if my brothers and sister would be safe.(oddly, I never worried about my parents-maybe I just assumed that because they were adults they would be okay) A neighbor had a bomb shelter built and I have very vivid memories of seeing it for the first time-loaded with canned goods and blankets; boxes and boxes of bandaids (?) and a row of gas masks. I also remember that this neighbor's daughter used to taunt me that her father was not going to let us in "when the bomb came" Not sure which is better-knowing you'll die or hoping that you won't but maybe your siblings might. Was scary stuff then..just as scary now.

Authored by: tiny on Wednesday, January 25 2012 @ 01:13 PM GMT+5

@KAlden. Wow, that's really something what you had to
practice. Without revealing your age, can you tell us what
year did you do this in? It would add some perspective to
some of us.
I am in my mid fifties and I did not have to do any of that
stuff, or any of the bomb threat stuff CGrotke mentions.
All we ever practiced was fire alarm drills and Stop, Drop
and Roll. My parents told me a lot of bomb shelters were
sold in our area in the late 1950's.

Authored by: KAlden on Wednesday, January 25 2012 @ 02:26 PM GMT+5

I was born in 1947 so this would have been in 1953-and through the late 50s. I don't remember having to do the practices once I was in the 6th grade. And then, of course the 60s were upon us and everyone had realized that hiding under a desk (or anywhere, for that matter) wasn't going to make the slightest difference in the final oucome if there was a nuclear attack.

Authored by: HowardP on Wednesday, January 25 2012 @ 02:52 PM GMT+5

I also remember the drills in grade school. We were told
to line up in the hallways but not near the doors or any
windows so as not to be hit with flying glass when the
bombs went off! Amazing that they would tell young
children such scary things and not expect us to get
nightmares from such drills. We were told that our parents
would come and pick us up when the all clear was given.
Assuming our parents heeded the warnings and stayed
away from the flying glass! We had a fallout shelter in the
basement of our building stocked with survival gear,
including large black plastic bags that we could put the
"deceased" ones into and when the winds were right,drag
out of the shelter..Who thought of this stuff? What
demented people thought we could survive an atomic
attack....

Authored by: KAlden on Wednesday, January 25 2012 @ 03:32 PM GMT+5

Terrifying wasn't it? We never got to go into the hallways-randomly a voice would come on over the scratchy intercom saying" Students! Duck and Cover!"
We just crouched under our very tiny desks and covered our heads with our hands. Of course the classrooms all had many very large windows in them so we would have been out of luck as far as escaping any flying glass. Two schools had "Fall Out "shelters in their basements for those folks unlucky enough to not have a wooden desk to hide under, I guess. It's a wonder any of us survived with any sanity. Yet looking back those years seemed really carefree as far as day to day life went. Funny how we can be trained to accept just about anything as "normal"

Authored by: SK-B on Wednesday, January 25 2012 @ 10:43 PM GMT+5

Brings back fond memories of being 8 years old, in the third
grade in 1953.

Every so often, without warning, the teacher would yell:
"Take Cover!" and we would dive under our desks. Other
times there would be a siren signally a schoolwide shelter
drill, and we would file into the hallway and take cover
against the walls.

My father kept bottles of water in the basement, so at least
my family was ready to survive an atomic attack.

Authored by: vtstream on Thursday, January 26 2012 @ 01:11 AM GMT+5

In the 1960's during the Cuban missile crisis, we had drills where we would have to go out to the central hallways of the school and crouch in a fetal position with our backs against the wall. The school was specially designed to have a low one story profile and had earth berms around the perimeter, supposedly to block noise from traffic. But I think it was to survive a nuclear attack.

Years later I asked my friend who emigrated from Russia who is the same age as I am if he ever had to do this as a child. He just laughed and shook his head saying at that age he was more concerned with playing soccer than getting blown up by an atomic bomb. That was when I finally realized it was all propaganda designed to instill fear.

Authored by: cgrotke on Thursday, January 26 2012 @ 10:48 AM GMT+5

You've got to be carefully taught to hate...

(from South Pacific)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JjiaRJqKIU

Authored by: bootsie on Thursday, January 26 2012 @ 06:42 PM GMT+5

The South Pacific video reminds of studying WW II in school and the idea was put forth that the government had to rush to intern every Japanese American citizen before they had the chance to organize a rebellion on American soil. No mention of the young children involved.
I also remember being petrified of Russians, and I frequently asked my parents if they were really going to get us. Then I saw the movie "The Russians are coming, The Russians are coming", after that I was secretly hoping a submarine would make its way up the Connecticuit River.