What to Do After a Nuclear War – Sewing Machines Los Angeles

This week Pakistan announced that if we, the U.S. ever pulled a stunt like the one we pulled the week before, we would be in big trouble. They would respond with ‘Total Force’. What’s that mean? Pakistani D-Day on some beach south of Los Angeles? Probably not. I guess they’re referencing their nuclear aresenal. Yes, Pakistan has nuclear weapons. They probably don’t have a delivery system that can drop Nuclear-grade Weapons right on top of us, but maybe they do. Maybe? You really can never tell. Especially if someone’s thinking outside the box. There are ways.

Which got me to thinking about what happens after a nuclear war. I think a lot of us think about that. Especially we children of the bomb. The Stop, Drop and Roller’s as I like to call them. Kids who grew up under the threat of an imminent Soviet First Strike. Everything doesn’t get killed outright. In fact a lot of stuff survives. Major metropolitan areas might be destroyed but there’s a lot of an in-between. People have thought about this so much that there are even games like Fallout and Metro 2033 that imagine the big what if of life after Nuclear War. Ther’s even a genre of fiction called Post Apocalyptic Fiction, or PA fiction. You’ll find it right next to the zombie books.

I think one thing everyone can agree on in this scenario is that society, global and national, is going to collapse for awhile. It’s happened before. Consider the Dark Ages. Most don’t expect much beyond the strongest i.e. motorcycle gang, local warlord types maintaining control over a limited area the size of say a town. Society collapses pretty fast when people have guns and resources are scarce. Especially when there’s no recognized authority figure to enforce social contracts you’re probably looking at some hard times what with the motorcycle gang and all.

So let’s say your one of the few who make it. You’re far enough away from the destruction that you can gather some supplies and survive. But what skills do you need? I have a friend who spends his life training for the apocalypse. He’s constantly teaching himself new skills and knowledge so that he will in fact be prepared in case of…whatever. He’s not crazy. In fact it’s really nothing more than his own syllabus as he continues to improve himself post-college. It’s how he spends his weekends.

And maybe it’s not so startling. Society goes sideways pretty fast. Whether it’s a flood. An earthquake. The government can’t pay its bills. Even when you’re on vacation and the country you’re staying in collapses economically. These skills could come in handy.

So I made a list to get you thinking. A list of things you might want to start learning. Danger abounds. Stuff happens. Things go sideways.

• Learn how to purify water. Get comfortable with knowing how to find and identify drinkable water. Chances are the stores are going to be looted and vending machines run on power. But there is a crowbar for that.
• Learn how to shoot a gun. Yes for self defense. Guns are complex pieces of equipment. From the safety to the cleaning and maintenance aspect, guns can be tricky. Not all ammunition fits all guns. Some guns perform specific actions. Taking a basic gun safety class is a skill even those who oppose guns should consider. The truth is, because of their very nature, guns require a healthy amount of respect. Plus you might want to eat something.
• Which brings us to the next skill. Field dressing an animal. Sure you can shoot an animal and eat it. But you might make yourself sick. An animal needs to be field dressed before it can be skinned and then prepared for dinner. What is field dressing? It mainly involves removing the bladder and some other parts so that the meat doesn’t get infected with feces and waste. Weird huh?
• What do you do if you get sick or injured? Basic first aid. A course in basic first aid is probably good no matter what. A friend might not go into shock once they see downtown being burned to the ground, but they might have a heart attack at a restaurant or during a fight. Knowing CPR and other first aid skills is probably handy now or after the fall of society.
• The next skill is ‘a choose your own adventure’ skill. Here you might want to have a craft. Sewing, cooking, metal work, tool making and so on. Being handy in a craft based skill generally allows a certain amount of familiarity at working with your hands and problem solving. Plus if society does begin to rebuild your job at writing code might not be there for the next hundred years. Knowing how to bake or make leather goods is something people will exchange goods with you for. See they were right in camp when you learned to make leather wallets!

There are many other skills you can learn. Most of them end up being fun and you’ll probably never ever need to use them in an emergency, but they’re good to have. You can justify learning to sail and other adventure skills in the interest of being prepared.