Thinking through how you'd protect your family in a war situation

[readytogo79]

Sorry this is not a nice conversation and is not meant to trigger anyone but its a bit weird to have this chat with people at school pick up or similar, so I'm wondering how others are thinking about this. I'll caveat this by saying I'm not "hysterical" (an insult I've seen flying about on here today), or dramatic, and not a conspiracy theorist or anything. I'm a professional academic, pretty moderate left, pretty pragmatic I like to think. I follow politics very closely and it's been a few weeks since I said to my husband that I think there is a case to be made that the US is no longer our ally and that we (the UK & Europe / Allies) should be preparing for the prospect of them being an adversary. I'm now pretty convinced of that.

In practice what could this mean? Article 5 and therefore NATO is looking likely to be rendered meaningless, - so an emboldened Russia invading Moldova, Lithuania, Finland... then Europe having to step up without the US, and potentially - worst case scenario but much more likely than 6 months ago - nuclear war.

I live in central London (zone 2) which my husband and child. I've been trying not to imagine this worst case scenario but given Russia are already attacking us with cyber attacks, undermining our democracy and of course the Skripol attacks etc, it's certainly a possibility one has to think about. If it started to look likely I've been thinking about what we'd do, how we could act fast and where we could go. It's a truly horrible thought and not something I ever thought I'd have to consider. But I've only got one child, and my husband and they are all I have in the world and I can already feel my protectiveness kicking in.

Even though London is our home I'd plan to leave and go somewhere in the UK less of a target. The Lake District, Snowdonia or the Highlands perhaps. I don't know how we would manage to do this but I just feel so strongly I'd want to protect my child and my family unit.

In all seriousness, has anyone thought through a scenario where we are at war, and what you would do to protect your family?

It's a shame we couldn't do that. Export Russian seeking midgies to Europe. Little buggers that will chomp the enemy ( instead of me!)

I have wondered whether it’s sensible to have a bag ready for any sudden event, but haven’t actually done anything about that.

I do think I have a survival instinct, I don’t think I’d be one of these people who say they’d wait to die.

Although I think survival is only the first step. Imagine what the place would look like following an attack. No infrastructure, no petrol, danger everywhere (from other survivors mainly), no lecky, limited food resources. It would be like The Purge as people fought to live. I think being a woman in those times would be grim, but maybe I’ve watched too many apocalyptic films.

My DS18 studies abroad. The plan is if anything happens he stays put and I go to him. DH is on his own. He would just slow me down 😉

Very few places in the UK are completely risk free in terms of nuclear targets. Scotland houses our nuclear subs (Faslane) so isn't necessarily the safe zone people seem to think. Arguably London might actually be the safest bet - an enemy would need a surviving government with which to negotiate. A nuclear attack would probably quickly set off a catastrophic chain of events which I would frankly rather not survive to see anyway.

The simulation that was floating about didn't see them nuking us. It saw them nuking just off Ireland so we would be covered with a radioactive tidel wave to disable us. Nobody wins a nuclear war and you don't want to be saved from one. You want to be in the blast zone.

A cyber attack is far more likely. Watch blackout on C4. Get some ideas on little things you can have in to get through it.

You can do these things in order to feel in control and safer. But ultimately we don't know whats going to happen.

Nuclear war is very very unlikely. If you're going to prepare for war, a conventional European one would be the most likely

Well this thread hasn’t made me at all paranoid!

For civilians to be conscripted the Russians would surely have to be in France. Russia might want to push into Eastern Europe but not the west

It's hard to trust the BBC when they pretend that men can become women and vice-versa. Likewise the NHS.

I think being a woman in those times would be grim

Getting an IUD or IUS is free, lasts for years, and makes forced pregnancy a lot less likely than it would otherwise be.

No infrastructure, no petrol, danger everywhere (from other survivors mainly), no lecky, limited food resources.

Your likely best option is to secure your home against other survivors and make sure you have plenty of water and food. Think about how you will dispose of bodily waste when the sewers stop working as well.

an enemy would need a surviving government with which to negotiate

Nope. They just march in.

I don't think there will be a gentle lead in time where people can decide to leave their job and house, pack up pets and possessions, buy an airline ticket, organise visas and head off to a 'safe' country.

Where do you live? Same here. But the outside siren is of course very effective.

I live and work in central London. My partner and I would probably die.

I have three young adult DC so my biggest worry would be conscription. Not that any of them are really cut out for military action, I'm not sure they would be very useful...

'Slowly at first, then all at once.'

If things get really bad, I think an early death may be the preferable option.

March into what if it's been nuked? They would need a surviving leadership to surrender and stop the escalation process. I think London is less at risk than people generally assume.

Tbh I find posts like these grim. Fellow survivors could be a resource too, you know. There are flats for hospital personnel near where I live. You may need help yourself.

And either way I'd want to share resources with my elderly neighbour who is currently feeding my cat. There's staying alive, which I'm very keen to do, but there's also staying human.

Of coure ultimately we all have no idea how we'd respond if shit hit fan. History tends to record a lot of surprises at those times.

Tbh I find posts like these grim. Fellow survivors could be a resource too, you know. There are flats for hospital personnel near where I live. You may need help yourself.

And either way I'd want to share resources with my elderly neighbour who is currently feeding my cat. There's staying alive, which I'm very keen to do, but there's also staying human.

Of coure ultimately we all have no idea how we'd respond if shit hit fan. History tends to record a lot of surprises at those times.

I certainly wouldn't abandon my partner and small children in a war zone and run away for a better life

If there's no Govt, who will order the escalation of resistance? Take out the Govt and it's game over, no one left in charge of the population.

Think about 1066: no one surrendered to William the Conqueror because the king was dead, there was no one left to surrender, so William could simply take the throne.

In reality, without functioning Govt and infrastructure, things will get very nasty very quickly because the "social contracts" that allow us to sort of trust most people most of the time will fall apart without a legal system and police to punish offenders. The benefit of stealing all your neighbour's food will increase whilst the risk of punishment falls.

We’re a few minutes away from a factory that’s just got a contract to supply Ukraine with weapons.. realistically we’d be toast. I think if things really started to get serious I’d consider moving across the border to the relative neutrality of southern Ireland.

Fuck me, this thread.