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?

If were talking actual / potential nuclear attack you shelter in place, simple as that.

You wont be able or allowed to travel, if you did for example turn up at another place youll get zero help and .. a "bad" reception, remember law and the state will be or have fallen apart.

Sellafield will be decommissioned in around 100 years but plenty far away from springfields, not sure why you linked them together Harwell is nothing in comparison.

Best to hope for is non nuclear conflict and children evacuated to the countryside like WW2.

We are likely to have disruption before any war, think banking systems collapsing and IT collapses. That is the kind of thing I think I will actively prepare for whilst having a plan for conventional war.
If it's a nuclear war I am going towards any blast as I really don't want to survive it. (disabled and in my 50s, a post nuclear war existence wouldn't be great for me).

People planning to decamp to rural Ireland should bear in mind that Ireland has something like 80% of the northern hemisphere's communication cables running through our coastal waters, and a lot of cloud data storage facilities. Plus we have next to no defensive capability, a quick Google suggests around 7 thousand regular and 3 thousand reservists. So we present a low effort target for any country wishing to exert control over Europe, they can literally just walk in and we wouldn't be able to stop them. Perhaps I should download an app to learn Russian.

Have you seen what the Russians do to the people whose countries they invade? Don't waste your time learning Russian, you wouldn't get the chance to use it

I am one of the pp talking about
moving to another country, but I didn’t mean that to be when all hell breaks loose but before when things are still calm enough. I know from experience visas can take forever and even though you would be let in without one (think refugee status) there is probably a limit to where you can fly too and safety might already be compromised. What I meant in an earlier post about moving to NZ was that a this plan was already there when we were younger (I went there twice, about one year in total and absolutely loved it). and without kids and that the threat of possible war (cyber, ‘boots on the ground’,nuclear or otherwise) has just reactivated that idea in my head.

Of course every country has issues but there at least would be space to grow your own food etc. and be more self sufficient. There is just no way that is possible where I am considering the population to surface ratio of our small country (NL).
I think it’s good to at least research where you would want to go to in case things go south and just have a plan or at least general idea what such a move might entail, and what is best timing wise (if you have that luxury.)

So instead of an escape plan I view it more as a plan based on a dream but kickstarted by the worries about a war…
If, like some other posters, would hold visas or double passports I would definitely go for it- even just as an adventure with the plan to come back in a few years. But it really depends on your personal circumstances and preferences!

Concur. The best thing you can have in the event of a Russian invasion is a quick and reliable suicide method. Especially if you are female.

I feel like my life is coming full circle! We had these conversations constantly as kids during the height of the Cold War - "what would you do in the 4 minute warning?" etc.

And we watched Threads, Where the Wind Blows, countless other terrifying programmes and read the ridiculous Government leaflets. We genuinely thought at one point that we wouldn't reach adult hood but at least then we could just avoid the news twice a day and not read a paper to forget about it! No constant news updates and social media to scare us.

Those saying they would skip off to Scotland, Somerset or wherever have clearly no idea about the after effects of the bomb and the way the wind will carry the radiation poisoning far and wide.
And it's unlikely to be one device that is detonated.

But I actually don't think Russia or any other country is that stupid. In the event of an actual Nuclear War with each side retaliating the radiation would eventually spread all over the world and have a huge impact.
And Russia know better than most how bad it would be after the Chernobyl disaster.
I think cyber attacks are far more likely.

There was an area in Sweden that was badly affected by Chernobyl. It’s a great place to pick berries, but after that everything was just poison.

Also, it depends what the scenario is. Just Russia, yeah moving to America might make sense but actually might not be necessary (I think all out war with Russia would be difficult but I don't think they would march all the way through Europe in 72 hours or whatever). Just Russia V Europe probably wouldn't see Russian troops marching to Westminister. There would be cyber attacks and a really grim meatgrinder on the defensive line.

If America was helping Russia in some way then that would be a different scenario (and a bit scary). But then, would you want to be there? I can't imagine it would be much fun. In WW2 they put American citizens with Japanese heritage in internment camps for security purposes.

And it's a bit rich all the Americans on this thread saying oh well we'll just move back to the US and leave you to it when their country/government is responsible for this mess anyway. Typical yanks.

Given the way most many MNers speak about them and their country (as evidenced by your own post) I wouldn't blame them at all. Why on earth would they want to stay with such ignorant, hostile, people?

Also, there were threads on here about the threat of war long before Trump became president, or have you conveniently forgotten that?

Ah the generosity of the British spirit. So lovely to know our compatriots are there to support each other in times of dire need 🙄

Wales is full of 40mph speed limits now so the journey would take so long that you'd all be dead from radiation poisoning before you got past Welshpool.

@selffellatingouroborosofhate it's 20mph not 40.

@readytogo79

Better you know now you're not welcome than waste the fuel getting here. Try giving Scotland a knock, they might let you in.

@LastNightMyPJsSavedMyLife wow you're an absolute charmer aren't you! Does the rest of Wales know you're assuming the role of spokesperson for an entire nation?

I thought it was 20mph in settlements and 40mph everywhere else bar dual carriageways and motorways?

Scotland has a massive bullseye on it called HMNB Clyde. You'd be very foolish to go there.

I really love your post, and I think that in the current dangerous world, we should stop restricting ourselves to "nice conversation."
As an American, I've often thought about how much braver Europeans must be, having experience with war on their own territory.

I’m not sure if I’m being ridiculous. Could I have some other views pls? A very close family member is looking to buy a house in Lossiemouth in Scotland. At any other time I wouldn’t have given it a thought, but given the current political climate would they be in danger if a war started? I know Lossiemouth has a big RAF base and wonder if that would be an early target.
I want to tell them to factor this into
their thinking, but don’t want to scare them unnecessarily.
Thanks for your thoughts.

I have a plan.

Not telling you though. You might turn into zombies. Plus you are the competition in a post apocalyptic scenario. Given that they'll be a break down in civilization because we are so dependent on technology in a way we haven't been in previous wars and things like communication will be the first things to go.

Are you prepared to kill? What's your defence plan? What will you eat and drink? Do you have survival knowledge?

I think we'd have a better chance than most. If we survived the first wave of attacks. There wouldn't need to be more than one or two bombs.

Do you honestly believe that if there is a conflict significant enough that it deteriorates to the point that Russia/China are lobbing nukes at Lossiemouth, that you are going to be just a-ok living anywhere on the UK mainland?

Yes, you are being ridiculous.

Realistically, I don't think that Russia will have the capability of attacking another country after this shit show for at least 20 years, when their new generation kicks in.
This scaremongering by the government that they'll take over multiple countries and then get here is pretty unbelievable.
However, yes it's clear that they're already attacking us in an underhand way. At times, I've wished our government would pipe down with the Ukraine sentiment however, after seeing the way Zelensky was treated in the US, it's clear to me that we're doing the right thing.
I suspect Trump is going to try his hardest to change the 2-term law over there so we have to get to grips with the fact that we won't have a friend in America for a long time. It should have been obvious with all of the allegations of Russian election tampering as to which horse Trump would back however, the American people made their choice.
Hopefully all of this will bring us back into the European fold!
I worry about conscription for my children but it's one of a million worries. Not even close to the top.

Thank you @XDownwiththissortofthingX think I needed a head wobble 🫨

I don't fear a Russian army maybe I should but it can't take Ukraine so why would it get any further.
However it can send missiles but again one problem Ukraine has is the skies, we have lots of planes so we would easily bomb them.
China seems to want to copy many UK towns so I guess if China reared up we would be in trouble, if they wanted Europe I'm not sure what we could all do?
Try and find a remote valley somewhere....