Who here lived the cold war?

a reply to: openminded2011

I was talking to someone about this the other day. I agree with them, and think a lot of it is related to Social Media coverage. We're bombarded with more and more of this every day, a lot more than we ever saw during the Cold War. Back then, it was 5-6, and 10-11, and a blurb on the news. Today, it's 24/7/365 constant bombardment, "Breaking News" all over the 24 hour news cycle, and more.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: openminded2011

I was talking to someone about this the other day. I agree with them, and think a lot of it is related to Social Media coverage. We're bombarded with more and more of this every day, a lot more than we ever saw during the Cold War. Back then, it was 5-6, and 10-11, and a blurb on the news. Today, it's 24/7/365 constant bombardment, "Breaking News" all over the 24 hour news cycle, and more.

Yes, and when the govt begins sending letters and issuing survival booklets, THEN you can get really scared. Until then, everyone should keep in mind this "reporting" is directly linked to advertising dollars for your viewership. In addition, we now have a LOT more bloviating "analysts" flapping their gums over nothing than ever before.

a reply to: Teikiatsu

I have caught up with a lot of friends from school through FB and they all seem pretty well adjusted.

I have to agree with your there.

Growing up during this time, even in the midst of air raid drills, dark curtains, gas lanterns, and bomb shelters, I don't remember any real moments of unusual angst.

My dad was in the military. I was a military brat that got so used to pulling up stakes every 2 years, that for the first decade of my life post graduation, I was a gypsy nomad, Air Force, female, that didn't know the meaning of putting down roots.

I grew up so entrenched in the military, and government system, that it was second nature. My mother settled us in the country when it became too burdensome to try to haul six kids around the world every 2 years, so I got to see the experience from the civilian side.

My Irish-Jewish grandfather did not trust the government, but was wise enough to make it a non-issue. My Native American grandmother, taught her children independence, away from the government and of course, there was no trust or love lost on her part either.

So I grew up close to the earth and the river. I was told to keep my ear to the ground and my eyes to the skies. I was taught that loose lips sink ships, that our time on this earth was short, so you made the most out of every second you were blessed to receive.

I was taught that God, country, and family are things you live for, that death is inevitable and that the moment you take your first breath, you start the journey towards your last. I was too busy as a child during that time, living. The only time I remember thinking about dying, is when I got caught doing something I had no business doing. I remember the looming threat of being taken out of this world, but only from the ones that brought me into it.

a reply to: Krakatoa

Exactly. It drives me nuts.

a reply to: Zaphod58

As bad as things are today, I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here losing my mind every day, because something else happens. I have no control over things happening halfway around the world, and while I'd hate to see something happen that leads to a war, sitting here freaking out over everything isn't going to do any good either.

My feelings exactly.

And really, I know it's selfish, but if tomorrow an H-bomb turns me into vapor, I'll have lived twice over more than 90% of the people alive today. I've been dirt poor, and I've been well-off. I've topped out in two careers, and am starting on a third. I've sat in the bosses chair, and I've been the bosses stepstool. I've seen the bulk of North America from the cab of a big truck. I've walked the streets of Queens, NY, and hiked trails where no one has been in decades. I've been a fighter and a roughneck, and I've been a pacifist. I've been a drunk, and I've been a tee-totaler. I watched the rise of TV, computers, and mobile computing, and been a part of it. I can drive and see things I helped make.

I'm satisfied.

Bring it, Ruskies!

TheRedneck

My childhood was mostly in the 80's. It was a roller coaster ride, especially in the earlier part. The arms race was in full swing. Since no one ever saw an end to either the U.S. or Soviet Union, we grew up believing that nuclear war would be inevitable eventually, that something would break. It wasn't always talked about, but it was a big black elephant in the room.

Its why Gen Xers tend to be a pretty cynical, depressed lot. We grew up with the certainty that at some point, everything was going to go boom, so we ended up pretty fatalistic.

a reply to: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

We had a group of Russian kids come visit Hawaii, and found out that they were remarkably like us, only spoke a different language. It was a great day hanging out with them, and learning about Russia, but you're right. There was a huge sense of fatalism growing up during that period.

I am 66 and was in the navy during the cold war.

The US had mines that could close harbors with just one mine. project Ghost Warrior

Been a preper ever since.

a reply to: ANNED

That sounds pretty interesting. Can you possibly expand on that? I hesitate to google random terms related to national safety.

a reply to: Golantrevize

yes i too remember the day after and it was scary thinking about it but one was worse it was set up like an actual news broadcast out of charelston ,sc saying that a terrorist group had supposedly snuck a nuke into charelston on a freighter and was threatening to set it off it took me a few minutes to realize it was a movie but my step dad never did and we were within the area that would have been irradiated if it went off when the nuke went off on the show i think he actually messed himself before i let him know it was a movie.

I grew up during the 70s and 80s. Nuclear war was always a scary possibility. I lived near the Niagara Power Project, which was a primary strike target. You take out the largest hydroelectric plant in the US and you take out power of the entire Eastern seaboard. We knew this, even as kids. It never really kept me up at night, because I knew that I would be vapors within 20 minutes. Because of this, we didn't have nuclear shelters. We never did drills. People never built backyard fallout shelters. The inevitability of death allowed us to ignore it, because we had no control over it. We saw nuclear war as a plot device in tons of movies (Mad Max, Terminator, Red Dawn) and thought "living in a nuclear wasteland, wouldn't that be nice?"

I wasn't allowed to watch "The Day After." I was in parochial school and the Bishop told parents to I honestly didn't see it until the 1990s, well after the Wall came down. At that point, it seemed almost silly, but I can imagine how scary it would have been in the 80s.

Today, I know that the nukes are still there, still pointed at me. I live in a different first strike zone, now. Again, the inevitability of death allows me to ignore it.

I was born in 1961, my earliest memory is of JFK's Funeral, I remember RFK and MLK being shot, and the riots in Detroit and Watts. My early world was nothing but turmoil, I was 14 when Vietnam ended, I Joined the USMC at 18, and am a Certified Cold Warrior, I went from Duck and Cover to the Stealth Bomber. I was never "afraid" because it was just "normal", It was like other had said, a tornado or a hurricane. It was "natural". Looking back on it as an informed I adult I'm horrified.


How funny the US gov sites are not secure huh?? especially with this subject...

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

We had a group of Russian kids come visit Hawaii, and found out that they were remarkably like us, only spoke a different language. It was a great day hanging out with them, and learning about Russia, but you're right. There was a huge sense of fatalism growing up during that period.

Glasnost was the only bright spot of hope during that time. I remember exchange programs like that, the dim hopes the future wouldn't be dark.

Even most kids we went to school with assumed Russians weren't that different than us, but it didn't matter, because the controls weren't in our hands, and whoever pushed the button, it wouldn't matter what anyone thought.

The fatalism and dark, gloomy outlook is really reflected in a lot of the sci-fi of the time, which was dark and often post apocalyptic (mad Max, Terminator, Day After Tomorrow, The Stand, ect). While the fatalism was there, at least, there really wasn't that much Russo-phobia in the context. I don't remember any hatred or even contempt of Russia, just competitive fear.

a reply to: TheRedneck

seems like you've had a nice life.

originally posted by: eriktheawful
a reply to: Golantrevize

Grew up with it during the 70's and as a teen in the early 80's. Served during the last part of it an when the wall came down.

Today's atmosphere compared to then?

Pfft. Trust me, it was a LOT scarier back then. Most people just knew there was going to be a nuclear war between the US and the USSR, and it could happen any day back then.

Now? Not so much now. About the only time I see it talked about or worried about now is on web sites like this.

Your story sounds like mine exactly. I agree 100% about it being very much worse then than now. The Ruskies were stealing our tech pretty good back then with some of the spies we caught being proof. Some of the defectors were saying McCarthy had it right all along about the agents infiltrating Hollywood and boy does it look like they are still working for that One World under Communist Dictatorial rule where by the rules are only for the little people...... (All animals are equal. Some are more equal is ringing true ; the author Orwell was spot on)

I was pretty young when the Viet Namh War ended but I do remember that communists were the bad guys in movies and on TV. In history class we learned about the Cold War and Iron Curtain. Did I fear the bomb? We knew that if they dropped them we were dead even though we'd probably only have to deal with radioactive fallout and such. Basically I formed the opinion that communists are A holes, fascist scumbags and maybe only slightly better than Nazis. Nowadays younger people( 25 and under) are so hopelessly clueless they probably have no idea just what communism is and are only vaguely aware of our own political system. World affairs and terrorism? Forget it. I thought the movie Red Dawn was a joke, BTW. Preposterous. The older Cold war movies, Dr. Strangelove, Failsafe, The Manchurian Candidate, those were good.

originally posted by: SprocketUK
a reply to: Golantrevize

I waa a teen in the 80s. A lot of the music, tv and literature of those times dealt with the background fear of a nuclear war.

We didn't sit around talking about the end of the world but there was a feeling amongst my peers that rules didn't matter much because everything was goung to go bang at some point.


There was a lot of violence, drug taking, glue sniffing drinking and random sex going on.

No one cared too much for anything.

Those are my overriding memories of the time.

Phil Collins' song "Not Much Love" comes to mind

"I cant believe the news today, they say the dangers gone away, but i can see the fire is still alight and burning into the night". "This is the time, this is the place, so we look to the future, but there's not much love to go around"

The worst part of the 1980s for me wasn't so much the conscription and direct hellishness.

No, it was Bob Geldof-type schmaltzy songs.
Let all the pop stars get together and do a song, and the problems of the world will evaporate.

Apparently even today Geldof can't stand "Do they know it's Christmas?" and "We are the world".

originally posted by: Golantrevize
a reply to: mirageman

Wow ...pls check your inbox

I did and I don't see anything. ????


Billy Joel probably summed up the whole Cold War era



Time he did a sequel "We didn't stop the fire" whilst he's still around.

a reply to: mirageman

There was a lot of great music too.

A song that encapsulates the Cold War for me though is Nena - 99 Red Balloons.