Share Your Cold War Memories

[HuckleberryFun]

I was a kid in the last days of the Cold War, but I remember it well.
Do you remember the Cold War? Do you ever get just a little nostalgic for the days when oblivion was just 36 minutes away? Share your memories of life under the H-bomb when there were Commies under every bed. Ah, the good old days!

Here's mine:
Duck and cover! Getting our little azzes under our school desks as a counter measure to being vaporized (yeah, that would help...). Later, as smart azz junior high kids we'd crack ourselves up mimicking the guy on the radio: "This has been a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. If this had been an actual emergency place your head between your legs and kiss your azz goodbye."

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[Stomper]

For some of us the Cold War wasn't all that cold... that's all I got to say about that.

 

[Jamie6.5]

Duck and cover? In my day it was called a "Drop Drill."
Then we'd hear examples of/test for the "Air Raid" alarm, and all go over the route(s) to the fallout shelter, AKA the basement.
Then afterwards we usually got to watch a Civil Defense film.

And yes, we really did all hold our collective breaths during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 

[CountryGent]

I too was a child of the Cold War. My parents were preparedness-minded and lived off the beaten path for a reason. Memories, well, a few come to mind ....

• When there was a flare-up somewhere in the world, the adults making dark jokes about "we might be glowing in the dark tonight."
• The film Red Dawn watched through a child's eyes when it first came out.
• Seeing a scientific presentation about nuclear winter and then trying to explain said to friend the next morning on the school bus.
• Watching the various meetings between US and Soviet leaders. The ones with Reagan and Gorbachev stick out.
• News footage of the Soviet quagmire in Afghanistan.
• We didn't have television, but memories of fellow children and at least one adult talking about the television airing of The Day After.
• My father would, at times, pickup something from the liquor store on the way out of town. The man who owned the establishment was a patriotic guy and had this big glass display showing the respective nuclear arsenals of the US and the Ruskies.
• The James Bond flicks.
• The Olympic boycott. I only remember the second one (Summer 1984) clearly.
• The Mad Max flicks.
• The US-Soviet "Space Bridge" broadcasts.
• One of the schools I attended had a fallout shelter at one point, but, iirc, it was just used for storage by that point.
• The fallout shelter signs rusting away on various buildings.

And probably a bunch more I have forgotten.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

I have to think your worried we are headed for another one?

 

[CountryGent]

I have to think your worried we are headed for another one?

I can't speak for the OP, but in watching the recent news, I suspect we are ...

 

[Jim Colvill]

I remember the Duck and Cover drills. Really very silly when you thought about it; if you ever saw the flash you were going to be roast chicken. Then, in the Seventies, I was with an armor battalion in Germany; Our mission was to hold the Fulda Gap until reinforcements arrived. We were stoned most of the time when we weren't out on maneuvers. Luckily Ivan never came across and he was as stoned as we were.

 

[WAYNO]

As a participant of the Cold War, the Army taught me how to hate commies. I learned well, and I will never trust the Rooshkies, or any other Socialist or Communist. Any or all of them would still bury us tomorrow if they could. I believe they are still waiting for their opportunity. And there are folks within our own country that are creating the opportunity.

We (military) were spread everywhere across the globe. The military was huge. And no, it was not good duty.

I remember in the fifties and sixties, the big air raid sirens in every neighborhood. They'd test them periodically, and they were loud. I remember the air raid drills in school. Jump under a desk and cover the back of my neck with my hands. I remember on 80th and Duke in Portland. There was a contractor there that would install buried fallout shelters in your back yard. They had one on display at the place. A big corrugated pipe with a hatch on top. I remember at the county and state fair, there were fellers selling canned water. The original preppers.

What I really remember is the Civil Defense tests on the TV and radio. Every time they'd break in for a test, we all thought that this was the big one.

WAYNO.

 

[Capn Jack]

Moscow Molly telling us which fire extinguishers
in our main hangar were out of date.
Though she did play better music than AFN...

 

[Brutus57]

JUst thinking about the bubblegum the Russians pulled in the Cold War pizzes me off. I hope they get bled dry in Syria. If it wouldn't screw up the rest of the world I'd like to see a half dozen Chernobyls But then, my knowledge of "some" of the crap they pulled was at the classified level. The only good military commie/Russki is a dead one above the rank O-3 IMHO. Pity we have no American elected officials will to stand up to Putin.

Brutus Out

 

[Stomper]

As a participant of the Cold War, the Army taught me how to hate commies. I learned well, and I will never trust the Rooshkies, or any other Socialist or Communist. Any or all of them would still bury us tomorrow if they could. I believe they are still waiting for their opportunity. And there are folks within our own country that are creating the opportunity.

We (military) were spread everywhere across the globe. The military was huge. And no, it was not good duty.

I fully agree, I spent the prime of my youth (and it cost me my first marriage) on the line. Now we find their wannabe flunkies running the place here... I bubblegumming hate commies & socialists (commie light), and "statists" in general.

 

[Riot]

The inside of my dad's sack was pretty warm...

 

[HuckleberryFun]

I saw Red Dawn when it came out and left the theater sure that I too could fight off Russian/Cuban occupation with just a few of my best buddies. Also there was Miracle Mile, in which you had just 30 minutes to get the hell out of LA...like that was possible!

The air raid siren in our town would test on the last Tuesday of the month: an eerie wail. Also remember some car radios would have little Civil Defense symbols on them: those were the preset frequencies for alerts.

 

[STUKA]

As a kid (Early 80's),I was scared to death hearing an air raid siren go off in Seaside (Or was it Long Beach?)
Turns out they used it for a fire alarm (or was it a Tsunami drill?)
Man,I'm getting old.CRS.

As I recall,up until about 1990,being patriotic was still socially acceptable.Movies had Commies as the bad guys,of course Red Dawn,and Rocky wore US flag shorts (flag code violation alert)

I remember going to Portland "Wrasslin" and chanting USA! USA! USA! whenever a bad guy foreigner had a bout.

Around 2000,a friend of mine got a big ol anti Commie tattoo-the hammer and sickle with the line through it..I thought,"Dude,there arent even any Commies anymore"
Little did I know,they would take over the United States.
He did get it on his hand though,so,kinda dumb.

 

[captqc]

The house I grew up in had a concrete shelter in the basement.

 

[Who The F R U]

Nuclear air raid drills until JR High ,Anchorage had a air raid siren in front of every school in town.
And Red Dawn was every kid's favorite movie.

Oh I almost forgot the Bear Bombers breaking US Air space 2-3 times a year and the Jets Going at Full After Burner out of Elmendorf .
The runway is 1/4 mile from downtown straight off the end of a bluff.

 

[Who The F R U]

JUst thinking about the bubblegum the Russians pulled in the Cold War pizzes me off. I hope they get bled dry in Syria. If it wouldn't screw up the rest of the world I'd like to see a half dozen Chernobyls But then, my knowledge of "some" of the crap they pulled was at the classified level. The only good military commie/Russki is a dead one above the rank O-3 IMHO. Pity we have no American elected officials will to stand up to Putin.

Brutus Out

I hate to say it but the Russian's are the good guy's now and we are the one's F'n Up the world.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I caught the tail end of the Cold War! For me being stationed at the hot side in Germany, like posted above, We were constantly on alert for the scramble sirens to go off and we trained relentlessly! One thing I remember quite well with the end of the Russian empire, we went into the down sizing almost over night. Flight hours and readiness dropped way off, accidents were way more frequent and a lot of good fighter and bomber crews lost there lives! We went from a 94% ready status to about 60% with in a matter of weeks. Parts, fuel, maint hours, weapons, and food all dried up. Ground crews sat idle because the jets couldn't fly, or broke when started. We also got caught up in a mass conversion, For me and my team's, we had been doing things the Vietnam way, and all of a sudden we were expected to make drastic changes across the board. New Aircraft, new weapons, new gear, new tactics, and a new command structure! It was a tough transition, but we had a good General Officer who took over command of all A.F. wings and unified several commands under one roof. We also saw a drastic change in the way we were deployed and the types of wings that would be sent out. We also changed how we deployed out squadrons, instead of an in theater deployment attached ( composited in) we would be permentally assigned to A fighter wing instead of a transport wing. In that we logged a lot more flight hours and training, but it was of huge benefit to all! The end of the cold war marked many changes for all in the services, we became leaner and much meaner for the most part. We cut the fat with a lot of older airframes getting placed in storage and we got smaller numbers of way better airframs to replace them! We also promoted flight crews better, and encouraged them to stay on till mandated retirement age, and that really helped morale as well as making ground crew accountable and to give them ownership of the mission just like the flight crews! We started having big competitions for readiness and for lowest failures! it took some time, but when I made it to retirement, we were back with a vengeance with flight to fight readiness rating of close to 99%!!! Now that last 8 years have seen a back slide with out armed forces,, one I hope we can recover from, cause the Commies are back and are getting frisky!!!

 

[eldbillbo]

? Share your memories of life under the H-bomb when there were Commies under every bed. Ah, the good old days!"

Naw back then the commies were across the ocean now some of them are running the country.

 

[HuckleberryFun]

The inside of my dad's sack was pretty warm...

Oh, I'm sorry. I should have said: MILLENIALS STAY OUT!
For once no one gives a damn what you millenials think.
Ahhh, it felt good to say that. Now get off my lawn! Dag nabbit!