Help me settle something
Posted by Writeforwhiskey@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 84 comments
1980 baby. Started Kindergarten in 1985 Chicago. In early elementary we still had to do bomb drills and a few friends younger than me think bomb drills werent a thing anymore by 85. Did an alarm ever go off and you had to get under your desk to cover your head? Was it just my school?
Also, i had shooter drills in late elementary and high school. While Columbine didnt happen until I was in college we had school.shootings well before Colombine they just werent on the news or cared about much. My first shooter drill was 6th or 7th grade (92 or 93). Did you guys have shooter drills in that era or once again, was it just my school?
Maebnus@reddit
Other than fire drills, I had tornado drills. Elementary school has us line up, duck, and cover in the hallway. In a different state (with less common sense), had one in high school where we had to all go to the main common area where the lockers were, which had a huge 2-story wall of windows. So we all gathered next to the biggest amount of glass on the property š« . The lockers werenāt even turned the right way to be any sort of shield at all.
alwaystheocean@reddit
I grew up in California, born in '82. We did bomb/earthquake drills, so it was the same drill for both. They would refer to them as both.
I was a junior in high school when Columbine happened, and we started having drills for active shooters and called-in bomb threats after that.
Golden_Enby@reddit
Same. Born in 82 in California. Did your hs have moronic teens who called in fake bomb and shooter threats? Mine did. It happened way too often for a couple of months after columbine.
Delicious_Sir_1167@reddit
I'm.about your age, not from California. But we had those happen. I clearly remember one such instance between 1998-1999. I don't know why I remember my math class being into an auditorium then.
Street_Breadfruit382@reddit
I was born in ā82 and graduated in ā00. Were you held back a lot?
alwaystheocean@reddit
Not 100% sure what you mean by this, but not at all. Columbine happened April of 1999, so Junior year for us both, if you graduated in 2000 as I did.
Street_Breadfruit382@reddit
Omg. āJunior in High School.āI read it wrong. Sorry. I was just so confused because I was sure my own school shooter scenario happened before Columbine. I started wondering if my own timeline was all messed up. Wouldnāt be the first time.
OppositeRun6503@reddit
Born in 73 and we never had to go through bomb or active shooter drills in school....all we had were routine fire drills on occasion.
geneb0323@reddit
The last time I recall doing a bomb drill was in 1992. After that it was just standard fire drills.
Secret_Elevator17@reddit
In NC born 84 and I remember having to get under my desk and also line up in the hallway on our knees with our hands over our heads - I think they were jsut called disaster drills
11229988B@reddit
Same for me in Iowa
Morriganx3@reddit
This seems so weird. I was born in ā78 and started kindergarten when I was four. Also I grew up in the suburbs of DC. I never once did anything like a bomb or fallout drill.
Ok-Government-7987@reddit
Same here. Camp David was just up the road from me, and we had an Army base in town, I guess they figured if the bombshell fell, we were getting a direct hit.
Blackbird136@reddit
Iām a few hours from you and four years younger, also started kindergarten at four.
The only drills I remember were āshelter in placeā in late elementary (early 90s), which were for chemical plant leaks. There were assigned students to tape up the edges of the windows (š¤Ŗ), and then we got under our desks.
Not sure how being under our desks would help with airborne chemicals? Lol. I get that some things might rise, so sitting/lying on the floor makes sense. But not the desk over the head part.
kiipii@reddit
Did this in NW SC, they were called tornado drills.
Shpadoinkall@reddit
My school had civil defense drills. Instead of getting under desks, we sat in the hallway against the wall and covered our heads.
VectorJones@reddit
Grew up in Northern California. We never did anything but fire drills, which just consisted of a bell ringing and everyone walking out to the playing field. I think by the time I started grade school, it was understood that the whole "duck and cover" thing was performative, to make people think there was a solution to a nuclear attack other than disintegrating.
twirlerina024@reddit
You didn't do earthquake drills? We had to get under our desks with our backs to the windows, and then walk out to the field.
wanna_be_green8@reddit
Yep, farthest northern California we had earthquake drills.
Golden_Enby@reddit
I'm in SoCal. We did fire and earthquake drills regularly. A few were real emergencies.
No-Alternative8998@reddit
Also grew up in NorCal (half mile from Loma Prieta) and we absolutely did earthquake drills. Took me years of living in the Midwest to get used to sleeping with my bed near a window.
Spamberguesa@reddit
I grew up in Western Washington, and we did earthquake drills all the way through school. We did have a couple of earthquakes when I was growing up, but one was at night and one was in the evening. We only knew about the night one because it knocked over the Christmas tree and a few things fell off shelves.
VectorJones@reddit
We were inland, around the Sacramento area. So that wasn't as big of a concern, at that time anyway. I don't know if it was changed later.
red286@reddit
People really overestimate most nuclear weapons. If the USSR had launched an SS-25 800kt warhead at downtown San Francisco, Oakland would survive with only moderate damage (although the fallout over the following days would likely make it uninhabitable).
So that whole "duck and cover" thing absolutely was not performative, and could save you from having glass shards blown into your face.
VectorJones@reddit
Pretty sure an 800 kiloton nuke would ignite an area about 150 square miles, which would annihilate most of SF and Oakland. Those not immediately disintegrated or incinerated would die from the collapse of structures or severe radiation burns and exposure. A desk is not going to save anyone from that.
red286@reddit
So you're saying Nukemap is full of shit and you know better? Okay, cool.
VectorJones@reddit
I don't know what nukemap is, but the Department of Defense detonated hundreds of bombs in order to precisely measure the effects radius of bombs of various sizes. Something approaching a megaton of power would wipe out a vast area, much larger than the city limits of SF.
megan00m@reddit
Grew up in a nw suburb...7 years older than you. We did these drills except they were tornado drills.
hozezero@reddit
We did the same in Michigan, but I think they were for tornadoes.
Brave_Tangerine5102@reddit
Same age as op went to 3-4 prek started k at 5. Never anything but fire drills and the occasional bomb threat
pink_faerie_kitten@reddit
Pretty much same age as you but we only had tornado and fire drills at my elementary school in Chicagoland. Never had to hide under my desk or worry about bombs. I was homeschooled by jr high do I can't speak to anything after elementary school.
Oi_Nander@reddit
I am one year older than you and in southern California. We never had bomb drills or shooter drills/lockdown/shelter in place.
We did have fire drills and earthquake drills
midazolamjesus@reddit
Born '85. Was doing bomb drills until age 8.
ReliefAltruistic6488@reddit
Born in 85, Midwest, no bomb drills. Tornados and fire where thankfully all I had. Wish kids today had the same experience
Dixie1117@reddit
Also 1980, grew up in rural PA. We had tornado drills and fire drills. That was it.
t3hwookiee@reddit
Oh yeah, the Cold War bombing drills happened up until at least 89 in Oklahoma. Then we also had the tornado drills out in the hallways.
BramblesCrash@reddit
Born in '94, grew up in SoCal. We had "disaster drills". While earthquakes and fire were what they were mostly worried about, I do vaguely remember a poster that included stuff about bombs. No shooter drills though.
LastCallKillIt@reddit
Pretty sure we still did this in the 90's
emozolik@reddit
80 baby, from up the road in Milwaukee. We did a series of "disaster drills." Tornados we went into the hall (away from the windows), bombs/nukes we went under the desks, and then another for fire with assembly outside. We would practice all 3 in a day, once a semester.
snwbrdngtr@reddit
It was called Duck and Cover drills in Denver. Go in the hall, line up against the wall, cover your head with your hands. My elementary school was in the hood so we also had gun drills (we were also prohibited from wearing red, blue, and/or British Knights shoes (cuz BK stood for āBlood Killerā
Writeforwhiskey@reddit (OP)
Omg memory unlocked! Yup no BKs, no red, no blue and we even had to change our mascot from Royals because a gang was named the Royals and wore blue, our grade school colors
snwbrdngtr@reddit
We saw some STUFF on the playground! Gang violence and drug deals, had a couple having sex in the big concrete conduit that passed for playground equipmentā¦
puma_pantss@reddit
Toronto in the late 80s. No drills other than fire.
Plane_Chance863@reddit
Ottawa, late 80s/early 90s, ditto.
Upset-Word151@reddit
Grew up in Alaska, we did bomb drills and earthquake drills which requires the same thing: get under the desk and cover your head. Luckily no active shooter drills were necessary yet
YourGuyK@reddit
Born in '79. In Minnesota, I only remember tornado drills in school. I knew about bomb drills at some point, but I don't think we ever did them.
SpoonwoodTangle@reddit
We had ātornado drillsā. Sometimes a tornado drill meant hiding under your desk, sometimes it meant hiding in the bathroom or along an interior wall. This was in NC and also rural KY. In hindsight, I can see that they were different drills but I guess they didnāt want to scare us?
speck_the_ride@reddit
We had tornado and fire drills. We didn't have shooter drills that I remember, but we did have the k9 units come in a couple times a year to sniff lockers and cars after columbine happened.
Pro tip, don't schedule the k9s during firearm hunting season. A bunch of us got popped for having ammunition in our vehicles. Luckily our principal understood and just called our parents to come get it.
SparkleCat650@reddit
Born in 82 and raised in San Jose, CA. We only ever had earthquake drills, but never active shooter drills. Shit came in handy in 89 though!
Verbull710@reddit
Never did any of that stuff
505whodat@reddit
Born same year, and while we lived in Arkansas in the 80s we also had those, a long with tornado drills. We moved to Albuquerque in 1990, and there it was only fire drills.
NW_Forester@reddit
I was born late 82 (class of 01). We never had duck and cover bomb drills. In Primary school we would get a bomb threat like every 2 weeks when I was in 2nd grade. That would require us to walk over to the middle school and shelter there.
We did one shooter drill pre-Columbine, maybe 1997?
theyjustappear@reddit
Wisconsin, never had either of those. Just fire drills and tornado drills.
kayla622@reddit
I grew up in Oregon and attended school from 1989-2002. We never had bomb drills or active shooter drills. The only thing we ever did were earthquake drills.
crumblednewman@reddit
1980 as well. We had none of that. But, I was Texas born and raised and we've all repeatedly seen over the years that Texas doesn't give two shits about public safety, including at schools.
Traditional_Entry183@reddit
Not for me. The only drills we ever had were fire. Go outside, stand there doing nothing for a while, then go back in.
neo_neanderthal@reddit
Yeah, someone told me it was bullshit that I did nuclear drills in third grade. (It wasn't.)
I did, at that time, live in Fairfax, VA, which is basically a next door neighbor to Washington, DC. So I suspect that contributed to it somewhat; if anywhere would be a target during a nuclear conflict...
Demolished-Manhole@reddit
We never had bomb drills. Probably because we were in a DC suburb and our city had plenty of military officers who would gladly tell you that if the Russians started shooting nukes at us we were all doomed. As for shoot drills, I graduated high school before Columbine so we didnāt have those.
New_Needleworker_473@reddit
Born in late 1980. We had fallout drills, tornado drills and fire drills. I lived in the Rockies. We didn't have shooter drills at all. I graduated high school a few weeks after Columbine.
Apprehensive_Hat8986@reddit
In far lands of West Canuckia, we did fire and earthquake drills.
Maladaptive_Ace@reddit
Also 1980, but in Canada, and no absolutely not a thing here
481126@reddit
My Husband narrowly avoided being shot in a drive-by at his high school so shooter drills before Columbine might have been useful.
SweetCosmicPope@reddit
84 and started school in 89 in Texas. Throughout elementary we had fire drills, tornado drills, bomb threat drills, and fallout drills.
I do think they stopped having us do the fallout drills somewhere around 4 or 5th grade, though.
In high school, after Columbine, we started having to do active shooter drills.
Capital-Visual6337@reddit
We did fire drills and also intruder drills where the teachers locked the doors of the classrooms for a few minutes. Never did the duck and cover though. This was upper Manhattan in the mid 80's /early 90's
mobtown_misanthrope@reddit
Weird. I grew up 30 minutes from DC (in MD, pretty close to Ft. Meade), started school in 1979, and we never had a fallout drill ever once. We were dead in the center of the #1 target area for a nuclear attackāyou would think that would have been the last place to stop...
I was well out of school by Columbine, so no shooter drill either, obviously. We just had fire drillsāline up, walk outside, and stand in a field.
Erik500red@reddit
We did tornado drills, I never heard of bomb drills until I was an adult. We didn't have shooter drills either, in high school kids went hunting before school and bought their rifles in their truck to school
Beautiful-Ear6964@reddit
I was born in 1980 Missouri and we were doing earthquake drills but it was basically the same thing
tevamom99@reddit
Just fire drills in NJ. Born 83
Searchlights@reddit
Fire drills only in NH.
sevalle13@reddit
We did earthquake drills and fire drills in the 80s in WA but never heard of bomb drills
Bluevanonthestreet@reddit
We had tornado drills that were like that. Sometimes in the classroom and other times we had to crouch down in the hallways. Never had a shooter drill in high school or college.
fave_no_more@reddit
I grew up within ten miles of 3 nuke plants. We had drills, but they were meltdown drills.
Hell, the emergency planning agency for the county gave out iodine pills and instructions. My dad worked at the plants, so he always told us if he got called for an emergency, to just get in the car and drive south. As far and fast as safely possible.
Dimplefrom-YA@reddit
i grew up in the projects. no we only had fire drills and stranger danger drills.
Adventurous_Cloud_20@reddit
Grew up in rural Iowa, born in 81. We did bomb drills (tornado drills were basically the same) throughout 5th or 6th grade.
Our school had a legit fallout shelter too. An addition put on in the 50's had a much larger gym and cafeteria. Underneath the whole thing was the shelter with a big door behind the bleachers to get in. We never actually used it during the drills, and no one had been in it in years.
no_clever_name_yet@reddit
1981, suburbs of Minneapolis. Do you mean nuclear bomb drills? Yeah, we did those for a couple/three years. Those, to me, were SO pointless. Like a desk was going to save me. And going into the hallway for tornado drills in the elementary school I attended.
By the time I was in 4th grade (1990?) we werenāt doing bomb drills and the school I was in had better tornado protection.
Writeforwhiskey@reddit (OP)
We used to laugh at the idea that our hands would save us from a nuke
bcentsale@reddit
It was a thing. New York did "fallout" drills during the Cold War when the possibility of nuclear armageddon was a thing. By the early 90s that had pretty much gone the way of the Soviet Union, only to be replaced in more recent years by "lockdown" drills in response to all the disaffected suburban white males in the U.S. with little-to-no access to (highly stygmatized anyway) mental health services and ready access to near-military-grade ordinance because freedumb.
Writeforwhiskey@reddit (OP)
Yes thank you! I couldn't think of the name Fallout drills.
bcentsale@reddit
Not to be confused with Fall Out Boy š
bcentsale@reddit
(sorry if that was more than you bargained for š)
Writeforwhiskey@reddit (OP)
Nah but it did make me put on some Fallout Boy for morning cleaning š
Writeforwhiskey@reddit (OP)
ššš
ManifoldCerebrations@reddit
also 1980, I remember doing āair raidā drills, it was either in Kindergarten or First Grade.
I donāt think any of us REALLY understood the point. It was almost a game, but I remember āair raid drillā being mentioned, maybe sensing an aspect of seriousness from the teacher, even if I didnāt truly comprehend WHAT an air raid was, and why weād need to run a drill to hide under our desks because of it.
Upstate New York for me.
It stopped being a thing shortly thereafter. I changed school districts (still in NY, just a city over) between 1st and 2nd grade, and it was never a thing at my new district.
All we ever had was the typical fire drill.
We thankfully never had bomb/shooter/other drills. Graduating high school in 1998 was an unexpectedly good fortune- my high school had a much different vibe thereafter.
Gian_Luck_Pickerd@reddit
From MD, born in 82. We only had fire drills from what I remember