"This is NOT a drill!"

[TheLoneGunman]

While watching Deep Impact, I was reminded yet again of the familiar cry hear at military and emergency facilities in Movies and TV shows when something big was happening.

I have never worked in the military or crisis centers so I was wondering:

1. Do they ever really say this?

2. If so, Why? Is it normal to slack off during drills? (If so, why bother with drills if they don't work?)

3. Have you ever had a totally cool experience? (I have been in major Earthquakes, but not in the epicenter during one)
I would think that it would be really cool to be at NORAD when the klaxons went off and they announced "We are closing the mountain!" or in the midwest when they scramble the B-52's (the bombers, not the musical group)
It would also be cool to see a 3,000 foot tidal wave like in Deep Impact, but I would probably be dead before the memory could be imprinted on my brain

[coleslaw]

I think they probably do say that because drills are designed to familiarize people with their muster points and the method of exiting the buildings, etc. I don't think that the time with which it takes people to organize for an emergency is all that important during a drill (although, high school principals seem to think so). I guess when they say, "this is not a drill," it makes people more aware that they should move much more quickly and to be much more alert in doing so. Back in the day at my high school, we used to have to walk single-single file through a glass hallway to our safety zone for tornado drills. Yeah, that's right, a glass hallway. When will they ever learn?

[m0j0]

i work for a company that has a standard emergency procedure for when the phones go down: call the help desk.

[zenbooty]

Originally posted by TheLoneGunman
3. Have you ever had a totally cool experience? (I have been in major Earthquakes, but not in the epicenter during one)

Nothing as Dramatic as the center of an Earthquake, but I have been hit directly by a force 4 or 5 hurricane before. Trees felled on property, lots of incredibly strong winds and rain, and the wierd, eerie quiet and bright blue skies as the eye passed over us, only to get hit again by the strongest part of the storm, just behind the eye.

Not exactly a natural disaster, but when I was going to school down in Louisiana I managed to find myself in one of those bar brawls that you thought only existed in the movies. Bottles, chairs, fists and feet everywhere, while myself and my mates just tried to watch each others' backs as we did our best to avoid confrontations and work our way out to the exit. Not nearly as much fun as watching it on TV. No one got out unscathed, but I was able to get in a couple good licks in return, hehe.