Quote:
Originally Posted by HorseSoldier
As well as industrial waste and pollution, etc. Ecocide in the USSR by Murray Feshback is a really disturbing read (and can be had used on Amazon for $0.01 + shipping) about conditions in that country that I wish I'd read before I last ran a T2K campaign, as what it has to say about conditions in the USSR would also apply to conditions in the Warsaw Pact nations. Given the choice between camping overnight in a two year old nuclear strike crater or in an Eastern European industrial site, you'd probably be better off in the crater.
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Ugh, the pollution issues I'd seen and heard (I visited Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary several times when I was stationed over Germany) over in Russia and Eastern Europe makes New Jersey look like Hawaii in comparison.
When I was stationed at Spangdahlem AFB, there was a girl there I knew who got sent as part of a team to survey an ex-Soviet airbase in the former Eastern Bloc for possible use by NATO forces. Not sure in which country specifically but I know it was one of the three aforementioned countries I'd visited. Anyway...
The stories she had to tell were horrific. Broken sewage lines spilling crap everywhere, mud coming out of water faucets, improperly stowed leftover toxic waste that had spilled, the buildings were cracked and rapidly decaying, etc...and of course, the rats. When night came, hordes of rats descended on the base. The team had to put up tents since none of the buildings were considered safe or suitable for habitation, and the rats would descend on the tents. She had brought along some extra bags of food, and upon inspection the rats had torn into them and gobbled everything they could.
I'm pretty sure her recommendation was along the lines of, do a full chemical/toxic waste cleanup, and bulldoze all the infrastructure and start fresh. Other than the runway, anyway, and I suspect it hadn't been too well maintained either if what I've seen about Soviet airfield maintenance is true.