Well said, Nomad. Sadly it appears we're reentering "interesting times" that I'd hoped we had left behind us. If there's to be any silver lining to this debacle I would say it must be to be better prepared. It would appear that there was no plan in place. No one seemed to be headed towards shelters or even know if there were any around. This should be a teachable moment! Whatever civil defense assets are available in HI they should be discussed and the public informed as to what to do if the balloon goes up for real.

I am fortunate I suppose to live in a 'boring' place. As a kid I grew up about 35 miles from Elsworth AFB and maybe five to ten miles from a Minuteman missile silo. If the Cold War would have gone hot my house probably would have been pretty near one of the highest priority targets in SAC. Now a small rogue state like DPRK almost certainly could not reach the city where I now live. In a full scale nuke exchange it probably wouldn't much matter where you live though.