I'm a little confused. By "hostilities," are we talking specifically about nuclear missile strikes? Because the US has been a constant state of war for decades, so hostilities started a long time ago to my way of thinking.

If by "hostilities" we mean more specifically a fellow nuclear power, then we just bombed and killed hundreds of Russians. So we gave them DEFCON 1 by your definition. I guess I'm not understanding your system. Can you guys help me out?

Right now the official system is at DEFCON 4 -- no threats to the US, but have to monitor some world events closely.

If there is a possibility of some sort of nuclear war, I'd bug out months ahead to... to... what's a good country to run to? I'm thinking it's gotta be low-profile enough nobody would bomb it. So Western Europe and North America are out. But it's gotta be comfortable and safe enough, too. Maybe Jamaica? Should we all meet up there?