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Oahu was once known as one of the safest places in the United States, with military fortifications and much more. Did you know that there was a time when it didn’t feel like that was the case? This is a true story about something crazy that happened to Hawaii just a few years ago... although we remember it like it was yesterday.
So back then, things were really tense with North Korea. They said they had ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, and they were repeatedly threatening to attack the US. Who knows what those guys are capable of, am I right? Anyways, since Hawaii is one of the only parts of the country within range of those missiles, it was at the top of our minds back then.
So, one day, most of us were just enjoying a quiet saturday morning... when everyone’s cellphones lit up with an emergency message: ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill. What!?
Quickly connecting the dots between North Korea's threats and this emergency message, we realized that we had only about ten to twenty minutes until the missile hit Hawaii, and blew us all to smithereens!
So, we had to hurry to safety, fast! Some people hurried to get home to their families, and were driving on the freeway - at over a hundred miles per hour! If you’re used to island speeds, this felt even faster! One of our friends used all his strength to lift up a manhole cover to put his kids in the sewer, to protect them.
At Kualoa Ranch, they rushed their visitors into an old World War II bunker on the property. A lot of us called our families from out of state to say our last goodbyes, then huddled in the safest places we could find, our bathrooms, our garages, anywhere!
If there was ever a moment when we saw our life flash before our eyes, this was it! We were all scared to death - for ourselves and our families. Sounds kinda funny now... but believe us, if you were on the island then, you would have been freaking out, just like the rest of us!
Finally, after a terrifying 30 minutes, we got a new text message on our phones: there was no missile threat or danger to the state of Hawaii. False alarm. Turns out some clown at the state emergency management office had accidentally hit the wrong button! There never was a missile! We breathed a collective sigh of relief, grateful that we would definitely be safe. The only casualty of the missile attack, was that half-wit at emergency management - not surprisingly, he got... "reassigned." But it sure put the whole island into a panic, and it was a very surreal experience, for sure…
Of course, the ironic thing is - if there ever really is a missile attack, no one is going to believe it! But maybe dying fast is better then waiting in fear, right? Who knows.
Interested in the story?
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