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INTERVIEW: Bruce D. Clayton

Nearly 25 years ago I read a book called Life After Doomsday written by Bruce D. Clayton.

Written during the Cold War, Life After Doomsday became one of the most read and studied books for those preparing for nuclear war – as well as other disasters. As a teenager I read Life After Doomsday and it was highly inluential to my thoughts and interests in survival today.

It is my pleasure to present this short interview with Bruce D. Clayton, Ph.D.

Rourke: Bruce, it has been over 20 years since Life After Doomsday was first published…..do you think the information it contained is still relevant today?
Bruce: Thirty years, actually. Information on products and suppliers inevitably becomes dated and incomplete.  Information about nuclear weapons effects, fallout patterns, radiation decay rates, shelter, food storage, water storage, firearms, escape routes… these topics have a timeless quality. 

If you want to update Life After Doomsday, see the two followup books: Fallout Survival and Life After Terrorism.  Both are available on the used book market, although Fallout Survival is getting expensive.

 

Rourke: Life After Doomsday was written during the Cold War. At the time – what did you think the chances were that World War 3 would occur between the Soviet Union and the United States?
Bruce: I think I said somewhere that the war was inevitable— unless the Soviet Union finally collapsed.  I’m glad it did.

We were rolling the dice with them every day, and just one bad roll would have brought down western civilization.  If you let that go on forever, eventually you get that bad roll.  The only way to avoid it was to stop the game.
 

Rourke: Are you still involved in survivalism? In other words – is survival and preparedness still part of your life?
Bruce: I live in a small town, on a relatively isolated property, with my food and 5000 gallons of water, so you could say that I’m still in the loop.  The way to insure you survival is to become part of the community, but it has to be a community that has more trees than cars. 
 

Rourke: There are many stories out there describing regular everyday people that believe the world is becoming a more dangerous place to live. These people are stockpiling food, growing gardens, making survival kits, and even buying firearms. What are your thoughts on this movement?
Bruce: The world is no more dangerous than it has always been.  Everybody dies once.  Period.

Compared to certain times in history, we are in a golden age.  Look at the news headlines.  The hot “breaking news” is about soccer games and the infidelity of movie starlets.  There were times when the headlines were about massive battles and epidemics that killed millions. 

Our idea of a “disaster” is shrimp that taste like oil.

But thoughtful people can see how fragile it is, and how much trouble we are in when the supply systems break down.  After Katrina, they know that FEMA isn’t going to be there to help.  They start to look for alternatives. 

Having alternatives is always wise.
 

Rourke: What is your opinion on the current economic crisis – are we almost through it or is it just the beginning?
Bruce: There is nothing wrong with our economy that hanging a few bankers wouldn’t fix.  This crisis was entirely man-made, based on the greed of dishonest men. 

Then the government bailed them out and made sure they got their bonuses— in borrowed Chinese money.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with our economy.  It keeps trying to come back in spite of the handicaps the government places upon it.   

 
Rourke: You wrote a book just after September 11th, called Life After Terrorism: What You Need to Know to Survive in Today’s World. It is an excellent read. My question is – what are your thoughts on current terrorist threats? Any predictions?
Bruce: The odd thing about current terrorists is their appalling inadequacy.  Sooner or later they will get lucky again, but in the meantime its like watching the Keystone Cops.

If you want something to worry about, North Korea has nine nukes and an ICBM program.  Worry about that.
 

Rourke: You have a recent project – writing the book Shotokan’s Secret: The Hidden Truth Behind Karate’s Fighting Origins, from Black Belt Publications. Tell us about it.
Bruce: I’ve been interested in Shotokan karate all my life, and there is a mystery there. We practice “katas,” dances, that show us how our karate forefathers used to fight.  The problem is that no one can explain these katas.  Modern Shotokan teachers are embarrassingly poor at interpreting the motions of the katas.  They know all about contest karate but nothing about historical fighting arts.  I decided to fix that.

It took me about fifteen years of research, but I think I got it.  Shotokan’s Secret: Expanded Edition (the second edition of the book), lays out the applications of the Heian katas (the beginner katas) in step-by-step detail, using only historical martial-arts techniques.  One is a sword fight; one is about knives, sabers and bayonet fighting; and one is about fighting a man who is wearing samurai armor!  No wonder that modern sensei don’t understand them! 

I had great fun with that project.

 

Rourke: There is no doubt that you have many fans out there that have wondered over the years what happened to you after Life After Doomsday and before Life After Terrorism. Is there anything you would like to say to them? Anything they should know?
Bruce: I decided that it was more important to do it than to write about it. 

Rourke: Thank you very much Mr. Clayton.

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Via Black Belt Magazine: Clayton is also a well-known survival expert, author of Life After Doomsday, Fallout Survival, and Thinking About Survival, as well as co-author of Survival Books and Urban Alert. His most recent survival book is Life After Terrorism from Paladin Press (2002).

He has been interviewed as a survival expert by several national television programs, including The CBS Evening News, The Tomorrow Show, Today, and 60 Minutes, and has appeared on many local radio programs in the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Australia.

Today Dr. Clayton is a seventh-degree black belt instructor in shotokan karate, under the direction of hanshi Vincent Cruz and the San Ten Sensei. Dr. Clayton gives lively seminars on self-defense, vital points, expedient weapons and karate bunkai.

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