History Main / ThisIsNotADrill

* The U.S. National Weather Service's enhanced "Tornado Emergency" verbiage is intended to be this for tornado warnings. A tornado emergency means that a powerful tornado that has been confirmed by ground truth (that is, seen by storm spotters) is headed for a populated area.

** The classic historical example of its use is in the alarm bulletin sent out by telegraph on December 7, 1941: "[[ThisMeansWar AIR RAID]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII PEARL HARBOR]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor_attack#cite_note-96 THIS IS NOT DRILL]]".

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' has an interesting example -- when Gauron had taken control of the [[AIIsACrapshoot AI]] of the high-tech submarine, the Tuatha de Danaan, he started a fire-drill to isolate the entire crew in the cargo deck. During this drill, the speakers did in fact blare, "This is a drill"...
* ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' does this properly, when a chopper pilot dies during a training exercise, the dispatcher announces "This is not a drill" before giving the order to withdraw.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

** Also on the morning of September 11th, NORAD was conducting a training exercise based on old Cold War scenarios. One of the units participating was the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS), which controlled the airspace where the hijackings were taking place. As reports from the civilian aviation authorities, NEADS initially assumed it was part of the exercise before being informed it was not.

* "This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. (Later Energency Alert System)This is only a test. If this had been an actual emergency, instructions would follow." The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Action_Notification Emergency Action Notification (EAN)]] is a nationwide activation of the Emergency Alert System which would serve this purpose. It can only be initiated by either the President or the Vice President.

* ''Film/PearlHarbor'': When the Japanese planes came in to attack Pearl Harbor, many American military personnel, including one of the main characters, thought the Navy was doing practices or a drill. Eventually people started realizing the situation, especially after the P.A. system started screaming it was the real thing.

* ''Film/PearlHarbor'': When the Japanese planes came in to attack Pearl Harbor, many American military personnel, including one of the main characters, thought the Navy was doing practices or a drill. Eventually people started realizing the situation, especially after the P.A. system started saying it was the real thing.

* The U.S. National Weather Service's enhanced "Tornado Emergency" verbiage is intended to be this for tornado warnings. A tornado emergency means that a powerful tornado has been confirmed by ground truth (that is, seen by storm spotters) is headed for a populated area.

* Series/DangerForce: In the first episode, Captain Man announced this to the members of Danger Force. It was, however, a subversion as he was testing to see how quickly they could get ready. They failed spectaularly.
* In the 1957 [=CBS=] civil defense one-shot program, ''A Day Called X'', which depicts the evacuation of Portland, Oregon in advance of a Soviet nuclear attack, the message "AN ATTACK IS NOT TAKING PLACE" appeared on the screen any time anyone on screen was mentioning anything that audiences might misconstrue as an actual, legitimate warning. [[Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds Looks like CBS had taken the smack on the wrist they got in '38 to heart.]]

* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars Factions'' the Dragon Festival has a reenactment of the Nightfall invasion during the first ingame Dragon Festival and the reenactment requires actors dressed as Naga to stage a panicked mass exodus of Naga into Kaitan Village like the real Naga did during the Nightfall invasion to escape said invasion. As one of the guards in charge of the reinactment reveals when you reach her at Kaitan Village: the ''real'' Naga had decided to raid Kaitan Village presumably killing the actors playing them before attacking everyone else while the actors playing the part of the demons that drove said Naga out during the previous Dragon Festival take their places in the Naga's den unaware of the Naga attack (nor are the Naga aware that actors had moved into their den during said Naga raid either).

* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars Factions'' the Dragon Festival has a reenactment of the Nightfall invasion during the first ingame Dragon Festival and the reenactment requires actors dressed as Naga to stage a paniced mass exodus of Naga into Kaitan Village like the real Naga did during the Nightfall invasion to escape said invasion. As one of the guards in charge of the reinactment reveals when you reach her at Kaitan Village: the ''real'' Naga had decided to raid Kaitan Village presumably killing the actors playing them before attacking everyone else while the actors playing the part of the demons that drove said Naga out during the previous Dragon Festival take their places in the Naga's den unaware of the Naga attack (nor are the Naga aware that actors had moved into their den during said Naga raid either).

* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars Factions'' the Dragon Festival has a reenactment of the Nightfall invasion during the first ingame Dragon Festival and the reinactment requires actors dressed as Naga to stage a paniced mass exodus of Naga into Kaitan Village like the real Naga did during the Nightfall invasion to escape said invasion. As one of the guards in charge of the reinactment reveals when you reach her at Kaitan Village: the ''real'' Naga had decided to raid Kaitan Village presumably killing the actors playing them before attacking everyone else while the actors playing the part of the demons that drove said Naga out during the previous Dragon Festival take their places in the Naga's den unaware of the Naga attack (nor are the Naga aware that actors had moved into their den during said Naga raid either).

* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars Factions'' the Dragon Festival has a reinactment of the Nightfall invasion during the first ingame Dragon Festival and the reinactment requires actors dressed as Naga to stage a paniced mass exodus of Naga into Kaitan Village like the real Naga did during the Nightfall invasion to escape said invasion. As one of the guards in charge of the reinactment reveals when you reach her at Kaitan Village: the ''real'' Naga had decided to raid Kaitan Village presumably killing the actors playing them before attacking everyone else while the actors playing the part of the demons that drove said Naga out during the previous Dragon Festival take their places in the Naga's den unaware of the Naga attack (nor are the Naga aware that actors had moved into their den during said Naga raid either).

* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars Factions'' the Dragon Festival has a reinactment of the Nightfall invasion during the first ingame Dragon Festival and the reinactment requires actors dressed as Naga to stage a paniced mass exodus of Naga into Kaitan Village like the real Naga did during the Nightfall invasion to escape said invasion. As one of the gaurds in charge of the reinactment reveals when you reach her at Kaitan Village: the ''real'' Naga had decided to raid Kaitan Village presumably killing the actors playing them before attacking everyone else while the actors playing the part of the demons that drove said Naga out during the previous Dragon Festival take their places in the Naga's den unaware of the Naga attack (nor are the Naga aware that actors had moved into their den during said Naga raid either).

* In the very first''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' story arc, radio announcer Dorson Bells announces the pending arrival of a spaceship from the moon (actually bearing our heroes). It plays off the ''War of the Worlds'' hysteria of some twenty years prior:
-->This is not, repeat, not a play. Please feel free to panic!

* Subverted in ''Film/ResidentEvil'', where a woman tells a panicky co-worker "it's a security drill" right before the Halon is fired up and everyone dies.

* In ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'', [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2011/05/15/saved-by-the-bell/ such an alert interrupts Nin Wah's fight with the last of the Tagged goons.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2167 Squidly warns of Monique's mood -- and this is not a drill!]]

* "This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test. If this had been an actual emergency, instructions would follow." The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Action_Notification Emergency Action Notification (EAN)]] is a nationwide activation of the Emergency Alert System which would serve this purpose. It can only be initiated by either the President or the Vice President.

Cautionary statement during a time of military emergency to inform personnel (and the audience) that any alarms or sirens are signals of imminent threat, and that they should be prepared to respond accordingly. Since actual drills and other training exercises are clearly announced as such (keep reading to learn why), this is TruthInTelevision.

* ''VideoGame/PhoningHome'': While they plummet to the surface of the planet, the ship's A.I. tells [[PlayerCharacter [=ION=] "This is not a simulation.".

-->'''The announcer:''' "This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Last time was a drill, but now it is not! So what if last time I said it was not a drill? I needed to simulate a combat situation! [[CryingWolf But this time it is '''honestly''' not a drill]]. It's real! Move your asses!!!