I am a veteran of the cold war. Shortly after Gorbachev came to power, I briefed a B-52 mission that would have, in the event of nuclear war, launched 12 nuclear-tipped cruise missiles against Soviet military targets. The sortie would then have penetrated Soviet airspace to launch short-range attack missiles and drop four nuclear gravity bombs. All told, I would have delivered approximately 7,760 kilotons of nuclear holocaust–roughly 485 times the hell unleashed at Hiroshima.
For six years, as a B-52 navigator and bombardier, I studied charts littered with triangular target symbols in and around many of the regions now experiencing the growing pains of democracy. I flew 100 simulator missions replicating nuclear strikes, sorties with titles like “Moscow Express” and “Red Dawn.” I was on nuclear ground alert one week out of every three, joining the long green line that had, until recently, pulled continuous alert since 1957. I amassed 1,200 flying hours, most spent practicing for Armageddon. I know more than I care to about nuclear warfare.
I say this not to boast, for there was never any glamour in being a nuclear warrior. Recruitment posters never touted nuclear air-crew duty, and no one made “Top Bomb " movies. We were invisible warriors, men who did a job few Americans knew about and, it seemed, even fewer cared about. Invisible or not, we were professionals, highly trained and fiercely proud.
My profession was nuclear deterrence. I studied, practiced and memorized every aspect of bombing until it became mechanical, emotionless, cold. Going out each morning on alert and running my hands over one-megaton warheads, I was in awe of the unspeakable horror that lay inside such an unremarkable metal casing. But my job was to bomb targets, not debate morality.
Even today, years after my last sortie, I know the final sequence of a nuclear delivery by heart. After presidential authorization and 27 pages of checklists, dropping a nuclear bomb came down to a brief dialogue between the B-52’s navigator and bombardier on a page marked “Bomb Run (Nuclear)”:
“Bomb Inhibit Switch?”
“Off”
“Special Weapons Lock Indicators?”
“Indicate Unlocked”
“RCD (Release Circuits Disconnect)?”
“Connected, Light On”
“BRIC (Bomb Release Indicator Circuit)?”
“Select, Light Dim”
“Master Bomb Control Switch?”
“On, Light On”
And so on as several more switch positions and lights are cross-checked. The bomb doors open several seconds before release-long seconds whose heart-stopping silence ends in the trademark call, “Bomb’s Away.” That’s it. Not very flashy for hell incarnate.
Sadly, we have neglected to teach our children about the nuclear gun being held to humanity’s head. We talk with them about drugs and AIDS but fail to share the terrifying reality of a world armed to the hilt with weapons of mass destruction. Do young Americans today understand President Bush’s obsession with destroying Iraq’s nuclear program? Do they comprehend that a cold-war victory does not dispel the nuclear genie? Have we handed down to our children-tomorrow’s leaders-the shock images that will spur them to intervene when a Third World despot tries to buy or build even the crudest nuclear weapon? On the risk that we have not, I offer insight on the effects of a nuclear detonation.
Nuclear explosions produce thermal radiation, blast and nuclear radiation. Thermal radiation (heat and light) results from the fireball that forms when huge amounts of thermal energy super heat the air surrounding the detonation. Two pulses are emitted. The heat from the first pulse destroys the fluid and/or tissue in the human retina, causing permanent chlorioretinal burns. The second pulse inflicts skin burns so grotesque that a Hiroshima survivor, Dr. Michihiko Hachiya, reported patients with features of their face melted together.
Next, a shock wave develops from the fireball’s expanding gases and high pressure, bringing death from unbelievable winds that literally rip the flesh from the body. The shock wave also brings severe compression (overpressure). In man cases this overpressure squashes the body, causing organs to hemorrhage and rupture.
Initial and residual nuclear radiation deal the final dose of death, entering the body by inhalation, ingestion and absorption. Its effects are found in destroyed bone marrow, collapsed lungs, gastrointestinal damage, cell mutations and tissue ionization. In the latter, for instance, naturally occurring water and salt in the body ionize (chemically alter) and may form into a compound called sodium hydroxide … a substance similar to toilet-bowl cleaner.
Grotesque? Shocking? Unimaginable? Absolutely. But this is the reality of nuclear weaponry-the reason conventional war is the lesser of two evils if it prevents the Saddams of the world from acquiring such power.
For decades, we waited for the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union. We hoped that from our position of strength the shallow promises of Lenin and Marx would eventually succumb to the genius of Jefferson and Madison. They have.
I am proud to have served as a nuclear warrior, proud to have been part of a select few who stood ready to do the unthinkable in the belief that our mere presence would be enough to prevent our use. It was. But while the cold war is over, our vigilance is not. The Evil Empire is indeed fragmented and bankrupt, but in its ashes still lie the seeds of Armageddon. Seeds that, left untended, will surely scatter to even more threatening fields.
title: “Practicing For Armageddon” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-23” author: “Charlie Archie”
I am a veteran of the cold war. Shortly after Gorbachev came to power, I briefed a B-52 mission that would have, in the event of nuclear war, launched 12 nuclear-tipped cruise missiles against Soviet military targets. The sortie would then have penetrated Soviet airspace to launch short-range attack missiles and drop four nuclear gravity bombs. All told, I would have delivered approximately 7,760 kilotons of nuclear holocaust–roughly 485 times the hell unleashed at Hiroshima.
For six years, as a B-52 navigator and bombardier, I studied charts littered with triangular target symbols in and around many of the regions now experiencing the growing pains of democracy. I flew 100 simulator missions replicating nuclear strikes, sorties with titles like “Moscow Express” and “Red Dawn.” I was on nuclear ground alert one week out of every three, joining the long green line that had, until recently, pulled continuous alert since 1957. I amassed 1,200 flying hours, most spent practicing for Armageddon. I know more than I care to about nuclear warfare.
I say this not to boast, for there was never any glamour in being a nuclear warrior. Recruitment posters never touted nuclear air-crew duty, and no one made “Top Bomb " movies. We were invisible warriors, men who did a job few Americans knew about and, it seemed, even fewer cared about. Invisible or not, we were professionals, highly trained and fiercely proud.
My profession was nuclear deterrence. I studied, practiced and memorized every aspect of bombing until it became mechanical, emotionless, cold. Going out each morning on alert and running my hands over one-megaton warheads, I was in awe of the unspeakable horror that lay inside such an unremarkable metal casing. But my job was to bomb targets, not debate morality.
Even today, years after my last sortie, I know the final sequence of a nuclear delivery by heart. After presidential authorization and 27 pages of checklists, dropping a nuclear bomb came down to a brief dialogue between the B-52’s navigator and bombardier on a page marked “Bomb Run (Nuclear)”:
“Bomb Inhibit Switch?”
“Off”
“Special Weapons Lock Indicators?”
“Indicate Unlocked”
“RCD (Release Circuits Disconnect)?”
“Connected, Light On”
“BRIC (Bomb Release Indicator Circuit)?”
“Select, Light Dim”
“Master Bomb Control Switch?”
“On, Light On”
And so on as several more switch positions and lights are cross-checked. The bomb doors open several seconds before release-long seconds whose heart-stopping silence ends in the trademark call, “Bomb’s Away.” That’s it. Not very flashy for hell incarnate.
Sadly, we have neglected to teach our children about the nuclear gun being held to humanity’s head. We talk with them about drugs and AIDS but fail to share the terrifying reality of a world armed to the hilt with weapons of mass destruction. Do young Americans today understand President Bush’s obsession with destroying Iraq’s nuclear program? Do they comprehend that a cold-war victory does not dispel the nuclear genie? Have we handed down to our children-tomorrow’s leaders-the shock images that will spur them to intervene when a Third World despot tries to buy or build even the crudest nuclear weapon? On the risk that we have not, I offer insight on the effects of a nuclear detonation.
Nuclear explosions produce thermal radiation, blast and nuclear radiation. Thermal radiation (heat and light) results from the fireball that forms when huge amounts of thermal energy super heat the air surrounding the detonation. Two pulses are emitted. The heat from the first pulse destroys the fluid and/or tissue in the human retina, causing permanent chlorioretinal burns. The second pulse inflicts skin burns so grotesque that a Hiroshima survivor, Dr. Michihiko Hachiya, reported patients with features of their face melted together.
Next, a shock wave develops from the fireball’s expanding gases and high pressure, bringing death from unbelievable winds that literally rip the flesh from the body. The shock wave also brings severe compression (overpressure). In man cases this overpressure squashes the body, causing organs to hemorrhage and rupture.
Initial and residual nuclear radiation deal the final dose of death, entering the body by inhalation, ingestion and absorption. Its effects are found in destroyed bone marrow, collapsed lungs, gastrointestinal damage, cell mutations and tissue ionization. In the latter, for instance, naturally occurring water and salt in the body ionize (chemically alter) and may form into a compound called sodium hydroxide … a substance similar to toilet-bowl cleaner.
Grotesque? Shocking? Unimaginable? Absolutely. But this is the reality of nuclear weaponry-the reason conventional war is the lesser of two evils if it prevents the Saddams of the world from acquiring such power.
For decades, we waited for the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union. We hoped that from our position of strength the shallow promises of Lenin and Marx would eventually succumb to the genius of Jefferson and Madison. They have.
I am proud to have served as a nuclear warrior, proud to have been part of a select few who stood ready to do the unthinkable in the belief that our mere presence would be enough to prevent our use. It was. But while the cold war is over, our vigilance is not. The Evil Empire is indeed fragmented and bankrupt, but in its ashes still lie the seeds of Armageddon. Seeds that, left untended, will surely scatter to even more threatening fields.
