Goose
Well-known Member
Just finished reading a 600+ page book entitled, "Command and Control", by Eric Schlosser.
The book revolves around a Titan II missile blowing up in its silo near Damascus, Arkansas in 1980. Do any of ya'll remember that"? I don't recall hearing about it when it happened.
The book is also an excellent history of the U.S. nuclear weapons industry from the first atomic bombs in WWII to the present. It delves into all of the tensions of the Cold War, and expounds on the inter-service rivalries over control and use of nuclear weapons, also the rivalries between military and civilian control. Plus, whenever there was a change of administration, or even a key personnel change, the whole picture could change. Everyone had their own idea about how and when nuclear weapons should be used.
Truth be told, I was on a nuclear weapons assembly team in the Marine Corps for several years in the early 1960's, and according to this book, the nuclear weapons industry was far less perfection and far more prone to accidents than we working in the industry were led to believe.
After reading the book, my initial reaction was, "Holy s***, I actually survived all of that!"
Does anyone have any comments?
The book revolves around a Titan II missile blowing up in its silo near Damascus, Arkansas in 1980. Do any of ya'll remember that"? I don't recall hearing about it when it happened.
The book is also an excellent history of the U.S. nuclear weapons industry from the first atomic bombs in WWII to the present. It delves into all of the tensions of the Cold War, and expounds on the inter-service rivalries over control and use of nuclear weapons, also the rivalries between military and civilian control. Plus, whenever there was a change of administration, or even a key personnel change, the whole picture could change. Everyone had their own idea about how and when nuclear weapons should be used.
Truth be told, I was on a nuclear weapons assembly team in the Marine Corps for several years in the early 1960's, and according to this book, the nuclear weapons industry was far less perfection and far more prone to accidents than we working in the industry were led to believe.
After reading the book, my initial reaction was, "Holy s***, I actually survived all of that!"
Does anyone have any comments?