By the way, a nuclear war would be a really bad thing.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Seems we came real close in 1983 and didn't even know it at the time. Why? Basically, because the dying Communist Party was paranoid, and Reagan's policy of rattling nuclear sabers was getting to them. So we were set to do an exercise involving a simulated nuclear attack on Pact forces, the Russians thought it might be real, and set up a pre-emptive strike....

This is one of the most chilling lines I have ever read from an official document, from a later 'postmortem' analysis: “In 1983, we may have inadvertently placed our relations with the Soviet Union on a hair trigger.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...8a2_story.html

I knew it at the time. I participated in operations that led to Soviet warships all around and aircraft over head in the early '80s. I remember going home on leave and telling family at a gathering that they had no clue what was going in the bigger picture. Heck, we were delayed liberty by a day because there were Communist troublemakers waiting to ambush us and start a fight in ITALY in 1983. When we finally did go ashore there were still Communist propaganda posters plastered on the wharf and buildings in Naples. In Kenya, there was a five mile "No Go Zone" along the Tanzanian border, patrolled by Kenyan military because Communist rebels had been running guerilla operations across the border.

But, back home in America, everyone was smug and making all sorts of ignorant assumptions........as usual.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

I knew it at the time. I participated in operations that led to Soviet warships all around and aircraft over head in the early '80s. I remember going home on leave and telling family at a gathering that they had no clue what was going in the bigger picture. Heck, we were delayed liberty by a day because there were Communist troublemakers waiting to ambush us and start a fight in ITALY in 1983. When we finally did go ashore there were still Communist propaganda posters plastered on the wharf and buildings in Naples. In Kenya, there was a five mile "No Go Zone" along the Tanzanian border, patrolled by Kenyan military because Communist rebels had been running guerilla operations across the border.

Hair triggers all around, sounds like. Quite a thing to see up close.

But, back home in America, everyone was smug and making all sorts of ignorant assumptions........as usual.

Including some at high levels who really should have known better.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

I knew it at the time. I participated in operations that led to Soviet warships all around and aircraft over head in the early '80s. I remember going home on leave and telling family at a gathering that they had no clue what was going in the bigger picture. Heck, we were delayed liberty by a day because there were Communist troublemakers waiting to ambush us and start a fight in ITALY in 1983. When we finally did go ashore there were still Communist propaganda posters plastered on the wharf and buildings in Naples. In Kenya, there was a five mile "No Go Zone" along the Tanzanian border, patrolled by Kenyan military because Communist rebels had been running guerilla operations across the border.

But, back home in America, everyone was smug and making all sorts of ignorant assumptions........as usual.

I was the Resident Engineer for Southern Bavaria during those years and Contracting Officer for the construction of 5 nuclear missile sites built to house Pershing II and Ground Launched Cruise Missiles (as part of a program to build over 40 such sites in western Europe). The stationing of these missiles was largely the impetus to the Soviet hair-trigger reaction. Fun times.