My Cold War Years (Part Eight): Memories, Good And Sad
- Tracy's Thoughts
- Jan 13, 2019
- 9 min read
Updated: Jan 16, 2019
There was at least one, known or reported, incident during "My Cold War Years", in which the world had a close call that could have led to, at least one unintended nuclear detonation, or explosion. On September 26, 1983, several weeks after the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 over Soviet airspace, a satellite early-warning system near Moscow reported the launch of one American Minuteman ICBM. Soon after, it reported that five missiles had been launched. Convinced that a real American offensive would involve many more missiles, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov of the Air Defense Forces refused to acknowledge the threat as legitimate and continued to convince his superiors that it was a false alarm until this could be confirmed by ground radar. This took place just two months prior to the misinterpreted Able Archer 83 exercise.
Earlier I had mentioned about the movie "The Day After" airing just a few days after the Able Archer 83 exercise. Able Archer 83 was the code-name for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) command post exercise carried out in November 1983. With other Able Archer exercises from previous years, the purpose of the exercise was to simulate a period of conflict escalation and culminating with the US military attaining simulated DEFCON 1 and a coordinated nuclear attack. The 1983 exercise was coordinated from the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) headquarters in Casteau, Belgium, and it involved NATO forces throughout Western Europe, beginning on November 7 and lasting for five days. It introduced several new elements not seen in previous years, including a new, unique format of coded communication, radio silences, and the participation of heads of government. This increase in realism, combined with deteriorating relations between the United States and the Soviet Union at the time and the anticipated arrival of Pershing II nuclear missiles in Europe, led some members of the Soviet Politburo and military to believe that Able Archer 83 was a ruse of war, obscuring preparations for a genuine nuclear "First Strike". In response, the Soviets readied their nuclear forces and placed air units in East Germany and Poland on alert. The apparent threat of nuclear war ended with the conclusion of the exercise on November 11.
The thought of total nuclear destruction never really ever crossed my mind while spending 6 years of my life guarding just a small portion of America's nuclear weapons. I always felt that both the Russians and Americans knew what would happen if either side ever initiated the "First Strike". However, it does give you an interesting outlook on life to know that if it ever had happened that you would only have minutes to live with possibly being a prime target of your sworn enemy, Russia, not those rabbits that ran rampant in the missile fields. During a few of my tours in the missile field I did have the chance to go down into one of the missile silos and saw with mine own eyes a USAF Minuteman II Missile. I've also had a few chances to go below ground down to the Launch Control Center to visit with the Missile Combat Crew Officers, you know the ones with the keys that would launch the missiles. But once again, I can neither confirm nor deny that such facilities exist or events ever took place.
Speaking of those very large rabbits, there was a time when I had responded to an alarm at one of the LF's. As we were following our response checklist, and remember in SAC there was always a checklist, I looked up towards the site and I saw an animal and wondered how a small dog had gotten inside the fence. Then it started hopping around! I've seen somewhere that the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch was used in a battle to slay the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog back in the days of long ago. The Air Force never issued us those for use in the field. But I'm sure at least some of those kangaroo-sized Leporidae's 'tis indeed receive more than but a scratch a time or two at some of the sites and other locations as well. There was after all a stuffed 6-Foot tall "Jackalope" located inside of Wall Drug which is a tourist attraction located in the town of Wall, South Dakota. Wall is just one of the cities that you had to travel through to get to some of the missile sites in the eastern part of the fields, within the 66th Strategic Missile Squadron area.
There was a time when there were a host of visiting dignitaries from the Air Force and other branches of the Armed Forces along with several foreign countries. They were there for a fly-by demonstration of the new B-1 to which Ellsworth was soon to be receiving that would replace the B-52. Also on that day there was a fly-by of an SR-71, "Blackbird", reconnaissance aircraft. Although it was overcast that day and the low hanging clouds blocked most of the view, I can say that I did at least see this awesome aircraft with mine own eyes.
About that "recall" in regards to that planned event in which there were several hundreds of people expected to take part in, but the night before a wind storm knocked down the tents of those protesters and most had left and where we had been assembled at different locations throughout the base and went through some riot control techniques and training. Well during that training, the person that was directing it yelled out, "I want the biggest, meanest, baddest Mother Fuckers right here in the middle!" Now I'm just a little over 5 feet tall, I looked to the guy on my right, he was much taller than I. I looked to the guy on my left, he was much taller than I. I then looked down the whole line of others to my left and right. You know where I was? I was directly, well almost, in the middle! So I guess that means I'm one of, if not the biggest, at least one of the meanest and baddest...
Out in the missile field, in addition to watching a lot of movies, we also saw a lot of 24-hour news broadcast. Since telling about those peaceful protest at the main gate on Base, in which there would usually be a handful of individuals that would end up being detained for unlawfully entering government property once they were allowed to cross the base perimeter, I remember another peaceful protest that was being covered on one of those news channels. On September 1, 1987, while engaged in a protest against the shipping of U.S. weapons to Central America in the context of the Contra wars, Brian Willson, who served in the US Air Force from 1966 to 1970, including several months as a combat security officer in Vietnam, was among other members of a Veterans Peace Action Team that had blocked railroad tracks at the Concord, California Naval Weapons Station. The approaching train did not stop, and struck those protesting. Willson ended up losing both legs below the knee while suffering a severe skull fracture with loss of his right frontal lobe. It was later reported that he had discovered that he had been identified for more than a year as an FBI domestic "terrorist" suspect under President Reagan's anti-terrorist task force provisions and that the train crew that day had been advised not to stop the train.
Because of the build of her body and the hair cut she had, that first female Security Police on our Flight caused some confusion to begin with. I remember an incident on one of our trips out to the field, it may have been her very first. She was already seated on the bus as we were preparing to leave the Armory and ride over to our Squadron building for Guardmount. At the time it was located downstairs of one of the Security Police Barracks. There was a Staff Sergeant that boarded the bus and saw that she was wearing earrings. They were small, simple single studded ones. He started demanding that this Airman remove them at once. He was just a bit red-faced when she told him that she was a female.
That same Staff Sergeant, once when substituting for the Assistant Flight Security Supervisor, had to be rescued by myself and my ART Member. He had just left the Golf 01 Launch Control Facility, in the 67th Strategic Missile Squadron area, and after about 15 minutes after he departed he radioed back to the Flight Security Controller that he had gotten stuck in the snow and requested our assistance. We proceeded down the road and found him less than a mile from the LCF. Upon exiting my vehicle I quickly determined that he had been "busting snowdrifts". This is where you deliberately drive through the small snowdrifts that are on or near the edge of the roads. It kind of made a cool effect with all that snow blowing up and around your vehicle. Had to find some interesting ways to entertain ourselves from time to time to break the monotony of all that boredom. But how did I figure all of this out so quickly? His tracks were on the left side of the road and the right side was basically clear as it could be! He indeed had got his vehicle stuck as it had hit a ditch where the snow was deeper. None of us said a word about it, but I'm sure he knew that we knew what he had been doing.
On the weather in South Dakota, in regards to the normal tour out in the field to be 3 and half days. There was one time when out in the 68th Strategic Missile Squadron and I was working the Mike Flight area, we ended up snowbound for around 7 days. Had 1 day off and then it was back out in the field to the 66th Strategic Missile Squadron area. And in 1984 there was a blizzard in which over 30 inches of snow fell in just over 30 hours. I have been out in -35 degree temperatures with the Wind Chill Factor and -25 actual temperatures. Now back in 1983 when I was home in Alabama for Christmas, for a time the temperatures there had gotten into the single digits. I thought it felt "warm" and was wearing short-sleeved shirts and getting some strange looks from those folks way down South. I think it took me about 3 years after leaving South Dakota and returning to Alabama to get re-acclimated to the weather. These days when it gets in the 40's, I start reaching for my jacket.
The state of South Dakota has some very beautiful scenery. The Black Hills, Badlands and Mt. Rushmore were always some of my favorite places to see and visit. The cities of Lead and Deadwood were also cool places to visit. I also had a chance to visit the Crazy Horse Memorial, which was then and still is under construction. Went out to Harney Peak once. Now it is known as Black Elk Peak and is the highest natural point in South Dakota at 7,244 feet. It has been described as the highest summit in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and is also ranked the 15th highest point in the US. By contrast I currently live in the vicinity of the highest natural point in Alabama, Cheaha Mountain often called Mount Cheaha. At 2,413 feet it ranks as the 35th highest point in the US. I also took a trip to Devil's Tower in nearby Wyoming. I found out that it's not quite as big as it was shown to be in the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Oh no, not another movie reference! Although I never got a chance to visit the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, I did get to see some very cool Bikes on I-90 and in Sturgis from time to time. Sturgis is just one of the cities that you had to travel through to get to some of the missile sites in the western part of the fields, within the 68th Strategic Missile Squadron area.
While numerous members of the Military have been killed in time of war are remembered, there have been those who were killed during peacetime that were honorably serving this Nation as well. Sadly there were a couple of incidents at Ellsworth that I remember when stationed there. On May 29th, 1986 a USAF UH-1 helicopter with six crew members crashed while providing security for a missile maintenance movement just outside Sturgis. The Pilot, Captain Brian G. Snider and Co-pilot, 2nd Lt. David H. Gordon from Det. 2, 37th ARRS were killed in the crash. Three USAF Security Policemen from the 45th Missile Security Squadron were also killed in the crash. Senior Airman Donald Heitkamp, Airman First Class Berry P. Holmes and Staff Sergeant Charles L. Huskey were killed in the crash. USAF Security Police Airman First Class Latania Huguley also from the 45th Missile Security Squadron, although badly injured, was the sole survivor of the crash. I was actually out in the field when this crash occurred, although it was in a different area away from the actual crash site. Another incident occurred on March 8, 1983, Airman Daniel J. Kopp, from the 45th Missile Security Squadron, a member of a two-man Camper Alert Team was accidentally shot and killed by his partner. It was determined that Kopp's team member had unknowingly chambered a round into his M-16 forgetting to take out the magazine. When the weapon was "Dry Fired" it discharged striking Kopp at close range. Airman Kopp died at the scene despite CPR and a helicopter rescue team.
[NOTE: This is Part 8 of a 10-Part series of stories about some of my memories of when I was in the US Air Force from 1982 to 1988 and stationed at Ellsworth AFB near Rapid City, South Dakota.]
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