Reflections: “If there are enough shovels to go around…”
“…everybody’s going to make it.†– Thomas K. Jones, 1982
Counterveil vs. Countervalue…
Decapitating strikes…
Winning a protracted nuclear war…
Nuclear calculus…
These, and other topics were points of not just mere discussion, but deep, serious study and analysis in the early 1980′s by, among others, a small cohort of graduate students at the Naval Postgraduate School. Leading the charge was a civilian professor, a recent PhD and acolyte of one of the advocates for this “new” way of thinking about nuclear warfighting. A young LT, fresh from his first sea tour was part of this cohort, not so much by an inclination towards that line of thought as by the nature of his particular studies… (more)
Posted by Steeljaw Scribe
On March 14th, 2008 under History, Sea Stories.
Comments: 1
Comments
Comment from MaxDamage
Time: March 14, 2008, 10:50 pm
It’s interesting to note that this debate caused more storm in Europe than in the USA, in spite of the fact that the Soviets were more interested in destroying the US and leaving Europe more-or-less intact, hence limiting their nuclear options quite a bit.
I lived about 7 miles from Offut AFB in Nebraska for a few years. We pretty much knew if the balloon went up there was going to be 20 miles of scorched earth around that base. As schoolkids we practiced ‘duck and cover” weekly, both for a nuclear strike andtornado drills.
My European friends remark that so far as they were concerned, the world was going to end with a push of a red button by an American President.
What would make an interesting research project is why Europeans were more afraid of being nuked, given they were incapable of retaliating against the Soviet Bear. Lessons of the wars before, amplified, or merely the loss of control over the terms of their own destruction?
Oddly enough, my peers and I never concerned ourselves with nuclear war, though we lived at ground zero plus a few.
– Max
Write a comment