Letters to the Editor
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Boredom and Unused Nukes
Shortly at the end of World War 2 I was returning on a ferry from San Diego to the USN airbase in North Island. Looking at the destroyers anchored there I concluded navies were obsolete with the possible exception of the submarine fleet believing they could never be used against a continental power such as the USSR if they acquired a nuclear arsenal. I was wrong because today Washington's enemies are small oil-soaked nations located in the Middle East who lacked a nuclear retaliatory capability. If a pilot is distressed because he haas not used his bomb loads this is not unusual. I once heard a crew member stationed on a nuclear-armed B52 complain about the endless alerts he experienced in The Strategic Air Command . "I wish we would start dropping this stuff so we can get it over with!!" The 'Dr. Strangelove' scenario was not that far out and we can be thankful, so far, that these weapons have not been used since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.