Welcome to Nuclear Command: A look inside a bunker where America houses its most powerful form of Fr - Polidicks

[QUOTE=DowntownTiger;45555927]who preps the president for that sort of thing i wonder. does the previous president sit them down and give them a run down on all the secret presidential things?[/QUOTE] too easy to leave out important info probably

I heard they run random drills but they don't tell the nuke operators they're tests/drills, and if you hesitate to launch the nuke you're out of the program immediately. So you really have to be ready and willing to launch those nukes.

I wonder how many nuclear launch operators would actually do the deed though. I feel like if I was a nuclear operator I would probably commit suicide right after letting the missiles fly, seeing as there might not be a world to go back to outside of that silo bunker.

[QUOTE=Psychokitten;45555766]I thought the launch codes were all 0s by default.[/QUOTE] Only the airforce's bombs, not the missile command. Well, were. There was a huge scandal when it was found out, and they were ordered to use 'real' codes.

[QUOTE=RustledJimmys;45550334]Great, interesting article. Something's real eerie about that mural though.[/QUOTE] It's probably the skull inside of the mushroom cloud juxtaposed against the characters of a fun video game that isn't scary in the least :eng101: [editline]1st August 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Telepethi;45556587]I heard they run random drills but they don't tell the nuke operators they're tests/drills, and if you hesitate to launch the nuke you're out of the program immediately. So you really have to be ready and willing to launch those nukes.[/QUOTE] Well this is just retarded. The amount of times we seem to have come within a hairs breadth of absolute annihilation during the cold war and we were saved on the merit of people hesitating and not wanting to wipe out all human life on the planet is pretty scary. I think the last thing anyone needs to do is artificially select for sociopaths to sit at the controls of a nuclear arsenal.

[QUOTE=sltungle;45559600] Well this is just retarded. The amount of times we seem to have come within a hairs breadth of absolute annihilation during the cold war and we were saved on the merit of people hesitating and not wanting to wipe out all human life on the planet is pretty scary. I think the last thing anyone needs to do is artificially select for sociopaths to sit at the controls of a nuclear arsenal.[/QUOTE] If I was doing the job I'd probably figure every time was a "test", and if they actually do randomly test operators then they probably feel the same.

[QUOTE=sltungle;45559600] Well this is just retarded. The amount of times we seem to have come within a hairs breadth of absolute annihilation during the cold war and we were saved on the merit of people hesitating and not wanting to wipe out all human life on the planet is pretty scary. I think the last thing anyone needs to do is artificially select for sociopaths to sit at the controls of a nuclear arsenal.[/QUOTE] These facilities are maintained for the purposes of a retaliatory strike in the event that, god forbid, another nation lets fly upon us. Their hesitation is unacceptable, they're there to do a job. They're not sociopaths because they're able to disassociate themselves and/or do their job. A sociopath would actively WANT to do it and look forward to doing it, would obsess over it, etc. These men are doing a job, and protecting their country in their own way.

[QUOTE=Tmaxx;45550344]i didn't know missile crews were autistic. seriously though, it's weird to think that nuclear missile operations are so... casual.[/QUOTE] Not really - the only nation that poses a nuclear threat to the US is Russia, and any sign of a concerted attempt to organize a massive first strike would be visible days in advance, in which case they would get their shit together immediately. Since you can't launch a weapon without the proper codes, they're really just glorified custodians at the moment.

[QUOTE=Telepethi;45560010][B]These facilities are maintained for the purposes of a retaliatory strike in the event that, god forbid, another nation lets fly upon us. Their hesitation is unacceptable, they're there to do a job. [/B] They're not sociopaths because they're able to disassociate themselves and/or do their job. A sociopath would actively WANT to do it and look forward to doing it, would obsess over it, etc. These men are doing a job, and protecting their country in their own way.[/QUOTE] You are aware there were a number of incidents in the cold war whereby the 'big red button' as it were was mere moments away from being pushed and we're probably only here now because a few people decided that maybe blindly pushing the button wasn't the best course of action, right? [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov"]This one in particular is quite an interesting read[/URL].

[QUOTE=kaine123;45558474]I wonder how many nuclear launch operators would actually do the deed though. I feel like if I was a nuclear operator I would probably commit suicide right after letting the missiles fly, seeing as there might not be a world to go back to outside of that silo bunker.[/QUOTE] Honestly I find the claim that nuclear war would turn the entire world into a firey wasteland quite hard to believe Consider the fact the most powerful nukes will level most of manhattan island at the most and seriously damage the surrounding areas, you'd have to have an assload of nukes to actually "end the world, completely" with them. Especially since fallout can be minimized to a non-factor by doing an airburst vs a ground attack. That said the US alone has an assload of missles, about 7K. That's enough to fuck up pretty much every major city on earth and then some. The worst effect that would happen from nuclear war is that society simply won't recover from it assuming missiles target population centers. Too much important shit would be destroyed. If all the missiles are ground-burst fallout will cause serious issues for large chunks of the earth for several years after. Bombs could be exploded at high altitude to EMP entire nations. That's the worst case scenario. The reality is that major military installations would likely be targeted over population centers (what does it achieve to just bomb NYC?), air bursts are likely to happen over ground level ones because nobody wins with fallout, etc. Even if worst case happens life still goes on, you just might not get much of a paycheck and society as you know it will be gone. And if fallout is an issue you might want to move far up north or somewhere out of the wind patterns for the fallout.

[QUOTE=Telepethi;45556587]I heard they run random drills but they don't tell the nuke operators they're tests/drills, and if you hesitate to launch the nuke you're out of the program immediately. So you really have to be ready and willing to launch those nukes.[/QUOTE] with the relative political stability of the world right now, wouldn't it be fairly easy to determine "this is a drill" and that's it? I mean, I doubt the U.S. has had a reason to launch a nuke in the last 20 years

[QUOTE=barttool;45560326]with the relative political stability of the world right now, wouldn't it be fairly easy to determine "this is a drill" and that's it? I mean, I doubt the U.S. has had a reason to launch a nuke in the last 20 years[/QUOTE] Generally speaking, the kind of men who get this kind of assignment are highly devoted to doing their job as best as they can. It can also be hard to get up-to-date news on the outside world when you're living at a silo out in the middle of Wyoming or Colorado.

[QUOTE=sltungle;45560290]You are aware there were a number of incidents in the cold war whereby the 'big red button' as it were was mere moments away from being pushed and we're probably only here now because a few people decided that maybe blindly pushing the button wasn't the best course of action, right? [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov"]This one in particular is quite an interesting read[/URL].[/QUOTE] The difference is that it's up to the President to decide whether or not to launch. It's not the kid turning the key who gets to make that call. [editline]1st August 2014[/editline] If the President hesitates to launch after a false alarm, then he's a good President. If this missile technician hesitates after being ordered to launch, he's failed his job.

[QUOTE=sltungle;45560290]You are aware there were a number of incidents in the cold war whereby the 'big red button' as it were was mere moments away from being pushed and we're probably only here now because a few people decided that maybe blindly pushing the button wasn't the best course of action, right? [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov"]This one in particular is quite an interesting read[/URL].[/QUOTE] while i agree with what you are saying, petrov was in a launch detection command center, where he had to make the decision if there really was a launch himself. i believe that there are no launch detection facilities in this command center, meaning that the likelyhood of them launching the nukes as actual retaliation is far higher than with petrov

[QUOTE=KorJax;45560318]Honestly I find the claim that nuclear war would turn the entire world into a firey wasteland quite hard to believe Consider the fact the most powerful nukes will level most of manhattan island at the most and seriously damage the surrounding areas, you'd have to have an assload of nukes to actually "end the world, completely" with them. Especially since fallout can be minimized to a non-factor by doing an airburst vs a ground attack. That said the US alone has an assload of missles, about 7K. That's enough to fuck up pretty much every major city on earth and then some. The worst effect that would happen from nuclear war is that society simply won't recover from it assuming missiles target population centers. Too much important shit would be destroyed. If all the missiles are ground-burst fallout will cause serious issues for large chunks of the earth for several years after. Bombs could be exploded at high altitude to EMP entire nations. That's the worst case scenario. The reality is that major military installations would likely be targeted over population centers (what does it achieve to just bomb NYC?), air bursts are likely to happen over ground level ones because nobody wins with fallout, etc. Even if worst case happens life still goes on, you just might not get much of a paycheck and society as you know it will be gone. And if fallout is an issue you might want to move far up north or somewhere out of the wind patterns for the fallout.[/QUOTE] Civilians have been systematically targeted since forever due to the economical and psychological effect it has on the enemy. Also even if nukes are not used to their full extent the nuke havers also tend to have such massive ground forces that any war involving them will be pretty bloody and the damages extreme. Edit: It's like thinking that it wont be so bad seeing how it's just going to be the most terrible holocaust the world has ever seen rather than the end of the human race.

[QUOTE=KorJax;45560318]Honestly I find the claim that nuclear war would turn the entire world into a firey wasteland quite hard to believe Consider the fact the most powerful nukes will level most of manhattan island at the most and seriously damage the surrounding areas, you'd have to have an assload of nukes to actually "end the world, completely" with them. Especially since fallout can be minimized to a non-factor by doing an airburst vs a ground attack. That said the US alone has an assload of missles, about 7K. That's enough to fuck up pretty much every major city on earth and then some. The worst effect that would happen from nuclear war is that society simply won't recover from it assuming missiles target population centers. Too much important shit would be destroyed. If all the missiles are ground-burst fallout will cause serious issues for large chunks of the earth for several years after. Bombs could be exploded at high altitude to EMP entire nations. That's the worst case scenario. The reality is that major military installations would likely be targeted over population centers (what does it achieve to just bomb NYC?), air bursts are likely to happen over ground level ones because nobody wins with fallout, etc. Even if worst case happens life still goes on, you just might not get much of a paycheck and society as you know it will be gone. And if fallout is an issue you might want to move far up north or somewhere out of the wind patterns for the fallout.[/QUOTE] nuking NYC would have infinitely more national impact than nuking a military base

[quote] a giant mural of Mario, the cartoon plumber from the video game.[/quote] wtf? which video game?