The National Defense Medal, which had been issued to service members of all branches during designated periods of war, will no longer be issued after December 31st, 2022. The Department of Defense made the decision after the U.S. troop pullout from Afghanistan in 2021, ending…
In the decades before the wonderful website Nukemap helped us with determining the effects of nuclear weapons when used against any target on the globe, The United States used a Lawrence-Livermore Laboratory program called JANUS. JANUS1 was an interactive wargame simulation code, in which the…
Nuclear weapons history, a la official reports, and the situation that was told to me by older nuke techs who were in Turkey during the Cyprian Crises of 1974 are a little different. When I was a young nuclear weapons specialist, I would hear stories…
In a recent article in The Hill by columnist Gordon G. Chang Do we have the wrong nuclear weapons to deter Russia and China?, it is suggested by Mr. Chang that the United States nuclear arsenal, and the lack of low-yield short and medium range…
A question I frequently get asked is “what did the training consist as a nuclear weapons technician?” In my book Last of the Glow Worms, I tried to explain some of the training we went through. Here, I will share some of that training with…
Nuclear artillery. These words are reminiscent of the Cold War Era, when both the Soviet Union and United States developed what were termed as “tactical nuclear weapons”; in short, battlefield nuclear weapons used by artillery units with a short range, and possible short lifespan for…
The M422CA1 and it’s variant, the M422CA1E1 were the mainstay of United States nuclear artillery throughout Europe and South Korea from the beginning of the Cold War until their removal in 1991. Also known as the Old 8″, the M422 was deployed by the United…
With the catastrophe of the American pull-out of Afghanistan in full force, there are many reports of Taliban fighters resuming their 20 year hiatus assault on women, and the murders of people who worked with the Americans during their involvement in Afghanistan. The accounts are…
The recent shooting in Minnesota of Daunte Wright by a 26 year veteran of the Brooklyn Center P.D. when she believed she had a taser in her hand, accidently shooting and killing Daunte was hard to watch. I first asked myself, “Did he have a…
During my research of other aspects of the Cold War I was not directly involved with, I began to speak with customers that I visit frequently, most of whom are from former Soviet republics. Weekly visits to them to try and sell products has allowed…