# moonshot925 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 15, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747 "2012-09-15T00:27:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/101 "2012-09-24T16:54:03Z")
I am disgusted by the “nuke 'em all with all the nukes” thread. But it illustrates the difference (time to Godwinize both threads) of the levels of evil between Stalin and Hitler. Stalin had a pile of nukes by the end of this life. He didn’t use them. Hitler would have used every damn one of them. Killing millions of people because you can, whether they can fight back or not, is evil. That is why we don’t do it. Duh. Okay, and this deserves a mention too: > [@sleestak](#): > > And you have the balls to quote Richard Feynman who would, were the man still alive, call the ‘science’ of climate change a giant load of shit due to bad models, incredibly bad data collection and the down right terror these scientist show when asked to release their data. > > Slee Feynman was a scientist. What he would have commented about on data that he didn’t comment about isn’t science, it is speculative bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/102 "2012-09-24T16:54:45Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > You don’t know it, but you’re not a smart person. Engage the [Dunning-Kruger Overdrive!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=658400) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/103 "2012-09-24T16:57:39Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Please. An argument between Sam Stone and you is like a tug of war between a Saturn V rocket and BigTard’s sex life. Please. With all due respect to **Sam,** who is one of our more intelligent and sophisticated Dopercons, he ain’t no Saturn V, and certainly not in that scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/104 "2012-09-24T17:57:26Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > But yeah, my thought when he mentioned that was, "Oh, really? Was that before or after you were a Navy SEAL. No silly, he was a SLAAD. (Space, Land And Alternate Dimensions) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/105 "2012-09-24T18:01:06Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Do you think anyone believes your claims about commanding a USAF missile wing in the 1980s? > [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Actually, I kinda do. The AF is naturally going to want to select for people willing to actually “push the button”. This guy seems gleefully _eager_ to do so. He’d be perfect. Except that he’d already have dropped his bombs on San Francisco, Honolulu and Oakland by now. I’m pretty sure the Air Force only wants people who’ll push the button when they’re told. I mean, I don’t know many USAF wing commanders but I’m pretty sure all the Air Force personnel I do know would recoil in horror at the thought of vaporizing 50 million noncombatants. ---
**Author:** ![moonshot925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@moonshot925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonshot925)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/106 "2012-09-24T18:03:15Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Do you think anyone believes your claims about commanding a USAF missile wing in the 1980s? Uh, I never claimed to command a missile wing. I was part of a Missile Combat Crew that had primary control and responsibility for the 10 Minuteman missiles within our flight. At the Launch Control Facility we could monitor and launch the missiles. The LCF was connected to the 10 LFs in the flight through a system of hardened underground cables. There we 5 flights in a squadron for a total of 50 missiles and 3 or 4 squadrons in a wing. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/107 "2012-09-24T18:13:20Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Except that he’d already have dropped his bombs on San Francisco, Honolulu and Oakland by now. I’m pretty sure the Air Force only wants people who’ll push the button when they’re told. > > I mean, I don’t know many USAF wing commanders but I’m pretty sure all the Air Force personnel I do know would recoil in horror at the thought of vaporizing 50 million noncombatants. This ex-USAF enlistee (cryptologic linguist) does recoil in horror at the concept. Like any sane being, it would take an act of God (and note I am an atheist) to get me to nuke someone outside of Civilization V. Any employer that employs tens of thousands of people will let a few loons slip thru. They can be so good at appearing normal for periods of time. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/108 "2012-09-24T19:12:37Z")
> [@moonshot925](#): > > Uh, I never claimed to command a missile wing. > > I was part of a Missile Combat Crew that had primary control and responsibility for the 10 Minuteman missiles within our flight. At the Launch Control Facility we could monitor and launch the missiles. The LCF was connected to the 10 LFs in the flight through a system of hardened underground cables. There we 5 flights in a squadron for a total of 50 missiles and 3 or 4 squadrons in a wing. My mistake. Perhaps you could help us out by telling us the nickname used in the Air Force for junior officers? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/109 "2012-09-24T19:24:45Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > My mistake. Perhaps you could help us out by telling us the nickname used in the Air Force for junior officers? > Thanks. I certainly can’t help you there, but I’ve a sneaking suspicion that the guest of honour’s nickname would have been “REMF”. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/110 "2012-09-24T19:25:48Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Actually, I kinda do. The AF is naturally going to want to select for people willing to actually “push the button”. This guy seems gleefully _eager_ to do so. He’d be perfect. Actually no; they want people who’d be _willing_ to do so _if given the orders_, not ones who’d likely push the button if given the smallest opportunity. The phrase “loose cannon” comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/111 "2012-09-24T19:28:47Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > My mistake. Perhaps you could help us out by telling us the nickname used in the Air Force for junior officers? > Thanks. He’ll just look it up [here.](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_military_slang) ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/112 "2012-09-24T19:30:04Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > My mistake. Perhaps you could help us out by telling us the nickname used in the Air Force for junior officers? > Thanks. “Sir” Except for second lieutenants. They were butter-bars. But even then, never within earshot. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/113 "2012-09-24T19:53:49Z")
Yeah, the Air Force needs more Michael Madsens, less John Spencers. ---
**Author:** ![moonshot925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@moonshot925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonshot925)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/114 "2012-09-24T19:58:44Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > My mistake. Perhaps you could help us out by telling us the nickname used in the Air Force for junior officers? > Thanks. butter bar for O-1 railroad tracks for O-3 ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/115 "2012-09-24T20:35:54Z")
> [@moonshot925](#): > > butter bar for O-1 > > railroad tracks for O-3 Holy shit you responded to a question with an answer! This is a side of you we haven’t seen. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/116 "2012-09-24T21:39:24Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Except that he’d already have dropped his bombs on San Francisco, Honolulu and Oakland by now. I’m pretty sure the Air Force only wants people who’ll push the button when they’re told… Hey, no selection system is perfect, and the ‘gleefully eager’ can sometimes tone it down enough to pass for sane. That’s why there are procedures in place that require ‘presidential authorization codes’ and ‘two men on the switch’, neither of which can launch on his own. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if a random nutter can get in there, sometimes. Our subject of this thread seems to be ‘one of _those_ nutters’. Makes me feel _much_ better about all the times I was working as a construction inspector on a SAC base. It was made _incredibly_ clear to us that ‘Those guys hanging out with M-16s’ just outside the construction barricades were there, not to protect us, but to _shoot_ us, if we went beyond the barricades. I went on Google Maps satellite pix and looked at where I was, once, a while ago. The pavement I was responsible for is easily visible, 20 years later. I was about 150 meters away from the active bombers, with active nukes. Yeah, I would have been drilled thru the head if I’d stepped over _that_ line. I wasn’t tempted. And that doesn’t _begin_ to address the _fun_ when I was at a local SPACECOM facility, which was about 20 miles away from the SAC base. ---
**Author:** ![moonshot925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@moonshot925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonshot925)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/117 "2012-09-24T22:44:15Z")
The key-operated switches were 12 feet apart, so it was impossible for one person to turn both. The commander and deputy both had turn keys within two seconds of each other or the launch sequence would not happen. And additionally, the final command to launch also required another outside “vote” (two missileers performing the same procedure at another Launch Control Center). If everything was done correctly, explosive gas generators would push open the 110-ton blast doors covering the silos and the Minuteman missiles would streak toward the sky. Then the “MISSILE AWAY” lights would illuminate on the commander’s console. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/118 "2012-09-24T22:57:25Z")
A couple more questions: When you swept the floors, did the trash go right into a green bag, or did you have a cart for that sort of thing? When serving officers in the mess, do you pick up empty plates from the left or from the right? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/119 "2012-09-25T00:06:57Z")
And the _truly_ amazing thing is, he did it all as a quadriplegic! ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/120 "2012-09-25T03:49:53Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > And the _truly_ amazing thing is, he did it all as a quadriplegic! Well, he did have assistance from his wife… Morgan Fairchild. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747.md?page=7)