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The US armed forces: the last people to entrust nukes to

Well, I'm getting vaguely tired of the "Republicans suck and we're so awesome for not being them" threads, so here I'm posting something vaguely different.

I found this on another forum I go to:

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There seems to be something about nuclear weapons, something that for some unexplainable reason switches the �Stupidity� switch to ON in the minds of the military.

We all know of the test explosions carried out by the US armed forces during the 1950s where lot of soldiers were intentionally exposed to nuclear fallout, and then the plans for using nukes to create harbors along coastlines (a plan that was luckily stopped when studies showed that the fallout was much more widespread then previously thought).

But then we have the lesser know things. Like the US navy dumping tons of highly radioactive waste off the coast of San Francisco; to save money.
And then we have the first nuclear tests in lower orbit that fried satellites, which of course the military realized was a bad thing and that those kinds of tests should stop. After more then 100 tests that is.

But that�s all just for the sake of �testing� (GlaDos apparently worked for the US military during the cold war), you know, to learn what the effects of nuclear weapons might be�.and to see how long it takes metal containers full of radioactive waste to rust through and pollute the area for thousands of years. You know; Testing!

But that�s not stupid� ok kind of. But the real stupid things have not yet been mentioned.

During the 50s and 60s the US air force had to be ready to retaliate against a possible nuclear attack, so they rand a series of exorcises where in the bomber pilots had to make a mock attack against a US city while fighters were tasked to try to shot them down. Well, pretend to shot them down, it is a exorcises after all. Oh, and the bombers carried (for the sake of realism) active nuclear bombs with them.

The bombers were to arm (yes arm) a nuclear bomb and then fly over said target city and make a note of when they would have dropped said armed bomb, but then not actually drop it.
So what�s the problem with that?...ok, what�s are the problems that aren�t obvious?

Well� on February 5, 1958 a bomber on its way back to Savanna after a mock bombing run on the; had a mid air-collision with a fighter that was pretending to attack it, and the bomber suffered serious damage but was still flyable.
However, the crew realized that there was a large risk of crashing upon landing, and they were afraid that that might set off the bomb they were carrying, detonating it in a big city. So they followed the standard practice at the time and dumped the bomb. The bomb fell into the mouth of the Savanna river (by Tybee Island, Georgia) and the plane managed to land.

The military then set out to try to find the lost bomb, but no sooner had they started then they gave up saying it was too expensive to recover the bomb, and that it was much cheaper to make a new one.

Yeah� see a problem there? The military gave up on looking for a live armed nuclear bomb on US soil, not far from a highly populated city because it was cheaper to make a new bomb. They were more concerned with making a new bomb then the risk of the bomb they lost exploding; killing thousands of US citizens and polluting the area for decades.

In fact to this day the bomb has not been recovered, and the military pretends it doesn�t exist, probably hoping that the bomb is too old to explode. But then we know that is wishful thinking since construction workers in Europe still come across active bombs and shells from both the world wars whenever they decide to dig a hole. Heck even sea mines are occasionally found by ships and they have to be blown up.

So who can say what could set off this bomb? A hard hit, or even a lightning strike might be enough.

Even if the bomb doesn�t explode, it is still made from metal that will rust and sooner or later pollute the river and the area with radioactive materials.

But then the military learned from this and decided it was too risky to continue using real bombs for exorcises�.We like to think at least. But they didn�t.

What got them to stop was 2 incidents in the 60s where a plane carrying bombs crashed (one in Spain, and one in Greenland), setting off the detonators of 6 nukes. While the bombs didn�t go nuclear, the explosions sent out tons of highly radioactive plutonium; polluting the area, which cost the military huge sums to clean up.

Even to this day the US armed forces have lost at least 5 other nukes around the world. Nukes they never bothered to try to recover since it would be too costly and to humiliating.

The consequences of this obvious bungling are real and scary, but I can't help at making a giant WTF?! at the carelessness with humanity's deadliest weapon to date. And I'm wondering if other countries are just as bad, bringing us closer and closer to a Judge Dredd-like dystopia.

Discuss.

1. Whoever wrote that has atrocious grammar and spelling.
2. Yeah, the military does evil and negligent shit. But if you're against this kind of stuff why are you (presumably) supporting republicans? Last time I checked weren't they kind of about war mongering? :D
3. Also, it's cute that you voted down all those threads. Not that it really matters or anything.

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I'm getting vaguely tired of the "Republicans suck and we're so awesome for not being them" threads

Let's be honest. I'm pretty much entirely awesome all the time, and not being Republican is only one of the many reasons why.

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So who can say what could set off this bomb? A hard hit, or even a lightning strike might be enough.

I can confidently say that these things will not set off this bomb, and I highly mistrust the rest of the post for the person thinking they would.

Anywho, it's not like the government covering up stupid shit they've done or the fact that many countries the world over are irresponsible as fuck is anything new. It's been the status quo for quite some time. It sucks! It really does, but I'm not sure the relevance of stupid stuff that happened in the fifties when the government continues to do stupid, irresponsible stuff today, especially when there's not exactly been anything new regarding this terrible behavior for quite some time.

If I were to search for any modern relevance to be gleaned from this discussion, it would be that it's dumb as shit for us to get super mad at other countries for trying to build nukes, an unfortunately necessary means of defense in a post-MAD world, when we have such a poor history with them ourselves. We don't really have any moral high ground from which to tell Iran, "Don't make nukes."

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Anywho, it's not like the government covering up stupid shit they've done is anything new

Hence, the anti-government paranoia Urban Legends like Polybius, Area 51, or the Car that runs on water. And there was this old Dilbert comic I found:
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/c...Dilbertomb.jpg

Yes, I knew that our government and military were irresponsible, but come on, not finding five nukes?! I doubt evryone knew everything in this.

And no, I'm not Republican, I'm a regular Benjamin Donkey who thinks any human government ever concieved will turn around and screw their people over, 'cuz human nature sucks. Yay, misanthropy!

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Originally Posted by kyrtuck (Post 1191956)

Hence, the anti-government paranoia Urban Legends like Polybius, Area 51, or the Car that runs on water.

Those are still dumb.

Someone in my hometown claimed he invented a water car.

I hate that asshole.

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And there was this old Dilbert comic I found:
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/c...Dilbertomb.jpg

I hope someday Scott Adams chokes himself with his own ignorance.

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Yay, misanthropy!

I can get being a misanthrope but it really doesn't accomplish anything so I'm not sure why people wear it like a badge of honor. It's like carrying a sign that says, "I give up!"

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It's like carrying a sign that says, "I give up!"

That felt like the entire message of the Where the Wild Things Are movie, and everyone claimed to like that movie, for reasons I can't fathom (aside from the cool suits of course).

I'm sorry but the awful spelling in that article was just impossible to get past.

So let me get this straight? We are talking about Broken Arrows and the Military being stupid? It isn't limited to Nukes dude (would know as is an Army Brat).

And yeah, spelling was horrid in that article but that doesn't make it right on some points. But let's start with the falsehood. It takes a lot more to set off a Nuke than a lightning strike or a simple shock and even if it was set off, it would just be the chemical explosives. They are programmed to airburst and if they don't...well I don't see a mushroom cloud in Georgia anytime soon.

Oh and this is not limited to the US Military! The British Military wanted to develop Nuclear Landmines warmed by Chickens to deploy along the border with the Eastern Bloc...

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The hils are alive
with the sound of
KABOOM!!!!

I had to do that sorry.

Finally, there was plans to fire a Nuke at the moon by the US Military in a fit of spite with the Soviets. Also, let us not forget that the Soviets; out of boredom, too much vodka, and to try and outdo the US...built Tsar Bomba. The original plans for that called for a 100 Megaton device.

Like the US isn't the only one who "Misplaced" nukes... and speaking as a veteran of the US military, I'm one to say: It's the Air Force that doesn't know how to handle the US's nukes.

But yeah, I seriously cannot take that article seriously. At all. What's the source for this?

I'm going to go ahead and preemptively call bullshit, then maybe verify that it is bullshit, but considering the lack of any credible source and the 5th grade spelling errors maybe not do any research at all and feel all smug and correct on the aforementioned calls of bullshit.

Also, it's pretty chickenshit to blame the military for any of this. The military is an instrument of the people, they don't just run around doing stupid shit because they think its awesome. You can still blame politicians for that. Captain Smith has zero say on where he drops his bombs or flies his plane.

Also if it were as simple as hitting it with a baseball bat then the development of the nuclear bomb wouldn't have been that big of a deal then would it?

"Hey, get this shit Tom! If you hit Uranium really fucking hard it destroys your neighborhood! Isn't that TOTALLY CRAZY AND WACKY?!"