|
|
|
#1
09-16-2011, 01:25 PM
|
||||
|
||||
The Care and Feeding of Nuclear Weapons
Okay, so...assuming that during TDM, at least some of the nuclear weapons (I'm thinking about missiles, specifically) didn't get destroyed, who is on station maintaining them? "Hydrogen" bombs specifically need periodic maintenance. The plasma medium in the warheads is (drumroll please) beaded polystyrene (the same stuff that your throwaway cooler is made out of, the same thing your computer comes packed in, etc.) and exposure to the alpha rays inside a warhead shroud eventually turns it into a non-viable tarry goo. That's just one thing that can go "fizzle" (instead of Fissile...on the missile...HA).
Also, what is SIOP after TDM? Who has NCA? The "Football" has already been kicked, so who is out there with orders to any AF bases still operational, and still armed? Or boomers? I mean, with most of DEW and virtually ALL EW satellites out of commission it's not like they'd be able to go to LOW. At the same time, the airmen in the silos...at what point do they/would they "come out"? What were their standing orders once the birds flew and communication from NMCCs went dead? 
|
|
#2
09-16-2011, 03:35 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
One of the guys I use to game with on the Ike had been a submariner on a boomer (his eardrum was damaged, and he couldn't dive anymore and it got him working on a nuclear carrier, go figure), and he played t2k with us. he told us that after they'd fire their missiles they'd go and get rearmed at one of the secure facilities that was 'hidden' from being targeted.
And he also said that if they had live missiles on the boat while they were out at sea, they would only let their missiles fly with authoritization from higher command (the POTUS or a flag officer). One of the guys in one of my friends gaming group is a USAF missile tech, and i'll send the question to him to find out for us. But from what I've seen and heard, they would continue to tend their birds as long as they can. And when the spare parts (or FOOD) runs out, they would have a proceedure to 'secure' the warhead so it would be safe for long term storage without someone babysitting them.
__________________
Fuck being a hero. Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothing! You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah blah blah, attaboy! You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, your kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. I do this because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so I'm doing it.
|
|
#3
09-16-2011, 08:37 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Normally their needs are small. A little shelter from the weather, a coat of paint, someone in a lead apron to fuss over them.
Some times they go on a self destructive binge and eat a whole town. 
|
|
#4
09-17-2011, 06:24 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Assuming you have fresh warheads 2-3 yrs from load out the warheads start going stale the Trituium decays that far they wont work properly also the batterys begin to do some funny stuff because of the way they are made at about 5 years the lithium in the heads begin to suffer break down so on the average after 5 years you have a very large paper weight that kills you slowly from fast nuetrons
|
|
#5
09-17-2011, 07:08 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Like I said, with polystyrene as the mediator for plasma in a thermonuclear weapon, it has to be periodically replaced or you wind up with a "fizzle" well below desired yield. Kinda crazy: just bog-standard plain-jane old styrofoam makes nukes way more powerful, but there it is.
|
|
#6
09-18-2011, 02:57 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Okay... Now I don't know how much his is going to help. All i was able to really get from him was as follows due to operational security.
Once the Missiles fly, USAF personnel are to do one of two things depending on pervailing conditions. One is button up and await further orders if emmenint nuclear attack is expected, if not they are to travel to their central command location to recieve orders and new assignment. If they still have a missile, they are to button up and await orders to launch from POTUS. If they are in a T2k setting... they're to protect their warheads with their dying breaths (or render them inert if the OiC gives the order to relocate). Many of the missle silos have supplies stockpiled, a tap to provide fresh water and plenty of power. the control centre is set up to withstand upto a direct hit from a nuclear warhead.
__________________
Fuck being a hero. Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothing! You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah blah blah, attaboy! You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, your kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. I do this because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so I'm doing it.
|
|
#7
09-18-2011, 06:09 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Wow...I wish now I would have peppered Jerry with questions when I knew him...Jerry Rubenzer was a guy I knew during my first posting in the Army at Ft. Stewart. He had been a missileer in the Air Force, but decided that he did not like being an officer, with all the politics and such. Since he only had a little more than two years in the Air Force at that point, he couldn't simply resign, so he resigned just his commission instead, took a very low-penalty Article 15, and went into the Army as a Sergeant, which is where I met him -- he was on one end of the first floor of the barracks with the Scout platoon, and I was on the other end with the Mortar platoon. I should have hit him up for everything he could tell me about missile ops, damnit.
Oh well, that guy really could throw a party -- including one that got way out of hand and got the most of the Scout and Mortar platoons ejected from Tybee Island -- except for Jerry and I and a couple of other Scouts, who had the sense to bail out of the hotel before the police showed up. We spent three more days on Tybee...and we regaled the CO and First Sergeant with so many tales of the party that no one got anything more than an ass-chewing!
__________________
War is the absence of reason. But then, life often demands unreasonable responses. - Lucian Soulban, Warhammer 40000 series, Necromunda Book 6, Fleshworks Entirely too much T2K stuff here: www.pmulcahy.com
|
|
#8
09-25-2011, 07:39 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Something that might help that I found on Youtube...
First Strike Part One: Part Two: Part Three: Part Four:
__________________
Fuck being a hero. Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothing! You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah blah blah, attaboy! You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, your kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. I do this because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so I'm doing it.
|
 |
| Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | |
|
|
Linear Mode
