Back in the good old days when most of us were trying not to get drafted and wind up as cannon fodder in Vietnam, we had a friend that was beating the system. He was staying in school. He got his BS. Then he got his masters. Then he was working on his PhD. PhD in what you say? Nuclear engineering. No kidding. Then the system caught up with him. He got drafted.
So what do you think the Army would do why a guy that was nearly finished with a PhD in nuclear engineering? What? No not that. What? No not that either. If you guessed infantry .... you were close. Actually the made him the string puller on a howitzer. So at least he wasn't on the front lines. Close, but not quite there.
And when he got out of the Army he told us an interesting fact. They have nuclear shells for the cannons in the army. Some fire 3 miles, some fire 5 miles. So maybe the method to the madness was hey here's a guy that knows about nuclear stuff. Let's put him on a cannon in case we decide to shoot off some nuclear rounds. Except that theory wouldn't have worked with him. One time he told us, "If they thought I would fire a nuclear bomb that was going to go off only 5 miles away from me, they were nuts. Was never going to happen."
If you're wondering what that might look like, take a look at what made me remember this story. BOOM.
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4 comments:
Thanks, Mike. Nothing like a little nuclear devastation to start a festive and relaxing weekend.
I don't think I'll look at the link. Thanks to the movie 'The Day After', this theme has given me nightmares since childhood.
You've made me want to go blow things
UP this weekend, good job! ;)
Anybody that would shoot one of those shells with a 3 mile range would be the equivalent of a suicide bomber.
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