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Happy Stanislav Petrov Day - He Didn't Kill Us All

posted by [personal profile] mylescorcoran at 10:35am on 26/09/2008 under , ,
It's September 26th again and I'm remembering Stanislav Petrov, the Soviet Air Force lieutenant colonel who decided a missile attack registered by Soviet satellites on this day in 1983 was a false alarm and at risk to his career chose not to start a nuclear war.

Thank you Colonel Petrov.
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There are 6 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 

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posted by [identity profile] mizkit.livejournal.com at 09:50am on 26/09/2008
I think the first I heard of Petrov was on your blog a year or two ago. Thanks for the reminder. *goes off to post similarly*
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posted by [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com at 12:17pm on 26/09/2008
Good man - he deserves his own day.
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posted by [identity profile] inuitmonster.livejournal.com at 08:04pm on 26/09/2008
If he's the guy I am thinking of, he was apparently disciplined for not following correct procedure (and launching the missiles), even though doing so would have killed us all.

Sadly, we don't seem to know the name of the guy who stopped US bombers taking off for Moscow when an alarm indicated Communist infiltrators attacking a bomber base... the bombers were on the runway, but the guy drove out in a jeep in front of them. The infiltrator turned out to be a naughty bear who had climbed over the fence.
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posted by [personal profile] mylescorcoran at 03:00pm on 27/09/2008
Naughty bear!

I think we were very lucky to have made it through the Cold War. 1983 was a dangerous year, according to the Doomsday Clock, closer than any other time to a full-scale launch except for 1953 when the hydrogen bombs were demonstrated.
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posted by [identity profile] drcpunk.livejournal.com at 05:58pm on 29/09/2008
Thank you -- someone on Making Light was asking if there were a US equivalent to Petrov. I've quoted you, and I'll let you know if someone over there finds out who this guy was.
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posted by [identity profile] inuitmonster.livejournal.com at 06:21pm on 30/09/2008
I've just the book that contains the incident ("Cold War" by Jeremy Isaacs & Taylor Downing). It does not name the guy, but he is given as the commander of Volk Field in Wisconsin; he was the one who ordered another officer to drive a car into the runway to block the flights, after someone had pressed the "Incoming nuclear attack" button rather than the "Bear climbing over fence" button.
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