Inside the Cold War - Project Gutenberg Consortia Center

THE COLD WARRIORS
considerations, budgetary realities, new theories, and the
ever-present specter of Soviet intentions. Few would dispute
that the unwavering will and support of the American people,
through almost two generations, claimed the Cold War victory.
Someone along the way said that if the United States had
set out to develop a deterrent military force, the Triad would,
in all likelihood, not have been devised. Triad was simply the
result of “politics, budgetary realities, and new theories.” But
it worked!
Strategic Flexibility
The clock radio on the nightstand beside the bed reflected
4:00 a.m. and the intervening three or four seconds seemed
like an eternity before I realized that the incessant ringing was
not the alarm, but the telephone. I answered the phone with a
poorly disguised attempt to sound fully awake—until the tense
voice of the wing command post controller relayed the
information that this was not a practice alert notification.
Practice alert phone calls were the norm in SAC; they could be
expected at any time, day or night—especially at night. Some
alert notifications were simply to run the “pyramid alert” call
list for confirmation of crew members’ availability and then tell
the sleepy warriors to go back to bed. Other notifications
required crew members to hustle to their bomb squadrons,
conduct a quick study of their strike mission folder, preflight
their assigned aircraft, start engines, and taxi toward the
runway before the alert was called off. More often than not,
the wary bomber or tanker crew did not know for sure if the
alert was real until the command post called off the exercise.
On this early morning occasion, the command post
controller made it clear that this was not a practice; a
situation briefing was scheduled for 0530 to issue the
operations order. Bomb wing personnel had been placed on
restriction for the past three days because of Soviet Red Army
activities in Hungary, so the alert was not entirely unexpected
(at least to test the bomb wing’s reaction time). But this call
was not for a reaction check.
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