Hansen: Inside bunker, SAC crew feared WWIII was on its way (1979 incident just like Wargames)

Marta and I live about two miles from the base.

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/hansen-inside-bunker-sac-crew-feared-wwiii-was-on-its/article_77eabaa3-2207-589e-b541-a4fa75163999.html



The World-Herald
The Strategic Air Command underground war room in 1963. For one tense night in 1979, Capt. Bob Vouk and everyone else in the underground bunker believed the Soviet Union had sent several hundred nuclear missiles hurtling toward major cities and military bases in the United States.

POSTED: SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014 1:00 AM

By Matthew Hansen/World-Herald columnist

They started the countdown at 30 and stared unblinking at the giant monitors in the Strategic Air Command’s underground bunker, waiting for the world to end.

29 ... 28 ... 27 ...

Capt. Bob Vouk stared at the monitors and tried to tell himself that the Soviet Union wouldn’t attack like this, without provocation or warning or reason. When this countdown hit zero, dozens of nuclear missiles wouldn’t slam into Omaha. His wife and two young children, sound asleep at home, would wake to see another day. Right?

He looked up toward the ceiling and tried to push away the dread settling at the base of his stomach. He couldn’t.

FULL story at link.