[RightOnline]

I was a young Captain (pilot) in the Strategic Air Command at that time.......so I know exactly what you went through. Not fun times.

[middie]

The American people have no idea how many instances occurred that brought us to the brink of war with the Soviet Bloc in the 1950s to the end of the Soviet Union. It was only our superior electronic/photographic intelligence, the existence of our SAC aircraft/missiles and the forces of USAFE and USAEUR and a national policy willing to use them that prevented the ultimate conflict from occurring. MAD was an effective non-partisan policy only because we were willing to spend what was needed to construct the force.

The critical factor in each of the events that I am personally aware of as an intelligence type between the end of Vietnam for me and 1985 was the Soviet civilian government cooling down the "let's go to war" rants of the East Germans. The Kremlin knew that the Chinese would exploit any disruption of the delicate balance that existed in central Europe and that the Soviet economy and forces would be squeezed from both west and east.

[Churchillspirit]

You both served at a critical time in the battle against communism.

Thank you for your service.