Dunno if you feel comfortable replying, but was there a certain situation or alert that comes to mind where you thought something could really happen?
To give a short answer.....................not really. There were some incredibly tense times, I won't kid you about that..........but we always knew that as much as we despised and feared the idea of nuclear war, the Russkies were scared s**tless of it far more than we were. I'll leave it at that. :)
BTW, it's no myth that Ronald Reagan really did win the Cold War. To put it bluntly, with "Star Wars", he saturated their ability to respond economically. IOW, he outspent them. I was perfectly willing to pay the price knowing that my kids would not grow up in a world where they'd constantly be under the threat of a nuclear attack.
.......then the damned Cox Report came out and I learned exactly what Clinton allowed vis a vis China. That son of a bitch.....................................