The Laughing Wolf

A Good Read

Whether you are looking to make knowledgeable comments in an editorial, or a writer looking to get it right, you need to check out this post which was cited by the good Sgt. Hook. While I don’t expect a lot of editorial writers to get it right, if you are a fiction writer, please, please, please take the time to get it right.

These posts have reminded me of a couple of stories. One I will share now has to do with someone not getting the word. The military does all sorts of exercises, and has many contingency plans. One such plan involves tracking detonation of enemy nukes during a full scale or sneak attack. Our bases are (or were, at least) set up to report such things. The idea is that when something goes off in the distance, you can get a compass bearing to determine direction, and then use the time between when you see it and when you hear it to determine the distance. From this, you can get a very good idea of what is gone. Reporting this not only alerts to problems, but also helps provide accurate, real-time battle damage analysis.

Someone I knew – a good story teller -- was involved with a drill for this process, a drill which was cancelled. This person did not get the word. So, at the appointed hour they call up the proper division of NORAD and issued a NukeDet report, said report indicating that a medium sized city (actually large for the state) was gone. A quavering voice on the other end of the line said “I sure as hell hope this is a drill.” What had happened was quickly determined, hopefully without further need of laundry service at the other end. The story teller does a much better job with this story, and I know I do not do it full justice.

I have always wished someone could have gotten a picture of the person’s face at the other end of that line. Poor sod.

LW