Working, Surrounded by 104 Star Fighters loaded with Nuclear Bombs - seriously.

Six (widow-maker) jets, ready for war, sat in quonset buildings, each guarded by one American military policeman and one Canadian military policeman. Theirs was the highest stress responsibility I could imagine. On my side, working every day in the presence of these elements of war, death and conflict wasn't stress-free either. This was 1964/65. I was twenty-one.

This was a portion of my 'three-segment' introduction a few days ago and I wanted to isolate this one experience to share with you today but this will be a series of three stories. The next will be titled; 'Russian Spies Around the Base & spies at our watering holes'.

The six loaded jets sat in an area called the 'Quick Reaction Area' (QRA) and was situated in a wooded area of our Air Force base in Soellingen Germany in the Black Forest. It required passage through three security checkpoints, the last a 'personal recognition' checkpoint between double razor wire fencing, patrolled 24/7 by armed guards and German Sheppards.

My job was to look after all the needs of the six pilots and six armament techs partnered for each plane. When an alarm went off, night or day, rain or shine, clear or foggy, these 12 men, already fully dressed, raced from the building, each to their own assigned flying bomb.

This step sounds simple but during this high panic minute or two, they had to connect with each other on the run, verify their bird, in case of fog or storm and cross the no-lone-zone at precisely the same time.

During this critical phase, the two military policemen guarding the entrance to each quonset, had to track the two men approaching them at a dead run to ensure that they were, indeed, the correct two men and track them with weapons drawn until they crossed the yellow line together.

Any person who crossed one of the yellow no-lone-zone lines alone would be shot on the spot with no hesitation.

I hope you enjoy the next segment of this story; 'Russian Spies Around the Base & spies at our watering holes'. That segment will be followed by the third and final piece of this story; 'I built a bomb and it exploded in my face'. I know how it feels to be blind.

Norman J Ball