Reflection Vol. 1.: A Kid and the Cold War (556 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 2 on 12 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Malone (View user info) at 2004-05-28 06:34:54 EDT
This is the first volume on a series that I will be doing and contributing to when the time seems fit and I have a thought. It will be for my reflections from days long ago about topics that I'm sure have long left the minds of those who experienced growing up in the 1980's and 1990's as I did.
A Kid and the Cold War
My house growing up was not far from Selfridge Air National Guard Base, in Michigan. Within 15 miles there abouts as the crow flies. They practice everyday and on weekends, flying around. Jet's, helicopters, huge 4 engine prop planes, fighters and on and on fly out of there. One day WWII bombers went over head going to the base for the air show. For 20 seconds, my eyes bore witness to a site rarely seen again since 1945. Today, missions are flown from this base to Iraq; cargo planes and what not, the long distance machines.
I remember a time, sometime in the heart of the '80s when I was a kid and every time one of those jets flew past the house, I would look up at it and try to identify it, try to see the markings. I was looking for a red star.
To me, the Russians were on the doorstep of my neighborhood for countless years. I was certain that at any moment (most likely when I was at school and away from my parents), there would be a flash outside. That blinding white flash as the bomb went off. You know what "the bomb" is. They would be hitting the auto plants and the downtown Detroit area. Selfridge would be the next target as well as the Dupont chemical company plants in the area. Detroit is America's factory. We keep this country going and was all too aware of the importance of my home as a military target. Mom assured me that we were a safe distance from the Detroit city limits in the suburbs and the military base as well. My dad works downtown. He wouldn't see it coming.
As those who grew up in this time will reflect back upon, the 1980's for a child were filled with political fear. The world was (MAD). Mad! (MAD), for those too young to remember stands for Mutually Assured Destruction. It's the state of the world that once existed, but no longer is a reality. It meant that if either the United States or the USSR attacked, the other one would also be wiped off the Earth. Worse than that, if the Russians didn't push the button to kill us all, some rich kid in the Midwest with a modem (wow a modem!) could plug himself into the CIA with a chess game and start World War III. To a 9 year old, it's a serious possibility. The movies are real right?
If I didn't have 'Russian Attack' to kick ass to on Nintendo, a game that allowed the American subconscious to vent, I don't know what I would have done. Probably started masturbation a few years early. You remember that game? Trying to knife the dudes jumping over shit at you?
Then there was the image of the Cold War that I remember most vividly. In the motion picture, "Red Dawn" the USSR attacks the United States. They parachute into town and start taking over. In that movie, there is a scene where they attack a school and kill kids. The aftermath shows bodies all over the classroom and hanging out the windows. Blood everywhere.
I never forgot that mental image; I still have it today not having seen that movie in probably 19 years. I would think about that scene in class, oblivious to the lesson, staring out the window just waiting and wondering if the Russians came, is that how it would go down? Is that how I would die?
User Reviews
Submitted by Eric_Rice (user info) at 2004-10-17 14:53:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by dohnuts (user info) at 2004-05-28 12:20:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ah, memories.
My consolation was supposed to be that, living so close to D.C., we would be obliterated instantly in the event of a nuclear war, instead of suffering the aftermath.
(Thanks, Mom)
Submitted by itchy (user info) at 2004-05-28 10:40:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I grew up in the shadow of one of the Russians' "Top Ten" targets, so I definitely hear you on the paranoia thing. I remember trying to fall asleep wondering if tonight would be the night that they attacked us. It is hard for a kid to see the value in being one of the "lucky" ones, the ones who will be vaporized instantly as opposed to dealing with radiation poisoning, etc.
War Games, Red Dawn and The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (a movie that had Orson Wells talking about the predictions of Nostradomus) all helped to make me a pretty freaked out kid.
Thanks for the memories.
WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2004-05-28 10:24:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"I liked the 80's and the cold war people listened to me then. Now they say let sleeping dogs lie, the cold war is over and communism lost. Well I say sleeping dogs wake up and tear the throat out of democracy."-Kids in the Hall, badly butchered, but still from the kids in the hall.
I just read someting today about MAD. You say, "It's the state of the world that once existed, but no longer is a reality," but we still have enough Nukes pointed at our "enemies" to destroy the world, as does Russia
Submitted by K.M (user info) at 2004-05-28 09:09:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I read an article in the paper the other day, where Nixons phone transcripts were released. During the Arab Israeli conflict in (I think) 73, Nixon was to drunk to even take a phone call from a British diplomat, who wanted to talk about how the U.S.A and the U.S.S.R were probably going to come into conflict during this thing.
Kissinger basically kept 8 balls in the air at once, and ran the show as an adviser.
I also read somewhere, I think in Chomsky's newest book, that during the cold war in 1962, a few American destroyers were attacking a Russian nuclear sub, and the Reds gave the order to nuke the American ships. This, of course, would have probably led to a nuclear war, according the concepts of MAD. The russian commanding officer on the sub blocked the order, and probably saved both of the countries as well.
History is pretty fuckin' scary.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2004-05-28 08:46:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for War Games
+2 for Red Dawn
Submitted by I_Have_a_Kristen_Fetish (user info) at 2004-05-28 07:24:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Malone your posts are getting much better. Kicker of all ass (+2)
Submitted by anarki_2k2 (user info) at 2004-05-28 07:24:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
you suck ass, but the post diddnt
Submitted by hairycoo (user info) at 2004-05-28 06:50:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
those evil child murdering Russians.
Submitted by Lucifer_Industries (user info) at 2004-05-28 06:44:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Ahhh thanks Mystia. I've missed you on my submissions!
Malone
Submitted by mystiamoon (user info) at 2004-05-28 06:43:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Here's another 2 because I hate you so much!
Take it! Take my 2! You like it don't you?
;-)
Submitted by mystiamoon (user info) at 2004-05-28 06:41:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fuck you Malone you are teh suck!!!