This is Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov, who, at the height of the Cold War in the 1980s, was in charge of the Soviet Union's nuclear missile early warning system. As reporters who have tracked him down testify, he will often shout at visitors to go away, or — at best — grudgingly admit: "I was just in the right place at the right time."
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/the-man-who-saved-the-world-772312 (http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/the-man-who-saved-the-world-772312)
Quote from: WallysWorld on May 15, 2015, 06:45:16 PM
This is Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov, who, at the height of the Cold War in the 1980s, was in charge of the Soviet Union's nuclear missile early warning system. As reporters who have tracked him down testify, he will often shout at visitors to go away, or — at best — grudgingly admit: "I was just in the right place at the right time."
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/the-man-who-saved-the-world-772312 (http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/the-man-who-saved-the-world-772312)
There was also a Soviet naval officer who made a gutsy call during the Cuban Missile Crisis: Vasili Arkhipov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov). He was the lone dissenting voice aboard a Russian sub equipped with nuclear torpedoes, opposed to firing on US navy ships that 'mock depth charged' the sub and caused the crew to wonder if WW3 had broken out. One has to wonder if his experiences serving a year before on the infamous 'K-19' influenced his decision.
Another amazing story I'd never heard before. Thanks for sharing WallysWorld!
It's truly horrifying to know how close we came to nuclear war...not just that it happened once, but multiple times.
The Able Archer 83 exercise was another instance where the Soviets thought we were gearing for a surprise attack and it almost came to blows:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83
So, too, was the Norwegian Rocket Incident:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident