The Colonel, Me, and a Brave Little Girl
“The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict.”
This statement, quoted from an archived document of the Office of the Historian under the U.S. Department of State, was part of a program titled “Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations”. The program has been abandoned.
The Office of the Historian needs to resurrect and update the story of the nuclear missile crisis, because I believe that’s exactly where we are today given the nuclear tension between the U.S. and Russia.
For a number of years, I have protested against the nuclear program at what is now called the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB), located on the Central Coast of California near the City of Lompoc. At this time, the VSFB is the most visible venue for the American nuclear weaponry.
Several times a year, the U.S. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) delivery system is tested at VSFB. An ICBM, minus its nuclear warheads, is transported from North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, or Nebraska, and reassembled at VSFB and then fired at an atoll in the Marhsall Islands, over 4,000 miles away.
Very recently, the context in which the ICBMs are to be tested at VSFB has radically changed–for the worse.
The key bilateral nuclear agreement between the U.S. and Russia–the New START Treaty– expired this month. Russian President, Vladimir Putin, offered to extend the treaty but U.S. President Trump ignored the offer. What’s tragically lost by the expiration of this treaty, is a commitment to certain limits of the number of nuclear missiles and warheads by both nations, and an agreement to “exchange data on the numbers, locations, and technical characteristics of weapons systems and facilities that are subject to the treaty and provide each other with regular notifications and updates.”
As I see it, under these circumstances, the current nuclear environment is now as threatening as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The U.S. and Russia—and all the other nations of the world who have nuclear arms and those who don’t–stand at the precipice of the annihilation of human existence.
On Friday, February 20, at a senior center in Lompoc, the Commander of VSFB, Colonel James T. Horne III, introduced and personally presented a new public program, a “community speaker series,” titled “Mission Update.” The program provides “insights into Vandenberg’s operations and its critical role in national defense ….” Most of the presentation on Friday concerned the rocket satellite launches which are now allowed to reach 100 annually. A very brief part of the presentation concerned the ICBM testing operations.
The group of folks with whom I regularly protest at the front gate of VSFB against U.S. nuclear weaponry, is small and peaceful. I and other protestors have long hoped to speak personally and directly to a base commander at VSFB about the ICBM test launches. Friday, February 20, was my opportunity to do so, when Colonel Horne invited members of the audience to ask questions.
Colonel Horne is quite intelligent, very articulate, and unquestionably professional. He is a dedicated soldier. I respect him, even though I see the world differently when it comes to nuclear weapons.
I stood before the Colonel and brought the collapse of the New START Treaty to his attention, which of course, he was well aware of. I argued that this situation rendered the test launches of the ICBMs at Vandenberg as a heightened nuclear threat that is now shared by Russia and the U.S. I then pleaded for the Colonel to stop the ICBM test launches. I verbally acknowledged that this action would do his military career no good, but that it was necessary “for the sake of his children, and the sake of my children, and the sake of our children’s children.”
The response by the Colonel, in sum, was that he stood too far down the chain of command to have the authority to stop the ICBM launches. I expected this claim by the Base Commander and don’t question its validity. And from what I could tell, most of the audience supported the American nuclear weapons arsenal.
Still, I hoped that some of the attendees who were on the fence about nuclear weapons might turn against nuclear weaponry. Similarly, I hoped that Colonel Horne felt a twinge in his heart thinking about his and other’s children.
There are thousands of Americans who protest against nuclear weapons, but their voices are infrequently heard.
Interestingly, celebrities have protested and been arrested at Vandenberg: actor Martin Sheen and deceased author/activist Daniel Ellsberg. Many protestors against nuclear weapons have gone to prison for their nonviolent civil disobedience challenging nuclear weaponry, including local activist Dennis Apel who was arrested at Vandenberg and whose case ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
I was especially inspired by Bud Boothe, with whom I was arrested protesting at Vandenberg. Bud served on a B-17 bomber squadron during World War II, participating in 15 missions over Germany. He was wounded and lucky to survive the war.
Bud died in 2017. He was one of the oldest protestors at Vandenberg–old enough to be my father. Our youngest protestor, a little girl, has brought her own self-made peace poster to the base. She is about the same age I was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I’m old enough to be the father of this little girl’s mother who brings her along.
Peace-seeking is ever difficult and often tenuous, but thankfully, intergenerational. And we so owe nuclear disarmament to our children. But sadly, it may be our children, or perhaps, their children, who must save humanity from nuclear annihilation.
