General Discussion Thread

[jemhouston]

Good news, the State of Texas has issued its semi-annual reminder for hunters. "If you encounter any metal case object while hunting, do not shoot it. Instead record the location and contact law enforcement for the area."

They're still finding unexploded ordnance, but it's been five years since anything containing any nerve agent or other war gas was found.

When asked about nuclear weapons, the DPS spokesman replied, "Per Federal Law, we don't discuss that."

[Bernard Woolley]

People who need that warning shouldn’t be allowed to own guns. Or anything sharp.

[Poohbah]

People who need that warning shouldn’t be allowed to own guns. Or anything sharp.

I cordially and respectfully disagree.

Think of it as evolution in action.

[jemhouston]

Story goes, a couple of years after the war, a father and his kids were out hunting. One kid had a bead on a deer when his father told him to stop.

There was a bomb right behind the deer. It had sarin in it. There were also two more, another Sarin, and the other HE.

Said kid just retired from the Army, his career, EOD.

[Wolfman]

You have to be absolutely crazy to make a career out of sweet-talking explosives…

[jemhouston]

You have to be absolutely crazy to make a career out of sweet-talking explosives…

He retired as Command Sargent Major of the Army EOD school. If I remember the article right, he picked up electrical engineering degrees, a few patents concerning EOD robots, and turned down joining an organization that dealt in larger booms that he felt comfortable with. To me, that means he turned down a chance to join NEST.

He was crazy and good.

[Wolfman]

You’d have to be completely insane to join NEST, if you ask me…

[jemhouston]

You’d have to be completely insane to join NEST, if you ask me…

To join NEST, you have to be one step away from mad scientist territory, smart, high degree of common sense, combined with fondness for risk taking.

I know they recovered nukes from Lubbock, failed one from around the Minuteman sites, and some US ones.

[Matt Wiser]

There may be some nukes unaccounted for during the retreat south to the Rio Grande, and every once in a while, a dud MIRV-or two, or three, get found in the Whiteman AFB ICBM field.

[Poohbah]

There may be some nukes unaccounted for during the retreat south to the Rio Grande, and every once in a while, a dud MIRV-or two, or three, get found in the Whiteman AFB ICBM field.

It came out a few years back that there were more nukes at Lubbock International than there were documents for same.

Wonder if there's a truck rusting in a decaying barn with some aging physics packages in the back.

[Wolfman]

There may be some nukes unaccounted for during the retreat south to the Rio Grande, and every once in a while, a dud MIRV-or two, or three, get found in the Whiteman AFB ICBM field.

It came out a few years back that there were more nukes at Lubbock International than there were documents for same.

Wonder if there's a truck rusting in a decaying barn with some aging physics packages in the back.

Thanks for the Nightmare Fuel, Poohbah…

[jemhouston]

The good news is nuclear weapons are maintenance intensive. It's probably they can't go high order initiation. The bad is the chemical weapons are probably unstable and go explode spreading the nuclear material around.

[Matt Wiser]

Even a fizzle would be bad... Worse would be just the HE trigger goes off, and you have a dirty bomb event.

When Goalie and I watch Lone Star Law, we're wondering who's getting in trouble for either (a) grenade fishing, (b) using "unapproved means and methods" (i.e. hunting deer with your dad or granddad's AK war trophy). Or an old minefield gets found when a deer or other animal sets off a mine. Worse is when someone on an ATV or Side-by-Side runs over an old Antitank mine.

[Wolfman]

The Game Wardens have lost trucks to leftover mines.

[Matt Wiser]

They have, and UXO recognition is part of their training. If you see the companion show Louisiana Law, they have the same issues West of the Mississippi.

[Wolfman]

They have, and UXO recognition is part of their training. If you see the companion show Louisiana Law, they have the same issues West of the Mississippi.

That they do, Matt.

[jemhouston]

Even a fizzle would be bad... Worse would be just the HE trigger goes off, and you have a dirty bomb event.

When Goalie and I watch Lone Star Law, we're wondering who's getting in trouble for either (a) grenade fishing, (b) using "unapproved means and methods" (i.e. hunting deer with your dad or granddad's AK war trophy). Or an old minefield gets found when a deer or other animal sets off a mine. Worse is when someone on an ATV or Side-by-Side runs over an old Antitank mine.

You left out someone finding the device, and getting the right equipment and people, making a new device with the fissile material.

Given some of the nonfiction works I've read, most of the needed stuff is off the shelf.

[Lordroel]

OOC: its okay if i post my own version of Red Dawn over at my forum.

[TheMann]

You left out someone finding the device, and getting the right equipment and people, making a new device with the fissile material.

Given some of the nonfiction works I've read, most of the needed stuff is off the shelf.

The problem is that the explosives by now have decayed into instability for most Russian nukes and the fissile material is extremely radioactive, and if its plutonium its hard gammas as well, so anybody working on the bomb will end up dying from radiation sickness quite quickly without proper protection, and death from radiation poisoning is very unpleasant....

[jemhouston]

You left out someone finding the device, and getting the right equipment and people, making a new device with the fissile material.

Given some of the nonfiction works I've read, most of the needed stuff is off the shelf.

The problem is that the explosives by now have decayed into instability for most Russian nukes and the fissile material is extremely radioactive, and if its plutonium its hard gammas as well, so anybody working on the bomb will end up dying from radiation sickness quite quickly without proper protection, and death from radiation poisoning is very unpleasant....

A for a true believer, that might worth it. Anyone smart enough to do so, will have the proper equipment to do so, and put in new explosives.

I suspect it would be less difficult to do than we think.