{"id":3106,"date":"2022-04-03T11:40:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-03T18:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=3106"},"modified":"2022-04-05T12:08:33","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T19:08:33","slug":"dont-go-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=3106","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Go There"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One day I was on TDY assignment to a base about 10 miles from my home base. Me and my buddy Bruce were out on the flight-line working on aircraft, and we heard a distant boom. We looked out to the horizon and saw a giant fireball go high up into the sky, then a mushroom cloud formed and spread over the city towards us. And we thought, this is it. We\u2019ve got about 30 seconds before it hits and incinerates us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, we were both wrong. Because we didn\u2019t die, and the city wasn\u2019t destroyed like we\u2019d seen in the training films and on the death charts in Job Control, where concentric circles spread out on a map showing thousands and millions dead. No, we were lucky, but nine of our brothers were not so lucky. During combat simulation launch, a B52 had crashed at our home base, exploding 300,000 pounds of fuel on contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I probably haven\u2019t said this much, but I\u2019m a little pissed that we\u2019re back in the Cold War again. I served during that, for whatever that\u2019s worth to ya, to the planet. More than that, those guys gave their lives for it. If you think that\u2019s being overdramatic, I think you should think again. And as for the Russians, threatening to go nuclear \u2014 we were ready then, and we\u2019re ready now. Don’t even go there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One day I was on TDY assignment to a base about 10 miles from my home base. Me and my buddy Bruce were out on the flight-line working on aircraft, and we heard a distant boom. We looked out to the horizon and saw a giant fireball go high up into the sky, then a mushroom cloud formed and spread over the city towards us. And we thought, this is it. We\u2019ve got about 30 seconds before it hits and incinerates us. Fortunately, we were both wrong. Because we didn\u2019t die, and the city wasn\u2019t destroyed like we\u2019d seen in the training films and on the death charts in Job Control, where concentric circles spread out on a map showing thousands and millions dead. No, we were lucky, but nine of our brothers were not so lucky. During combat simulation launch, a B52 had crashed at our home base, exploding 300,000 pounds of fuel on contact. I probably haven\u2019t said this much, but I\u2019m a little pissed that we\u2019re back in the Cold War again. I served during that, for whatever that\u2019s worth to ya, to the planet. More than that, those guys gave their lives for it. If you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p32u0F-O6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3116,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=3116","url_meta":{"origin":3106,"position":0},"title":"A Place to Rest","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"April 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The little tree grew into an enormous tree. It loved the hill where it had grown up, extended its roots deep into the ground, and tasted the waters of the earth. In the spring, it dropped its cones; the seeds scattered around and the little ones were born. They sprouted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":167,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=167","url_meta":{"origin":3106,"position":1},"title":"Destination Moon-1950: SciFi Movie Review","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"April 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"[rating:5\/5] Destination Moon. \u00a0Wow. \u00a0I didn't know it was based on a novel by Robert Heinlein. \u00a0So cool, and you can totally tell. \u00a0This movie is not full of crazy science errors, which is amazing since it was done in 1950. \u00a0In fact, if you compare it to the actual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/MV5BMTYzMTc5OTU2OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjIwOTgxMQ%40%40._V1._SY317_CR100214317_2-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":137,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=137","url_meta":{"origin":3106,"position":2},"title":"Flight to Mars-1951: SciFi Movie Review","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"April 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"[rating:3\/5] \u00a0 I watched this Scifi classic last night. \u00a0I love old movies like this. \u00a0Five people are selected to go to Mars. \u00a0The pilot of the ship is an engineer who is in love with a woman scientist. \u00a0Two other male scientists and a journalist go along. \u00a0As soon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Flight_to_mars.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3047,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=3047","url_meta":{"origin":3106,"position":3},"title":"The Villain I Made","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"March 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I've not been good at villain creation. I've known many of them in my life, but I haven't ever made one. I guess my storytelling child author just assumed people are good or bad. But in reality people are all different shades, moving in and out of these shadows, transforming,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1309,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=1309","url_meta":{"origin":3106,"position":4},"title":"The Making of Villains","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"February 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"How do you make a villain that feels credible? Meet Baxter Hickman. Part man, part monster, and totally being used.","rel":"","context":"In "My Thoughts On Stuff"","block_context":{"text":"My Thoughts On Stuff","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1019,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=1019","url_meta":{"origin":3106,"position":5},"title":"The Mighty Fortress of Her Heart","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"May 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My mother binds our family together. She's the reason that we all love each other, and the only reason that we all survived growing up. There's much to be said about this amazing woman who grew up in the countryside of Michigan. As a child, she was confined to a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Mom-Story.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Mom-Story.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Mom-Story.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Mom-Story.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Mom-Story.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Mom-Story.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3106"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3115,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3106\/revisions\/3115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}