| There I was sound asleep in my bed when the phone | | | | standing up on the stage. The Wing Commander was |
| rang. It was probably around 04:00 when the phone | | | | with him."Attention!" The Wing Commander shouted |
| rang in my bedroom. I was living 'off base' in civilian | | | | and the room resounded with boots hitting the floor |
| housing. Montana mornings are already cold in October | | | | and five hundred or more airmen jumping to their feet. |
| and getting out of my warm bed surrounded by my | | | | "This is General Fox. Commander 24th NORAD |
| dogs was not my idea of a good time!"Hello," I | | | | Region." In the Air Force you didn't have to use as |
| mumbled into the phone. | | | | many words to make a sentence as you did in civilian |
| "Airman Tuohy," the commanding voice queried in a | | | | life. The General took the mike, the colonel saluted |
| monotone on the other side (a question that sounded | | | | performed a perfect about face and walked off the |
| much like a demand) "report for duty." | | | | stage. SAC loved pomp and circumstance. I wondered |
| "What's going on?" I asked since I was in Data | | | | if you could even make Colonel if you couldn't do a |
| Processing (an old name for I.T.) and had no security | | | | proper about face."During the night," The General |
| responsibilities. | | | | began, "a large force of Soviet troops invaded |
| "20 minutes airman! Get on the move!" I recognized | | | | Canada. We are still uncertain about their strength but |
| the Chief Master Sergeant's voice. He had barked | | | | it is apparently multiple battalions."The room was silent. |
| orders at me before a time or two.I lived fifteen | | | | Was this a drill? Montana shared a long unprotected |
| minutes from the base. Dressing and getting to my | | | | border with Canada and Malmstrom Air Force Base |
| work location in 20 was a near impossibility but in the | | | | had no defense. We didn't even have any airplanes! |
| Strategic Air Command an order was never taken | | | | What we did have was a couple hundred Minuteman III |
| lightly even if it was to tie your shoe. So having the | | | | Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles with three Nuclear |
| chief call saying I had to be in the office in 15 minutes | | | | warheads each. All of us knew what was coming |
| was like hearing from God.Moving like a firefighter to a | | | | next and we were no longer thinking it was a drill ... we |
| four alarm fire I dragged on my uniform, ran a brush | | | | were praying it was a drill.Suddenly the lights went out |
| through what little hair I had, brushed my teeth and ran | | | | and the air raid siren wailed mournfully in the early |
| out the door to the cold vinyl seats on my Datson 810. | | | | morning predawn darkness. The heal beats of boots |
| In Great Falls there was no rock and roll on the FM | | | | marching down the isles of the theater could be heard |
| radio in those days and the one station we had was | | | | and flashlights were tossing their beams around into |
| not on the air at this hour of the morning.At about | | | | the frightened eyes of unarmed young men and |
| 04:24 I walked in the door of the building we called the | | | | women in uniform. When the lights came back on the |
| DPI to find three sergeants and a light colonel putting | | | | officers on the stage were being held at gunpoint by |
| signs on the window that read "This Window Blocked". | | | | soldiers that looked like Soviets and spoke |
| Common practice for a Broken Arrow drill."Tuohy!" | | | | Russian!One young man in the front row jumped up |
| The chief barked in the delightful way that only he | | | | and tackled a Soviet soldier and was severely beaten |
| could. "Report to the base theater for a briefing ... on | | | | for his actions. The rest of us sat still, wondering what |
| the double." I just stood there and looked at him. | | | | was going on everywhere else in town. How could this |
| Colonel Gray, a man who looked and acted | | | | be happening, were our families OK.The Soviet officer |
| remarkably like Colonel Potter on the hit TV show | | | | was spewing the normal rhetoric about the imperialist |
| MASH, looked over at me noting my inactivity. | | | | west and communism. We were convinced. Then the |
| "On the double Airman!" He shouted sternly. This got | | | | American general stepped back up to the microphone |
| me moving and startled me since I had never heard | | | | and announced this was a drill. These were the airmen |
| him bark an order before.The base theater was half a | | | | of the Red Star Squadron and this was the beginning |
| block away and an easy sprint for me in those days. | | | | of a three day Soviet Awareness Briefing.Tim Tuohy |
| Arriving there a couple of minutes later I found most of | | | | is the senior network engineer for mainframe systems |
| the airmen on the base waiting in line to enter as well. | | | | at one of this country's largest railroads. He is an |
| The discussions were all the same."Whose bright idea | | | | honorably discharged, decorated veteran of the Air |
| was it to have a drill at 04:30?" | | | | Force. His extensive training and education, as well his |
| "Dang it's cold out here I should have brought a coat?" | | | | travels throughout the North American continent, bring |
| "Have you ever had a drill like this before?" | | | | reality and excitement his novels and stories. His |
| "This is nothing! We had to do this in the war just so | | | | accomplishments include many highly technical designs |
| ..."In a few minutes we were all seated and the | | | | and installations. He lives outside Atlanta where he is |
| General in charge of the 24th NORAD region was | | | | working on a new novel. |