Armageddon. Nuclear holocaust. Doomsday. These were the terms that were used during the Cold War. Both the United States and the USSR stood nose-to-nose ready to reduce their respective adversaries to radioactive wastelands. The U.S. public had no idea of the number of near-misses that occurred during this dangerous time. This documentary is about a single man who stood between the world and the end of humanity during one of those near-misses.
I lived through the Cold War. I served aboard a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine. This submarine was not a ballistic missile sub. It was called a "fast attack" or "hunter-killer" sub. What I found out when I served during the early 1980's was that on ballistic missile submarines (boomers) the missiles came out of the top of the sub. On a fast attack, they came out the front.
We carried nuclear weapons. I was within arms reach of a real-live nuclear weapon when I went into the sub's battery bay to do morning measurments. That experience changed me. I did not want to play chicken with things that would have destroyed life on this planet.
My inner turmoil was nothing compared to the choice that Stanislav Petrov faced on September 26, 1983 when the Soviet satellite surveillance of the U.S. strategic forces reported not one, not two, but five incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles. It was his decision to report the missile warnings as false alarms. Had he simply followed established procedures his actions could have touched off a world-destroying nuclear war. The entire world owes this man a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.
This film documents the life of the man who saved the world. He never considered himself a hero despite the fact that his decicion allowed civilization to continue on this planet. The film shows that Stanislav wasn't a choirboy. He was a flawed human being. He also endured difficulties that defy description considering the magnitude of the act that he performed in the service of humanity.
The name Stanislav Petrov should be etched in the annals of history as an example of people who have saved far more lives than all of the world's despots have destroyed. He saved even more lives than someone like Dr. Norman Borlaug.
Look it up.
I lived through the Cold War. I served aboard a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine. This submarine was not a ballistic missile sub. It was called a "fast attack" or "hunter-killer" sub. What I found out when I served during the early 1980's was that on ballistic missile submarines (boomers) the missiles came out of the top of the sub. On a fast attack, they came out the front.
We carried nuclear weapons. I was within arms reach of a real-live nuclear weapon when I went into the sub's battery bay to do morning measurments. That experience changed me. I did not want to play chicken with things that would have destroyed life on this planet.
My inner turmoil was nothing compared to the choice that Stanislav Petrov faced on September 26, 1983 when the Soviet satellite surveillance of the U.S. strategic forces reported not one, not two, but five incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles. It was his decision to report the missile warnings as false alarms. Had he simply followed established procedures his actions could have touched off a world-destroying nuclear war. The entire world owes this man a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.
This film documents the life of the man who saved the world. He never considered himself a hero despite the fact that his decicion allowed civilization to continue on this planet. The film shows that Stanislav wasn't a choirboy. He was a flawed human being. He also endured difficulties that defy description considering the magnitude of the act that he performed in the service of humanity.
The name Stanislav Petrov should be etched in the annals of history as an example of people who have saved far more lives than all of the world's despots have destroyed. He saved even more lives than someone like Dr. Norman Borlaug.
Look it up.