Senate action needed to prevent nuclear war

In 1971 Sgt. Greene was an instructor in an Army basic training company where I was a training officer. One of the courses he taught was on Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Warfare. He began the class with a question: “Suppose you are on the battlefield and the decision is made to use tactical nuclear weapons. What do you do?” One of the basic trainees read ahead in the Army manual, raised his hand and said, “You get in your foxhole and put your poncho over you, drill sergeant. “ Sgt. Greene would bellow, “B.S.! In a nuclear exchange, temperatures are 9,000 degrees and that poncho will melt around you like cheese on a cheeseburger. There is no way to survive. You have to hope and pray that nuclear weapons, never, never are used!”

Sgt .Greene was an honest man. But today politicians and their advisers are planning on even the first strike use of nuclear weapons. They ignore the consequences of doing this. A recent study at University of Nebraska reported a single nuclear warhead could cause devastating climate change resulting in widespread drought and famine that could cost a billion lives.

We need our Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to stand up for us and co-sponsor existing legislation S. 200 to remove the sole decision to use nuclear weapons from a president and S. 2047 preventing pre-emptive war in North Korea.

This story was originally published April 24, 2018 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Senate action needed to prevent nuclear war."