Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger: Nuclear Vacation Tour

It's a rare pleasure when someone from the broader nat'l-security news and wonkery complex visits my home state of Colorado. It's weird, because we have loads of military here, but I don't think enough policy or leadership is present in the state to warrant public visits from such cognoscenti.

Well, this past Friday was an exception to prove the rule: bloggers and writers Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger came not only to the Centennial State, but to my cozy hamlet of Boulder. They were invited by the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art to talk about their book, Nuclear Family Vacation and show a slideshow from their travels. The book is a good 'un, full of neat anecdotes and asides, and is incredibly informative. For those interested, you can pair this book up with Spying On The Bomb, another personal favorite, and you'll be waaay more informed than your elected representative on the US nuclear arsenal.

Their talk was great, and they gave the crowd an ample time for questions. There was about 40 of us, and I was the youngest member of the audience by 7 years (conservatively). As is wont to happen at such events, there were good questions sprinkled among cranky whinings from septagenarian ex-hippies.

I asked a question about the relationship my generation (millenials) has to nuclear weapons. I was 7 when the USSR fell, and I've never actually seen a live nuclear explosion. The "die-ins" and hysteria of the nuclear-freeze 80's is just as distant as the Cuban Missile Crisis. I'm sure it makes some people feel old, but it's something worth pondering. I have quite a few friends who are junior officers across the branches, and in 15-20 years, they'll be the leadership of our armed forces, and unless something changes, the use of nuclear weapons will be as hypothetical to them as horse-driven cavalry maneuvers would be to Vietnam leadership.

I'm rambling at this point, I think, so I'll wrap it up by saying thanks to BMOCA and to Nathan and Sharon for making a stop in my state. They're welcome back any time.