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(Some Guy) Hero An obituary for the man who prevented a nuclear disaster in North Carolina and paid the ultimate price for his heroism   (ncrabbithole.com) divider line
29
    More: Hero, Vietnam War, Government, Nuclear weapon, Detonation, East Carolina University, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Military, Pacific Ocean  
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5038 clicks; posted to Main » on 27 Jan 2023 at 8:15 PM (8 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



29 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
Petey4335
2023-01-27 8:20:44 PM  
o7

That is all I can do.
 
HempHead
2023-01-27 8:24:41 PM  
Lt. Mattocks, who had watched the scene unfold below him as he drifted toward the ground, veered away from the fire. He landed two miles away from the scene, touching down behind a family that had been awoken by the sound and was staring at the glowing sky. He asked that family to drive him back to the Air Force base, 12 miles away. When he arrived at the front gate, his uniform was torn up, his military ID was gone, and he was banged up from his escape. His parachute was still on his back. He told the airmen at the front gate that a B-52 had crashed, but the word hadn't spread to them yet. Mattocks, a Black man, couldn't prove who he was. So, the airmen arrested him for stealing government property.

Some things never change.
 
Eat The Placenta
2023-01-27 8:29:36 PM  
He told the airmen at the front gate that a B-52 had crashed, but the word hadn't spread to them yet. Mattocks, a Black man, couldn't prove who he was.

Huh? Was there some kind of racial issue here?
 
Mad_Radhu
2023-01-27 8:40:48 PM  
Living into his 80s is actually a pretty good run for someone who held the core of a nuclear warhead against his chest.
 
lilbjorn
2023-01-27 8:42:15 PM  
He should appear on a postage stamp.
 
p51d007
2023-01-27 8:58:48 PM  
The VA wouldn't pay benefits... Government Healthcare for ya. 😉
 
Fireproof [OhFark]
2023-01-27 9:13:42 PM  
🫡

Also, your blog...is pretty great, actually. Subscribed.
 
I Swear I'll Jump
2023-01-27 9:44:09 PM  

Eat The Placenta: He told the airmen at the front gate that a B-52 had crashed, but the word hadn't spread to them yet. Mattocks, a Black man, couldn't prove who he was.

Huh? Was there some kind of racial issue here?


Goodness no. Those good 'ol boys were just a product of some good old southern inbreeding.
 
I Swear I'll Jump
2023-01-27 9:44:44 PM  

p51d007: The VA wouldn't pay benefits... Government Healthcare for ya. 😉


Tell me about it.
 
Pointy Tail of Satan
2023-01-27 9:45:16 PM  
Bah. The core of a nuclear weapon isn't dangerous. Even if exposed to the plutonium core itself, the alpha radiation can't even penetrate the skin. The author has been playing too much Fallout 3.
 
TedCruz'sCrazyDad
2023-01-27 9:52:22 PM  

Pointy Tail of Satan: Bah. The core of a nuclear weapon isn't dangerous. Even if exposed to the plutonium core itself, the alpha radiation can't even penetrate the skin. The author has been playing too much Fallout 3.


Agent Orange on the other hand.
 
Por que tan serioso
2023-01-27 9:56:08 PM  
If that volleyball sized core was radioactive like melted nuclear fuel rods I'd be a lot more impressed that he live a couple days let alone into his eighties. As it is you get about the same level of exposure from a tritium marked compus or weapon sight.
 
Archie Goodwin
2023-01-27 10:06:27 PM  

p51d007: The VA wouldn't pay benefits... Government Healthcare for ya. 😉


What they say: "Thank you for your service."
What they mean: "Thank you for your service. Now GTFO."
 
Pointy Tail of Satan
2023-01-27 10:10:43 PM  
That "volleyball sized core" is also questionable. The tamper is usually U-238. Combined with the PU core, it would probably weigh something like 200 pounds. The density of uranium and plutonium is almost twice as much as lead.
 
baronbloodbath [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 10:21:15 PM  
Those of us with government secrets can sometimes feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders. Unable to tell a living soul what we've seen or done. I've seen some shiat. Maybe when I'm on my deathbed I'll start telling people who may or may not believe me.
 
ZMugg [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 10:25:00 PM  

Archie Goodwin: p51d007: The VA wouldn't pay benefits... Government Healthcare for ya. 😉

What they say: "Thank you for your service."
What they mean: "Thank you for your service. You should have died. Now GTFO."


FTF too many of Us
 
MIRV888
2023-01-27 10:45:47 PM  

Por que tan serioso: If that volleyball sized core was radioactive like melted nuclear fuel rods I'd be a lot more impressed that he live a couple days let alone into his eighties. As it is you get about the same level of exposure from a tritium marked compus or weapon sight.


Nah, plutonium is toxic and chemically reactive as fark, but neither are particularly radioactive to be around for a brief period.
 
usahole
2023-01-27 11:08:18 PM  

baronbloodbath: Those of us with government secrets can sometimes feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders. Unable to tell a living soul what we've seen or done. I've seen some shiat. Maybe when I'm on my deathbed I'll start telling people who may or may not believe me.


Fark is your deathbed; tell us
 
WTP 2
2023-01-27 11:12:05 PM  
/O
 
indy_kid
2023-01-28 12:14:13 AM  

baronbloodbath: Those of us with government secrets can sometimes feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders. Unable to tell a living soul what we've seen or done. I've seen some shiat. Maybe when I'm on my deathbed I'll start telling people who may or may not believe me.


Write it down, seal the envelope, write "Do Not Open Until After My Death", and give it to a lawyer.

Make sure the people who read it know that they are bound to secrecy after reading. The government can't come after you, but they can harass the readers. It's classified info and they don't have clearance.
 
Mr. Shabooboo
2023-01-28 12:20:18 AM  

Pointy Tail of Satan: Bah. The core of a nuclear weapon isn't dangerous. Even if exposed to the plutonium core itself, the alpha radiation can't even penetrate the skin. The author has been playing too much Fallout 3.


Your right about the Plutonium..Tritium would have been in there also....It's not like it was pure Pu-239..
Only a barely double digit portion of the total weight of that is even that isotope.The rest is 238 (at best)
But there is always going to be some traces of other things, bad things, in there too..If a trace amount of
PU-240 decided to decay while he was holding it, it would emit Beta or Gamma or Neutrons..
Only the Navy has super strict guidelines about purity regarding removal of 240, because of proximity of crew...
 
NobleHam
2023-01-28 1:38:16 AM  
Y'know, if it takes until your 80s to die of something you did in your 20s, it's probably not that bad. Condolences to his family, of course, and it sounds like he was a very cool, good guy, but the "paid the ultimate price" part seems a bit off to me.
 
Shryke
2023-01-28 2:06:42 AM  

Pointy Tail of Satan: Bah. The core of a nuclear weapon isn't dangerous. Even if exposed to the plutonium core itself, the alpha radiation can't even penetrate the skin. The author has been playing too much Fallout 3.


Thank you. JFC, shiat article.
 
moike
2023-01-28 2:24:34 AM  

lilbjorn: He should appear on a postage stamp.


...and it should be glow-in-the-dark
 
thealgorerhythm
2023-01-28 3:21:58 AM  

lilbjorn: He should appear on a postage stamp.


bighugelabs.comView Full Size
 
caljar
2023-01-28 6:52:19 AM  
He made it well past the male US life expectancy.
 
Wenchmaster
2023-01-28 9:03:46 AM  

NobleHam: Y'know, if it takes until your 80s to die of something you did in your 20s, it's probably not that bad. Condolences to his family, of course, and it sounds like he was a very cool, good guy, but the "paid the ultimate price" part seems a bit off to me.


It was in TFA- the type of cancer he died from manifests about 50 years after exposure.

Also in TFA, the VA finally accepted that his illness was caused by his service exposure.

So yes- a very good man died as a direct result of holding a nuclear weapon core while he was disarming the weapon.
 
NobleHam
2023-01-28 9:20:12 AM  

Wenchmaster: NobleHam: Y'know, if it takes until your 80s to die of something you did in your 20s, it's probably not that bad. Condolences to his family, of course, and it sounds like he was a very cool, good guy, but the "paid the ultimate price" part seems a bit off to me.

It was in TFA- the type of cancer he died from manifests about 50 years after exposure.

Also in TFA, the VA finally accepted that his illness was caused by his service exposure.

So yes- a very good man died as a direct result of holding a nuclear weapon core while he was disarming the weapon.


Yeah, unusually for Fark I read TFA. Even if blame for the cancer can be assigned to what he did, I stand by what I said: if it kills you 60 years later, that's not so bad.
 
stuffy
2023-01-28 2:04:37 PM  
Preventing millions of improvements.
 
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