On September 26, 1983, he was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early-warning system when the system reported a missile being launched from the United States. Petrov judged that the report was a false alarm.[1] This decision is credited with having prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its NATO allies, which would have likely resulted in large-scale nuclear war. Investigation later confirmed that the satellite warning system had malfunctioned.
I did not know about this until today, fascinating.
Scary story- I saw that on The Military Channel a while back. It would have caught us flat-flooted, at DEFCON 5, assuming it was a pre-emptive attack. Imagine if some Russky teabagger had been on duty, and not Petrov.
People are crazy and times are strange. I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range.
I used to care, but, things have changed.
