Last of the Glow Worms; Memoir of a Nuclear Weapons Technician at the End of the Cold War
Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2017. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Trade paperback. [6], 183, [1] pages. Illustrations. Contents include: Preface, Introduction, Getting Out of Dodge, Learning the Power of the Atom, Wilkommen in Deutschland, Working Area One, Familiar Faces, Culture Shock, Nuke Training and Investigations, Broken Arrow and the NWTI, Operation Silent Echo, The Final Days of the 64th Ordnance Company, America or Bust, Epilogue, References and Further Reading, and Index. From the early 1950s until 1992, the U.S. Army deployed thousands of nuclear warheads throughout Europe as a deterrent to Soviet ambitions. The end of the Cold War saw the decommissioning of much of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and the phasing out of support personnel. This memoir by one of the Army's last "glow worms" chronicles his career as a nuclear weapons specialist--from 17-year-old recruit to participant in Operation Silent Echo, codename for the removal of all tactical warheads throughout Asia and Europe. Extracted from a review found online: Reviewed by Curtis Foxley (University of Oklahoma) Published on H-War (September, 2018). In Last of the Glow Worms, US Army veteran Jeff Woodward gives a bottom-up view of how the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty played out. Woodward joined the army in 1989, serving as a MOS 55G, or nuclear weapons technician. In that role, Woodward maintained and handled nuclear warheads and nuclear capable artillery shells. In other words, Woodward was a “glow worm.” In his memoir, Woodward reveals the life of the glow worms at the death of the Cold War. Woodward’s memoir begins with his decision to join the army. From there, Woodward takes us with him through basic training, advanced individual training, and his life on an American military base in Pirmasens, West Germany. He takes us into the steel bunkers of the Weapons Access Delay System. Along the way, Woodward performs routine maintenance on nuclear weapons. Some scholars will be interested in his role in Operation Silent Echo, the historic mission to disarm and remove American nuclear weapons from West Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and South Korea in accordance with the INF Treaty. Woodward fully illuminates in detail what this meant on the ground. “I handed Hooker a spanner wrench, which he used to remove the nose cone,” Woodward writes. “He handed me the nose cone, and I set it on the parts table. I then handed Hooker and Merkins a grounding strap with an alligator clip at each end” (p. 142). This kind of detail oozes throughout Woodward’s recollections of Operation Silent Echo, providing realistic visualizations of the process. Woodward is careful with his word choices, choosing simple steps and explanations over complicated technical details. This is a mark of good writing. Overall, Last of the Glow Worms is a great read, fit for scholars and lay people alike. Woodward paints a lively picture of a different kind of front-line, one that was populated by invisible men and women who played a crucial role in the mission of nuclear deterrence. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Nuclear Weapons Specialist, 64th Ordnance Company, Broken Arrow, NWTI, Nuclear Weapons Technical Inspection, Operation Silent Echo, Weapons Access Delay System, Warheads, Nuclear Capable Artillery
ISBN: 9781476671352
[Book #84084]
Price: $50.00