The Atomic Soldiers

American guinea pigs

 

They were American soldiers, and they were made to witness the testing of the largest atomic bomb ever exploded above ground in the United States.

They were guinea pigs, there to be studied on the physical and psychological effects of human bodies and minds in proximity to an atomic explosion.

It’s been over 50 years and to see the effect this still has on these men is sobering.

As you probably know, the United States, Russia and China are once again adding new and more powerful weapons in their atomic arsenals.

Treaties to limit nuclear weapons, negotiated and signed by President Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, have been allowed to expire without any new limits on testing and deployment of these new weapons.

And then, of course, there’s the expansion of those nations that already have, or soon will have, nuclear weapons, including North Korea, Pakistan, and India.

If merely seeing one nuclear bomb explode leaves soldiers this shaken, imagine the impact of a nuclear exchange. Imagine the unimaginable, because only we can insist this madness end.