A villan's lair from real life
Number24
NorwayPosts: 22,175MI6 Agent
I can't believe I didn't know this before today, but here it goes:
From 1958 to 1966 the US military had a secret base called Camp Century under the ice in Greenland! about 200 people lived on the base. They had living quarters, a hospital and a church. The whole facility was powerd by a mobile nuclear generator. The purpose of the base was to build missile silos for inter-continental nuclear rockets aimed at the Soviet Union. From Greenland the planned 600 missiels would have a much shorter journey to their target behind the iron curtain. This was called Project Iceworm. While the US has a official military base on Greenland on Thule, Denmark had no idea ther was a second US base on Greenland despite being on Danish territory. Here is the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm
Strangely, a documentary was made by the US military, obviously not mentioning atomic missiles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POWR2H89QVY
This is all very Bondian. But imagine if the Soviet Union had teh same idea? They could feasably build a base like Camp Century on their own. Now imagine shady Americans trying to hide their own base, a Russian base commander with cabin fever and megalomania who wants to start world war three and a beautiful Danish scientist. This should be a continuation novel!
From 1958 to 1966 the US military had a secret base called Camp Century under the ice in Greenland! about 200 people lived on the base. They had living quarters, a hospital and a church. The whole facility was powerd by a mobile nuclear generator. The purpose of the base was to build missile silos for inter-continental nuclear rockets aimed at the Soviet Union. From Greenland the planned 600 missiels would have a much shorter journey to their target behind the iron curtain. This was called Project Iceworm. While the US has a official military base on Greenland on Thule, Denmark had no idea ther was a second US base on Greenland despite being on Danish territory. Here is the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm
Strangely, a documentary was made by the US military, obviously not mentioning atomic missiles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POWR2H89QVY
This is all very Bondian. But imagine if the Soviet Union had teh same idea? They could feasably build a base like Camp Century on their own. Now imagine shady Americans trying to hide their own base, a Russian base commander with cabin fever and megalomania who wants to start world war three and a beautiful Danish scientist. This should be a continuation novel!
Comments
I mentioned the Century base could be a good theme for a continuation novel. A secret Soviet base on Greenland supplied by submarines and merchant ships sounds cool. The Danish have a very limited military presens in Greenland. They deploy the Sirius Patrol to conduct reconnaissance and "show of flag". These are jaeger soldiers, often from special forces, trained in winter survival in Norway. They use dog sleighs, civilian winter gear and bolt-action rifles. They could be written into the story.
I have read Boyd's 'Solo'. An OK book, but lacking in flair and perhaps too 'realistic'. The Century base is an example of how something can be colourful and fantastical, but still real. Boyd could learn something out of that.
Wasn't it irritating not to be able to talk about your work at neighbourhod BBQ or out on the town?
M: "Jealous husbands. Outraged chefs. Humiliated tailors. The list is endless!"
Glad to meet someone who had been there. Which service were you in and when were you there?
At times yes, but you get used to not discussing what you know or knew. As far a WWIII scenario, NATO's mission drastically changed when the Soviet Union ended. The focus is on terrorism ,rogue nations states and when assigned, getting the security under control in a regional conflict like Bosnia/Libya.. When I was deployed, those in command worried as much about a nuclear accident that could chain reaction into automatic full scale conflict as much as they did a pre-planned war. It's happened several times, but fortunately for some quick thinking men, it's always been avoided.
I keep in Facebook and email contact with a friend who is in Naval Intelligence and whenever he comes here to Florida for vacation. He's always knows the current status of US global defensive strategy. NATO and the US stopped planning for Russian military attacks in Europe years ago. He told me that even though Putin is an old KGB officer and would probably wish the Russian government had the kind of power and influence the way the communist government once did, he is a pragmatic, realistic politician who has had to bow to the modern world where economics drive the policies. He worries more about muslim extremists on their southern flank than conflict involving energy or trade. They prefer stability as much as we do. It's one of the reasons they got the Syrian's to deal on the chemical weapons they and the Czechoslovakians sold them back in the 80's. Since they make a good deal of rubles on supplying them with conventional weapons and getting them to give up the chemical ones made them look favorable in the UN, it's a win-win for them. As my Navy Intel friend said..it's all about money. The largest reason their empire collapsed..they just could not maintain the funding of their bloated military defense based on a non capitalistic system in a modern world. Even the Chinese figured this out. One can saber rattle all one want's, but if one doesn't maintain economic viability, there won't be much of any sabers left to rattle.