You Think you Have it Tough

Insight into life’s truths come when you least expect it.

            I am very privileged.  I have had the time and resources to travel around the world to look for birds, what the cognoscenti call birding.

            On this occasion I joined a small group of birding friends on a trip to Northeast India.  We had hired a local bird guide by the name of Peter Lobo.  Peter was from Bhutan but resided in Goa.  He was an expert on the birds of Northeast India.

            We moved around quite a bit, visiting a number of Indian states, including Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Assam.  Our last state would take us into the Himalayas in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Figure 1: Arunachal Pradesh in Red

 This is the state on the border with China and in fact was the location of the conflict between India and China in 1962. After China invaded, they pulled back to pre-conflict positions but still maintain a claim to the territory.

            There is a strong police/military presence in Arunachal Pradesh.  You must have a permit to enter.  Peter was very effective in getting our permits.  We were stopped at an entry gate at the border to the state.  We spent quite a long time there.  They checked and rechecked our passports. They rifled through our gear.  They kept chatting with Peter.  There were at least 20 uniformed personnel at that gate.  It seemed like forever until they finally let us pass.

Figure 2: Entry gate to Arunachal Pradesh

            We headed up into the Himalayas on a relatively new highway.  It was headed to Mandala pass at about 10,000 feet and on to the Chinese border.  We were told that the Indian army assumed that if the Chinese were to invade again, it would use this highway for all its logistics support.  In 1962, this highway did not exist.  They used the only way in at that time, a dirt road from the heights downward.  We were told we would take that dirt road when we headed downhill again so as to not retrace the same birding locations.

            The road was an armed military encampment with clusters of troops at various locations along the way.  Because of the road, however, there was plenty of  local population and economic activity.

            We traveled up the mountain on a hairy, twisty road.

Figure 3; Mountain road-Arunachal Pradesh

            We headed to the Bompu tent camp in Eagle’s Nest Wildlife Sanctuary.  It was located at about 6500 feet and gave us access to all the higher altitude birding spots including Mandala pass.

Figure 4: Bompu Tent Camp-Eagle's Nest

            The birding was excellent, and our guide Peter was very knowledgeable about the sites to be checked out.  Most of these were very close to the highway.

            But one day he decided to take us off the beaten track and head up a dirt road toward some small villages.   What we saw blew our minds.  Here is a picture of what we saw.

Figure 5; Road workers in Arunachal Pradesh

            The road was being upgraded using local workers.  In the foreground on your left you will see a worker beside a gravel pile.  Toward the back on the left side of the road is a pile of boulders.

            The workers at the gravel pile walked back to the boulders, picked up a watermelon sized boulder and walked back to the gravel pile.  They then picked up a hammer and began beating on the boulder.   They were making gravel by hand.

            Peter asked around for us.  He was told that these workers who were making gravel by hand were very, very happy to have a job.

            You think you have it tough.

Yes, we are Brothers

I was in the San Francisco Bay region with a weekend to kill.  I was testing some space hardware at Physics International in San Leandro.  We did not finish the testing on Friday and had to come back first thing Monday to complete the testing.  It made no sense to head back to Virginia for a very short weekend.

            I decided to head for Yosemite National Park.  It was the end of October, and I knew that the lodge was closed.  I also had heard that the park service provided tents in the bottom of the valley that could be rented.  Unlike the crowds of the summer, I was pretty sure I would have the place almost all to myself.

            Yosemite is about 150 miles due East of San Leandro.  I knew it would take a good 3 hours to get there.  I was able to call ahead and reserve a tent. I was also able to get away from Physics International about 4:00 PM.  Some of the drive was in the dark, but I was able to get there by 7:30.  The ranger very kindly showed me to my tent.  It was equipped with lanterns, a cot, a sleeping bag and a space heater.  Snow had fallen on the south rim that day.

I had packed appropriate cold weather gear since I had planned this trip for some time. I pulled into the parking lot, gathered my gear, opened the tent, and was soon snoring away.

Figure 1: Yosemite Valley Tent Camp

I was awake at 5:00 and ready to drive up onto the rim of the south side of the valley to look for my objective-the Great Gray Owl.  I had rented a four-wheel drive vehicle, and the snow was only 4 or 5 inches deep and fluffy, so I did not expect any problems.  The Great Gray Owl is a boreal species found mostly in Canada and Alaska  There are also high-altitude mountain locations in the lower US including Yosemite.

The snow at the top of the south rim was very fresh and the air was dead still so there was complete silence.  I started walking. It was just starting to have a bit of light. I also had my small tape recorder.  I started playing the song of the Owl. https://xeno-canto.org/715843.

I walked through the snow for about a  half hour.  Sunrise was near.  Suddenly, my tape song was being returned.  I kept walking toward the sound.  There, about 25 yards away was the Owl sitting out in the open on a low hanging branch.

Figure 2: Great Gray Owl

            He stared at me. I stared at him.  He hooted at me. I hooted at him. 

            There was only me and the Owl in the whole universe.  I knew right then that we are brothers.  That the creative powers of the universe had fashioned both of us from the same cloth.  I knew that all was well with the world and always would be.

            Yes, we are brothers.

Last Tango in Nevada

In the summer of 1992, I was stationed at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) located 65 miles North of Las Vegas with members of my team.

Figure 1: Nevada Test  Site

I was in charge of a major test that I had conceived and conceptually designed.   We were at NTS because that was the location where mission critical hardware could be tested with the radiation output of a nuclear device.   Ever since the atmospheric test ban of 1993 these nuclear devices were detonated underground in a series of tunnels cut into the side of a mountain.

Figure 2: Tunnel complex at NTS

Our job was  to test a critical piece of space hardware that had never been tested before.  My team and I had developed a test article that included design features that we had developed to allow it to pass such a test.  Passing the test meant that the test article survived the radiation and continued to perform its function after being exposed to the radiation.  This was the basic US requirement for all critical hardware so that we could survive a surprise attack from the former Soviet Union and be able to retaliate, what the press called Nuclear Armageddon.

I was living at basic quarters on the test site. My two sons were grown and were out of the house by this time in my career.  My wife and I had to content ourselves with daily phone calls since my home in Virginia was nearly 3000 miles away.

I was also supported at the site by a team  of more than 75 people executing all the design specifics and putting the hardware into place at a location a mile and a half underground along a tunnel carved into the face of a mesa at the site.  For reasons of national security, I cannot tell you about the details of the test, but I can discuss the generalities.

            Things were going well.  Kenny was the manager of our Las Vegas office that provided the personnel and equipment to monitor the test configuration and the output parameters of the  nuclear device. Sam from our San Diego office managed the deployment of the test article and supporting test equipment.  David from our Albuquerque office  had designed  the test article support equipment.  Ben from our Huntsville office was in charge of the design of the test article with support  from major military hardware manufacturers. Finally, John from my office in Mclean provided all the detailed computational support needed to interpret the data.

            They all reported status during our stand-up meeting that occurred daily after the daily dry-run of equipment in which the hardware was all triggered as if  the nuclear device had exploded.

            Me, “Kenny, how is instrumentation coming along?”

            Kenny, “You are fielding more oscilloscopes in this test than I have ever fielded before.  They are all working and triggering in the dry run.”

            Me, “It seems that things with the test chamber are OK?”

            Sam, “Yes, the dummy test article is in the test chamber, and the vacuum and liquid helium are attached.”

            Me, “Is our support system still in trouble David?”

            David, “ We are up and running with the vacuum system. The liquid helium needs further attention.  We found another bug in the supporting electronics.  One of the modules needs to be replaced. We are on it.”

            Me, “We can’t test without a test article.  Where the hell is it Ben?”

            Ben, “The test article is one week away from completion.”

            Me, “We still need to set the scopes John.”

            John, “Most of the calculations are completed so that we will be able to set the scopes.”

            Me, “Great work guys.  The test is not until the early September.  We are in good shape.  We can all take off this long weekend and relax for a change.  I for one can’t wait to get off the test site.  See you next Monday.”  I was really feeling good.  This project had very high-level attention back at the Pentagon.

            Monday came. Kenny came running to me with a wild look in his eyes.

            Me, “ What’s going on Kenny?  You seem stressed.”

Kenny ,  “Over the weekend some rats chewed through the wires at the power plant on the top of the mesa.  The power went down, and nobody was here to fix it.”

Me, “Nobody here to fix it.  What happened then?”

Kenny,  “ There was no power to our vacuum or liquid helium systems.  The test chamber imploded.  It has to be fixed or we won’t make the test date.”

Me, “Ouch.  We are in deep shit. My career may be at an end.”

My DOD sponsors were very upset. They sent an august team of critics from Washington led by one of my perennial critics Gus to determine exactly what happened and why I had fucked up. I knew that they were discussing who my replacement would be.

We met at the field station on the test site a few days later.

Figure 3: NTS field station

  The CEO of our company sent Larry to support me.  Larry ran the office of quality control for the company.

Larry stood right up and took charge.  He addressed the review committee, “Gentlemen.  Take a look at the quality program that we execute on all the mission critical programs.  Then take a look at the log of the actual application of this formalism to the present program.  It is excruciatingly detailed and covers almost every conceivable bad luck thing that can happen. Like all such programs, it has provisions to handle the situation when one thing goes wrong.  It also has the requirement that the system performance degrade gracefully when 2 things go wrong.”

Gus, “What two things went wrong?”

Larry, “The primary power system went down for the whole weekend, and the back-up power system that NTS provides was not designed to last a whole weekend. It went down also.”

Gus,” Yes, but why did the test chamber implode?  Ian fucked up, right?”

Larry, “ Yes, a third thing went wrong.  There is no quality control methodology in the world that can handle three things going wrong.  The technician tightening the bolts on the chamber misread the specifications and did not tighten them enough.  Ian’s procedures would have caught this mistake, but not in the real time in which it happened. The final check of the bolts was scheduled after the prime test article was inserted.  This was scheduled  for a week or so from now when the prime test article showed up.”

Despite Gus’s attacks on me, the committee decided to let me continue to manage the project.  After all, our backup plans included the fact that we already had a second chamber ready to be shipped from Albuquerque.

In the next six weeks, we got the new chamber in place with the prime test object. We also finalized all supporting equipment and instrumentation and were ready for the scheduled event in September .

As we sat in the control center many miles away from the event, we learned that the Senate had passed a nuclear test ban moratorium the week before, and the House had decided that morning to go forward with finalizing that bill with the intention of sending it to President Busch for signature.

The test went off in spite of this. It was named HUNTERS TROPHY.  It was a smashing success.  My reputation was now cast in gold.

It turns out that this was the last nuclear test that DOD performed.  The fall of the Berlin wall in 1991 began the end of the era of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).