During the period covered by this memoir, the probability of a
worldwide nuclear conflagration, sparked by a Cold War incident
between US/NATO and the USSR, was considered to be high. The
memories of WW2 were fresh in the minds of everyone. The U S
confrontation with the USSR that brought on the Berlin Airlift, and its
threat to world peace were of the gravest portent. The Korean 'police
action,' another product of confrontations between USSR/Communist
China and U S/NATO, was winding down. 'Viet Nam' was on the
horizon.
During much of the half-century post-WW2 Cold War era the US
depended mainly on its own economic, military, industrial and human
resources to defend its own far-flung interests. The international
competition for country and regional security resources to rebuild a
devastated Europe, and administer the lands of the former central powers,
created a massive arms race that affected the lives and destinies of people
everywhere.
In the late-40s/early-50s the US-USSR conflict of interests was at a
critical stage. Intercontinental nuclear-armed ballistic missiles were far
beyond drawing boards; their operational reach, capabilities, and effects
against civilian as well as military targets had been carefully estimated
and understood.
The US doubled the number of its Air Force groups to ninety-five, and
placed great importance on the Strategic Air Command (SAC). The
number of SAC wings increased from 21 in 1950 to 37 in 1952. The
growth of SAC air power arrayed US military capabilities and strategies
for massive retaliation and Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) by
NATO should the USSR launch a pre-emptive attack in Europe.
At least for the next several years, NATO and US planners admitted,
however, that neither massive retaliation nor MAD, by themselves, would
stop a Soviet first strike and an invasion into Eastern and Central Europe
and the Middle East. The USSR could count on huge reserves of its still
young, combat-seasoned men under arms, pre-positioned war materiel
still in good condition for combat, and relatively short lines of transport
and communications.
Operational ICBMs were still several years in the future. The B-52
bomber was still in the early stages of production and deployment.
Strategic warfare against construction and operation of Soviet oil drilling,
refining, storage, and pipeline facilities in the southwest USSR (Caspian
Sea area) were expected to slow Soviet military momentum. For this and
other reasons, the US expanded and modernized its existing facilities to
conduct air operations over the USSR's Eastern and Southwestern
regions.
NATO and the US built or otherwise secured ground, seaport, and air
bases and/or implemented joint-use agreements with governments in the
Mediterranean area in the event of a US/NATO-USSR conflict and,
specifically relevant to this memoir, in Morocco, Libya, Turkey, and the
Central and Eastern Mediterranean generally.