This is the first of five articles about Commander Rob Green's transition
from trained nuclear killer and to a leading international peace activist.
Rob Green believes that, although this transition appears incredible, his
life seems to have led him inexorably to this point. Everything that has
happened to him has been part of his training for his role in the peace
movement. Without his specialised training in the use of nuclear weapons,
he might not have been able to comprehend the enormity of the threat, and
certainly would not have been able to make his unique contribution to the
peace movement.
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Rob Green
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A Romantic Innocent
His desire to enter the Royal Navy did not come from family influences as
is the case with so many naval officers. There was no military background
in his family. His ambition began simply and sentimentally when he was
eight, during a holiday in a Cornish fishing village: he became fascinated
by warships and the sea - and the Devonport Naval Base was on the
horizon. His interest was so unwavering that his parents enrolled him at
Pangbourne Nautical College, and in his training there from age thirteen
to seventeen he was prepared to enter the Britannia Royal College
Dartmouth.
He describes himself as entering there 'as an innocent' - one of the few
with a civilian background. While this gave him a feeling of detachment,
he made friends with colleagues with strong naval connections, and accepted
the training without question. He never examined the fact that he was
being trained to kill. Against his wishes, he was trained as a navigator,
called 'Observer', in the Fleet Air Arm - the ultimate in aviation, as they
were flying from aircraft
carriers. Rob says that the title had a curious appropriateness for him.
He now feels that he was like an anthropologist who joins a tribe to study
it. He topped the class in Observer School; and this meant that he was
sent to an elite squadron of Buccaneer fighter bombers custom-built for low
level, long range, nuclear strike. These became operational just as Rob
qualified.
Nuclear Mafia Recruit Another Addict
When the two-man crew in which Rob was Observer was judged one of the four
best in the squadron, they were "given the honour" of being made a
specialist "nuclear" crew.
A special security clearance followed and they were taken to a secure
compartment in the ship and told to plan an attack on an airfield near
Leningrad. This was at the height of the Cold War in 1968, and Rob and his
pilot were told that they were being entrusted with defending Britain's
freedom and way of life.
Because the need for secrecy was paramount, they were not to discuss this
outside the compartment.
They were to assume that their aircraft carrier would be in the Norwegian
Sea, and to take the shortest route. This meant flying over Sweden - a
neutral country. Recently a shocked Swedish journalist told Rob: "We would
have shot you down!"
Also, the target was at the maximum theoretical range of the aircraft.
This was bad practice as it made no allowance for bad weather or avoiding
defences: so they considered asking for a nearer target. Rob's pilot
commented that, as the mission would only take place as retaliation for a
nuclear strike on Britain, there would be nothing to return to - so they
might as well accept it. The situation for the crew of a Polaris submarine
would be the same.
Questions and Military Incompetence
In spite of the questions he had raised Rob worked for four years in this
role accepting the importance of the work. Then he switched to
anti-submarine helicopters. Although it was not such glamorous flying,
there was a new challenge to his thinking. He was given a nuclear
depth-bomb: like a depth charge but actually a hydrogen bomb. It had a
"Low/High Yield" switch, probably 5 kilotons on low yield, 25 kilotons on
high - the latter being nearly double what was used on Hiroshima. This was
just to take out one submarine to protect his aircraft carrier, because the
British did not have a torpedo fast enough to catch the latest Soviet
nuclear submarines. As the Senior Observer of
the squadron, Rob had to pass this policy on. "It would have vaporised a
chunk of ocean about a kilometre across, plus myself!", because a
helicopter would be too slow to escape. What was even more serious was
that this would escalate World War 3 to nuclear exchange. The official
view was that it would only be
used in extreme circumstances, probably in mid-Atlantic where nuclear
submarines use high speed; there would be no civilians involved; and "the
Soviets would probably not even detect it". This shook Rob's faith in the
military competence of his superiors.
Check out the next
installment, and read
how his transition to peace activist led to the New
Zealand connection...
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