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People Making Changes Issue 12 -
From Trained Nuclear Killer to
Peace Activist
- Dorothy - 10/4/97
“Trident: A Cuckoo in the Naval Nest”
This is the second of five articles about Commander Rob Green's transition
from trained nuclear killer and to a leading international peace activist. Be
sure to read the
first article in the series,
before you read this one.
Next came promotion to Commander, and to the Ministry of Defence
in Whitehall as personal assistant to an Admiral who
had the job of recommending the replacement to Polaris. The
nuclear submarine lobby, known in the Navy as the 'Black Mafia',
went ruthlessly for Trident, even though it might mean that the
rest of the Navy was starved of funds. A Trident submarine is
twice the size of Polaris, with twice the potential firepower, and
much greater missile range and accuracy. Rob was not alone in
seeing that Trident threatened the future of the Navy as a
balanced force - but Mrs Thatcher, who was addicted to all things
nuclear, forced the Trident decision through.
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Rob Green
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Irresponsible Underwater Sports Cars
By now Rob regarded nuclear submarine propulsion and nuclear
electricity generation with strong aversion because of the
influence of his aunt, Hilda Murrell, an amateur environmentalist
who had become his guru after the death of his mother when he
was nineteen. Hilda pointed out the irresponsibility of putting
a nuclear reactor in a submarine, and the fact that the nuclear
industry did not know what to do with the waste from the normal
operation of nuclear power plants, or how to decommission nuclear
submarines. It wanted to dump them in ocean trenches, but was
rumbled. It was not concerned about the environmental
catastrophe that might follow torpedoing a nuclear submarine
in its reactor; and it played down the consequences if one
went aground, for instance, at the entrance to a port. All this
seemed to Rob to be totally irresponsible. There were
adequate alternative conventional submarine designs, which were
much cheaper and environmentally safer. Building these
"underwater sports cars" - lethal 'toys for the boys' that can go
round the world submerged at thirty knots without refuelling - was
a sign of the nuclear addiction of the decision-makers.
This made Rob realise that he could not stay in the Navy with
Trident. Also his next career move would have been to command a
frigate, but his rapid promotion meant that he had never served
on one. He could not have accepted such a posting and retained
his professional integrity. When the government announced
a Defence Review in 1981, Rob took the chance and applied for
redundancy although he had no qualifications for any other type
of career.
Falklands War and Polaris
He got approval to go one week into the Falklands War, when he
was Fleet Intelligence Officer in charge of round-the-clock
intelligence support for Polaris and for the rest of the
Navy, working in the bunker near London from which the war was
conducted. He was not allowed to go until after Britain had won
the war.
Afterwards, there was a lot of controversy over the alleged
deployment of a Polaris submarine within range of Argentina in
case the British forces were defeated. This made Rob wonder
what Thatcher would have done if the Argentinians had managed to
sink a troop ship with an Exocet missile before the troops were
ashore. The British would probably have been defeated. The
result would have been an enormous crisis for the whole military
system in Britain and political disgrace for Thatcher. It would
have tempted her to threaten Argentina with a nuclear strike - but
Galtieri, already undeterred by Polaris, would have publicly
called her bluff. Rob went on to do a critique of the whole
doctrine of nuclear deterrence, and found it deeply flawed.
Thatching Therapy
At first, on his discharge Rob wanted to get away from the nuclear
and military scene, work with his hands, and sleep at home every
night. He had some money from the Navy, he had no children, and
his wife worked. They had converted a small barn in an idyllic
area in Dorset. So here Rob began a new career as a roof thatcher.
The work in the open air was therapeutic, even though he made no
money, and he was away from the stresses of his former life.
Then in 1984, his aunt Hilda was murdered. It remains unsolved.
Rob has reason to believe that her death was associated with the
nuclear industry. This tragedy catapulted him into the
anti-nuclear movement where his involvement has steadily grown.
Read the
next article
about the developments which followed...
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