Kwajalein Missile Range, a unique place, a place where I spent almost two years of my life dedicated to the survival of my country and the freedom you and all of us have today. The atoll called Kwajalein, the largest in the world, where we took it from the Japanese during WWII, where our missiles were tested for many years to guarantee that our missiles would hit any target on earth, is truly a unique place in our history that only a few highly select and intelligent Americans got to experience. They used to say there was more intelligence on Kwaj per square foot than anywhere on Earth since many of the brilliant aeronautical and computer engineers came from MIT and Harvard. It was during this time that the Russians had their spy ship (we called her Brand X) sitting off in the distance watching every test we made throughout the seventies and during the time I was there working in the Harbor Control Tower from 1975 to 1977. At my desk where I sat in a tower overlooking the marina of tugs, LCU’s LCM’s and other patrol craft, I actually had a red telephone with a direct “hotline” to Redstone, Alabama that would allow me to scrub a mission in the event I was informed that we had boat traffic in the lagoon where the missile’s warheads (multiple warheads called MIRVS--Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle) were targeted to land. One time we had a shot in the afternoon and I saw a streak of light, a long flash of fire coming in right at us (it appeared so) and it was so close I went under my desk thinking we were going to be hit by this off target MIRV warhead. Fortunately, our boys were right on target and our missiles in those days without GPS were incredibly accurate on target not missing their mark by much after a long fast fiery 6,000 mile trip from California. All of our test warheads were secretly retrieved by divers and shipped back to Alabama aboard special Air Force cargo jets for inspection and examination. The Russians knew they were dead men if they ever got frisky and wanted to attack us. And I am proud to say that I was a part of that awesome incredible operation, a small part granted but a real patriot who participated in the Cold War that eventually brought down the Soviet Union.

Chase Pollman Email: zachase69@zebra.net