.....title says it all. Wtf! Who is he? Well, today is the 39th anniversary of the day Major Stanislav Petrov saved the world. In a wonderful world of technology, back in 1983, he was on duty at his post: Early warning radar. His job? If attacked, inform superiors to launch a counterstrike. Nuclear attack. Nuclear counterstrike. All of a sudden, on his radar, 1 American nuclear missile, 2 American nuclear missiles, 3, 4, 5 missiles on their way, with nuclear warheads. Did he rely on technology? No, he used common sense and couldn't accept the fact we'd invite a massive counterstrike by launching "only5 missiles". It made no sense. Informed no one and waited. 23 minutes later he was proven right.
On a serious note: We're all here because he did nothing. Because he relied on human instinct and not technology.
Replies (4)
What a hero. He gets false alarms on a regular basis and does nothing this time because it's during a time of heightened tensions. Shit technology creating no confidence = hero
God Bless Him! Oxymoronic thing to say regarding a communist but I mean it.
I looked him up, he died years ago but saved us, may he eternally rest in peace!
Just proves that the equipment the Russians use is crap, and we’ve given them too much credit for too long.
He is the first level of decision making. Launching a counterstrike is not at this lowest officer level in any nation. He simply passes it up the ne next level which he prudently did not do based on what he knew about the technology at his command and the information he had. He di his job
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