Andre Norton Forum

Re: Time to re-read Sea Siege

: : What I meant to say, and didn't write OUT, is:

: : Seabee's are Navy personel. [Rather than marines stationed on a ship.] Today's "Seals" are also Navy personel.

: : Now, let's discuss the "red" climate in 1957 - and the projection of a possible war 25 years after WW II.

: But us old military veterans would rather talk about Construction Battalions (C. B.'s = Sea Bees complete with bee insignia instead of beavers, which they more resemble). They have nice manuals of time standards for construction work, that I used.

: SEALS, while also Navy, blow up stuff. They're the successors to the Underwater Demo Teams (Frogmen) who showed up in some older Norton novels (don't remember which but they were YA rather than SF ... MAYBE Swords series).

: The "reds" went so far in the red that they went bankrupt. A MUCH better way to fight a war ... see who goes bankrupt first. It isn't as adventurous, but 25 years later or 50 or 75, it makes it easier for us to sit here reading and discussing the stuff rather than being IN it.

It is always a pleasure to listen to Norton experts which helps us neophytes out quite a bit. I agree with you about the "Reds' becoming bankrupt, they just couldn't keep up with the United States as we all found out after the Soviet collapse in 1992 and as we learned more details about the inner workings of their system. As you know, the situation in 1957 was definitely beginning to favor the "Reds". To cite a few examples: 1. the Soviets tested their first Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). 2. they launch two Sputniks into space. 3. any gain we had by being the only nuclear power after WWII had already deteriorated and now our ally--the UK, in 1957 tested their own hydrogen bomb. The Russians were already testing and building their own bombs. I think they only had several hundred by 1957 though. 4. President Eisenhower commits, through the Eisenhower Doctrine, the US, to assist the Middle East countries resisting communist aggression or any state (i.e. Egypt) closely tied to the Soviets. Overall, the "Reds" make inroads all over the world and continue to do so until the end of the 1970s when we started fighting back in the 1980s. Of course the year before, in 1956, the USSR suppresses the Hungarian revolt and the Suez war breaks out between Israel and Egypt. As far as a possible war by 1970 I believe that the Cuban Missile crisis is the closest we've come to a total war but that it prevented both the US and USSR from ever deciding to go nuclear because they both realized that it was a no win situation. On the other hand without counting the casualties in the Korean and Vietnam wars, the Cold war cost us 357 US KIAs not including training and other accidents. Some say that the 50 years of the Cold War was indeed that war projected from the end of WWII. The difference was that it was a series of engagements all over the world and not as a compressed timeframe as WWI or WWII. Matt