It's long enough now, and nobody would ever believe it anyway, that they don't care and I can tell this. Hell most that actually saw it or believed it back then are mostly gone anyway, and the folks their now will just chuckle. And so I'll just tell it here.
It was after the war (ww2) and before Korea when we all thought nuclear stuff was great and we worried about the reds. I wasn't involved in any of the cool stuff in the military, hell no, I'm never that lucky, except the one time I'm talking about now, which was an accident of course.
Anyway I was just an average Seargant, but stationed stateside out in the West. Logistics and maintaining things in case there was another big one, like we figured there probably would be. But then we got this call one day to packup and move out, but didn't feel like a drill or exercise that day, just a bit different, and it certainly wasn't on my clipboard.
We all headed out, a groups, I forget how many, and got general orders on the road, we had folks manning the few radios, not like anybody had a cell phone back then! And so we drove into the middle of nowhere for like 8 hours; actually we had stopped a couple times, and one time for rations and taking a whiz, so overall it was probably 9 and a half maybe 10 hours.
Anyway, we seemed like we were getting close to somewhere, but who knows where. The directions on the radio were having us slow down as we approached some destination, but nothing on my map. There were a few towns listed on the big map, but the smaller maps most of the guys had didn't show them, so it was a bit odd. And if it was such a big deal, then they were having us take our sweet time, so I still figured it wasn't a big deal. Not ordinary, but no biggie, and hell what did I know anyway, they didn't us much back then, and we weren't really supposed ask if you know what I mean.
So we were going along as if we were getting somewhere, in the middle of nowhere, and taking our time at it. Then we metup with some science nerds I think, though I couldn't really see, and some government types, suits instead of uniforms, and a lot more helicopters, still kinda rare back then, but apparently these guys were important enough. And then we continued.
But then one of the guys noticed that we were going over some hills, except not really hills, just very long up and down grades, but still kinda weird, evenly spaced, who knows that kinda geological crap will do that. But noticeable, and actually started getting kinda fun. They hills were getting a bit bigger now, and a bit more close together. I almost had time to say "if this geep's rockin', don't come knockin'", well, not exactly that, but some funny comment with the f-word, but anyway, I never actually said it, we got the order to slowdown and all the rocking back forth came to an abrupt stop with one final large rock forward and back and bit of squeaking. Somebody said "whoa!" or some shit like that, we all laughed.
I was a bit annoyed after a bit stuck there, we'd been parked for a while and we still had no idea what the fuck we were doing out here or whether this was where we were supposed to be or why we all stopped. If it was just vehicle trouble we could leave a small convey behind. 1 or 2 vehicle failures shouldn't bring the whole damn parade to a stop... well, unless'in'acourse it's the general's car, god forbid, hehe. So maybe that was it.
But then it got weird. Looking around and radio chatter it turns out it was the science nerds who had said to stop, and now they were out fucking around on the hills. Apparently they thought they were kinda cool, or maybe somehow what they had been looking for, maybe they were geologists or whatever, who knows. Oh but then my stomach dropped.
They were having some the vehicles park in some semi-permanent arangement like we were gonna be there for a while, but then the radio had said something about lining up along these ridges or something. I don't remember exactly how it was, but they had us parking in very specific ways. One guy said it was in case it rained, another in case some emergency brakes gave out. But being space out on the ridges, the vehicles were in a somewhat regular pattern, like some weird drive in or something, and why did the nerds want even spaced vehicles in some grid pattern in the middle of the desert.... oh, shit.
Now don't get the wrong idea, I wasn't thinking they were planning to put us in any real harm's way, no, just right next door to it. So, we wouldn't be harmed, but maybe we'd be slower to the A-bomb then troops had been in the past. Still safe, but closer... just to get some better readings, yeah, sure.... So we'd be fine and for all I knew at that time I was shooting blanks anyway.
So, in some respect this was a bit exciting, I wasn't a science nerd, but hell, I liked the weird movies and the science reels in the theater, so fine, "living through historic test" or something. OK, but thing that bugged me, and this was theme by now, is them not telling us a damn thing. I kind of understood on this particular run, but even if it wasn't a matter of national security they still wouldn't told us anything. And not because we couldn't be trusted, but they'd just never get around to it. They wouldn't leaving their holdin' our dicks in our hand, they'd tell us when to come and go alright, but why, that this time, they NEVER told, never got around to it, and it was just plain annoying. So I was more annoyed this time then before, because it seemed like a bigger deal, but to fair this was one of the few times they probably shouldn't've told us ahead of time. Blabber mouth men.... they gossip too, just about different stuff, different body parts, different types of shit so and so said, and all that. So yeah, we couldn't've kept a secret anyway, so actually this time Uncle Sam oughtta get a pass in my book, yeah, whatever.
Then the order came to line up in formations for some marching and it all made sense. The trucks would get a front row seat, right next to the safe zone, and we'd walk even further back, to a much safer distance, enjoy the show, and then maybe march back and drive the vehicles back to base.... if they were OK. So... if they figured the vehicles would still be driveable after this blast, even being filled with gasoline and diesel and all, AND we'd be a few miles "back" on foot as well, maybe with some cool glasses, then yeah we should be fine. And I suppose on the chance fewer of the trucks were driveable than they had thought, then fine, bring in some other vehicles to fetch us.
As we walked I only reconsiderd a couple of small details. Only the officers would get any fancy dark glasses to watch the mushroom cloud, and the rest of us would get to have our heads face down in the sand for the duration, however long that was. So we wouldn't get to see shit... I was a bit dissapointed.... but it made sense. Which was more likely for good ol'Uncle Sam. Fork over for 2,000 pairs of fancy scientist glasses, or buy only 20 and have the rest of us Joes duck and cover. Yeah, if you have to ask...!
Oh, and the the detail, if the vehicles didn't work. I'm sure they'd send *some* vehicles back, but again what's cheaper, send a couple hundred extra trucks, or send a half dozen and have the rest of us march home, with krations and some camping, I figured it'd take a few days on foot. But yeah, that was more likely, way more likely!
And then only one other detail I'll bore you with here, about what I was thinking, it was about some of the guys. So we're supposed to see this super cool science thing, well, except we're NOT supposed to see it, because we're supposed to have our eyes down. And first, who knows how long we'll have to have our faces actually in our hands in the sand in that position, 5 minutes is fine, an hour would be kinda boring, but if they dink around with some bomb for a whole damn day, we could have hours and hours with our heads in the sand, ants, dry stuff, dust, whining.... oh the winining.... I love my guys, loved those bastards, but my god could they complain. It was fine if they had something to do, or I had something to yell at them about, or if they were eating or sleeping or whatever.... but when they had absolutely nothing to do, oh man.... But more than me just having to taste sand and listen to the chorus, those knucleheads'll screw around if they get bored, and NOT keep their heads in the damn sand. And for once I kinda can't blame them. But still, if that damn thing goes off and they're not ducked and covered, they'll see some part of that light and maybe fuck their eyes, and yeah it'll still kinda be my fault if they do that too. I mean, it'd be their fault, but I'd have to do all the damn parperwork, for each one of them, and actually I would feel bad, theses guys have got famillies and such.
AND,, with me worried that they'll be doing that, I'll be poking my head up to make damn sure they aren't. Now, if that really worked, me taking a bit of risk to save their site, well, ok, maybe, but the pisser is I'll do all that shit and get blinded, but I won't have got all of them to stay down well enough anyway, so they'll still have messed up eyes too. Damnit. Then I'll be squinting through the paperwork for their messed up eyes, through my own blood clots or something, and those forms'll be the last thing I see as my vision fades. And well, hell, yeah, I was probably overthinking this, but marching and head burying type stuff does leave your mind a bit of time to wander, and I really did care about those guys.
And damnit, some of them would be an accident, accidently picking that moment to pop their head up and say "is that it!?". Yeah, if they'd tell us ahead, right when they were gonna do it, like a countdown in those movies and newsreels, then yeah, most of my Einstein's would probably do it, but this wasn't a movie. We'd either get no warning, or like 200 warnings every damn minute for a day, to where everybody ignores it when it's real one, or we'd get the notice about 2 minutes after the flash, something like that. And let's face it some of them would actually peek on purpose. Not suicidal type stuff, just, "oh, it won't be that bad, and I'll just peek for a second". And there'd I'd be, also face down, barking at them "no peeking", "no peeksies", over and over again. Nice.
AND as if that wasn't enough, let's say I give them the "no peeksies" speech well enough that it actually works, even on myself, and the feds actually give us the word at just the right time, then you'd think we'd be home clear. But NO! Thennnn what'll happen is one of those clowns will say something stupid or make a sound and the other ones will popup their heads to say "what!?" Kinda of a natural reflex for them, for anybody really. Or, god forbid one of them actually gets hurt, if one of them has something happen and screams, the others are gonna see if they can help! Come on! These guys eat, sleep, shit, shower and shave with each other. If they're not injured, then they're gonna pop their heads up to see if the coast is clear so's they can run over, that's what I'll be doing I guess. But that "checking that the coast is clear, well, THAT'S actually the problem. So we're doomed no matter what, but hopefully, actually, probably, it won't be that bad anyway. You'll see a spot for a few days because the feds don't wanna be doing paperwork either, and I really don't think they'd harm us, they probably know this pretty well by now, within reason, they've been doing it for a while.
So, I was working up a head of steam, starting to think about what I was gonna say to them before we all stuck our heads in the sand. What'd I'd say that'd be scary enough for them to actually do it! I was mumbling a few "ok, listen up knuckleheads, you better do this and you better not do that" and all that, I was gonna come on pretty hard, and then, no more of that!
We stopped, but there was some murmuring too, and it was some of the enlisted. OK, they weren't whining or bitching or anything, they had seen something they didn't like, but they weren't running or anything, and every single of them that was in a position to see whatever they were looking at had the same queer look on their faces, or how they were moving, like "what the fuck" kinda look. I did not like that.
I wasn't the nearest sergeant so I never got to see exactly that, whatever it was, some others guys looked and gave some orders and we started moving again, most of us at least, but I saw enough later to kinda not care what it was, I have the general idea, lots of weird things that day.
We weren't laying down in any kind of formation, we were STILL marching over those ridges, and they were a close enough together that it was getting weird. They had gotten steeper and then way more shallow, and the spacing varied a bit, and it wasn't just one set of ridges, but these were some nice looking ridges, as far as ridges go I guess.... nature wouldn't seem to make ridges this nice, all the same size and shape, at least as you compared them side by side to their neighbor, but of course it varied more over great distances. But it was flat enough to see it really well in the distance. Parts of the desert looked like what you'd call a "ridges potatoe chip" nowadays, you know, the ruffles thing, well, whatever you call them, and of course we didn't have those back then. At the time I thought it looked like the aluminum they use for roofs, corregated I guess. Except not all straight.
This was odd enough that nobody actually pointed it out... all the kids were pretty quiet now, they walked with their packs on and were taking this pretty serious now. They actually looked like bunch of soldiers on a march... hm.... so this is what it takes, you just had to laugh, I know it doesn't make sense, nerves I guess.
So we were still walking on a road, some desert dirt road, but there was a stretch of pavement for a bit as we approached what I figured was a small town. None of the surroundings looked military, none of all them damn signs, like if they didn't have all those signs you'd assume it's fine to stroll on through a millitary based, like they had to remind you every 10 feet, so none of that. I think there was a sign, looked like what you'd expect, at least from a distance, but I couldn't read it.
But it was the pavement that was fucked up. No big surprise that it had the crinkles like everything else, but wow you could really see it well on the pavement. But it was NOT cracked, nope... in fact where the cracks had been, they were still there, just precisely following these ridges. It was like the ridges were there first, and then the pavement and cracks were just painted on it. Like.... after an explosion, if your jeep has ruffles, it's probably not driveable, it's probably smashed in, and the wrinkled parts are just the parts that didn't get totally crushed or torn off, that sort of thing. But not here. It was like the pavement was undisturved.
Oh and then another thing started to happen that day, people would start to ask questions a bit, like what if, etc, and then we'd actually find out the answer a little bit later. And then that'd lead to another question that'd also get answered a bit later, almost to the point where you wanted tell people to shut up, like if they'd just stop asking, we'd stop finding more weird stuff.
So I'll tell you the first time this happened and it'll make more sense. Somebody had asked "wow, look at the road, I wonder what would happen to a tree if it was nearby". First maybe one guy asked it somewhere and then they all started asking back and forth, what if type chatter. But quiet and respectful, not horse play. So anyway, then we found some trees.
Yup, they had those ridges too. And it was pretty dramatic in spots. You'd think ridges on a tree might actually fit in just fine. But these new ridges didn't go in the same direction as the bark, or almost nver did. And they weren't the right size for bark, and their spacing was all nice and neat, not like bark, or least not the bark on most trees. And this is where I started to feel like I'd really like a rest stop, so I could sit down and take a good one, that feeling like I really needed a good sit down and a smoke.
This "ask and ye shall receive" stuff played out a few more times, like "I wonder what would happen if a house were nearby", "or a car!?", "or a street light pole" or fence, I don't remember exactly which in all that, I know "house" was right after "tree", and yeah we found a house. We came around from the back around some small barn, which had also been affected. But the barn had rough wood, seeing that nice house all weird, that was worse. It wasn't a "nice" house by modern standards, and not all fixed up or in great shape, but a decent plain old one story square house, with the siding and low roof.
If we'd have left just then, just after finding that house, and the few cars and such, and a bit of fence, then it'd be fine. But somebody had to fucking open their trap and ask "wow, what if a dog was near the house", or something like that. So of course practically as the second or third guy is saying it we hear some whining and then a few "aw's" like ladies at a baby shower, but also concerned, like maybe instead it's a briss. A cute little farm mut. Not a big dog, black and white and a bit shaggy, and certainly not fat, no, he was a working dog. A good pup, maybe 3 years old, maybe 5, something like that.
But his front legs... he was not happy about them. First he was trilled to see us, very happy, and the release of tension at that moment, the guys were giggly for a second as the dog went from soldier to soldier to say "howdy". But his legs.... his front legs... those thin white legs were no longer straight. He didn't seem to be in any pain, he could certainly still hop around, although the ridges in the ground and driveway would trip him up every now and then, he'd catch a front paw or wipe out taking a corner. But nothing serious and I doubt he noticed.
But those crinkled little white legs, and eventually when I pet him, the bones of his snout. His fur covered that a bit more, you probably wouldn't notice unless he was wet, but he had it. But the bones we're broken or cracked, it wasn't like he broke bones and they regrew, just regular bones, but with ridges.
That dog was about the end of the "hey, what if..." speculation, I think they had all had their fill of that, and now wished they could take it back, and sure as hell weren't going to ask anything else, as if that would change the course of the day, but of course it didn't. Obviously if you're going road, car, house, dog, the next logical question is people, what if... so we shut up, but the answer came anyway.
