Leaving Detroit, 1984

**Ray1936** · October-23-21, 04:52 PM

It was 1984. I had retired from the Detroit Police Department and moved to Las Vegas, as most of my family was already in the area. In job hunting, I responded to an ad in the Las Vegas Review-Journal for Security Officers for the Nevada Test Site. Sounded pretty good....long hours away from home, but excellent pay and bennies. So I filled out an application and mailed it in.

A week later, I received a letter from the Security Agency asking me to report to the Test Site for a physical. A bus would convey me from LV to the site, no problem. So off I went into the wild interior of Nye County.

Upon arrival, they put me through the usual pre-physical routine, and then gave me a voucher for lunch. Walked into the Quonset Hut and picked out an excellent lunch menu. Took my tray, and sat down at the nearest seat, which were on long picnic-like tables, end to end. After I sat down, I glanced at the gentleman sitting directly across from me, and was mentally hit with a sledge hammer.

The guy looked exactly like Dr. Edward Teller, the designer of the nuclear bomb. Wow!

Of course, it wasn't; it was just a look-alike, but it sure upset my lunch.

Bottom line: I was offered the position, but by then I had accepted the Chief of Security job at The Fashion Show Mall, and since there was a lot less travel involved, yeah, you know the bottom line.

May have posted this before, but it still gives me a helluva chuckle!

**Gistok** · October-23-21, 05:34 PM

Never heard it before Ray... and ya know I've been here forever...

**Ray1936** · October-23-21, 07:31 PM

This, of course, is the real Dr. Teller. Was he who made "The Bomb". I understand he was at the Nevada Test Site regularly. Gee, maybe it really was him..................

**CassTechGrad** · October-24-21, 09:53 AM

Being born in 1949, I grew-up with the bomb and all the necular tests. They should explode one of the real big ones to remind everyone what that thing can do.

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**Jimaz** · October-24-21, 10:07 AM

That green radiation radius is a bit deceptive when fallout is taken into account. All those above-ground nuke tests in the southwest sent clouds of radiation over the country, including Detroit. That's why they switched to underground tests.

Every time I see a photo of Teller I can't help thinking "eyebrows." They're very distracting.

**401don** · October-24-21, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

Being born in 1949, I grew-up with the bomb and all the necular tests. They should explode one of the real big ones to remind everyone what that thing can do.

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Nonsense. Just crouch under a desk and you'll be fine.

**Honky Tonk** · October-24-21, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

Nonsense. Just crouch under a desk and you'll be fine.

+5 lol! Remember all those "preparedness" drills? A few years after those I saw a black and white film where a mock subdivision got liquidated during an A bomb test and thinking "I've got to get a bigger desk".

**CassTechGrad** · October-24-21, 03:43 PM

It says alot about my generation that we lived with this in the 1950's and with flowers in our hair at Woodstock in the 1960's.

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**Henry Whalley** · October-24-21, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

It says a lot about my generation that we lived with this in the 1950's and with flowers in our hair at Woodstock in the 1960's.

Sun Ra - Nuclear War - YouTube

The flower children were asking Sun Ra's eternal question "What you gonna do without your ass??!??"

Certainly the thought occurred to their parents as well.

**jcole** · October-24-21, 07:03 PM

Just put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

+5 lol! Remember all those "preparedness" drills? A few years after those I saw a black and white film where a mock subdivision got liquidated during an A bomb test and thinking "I've got to get a bigger desk".

**Former_Detroiter** · October-24-21, 08:38 PM

The Fashion Show Mall is one of my favorite spots on the LV strip.

**Ray1936** · October-24-21, 08:59 PM

Originally Posted by Former_Detroiter

The Fashion Show Mall is one of my favorite spots on the LV strip.

Yeah, did two years there and enjoyed it, but then I was offered a Chief of Security position at a local hospital. Took it without regret; was a lot more interesting.

**stromberg2** · October-26-21, 12:14 AM

Way to go, Ray!! Hope you can come to Detroit soon.

Stromberg2

**CassTechGrad** · October-26-21, 09:40 AM

Five, four, three, two............ The Daisy ad 1964

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**Henry Whalley** · October-26-21, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

Five, four, three, two............ The Daisy ad 1964.

Goldwater was a madman, as was his successor McCain. And as we learned, LBJ was no peacenik with flowers in his hair.

**KnnNike** · October-29-21, 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

+5 lol! Remember all those "preparedness" drills? A few years after those I saw a black and white film where a mock subdivision got liquidated during an A bomb test and thinking "I've got to get a bigger desk".

This was before my time, but I guess maybe it was a combination of a) placebo effect and b) wanting to make it easier to identify the bodies in the aftermath [["see, they're all huddled in one location...easy peasy")

**Ray1936** · October-29-21, 05:44 PM

The only thing good about a nuclear bomb is that everybody has them. Should one yahoo launch one, yahoo's turf will no longer exist. Just sayin'.

**CassTechGrad** · October-30-21, 09:20 AM

Every bus had the Civil Defense info and also a proposed Atom Bomb stamp with a small amount of radioactivity added to each one!!!

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**jiminnm** · October-30-21, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by 401don

Nonsense. Just crouch under a desk and you'll be fine.

Yep. We did a lot of duck and cover drills at A. L. Holmes.

**FEO** · October-30-21, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by jiminnm

Yep. We did a lot of duck and cover drills at A. L. Holmes.

Our bomb drills consisted of going to the lower level of Noble grade school on Fullerton in Detroit. It was a long low tunnel that ran the length of the school. My years there were from 1946 to 1952.

**Jimaz** · October-30-21, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by FEO

Our bomb drills consisted of going to the lower level of Noble grade school on Fullerton in Detroit. It was a long low tunnel that ran the length of the school. My years there were from 1946 to 1952.

My memory of tunnels under other schools was that they contained steam pipes covered with crumbling asbestos insulation. Yikes!

**CassTechGrad** · November-01-21, 08:55 AM

I went to White elementary and the basement Civil Defense shelter had boxes of food to feed those who survived the blast.

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**Henry Whalley** · November-01-21, 10:13 AM

My uncle had a civil defense helmet and wall plaque which made him seem very official to my little cousin and me.

**One Shot** · November-02-21, 07:13 PM

How old were ya when you retired Ray? If you Ray? If you retired in 84 your doing good!

**Ray1936** · November-03-21, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by One Shot

How old were ya when you retired Ray? If you Ray? If you retired in 84 your doing good!

I was 47. Came on the job in the Detroit PD in 1959 when I was 22. With a 25 year retirement plan, well, the math certainly seems correct!
Of course, I didn't really "retire"; went to work as Security Chief of a local hospital here in Las Vegas for 16 years and retired for good in 2001 at age 65. Been a great life.