Hiroshima: 80 Years On

Your weekly dose of defence news, biased opinions and poorly curated content. You’re welcome.

Unimpressed by the fighting talk coming from the Russian ex-president, Dmitry Medvedev, Donald Trump has supposedly ordered two Ohio-class nuclear submarines to be “positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.”

See below for the Russian response…

It didn't take long for Moscow to respond to the threat of American nuclear subs lurking uncomfortably close to their shoreline. On Tuesday, Russia officially exited the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The INF, signed by Reagan and Gorbachev in 1987, banned ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500-5,500km. Their departure is hardly going to shock the world considering the US already walked away from the treaty in 2019 citing Russian misdemeanours.

With all that being said, at the time we went to press, there was a lot of talk about a meeting as early as next week between Trump, Putin and maybe Zelenskyy. Spoiler alert: this might well be in next week’s newsletter…

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The MOD has announced that their top civil servant - David Williams - will be stepping down in the next few months and that the search is on for a suitable successor. Unfortunately for Williams, his tenure will forevermore be linked to the monumental data leak that put 100,000 lives at risk, including those of MI6 and special forces operatives. The statement quietly closed with “we thank him for his contribution”.

Big events from the past, covered in brief and probably inaccurately.

On Monday 6th August 1945 at 08:14, American super fortress Enola Gay made her final solemn manoeuvre over the city of Hiroshima with the Aioi Bridge in her sights. One minute later the nuclear bomb, Little Boy, was released, falling 6 miles in 43 seconds before eventually detonating 2,000ft above the city.

The outcome was unfathomable. 80,000 were killed instantly and an entire city-scape was vaporised in seconds. Those on the flight deck looking back said “the city we had seen so clearly in the sunlight a few minutes before was now an ugly smudge. It had completely disappeared under this awful blanket of smoke and fire”.

Japan didn’t surrender. Three days later Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki to equally devastating effect.

On 15th August 1945 Japan finally surrendered and within a few weeks WWII would finally be over.

A new edition of the 1949 book documenting the aftermath of the bombings has an introduction from Richard Lloyd Parry. Heavy.

Changing things up? This is where we briefly look at career options from across the civvy world - everything goes here so expect some absolute drivel. Sometimes Forces Assist can help place you, sometimes we can’t. Either way we can offer advice.

We see this quite a lot: aptitude tests as part of the recruitment process for civvy jobs. Squaddies really hate them but genuinely don’t need to worry (quite as much). There are loads of short courses online, free resources and even books (boomer) if you want to practise. As with everything - there are patterns to follow - learn what they’re looking for an you have a good chance of success.

We talked about this in detail on our Insta:

Over at Forces Assist we’re always looking for qualled up drivers nationally. If you have driving qualifications and are looking for work then head to forcesassist.com to start conversations.

Appreciate the support so far - please ask everyone to sign up - we’re trying to build something positive here and any help is very welcome.

Cheers,

Forces Assist.