Finally there was a cruise missile base on the Japanese island of Okinawa with 32 cruise missiles assigned to targets in China, North Korea and the eastern Soviet Union. On October 28 the crisis was at its peak and the alert level was at DefCon 2, when a message came down with the valid launch code attached in line to a routine weather report. This was unusual in two ways. First the senior officer present, one captain William Bassett, expected that a launch order would only be issued if and when they were at DefCon 1, and secondly he thought it odd that the code was attached to a routine message rather than as a stand alone transmission. Therefore he sought to clarify and confirm the order before proceeding. However a lieutenant in another, connected underground launch control bunker who had received the same message had no such doubts about launching the missiles for which he and his colleague were responsible. An order is an order. When Bassett learned of this he dispatched two airmen with sidearms to go through the tunnel connecting the two bunkers and enforce, with deadly means if necessary, his order for the lieutenant to stand down until he, Bassett had confirmed the order they had received. It took him several exchanges before the major higher up realized that he had seriously f**ked up and issue a countermand to the order. Thank you, Captain Bassett, for the fifty four years of life I have enjoyed since your day in the sun, even though you were deep inside an underground bunker on Okinawa.