This part, about one of the crew from the crashed bomber, is so sad:
> When he arrived at the front gate, his uniform was torn up, his military ID was gone, and he was banged up from his escape. His parachute was still on his back. He told the airmen at the front gate that a B-52 had crashed, but the word hadn’t spread to them yet. Mattocks, a Black man, couldn’t prove who he was. So, the airmen arrested him for stealing government property.
Brilliant. Racism slowed response to a broken arrow situation. You'd think a guy showing up having clearly just survived a plane crash, with witnesses bringing him to the scene would be sufficient to at least place a phone call.
> He told the airmen at the front gate that a B-52 had crashed, but the word hadn’t spread to them yet. Mattocks, a Black man, couldn’t prove who he was.
standard procedure, but yea I was waiting for the race baiting of the article, it isn't usual to be a whole 6 paragraphs down!
Yeah, random guy shows up and says 'I belong here' with zero proof that he belongs there. Yeah SoP would be arrest/detain them and let the guy in charge sort it out. Or as they say 'thats above my pay grade'. The alternative would be to let random people in and hope for the best. If I were a spy I would like the 'hope for the best' style of perimeter control.
> When he arrived at the front gate, his uniform was torn up, his military ID was gone, and he was banged up from his escape. His parachute was still on his back. He told the airmen at the front gate that a B-52 had crashed, but the word hadn’t spread to them yet. Mattocks, a Black man, couldn’t prove who he was. So, the airmen arrested him for stealing government property.
Brilliant. Racism slowed response to a broken arrow situation. You'd think a guy showing up having clearly just survived a plane crash, with witnesses bringing him to the scene would be sufficient to at least place a phone call.
Nope. Arrest the black guy.