Rember 9/11
Deployed the next day as scheduled. They shut down the base & people had a hard time getting back to the boat. Women could not get on to base to pick up their kids. Some service members were allowed to drive ludicris speeds on the freeway in order to return to base. They raise the force protection condition & def con. The last time the def con went to 3 (from 5 {relaxed} to 2 {conventional war} to 1 {all out war chem/bio/nuclear} was when JFK had the Cuban missile crisis. The USS Rhode Island had just pulled up to the pier and the wives {uber perfume} & kids could see the sailors topside while the tugs & captain were ordered to turn around & redeploy. When they raise the defcon & stop news like they did while men were 'Alert on patrol' -like the USS Pennsylvania was, that is V E R Y scarey. You are two steps from not having much of a country to return to and NO home/family/offbase left. All drills & cleaning stop & people are edge thinking twice about launching & changing how the layout of the landscape. ICBM's/SLBM's -guarenteed hot delivery in 30 min or less or the next one is free! When JFK had the Cuban missile crisis, our destroyers almost pushed a Russian missile boat into launching such an attack. One of the men that HAD to agree to the launch, didn't, and WW3 was avoided. & many Mopars were saved!