[October 4, 2024] The psychological impact of the Cold War on kids and adults is immeasurable and likely deeper than anyone imagines, for good and bad. And those kids like me were confused as to exactly what that meant. As it has been called since the late 1940s, the Cold War was an outgrowth of mistrust, superstition, and fear between the militarily powerful USSR and the West, mostly America. For those my age, we grew up under the real threat of nuclear annihilation at any moment. We were the “Cold War kids.”
My Mom tells me that we had “Duck and Cover” drills, as we tiny kids hid under our desks, upon command from our teacher, to protect us from debris kicked up by a nuclear blast. But I don’t remember the drills at all, as I was most likely not focused on the teacher. I would surely have enjoyed any break from the daily classroom instruction. As I understand it, the drills were eventually suspended because we lived in the middle of nowhere, in a small upstate Louisiana Parish, close to no strategic military or industrial facility.
Like most schoolchildren in those days, I liked to doodle and draw on lined writing paper. Military jets were one of my core subjects of art, most often American pilots versus a nondescript enemy with less capable pilots. Sometimes I drew the enemy pilots jumping out with a parachute and their plane going down with flames leaping from the engines. A couple of times, I drew mushroom clouds in the background. Teacher, “What are those?” Me, “The bad guys getting hit with an A-bomb.” “A” for Atomic.
I had turned 12 when the dramatic movie “Fail Safe” came out. It’s a classic film about U.S. strategic bombers getting accidentally sent to drop nuclear bombs on Moscow in the USSR and the U.S. trying to stop the errant attack. The film hit the theaters as the Cold War was in full swing, having both nations nearly come to blows over the recent Cuban Missile Crisis. The crisis resulted in the Russians pulling their missiles out but dramatically building up their bomber fleet and building more and larger and more destructive H-bombs. “H” for Hydrogen.
Did our teachers give us any information about the Cold War? Nope, not that I recall. Did they tell us about bombs, war, military strategy, survival in a nuclear environment, how to keep radiation off your body, decontamination, or the art of survival? Nope. We were wholly unprepared, so I guess we were lucky we weren’t vaporized. But, like the rest of my class, we didn’t know what was going on, and maybe that was the point.
One positive outcome was an upsurge in learning about science, medicine, mathematics, and responsible citizenship. “Our future may depend upon you, Douglas, learn science.” That’s what the teachers would say. Like the mystical Atlas who had the weight of the world on his shoulders, we had a tremendous burden placed on us kids. Some of us would go on to be doctors, scientists, and engineers, and a few of us joined the Armed Forces and fought in wars inspired by Soviet adventurism and Communist ideology. But most of us lived normal lives and put those days behind us.
I was in the Army and had already turned 39 years old when the old Soviet Union fell apart, putting an unexpected and undramatic end to the Cold War. When I first learned about the dissolution of the USSR, I didn’t know what to think because I’d lived my entire existence under it. Nuclear war was an existential threat to the entire world but also a real threat to the lives of our families. And suddenly, it was gone. It vanished in a flash. We had survived.
In the Army, I learned how to survive a nuclear blast more effectively. Honestly, unless you were close to the blast, your odds of surviving the short term were high. Chemical weapons were what was truly scary, delivered by unscrupulous, fanatical terrorists or the Eastern Bloc countries. Chemical weapons, like nerve and blister agents, were easy to employ, and the chemicals lingered for a long time, usually undetected. They’re still digging up unexploded chemical artillery shells in Western Europe fired during World War I.
As a kid, we played army and “threw” nukes at each other. Kaboom! You’re dead! Gatcha! It was not fair to use our imaginative nukes against the side that’s winning but it worked. That was a game. In the real world, it works the same way. If you’re losing on the battlefield, throw in a nuke or chemical weapons to disrupt or destroy your enemy. These are lumped in with biological warfare and called Weapons of Mass Destruction, abbreviated WMD. Decades later, I would hunt for WMDs in Iraq and find chemical warheads hidden in the Iraqi desert.
I had a general idea that the USSR was not a good place to live. My Dad told me of the hard alcohol consumption and heavy smoking that crushed the soul out of men and created so many widowed women. This knowledge frightened me so much that I rarely drank and never smoked. Little has changed in motherland Russia, and their downfall as culture continues with just another dictator in charge.
To get an idea of who these Russians were, I looked at the actions of the Red Army during WWII, which was unbelievably massive and rolled westward, defeating the Nazis. But the stories about the depravity of their soldiers and the atrocities committed made me think the Cold War kind of made sense. Who would want these types of people on your side?
So, yes, I was a Cold War kid. And now looking back, I think it right to say I’m actually better for it.
—————
NOTE: See all my letters here: https://www.theleadermaker.com/granddaughter-letters/
—————
Please read my books:
New subscriber here. Love this letter. Now reading all the rest. ❤️
Gen. Satterfield has done it again with another great letter to his granddaughter and an invitation for us to read about his time growing up under the threat of nuclear annihilation. Thank you sir for your wisdom and trying to convey the impact this had on you and your generation.
🧑🧑🧒🧒 Pro family 🧑🧑🧒🧒
This site exudes family values and encourages marriage and children and how to better yourself. This is what I like about these letters to his grandchildren. Thank you for doing us a favor by telling your childhood stories.
Welcome, Elizabeth. I’m glad you are enjoying my letters.
Welcome Elizabeth. I also hope you enjoy these letters and the other articles published here. Also, we have an active leadership forum where you can express thoughtful ideas and have them bounced off others for feedback and give Gen. Satterfield feedback on his works, as well. Good to have you on.
Big fan here, sir. And I’m new to your website. Now I will go and read all these letters.
Absolutely lovely 🥰
I was a “cold war kid” too.
Greg, I’m not sure of the age groups that read Gen. Satterfield’s blog but if its older folks, then maybe they are “cold war kids” too. Me, I’m younger and I read his letters to get a feel for what it was like growing up more than half a century ago. These old stories are going to be lost in time if not captured in writing. And, here we are recording those times. GOOD!
❤❤❤❤❤ Gen. Satterfield, thank you for today’s love letter to your granddaughter. ❤❤❤❤❤
==========
You have inspired me to write my own letters and I started a couple of months ago, writing them in long hand, putting them in envelops and placing them in a box in my closet. I plan on writing these letters until I no longer can. When I’m gone, my family will find them and finally see me as a kid myself (much like you have done here). I hope my letters will be enjoyed by my family and their families too. It has been a bit of a recall to think of all the things I did and people I loved during my life and that recalling them has helped me be better and at peace with myself. I guess that is the point anyway. Love to you, Gen. Satterfield, your family, and of course to your granddaughter and all your grandkids.
This is the kind of writing that I like to read about … “Like most schoolchildren in those days, I liked to doodle and draw on lined writing paper. Military jets were one of my core subjects of art, most often American pilots versus a nondescript enemy with less capable pilots. Sometimes I drew the enemy pilots jumping out with a parachute and their plane going down with flames leaping from the engines. A couple of times, I drew mushroom clouds in the background. Teacher, “What are those?” Me, “The bad guys getting hit with an A-bomb.” “A” for Atomic.” – Gen. Doug Satterfield. This gives me a sense of what it was like to be a little kid during the 50s and 60s. And what a time it was then.
True and that paragraph was one of the ones that got my attention and took me back to the time I was a kiddo too.
YES, I agree. 💯
Gen. Satterfield, please reconsider going beyond your 100th letter to your granddaughter. We’d all love to see you write more of these letters.
💌 Another great great great letter that makes anyone happy to read. 😉 Makes me smile. 🤣 Makes me laugh. 🎁 A true gift to the world who reads his blog. ❤ … and about the love of his granddaughter and his grandkids. 💋 Gen. Satterfield, kiss your granddaughter for us all. ✌ PEACE and prosperity to you all. 😍
Nothing like waking up in the morning to read a great letter to Gen. Satterfield’s granddaughter!!!!!!!
YEAH !!!!!!!
Gen. Satterfield has done it again with a letter about the Cold War and what it was like to be a kid then. I’m glad that is over, at least for now. The lasting impact of those days are both good (makes you stronger) and bad (psychological impacts).
Very well written, entertaining and informative. This is why I keep coming back to your website Gen. S. and why I also recommend it to my family and friends. Please continue your “letters to my granddaughter” series beyond the 100 that you promised us in the beginning. First, I am learning about you as a kid and also about what other kids went thru before the explosion of drugs in America and how politicains allowed that to happen. Second, I’m learning about the ability of kids to adapt and to find that they love being outdoors more than being inside watching the tv or looking at their phones. Thanks again, Gen. S. loving this all the way.
Ashley, exactly what i was thinking. This is a great letter too.
💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌
… and there are more on the way. I guess that we would like to read more of these letters and what Gen. Satterfield saw and experienced as a kid. Well, as a kid up to 18 years old. What we are missing with these letters and I guess we won’t read about is his experiences in the US Army. Now that would be very very interesing indeed because it will tell us what he did to be so successful. Was it luck? Was it hard work? What was it that got him to the point of being an Army General? I’d like to also know that.
Nailed it Jerome. 👍
❤ BEAUTIFUL ❤
Wow, sir, you sure know how to write an interesting letter. Clearly this is more than for a small granddaughter but for all of us too.
Gen. Satterfield has done it again with his letters to his granddaughter #96. In this one , he tells the story of him and his classmates having to “duck and cover” under their desks in school during drills on the “atomic bomb.” And he discusses the fact this made an impact on him as a little kid. He also tells us about how later in life he actually was involved in finding WMDs in Iraq. Another great letter. Thanks.
—
Please get a copy of his books, espcially my favorite “55 Rules for a Good Life” links above at the end of his article.
Yep, loving his letters, all of them. I’ve started writing my own letters for my kids when they grow up. My letters also tell the tales of them as little kids so that they can have a peek into themselves. Funny how that works.
Yes, and I’m afraid that the series is coming to an end. 😒
Vinny. Got that right! 🎆