Trouble at the Test Site. An opinion.

Fantastic Piece John!

This is a really good example of quality analysis. You've shown true ATS spirit in this work.

Originally posted by johnlear
My understanding is that there is unhappiness at the test site. Many are unhappy over the oppressive security procedures. Some are unhappy over the objectives which seem to be oriented more towards efficient death, destruction and invasion of privacy than any truly beneficial achievement for society and those accomplishments which are truly beneficial to society are being hidden and suppressed.

One consistent, persistent and increasing complaint is the time it takes to get to work. While a local (Las Vegas) industry worker can be walking into his place of work 30 minutes after walking out his front door, a Test Site/Sandia worker can take between two and a half to three hours getting to his or her place of work. Add to this mix security measures during transit and you have some very difficult commute problems.

Right on! these people give so much of themselves to work at places like Groom Lake and Tonopah. The job come with very little reward. The engineers and scientist pour years of their lives into these super-secret black projects, Only to see their greatest successes disappear into the black world where only a few select people ever get anything from it.

Family problems have always been a part of working at the test site. Not being able to share with your family what you do tends to work against the unity of a family.

Having to hide secrets works against the closeness of the family. In some of these jobs, people have to leave their families behind for days. This adds a lot of stress to the work environment and makes the job much harder.


There are isolated incidents of industrial sabotage. Sabotage that is so cleverly done its difficult to even call it sabotage much less find or prosecute the perpetrator.

Compartmentalization while necessary for security fails to provide the necessary feedback and or sense of accomplishment on many projects. There is a level of frustration because he/she cannot interact with different levels of a project that would be more conducive of productivity but at the price of less compartmentalization/security. Scientists, engineers, physicists do a job for the pride of accomplishment. Of making something better, lighter, more efficient, more ingenius. Of contributing to design elegance and functionality. When you take all those away all thats left is the money and that breeds discouragement and disgust.

Right again Mr. Lear! Scientists and engineers usually get their satisfaction from known that they are making a lasting contribution to there field. You can't get a sense of accomplishment if no one will ever know about your work, or see the difference that comes from your effort. If you take something that someone truly loves, and strip it down to nothing more than a way to get money, what do they have left?

The above is an opinion. There are no facts that I know of to support and/or substantiate this opinion.

That is the only thing you have said that I disagree with. Your post is full of facts about what it is like to work at the test site. Also, many of your points can be Supported with psychology research into work environments and stress. If you can't find Facts, to back up the statements you made in this post, I strongly suggest you look at a few more sources

Try the APA journal, look in articles on stress and discontent in the workplace! I'm sure you find lots of support.

Great Piece, John!

Tim

I guess still a walk in the park compared to Germany 1945 on eve
my dad (22y) would break his back only to get things done because they
new time was running out and the under ground bases would just
hold out so long.

I guess when a government gets enough pressure they can do some
things were humans don't matter


[edit on 10-8-2007 by slaveearth]

Hi John, great post. I had a room mate a few years back. USAF that worked at Nellis. He was a tech on nukes. I always asked him questions..Even drunk I got nothing...lol....Nada zip zilch. This is the kind of guy that would tell you ANYTHING..Except what he did out there. All I ever got from him was that in 1993 he and some other USAF tech made a bad mistake and got "early retirement". Somthing about dropping a "purple stripe" on the floor. Whatever that is.

Originally posted by TXMACHINEGUNDLR

Hi John, great post. I had a room mate a few years back. USAF that worked at Nellis. He was a tech on nukes. I always asked him questions..Even drunk I got nothing...lol....Nada zip zilch. This is the kind of guy that would tell you ANYTHING..Except what he did out there. All I ever got from him was that in 1993 he and some other USAF tech made a bad mistake and got "early retirement". Somthing about dropping a "purple stripe" on the floor. Whatever that is.

Thanks TXMACHINEGUNDLR. He didn't drop the 'purple stripe'...he followed it. I let my Class 3 expire a few years ago but still have a couple of title 2's. You know, just in case.

Mind reading in a control room at Nellis with 2 controllers viewing through the victims eyes, and reading their very personal visual thoughts.

Implanting electronic bugs that mimic the brain frequency of the aliens, so they can view through their eyes, and view there home planet.