The expectation is that ballistic missile launch crews man their post and stay awake. Whether they possess the launch codes or need to be given them before they can launch is irrelevant. The story adds the fact that the crew has the codes as if this makes scarier than if they did not possess the codes. The expectation of responsibility, remains the same whether they possess the codes in advance or not. The news report forwarded also states "Fortunately, catastrophe was averted." Actually catastrophe would be more readily averted if all missile crews were asleep and couldn't launch their missiles. Depending of course on ones definition of catastrophe.
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>> Would falling asleep without the launch codes be much different?
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> It probably wouldn't be news :-)
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> This seems to be one of those "... and another thing!" kinds of stories.
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> /jordan
This seems like a nonsensical scare story with no substance.
One of the first things I learned in the military was how a three man crew could allow one member at a time to catch some sleep while the other two manned the post. My guess is these guys were trying to stretch it to two sleeping with the third awake and the third man fucked up and fell asleep too. It was also probably a matter of chance that they were caught. Odds are they've done this before several times with no "catastrophe" following.
John Thornton