A Review of UFOs and Nukes: The Secret Link Revealed

Introduction

I recently bought and down loaded Robert Hastings' UFO documentary film "UFOs and Nukes: The Secret Link Revealed."  This is supposedly Hastings' milestone achievement in conjunction with his book UFO and Nukes which was published some years back.

The major theme of the documentary appears to be that UFOs and its occupants have been observing the US and the former USSR during the Cold War.  These alleged observations center around both nations' nuclear weapons sites.  Basically extraterrestrials have been attempting to send both nations a message or warning concerning the use of nuclear weapons.

The documentary makes an attempt to establish the notion that UFOs have not only overflown our nuclear weapons sites, but have made numerous attempts to disrupt the operational status of our nation's ICBM forces.  On some occasions, UFOs are allegedly to have actually caused Minuteman ICBM missiles to drop off strategic alert.  Hastings offers the viewers what he believes to be compelling evidence that supports his premise.

Production Presentation

The film is 48 minutes long.  The overall quality of the production is good when it is compared to past attempts at depicting the UFO subject in documentary form.  I use the following as an example of very poor quality:  http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-discovery-channel-ufo-programs.html. I believe that Hastings' production crew out performed Discovery Channel on this one.

The quality of the film's sound is good.  The narration is clear and understandable.  The same can be said of the witness presentations for clarity of content.  The sound from the archival footage is also easy to hear and comprehend with no noise distortion noted.

The graphics are clear and easy to read.  I had issue with the use of supporting documents fading in and out with a change in background color.  This is a personal opinion as others who view the film may not see this as a distraction.

Hastings is to be commended for his selection and use of archive photos/film depicting Strategic Air Command (SAC) missile operations and it's missile crews as well as that of the bomber force.  I like the visual of the old crew whites with the squadron patches on the right side of the uniform shirt above the pocket.  The use of the Launch Control Facility and Launch Facility at the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Historical Site was a great idea. This provides a realistic setting for Hastings theme and puts everything in proper context related to the weapon system.

I personally did not care for the use of actors to re-create scenes for the advancement of the story line. This has been one of my pet peeves when viewing past efforts, but my past professional sensibilities were soothed with the concurrent use of supporting archival photos/film.  Again, this is a personal point with me, but for the casual viewer this should not be an issue.

The use of UFOs photo-shopped hovering over a Minuteman launch facilities and launch control centers provides dramatic touches, but it would have been appropriate if a disclaimer were attached listing the hovering UFO as purely for illustrative purposes.  There was only one segment that was annotated as a "re-creation."  There are no known photos/film that captures a UFO hovering over any ICBM complex and the viewer should be aware of this fact.

Documentary Content

It's my understanding that Hastings' goal was to produce a film with the intent to educate the public on the reality of UFOs and their relationships with nuclear weapon sites. I viewed the entire film four times and came to the conclusion that the documentary was designed for the new comer to the UFO subject.   If you are a fan of Hastings' works then the content of the film will be somewhat disappointing as nothing new is offered in the documentary.   The depiction of UFOs harassing US ICBMs with the obligatory political and military cover-ups has been standard fare for Hastings.  

I'm assuming that due to the time constraints and the need to shoehorn the numerous Minuteman ICBM incidents, the witness statements are short...abbreviated from what was provided in past articles by Hastings. Unfortunately the viewer loses the full context and he/she is only left with short sound bites....selected sound bites that only Hastings wants the viewer to hear/see. 

The same strategy of abbreviation is used with the "supporting" documents.  As mentioned above, these documents come into view then morph into "pertinent" highlighted one liners for the sole purpose of psychologically convincing the viewer that UFOs were affecting the operations of the nation's ICBM forces and that a military cover-up was on-going. There is little to no information offered to the viewer that numerous pages of documents are available that tell an entire different story, or when the highlighted document segments are shown in context to the full document itself, a different interpretation takes shape that has nothing to do with UFOs.

Again, the all too well known theme is played out with Hastings' witnesses:  ICBM launch officers are contacted by above ground security personnel and told of UFO sightings.  The officers themselves see nothing (they're 60 to 100 feet underground), but the the security personnel are treated to bizarre aerial performances that are not of this world. Where are the on camera testimonies from those security personnel?  What were their names?  The only exception is that of Hank Barlow, a former EMTer, who hears of UFOs but sees nothing while out in the field.

Hastings depicts the 1967 Malmstrom AFB  Echo and Oscar flight incidents as proof positive of UFOs dropping Minuteman missiles off alert.  The only problem is that one incident is true and the other has no evidence of ever happening.  

Echo flight was a real event with credible evidence that a problem developed withing the command and control system at the Launch Control Center affecting it's 10 ICBM with no evidence of UFOs causing the problem.  Salas' tired Oscar Flight story has nothing factual to support anything from happening.  Did the film flash on screen any documents showing Oscar Flight dropping off alert and security personnel giving on camera testimony?  The answer is NO, because such documents and eye witness testimony is nonexistent.

Hasting uses a very short audio segment where Walter Figel states that he hears of UFO activity over Echo flight, yet missing is the statements from the crew commander Eric Carlson who denied any of the above.  Plus my own research has shown that no maintenance or security team was identified as being on any of the flight's launch facilities. 

When looking at all of the Minuteman stories emanating from all six Minuteman ICBM wings, the launch officers hear of UFOs, but the one's who supposedly see the objects tend to be mere background noise.  Yes, Hastings former ICBM officers provide interesting accounts of what they heard, but they cannot provide anything tangible of what was seen... which was nothing.

Rather than rebutting all of Hastings' claims shown in the documentary, I'll provide links to blog articles that I've authored that addresses those very claims.

Conclusion

Robert Hastings is to be commended for the effort that he and his production crew put into this project.  I was impressed with the overall quality of the presentation's components, sound, graphics and archive photos/films.  The content of the documentary was less impressive as Hastings provided nothing new.  The documentary appears to be a 48 minute abridged version of his book, but it should be acknowledged that Hastings would have had a difficult task fitting everything into those 48 minutes.

Per a comment provided to me by Frank Warren attributed to Robert Hastings:  "This crowd will never admit—even to themselves—that their misguided, weak arguments are now untenable. Maybe they are just lying low, realizing that they have nothing to gain by critiquing the film, in light of the overwhelming evidence it presents. (Now that I have written this article, look for some of them to claim that they didn’t want to pay five bucks to support my “nonsense”, which gives them a convenient excuse not to comment.)"

Despite the above, it is all too evident that "UFOs and Nukes" was never meant for the skeptics viewership nor was it meant to shatter our "misguided weak and untenable arguments."  The simplified regurgitation of Hastings' past views support my interpretation. This film's purpose is solely to initiate a new generation of UFO/ET believers into Hastings' world of reality...nothing more, nothing less. 

The price of $5.00 to rent or $10.00 to buy the film is reasonable in my opinion.  If you are a skeptic, the film is a good quick resource highlighting Hastings' works. If you are a fan of Hastings or believe that UFOs and ETs are a reality then this is a must see documentary. My suggestion is that you view the documentary a few times then come back over to my blog and look at the different alternative points of view that I provide.  I'll list the links below.

Then ask yourself:  Did it really happen?


http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2010/11/did-ufos-disable-minuteman-missiles-at.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2010/12/did-ufo-attempt-to-launch-minot-afb.html


http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2011/07/case-closed-re-evaluation-of-echo.html

http://timhebert3.blogspot.com/  Oscar Flight:  A Mysterious UFO Tale That Never Was

http://timhebert2.blogspot.com/  Echo Flight:  The Makings of a UFO Myth

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2012/10/engineering-change-proposal-1221-air.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2015/10/yes-my-assessment-of-echo-flight-sinks.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2014/12/ufo-attempts-to-launch-malmstrom.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-re-look-at-malmstromecho-flight-case.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-repeat-performance-of-big-sur-20.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-tale-of-ssgt-louis-d-kenneweg.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2013/08/was-malmstroms-oscar-flight-results-of.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2013/05/wheres-titan-ii-ufo-stories.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2012/09/ufo-icbmnuke-connections-does-it-really.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2012/01/anatomy-of-ufo-story-fe-warren-afb-2010.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2012/02/fe-warrens-invasion-of-blimps.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2012/01/fe-warren-new-echo-flightnot-hardly.html

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2011/01/walter-figel-no-ufos-at-echo-and.html

http://www.astronomyufo.com/UFO/SUNlite6_4.pdf  Tim Printy's Evaluation of the 1964 Big Sur UFO