GLCM - the Cold War Missile History: BGM-109G Gryphon, Airmen Who Served, and Treaty That Ended an Era

GLCM - The Cold War Missile History tells the story of one of the most unusual nuclear weapons of the Cold War: the U.S. Air Force BGM-109G Ground Launched Cruise Missile, known to its crews simply as GLCM.Developed during the tense Euromissile crisis, GLCM was deployed across Western Europe as part of NATO's response to the Soviet SS-20. Its crews trained to move, conceal, defend, maintain, and-if ordered-launch nuclear-armed cruise missiles from dispersed field locations.This concise, source-based history follows the GLCM program from its origins and training in Arizona through the six European missile wings at Greenham Common, Comiso, Florennes, Wüschheim, Molesworth, and Woensdrecht. It examines the missile system itself, NATO strategy, anti-nuclear protests, the Soviet Spetsnaz threat, security challenges, the INF Treaty, unprecedented Soviet-American inspections, and the final destruction of the weapon system.The book also carefully separates documented history from disputed Cold War claims, including allegations involving Soviet infiltration, terrorism, special-operations exercises, and organized-crime influence surrounding the Comiso deployment.Written by Brian Cantu, a U.S. military veteran whose service included GLCM assignments at Comiso, Sicily, and Florennes, Belgium, this concise edition preserves the history of the missile system and the Airmen who carried one of the Cold War's most demanding deterrent missions.They trained for a launch that never came-and helped make possible a treaty that eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons.