While Barney was an officer in the Air Force he wrote this story of five fellow Air Force men; the first men on earth who "volunteered to be nuked".The test took place on July 19, 1957. These men stood at GROUND ZERO in Nevada's Yucca Flats, while a F-89 Scorpion Interceptor triggered and exploded a 2.2 kiloton nuclear rocket at 18, 000 feet, directly above their heads. This operation was set up by Colonel Barney Oldfield.

The volunteers were there because they disagreed with the strong opponents of the just-forming North American Defense Command (NORAD). They were convinced that certain vital nuke aerial devices would be harmless to the population in combat conditions. All men survived and were still happy and healthy when Al Stump updated this article in 1977; all the men have since passed away with the exception of Col. Don Luttrell who now resides in Dallas, TX.