During the Cold War, U.S. and Russian submarines carried enough nuclear firepower to destroy the world as we know it.

Most Americans learned to accept the threat of annihilation by somehow believing the worst would never happen.

But Wilkinson County native and retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Wayne McCarstle lived with the possibility of nuclear war at the front of his mind and the tip of his fingers for more than two decades as a submariner.

&uot;It was a stalemate, and it was a very tense time,&uot; said McCarstle, who joined the Navy in 1961.

Now 60, McCarstle said he and his fellow submariners became experts in a potentially catastrophic game of underwater espionage, tracking Soviet submarine movement mostly in the Atlantic Ocean.

&uot;What submarines were mainly suited for in the Cold War was espionage. That was the bread and butter of your work,&uot; he said.

McCarstle said American submariners held distinct technological advantages over their Russian counterparts.

&uot;The Soviet subs were never as advanced as ours. They were too noisy. Our attack subs trailed their missile subs with the idea being to destroy them in the event of a nuclear war. And they tried to trail our missile subs, but with very limited success,&uot;

he said.

Still, the age of mutually-assured destruction produced a scenario where even mere exercises carried the fate of mankind in the balance.

&uot;On a submarine, everything is for real. When you received a message to prepare to launch, you actually went through the process in just a few minutes. But until you get the word to stand down, it’s for real,&uot; McCarstle said.

McCarstle, who upon retiring from the Navy in 1987 swore an 80-year vow of secrecy regarding some details of his duty, has a deep love and respect for the &uot;silent service&uot; of submariners.

&uot;Less than one percent of Navy forces are submariners. It’s an all-volunteer service. So, when you become a submariner, you join a close fraternity,&uot; he said.

McCarstle extends the same regard to Russian submariners.

&uot;They were conscripted. I have nothing but respect for the Russian submariners. When I gave an invocation at a reunion in 2001, I asked everyone to pray for the families of the servicemen killed on the USS Cole. I also asked them to pray for the families of the Russian submariners who died when the Kursk sank,&uot; he said.

McCarstle said the post-9/11 era presents a whole new dimension of challenges to American servicemen, but he remains confident.

&uot;With the Cold War, you had two ideologies competing. But terrorists don’t want to coexist or compete with you. They just want you dead, and they’re willing to die to get it done. But I’m not going to live in fear. Truthfully, the most dangerous thing you’ll do is get in your car and drive,&uot; he said.

McCarstle’s stepmother signed for him to get in the Navy at age 17. Commended for earning the highest scholastic average in his Navy recruit training class, he quickly earned a GED and began pursuing a college degree &045;&045; a requirement to become an officer.

&uot;We could take college courses on the ship, and the credits were transferable,&uot; he said.

Meanwhile, McCarstle volunteered for submarine duty as soon as he reached the rank of third class petty officer. He entered submarine school in 1963.

&uot;When you qualify on a submarine, whether you’re a cook or a commanding officer, you learn how to do everything on the boat by putting hands on. You have to demonstrate an ability to perform any duty on the boat for a three-member board. It’s a one-shot deal,&uot; McCarstle said.

Such training demands are necessary for the safety and success of a submarine crew &045;&045; usually about 120 men &045;&045; who may remain underwater for weeks, even months at a time. McCarstle was submerged once for 78 days.

&uot;The only limitation you have on a nuclear submarine is the amount of food you can take with you. You make your own atmosphere and fresh water. If you could learn to farm on one of those things, you could stay down forever,&uot; he said.

Submariners make the air they breathe by distilling sea water into pure water and then breaking it down into its basic elements and extracting the oxygen.

Surface air is actually distasteful after breathing in the &uot;perfect&uot; atmosphere aboard a submarine, McCarstle said.

&uot;We surfaced in the Hebrides Islands north of Scotland once. There were 30-foot waves and it was snowing so hard you could hardly see. That salt air almost turned my stomach,&uot; he said.

While passing through the Arctic Ocean once during the ’80s, McCarstle and his crew decided to surface for what may have been the first and only game of softball on the North Pole.

&uot;We came to a stop and pumped out the ballast until we developed enough positive buoyancy to break through the ice. It was in April, and there was about 12 feet of ice,&uot; he said.

The crew filmed the event, and scenes from the video were later included in a History Channel documentary.

&uot;We put the pitcher’s mound on the geographical North Pole. Right field was across the international dateline into tomorrow, and left field was in today. So if you hit a home run, you circumvented the globe,&uot; McCarstle said.

Since his retirement from the Navy, McCarstle has operated a heavy equipment business. He and his wife, Janett, have three children and six grandchildren.

From his home on a hill overlooking a 10-acre lake in the Doloroso community of Wilkinson County, McCarstle reflected on his military service.

&uot;If I could go back 40 years, I’d do it again. When I left rural Mississippi and joined the Navy, I found a home,&uot; he said.