I was a nuclear missile operator. There have been more near-misses than the world knows | Cole Smith

As a 22-year-old I controlled a warhead that could vaporize a metropolis. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the public is waking up again to the existential dangers of nuclear weapons

From 2012 to 2017, I worked as a US air force nuclear missile operator. I was 22 when I started. Each time I descended into the missile silo, I had to be ready to launch, at a moment's notice, a nuclear weapon that could wipe a city the size of New York off the face of the earth.

On the massive blast door of the launch control center, someone had painted a mural of a Domino's pizza logo with the macabre caption, World-wide delivery in 30 minutes or less or your next one is free."

Cole Smith is a writer and director who received an MFA in screenwriting at Columbia University after serving in the air force as a nuclear missile operator