> This seems tragic to me. I can't believe someone would "order" him back into the silo to turn on an exhaust fan. First, starting a fan motor inside of an explosive environment can be dangerous. Second, how could someone have such disregard for another person's life, that they send him into a room full of explosive gas?

Ordering people to take potentially fatal risks to avoid greater harms is not merely recurrent within the military, it's fundamental to it.

That doesn't mean that there can't be room to debate whether a particular risk ordered was warranted, but one absolutely should not be shocked that a military superior ordered a subordinate to do something that involves a potentially fatal risk.