I was stationed in Key West, Fl. from June 1962 to June 1963 and remember the Crisis clearly. I was attached to CVSG 50 as part of HS 1 a Sikorsky Helocopter squadron. I was immediately transfered to the USS Noa DD-841 a Gearing Class Destroyer. We did picket duty in the Florida straights for the entire time of the crisis. After Kruschev agreed to remove the missles from Cuba in return for an agreement not to invade Cuba ( We had no plans to anyway) and removing missles based in Turkey, over the ensueing years, I learned that the main reason the missles where removed was that Che Guevara had told Castro that having control of the missles would give Cuba " Parity with the Yankees". This was not what Kruschev had in mind. The missles where placed there for the main purpose of using them as a bargaining chip for the missles we had in western Europe. We will remove the missles from Cuba if you remove yours from Eastern Europe, a smart political move. But Che ruined his plans by getting Control of a few missles. This coupled with President Kennedys declaration on National television that any strike launched from Cuba against the United States would be considered an attack by the USSR and a full retaliatory strike would be launched against the USSR. I can only imagine the horror Kruschev must have felt with the knowledge that a hot tempered Cuban revolutionary could very easily bring a rain of thermonuclear warheads down on the Soviet Union. Dooms Day because of a Cuban Moron. It was no accident that Che was ushered off to Bolivia deep in the back country where he could be wacked by the KGB. After his death Che was honored in most of the banana republics with large billboards depicting him as the champion of all oppressed people. Which was fine with Castro and the Soviets, billboards can't start nuclear wars.