Note that Petrov suffered very few consequences after the initial backlash. His US counterpart Harold Hering was discharged from the Air Force,
Hering is not Petrov's counterpart.
Petrov, basically, said "This technical system is generating an erroneous result, I'm not going to accept it". Hering said "I will obey an order from a superior officer only if I decide it makes sense".
Hering said "I will obey an order from a superior officer only if I decide it makes sense".
Which, of course, is the oath he swore and what we hold our enemies responsible for.
It is Petrov Day again, partially thanks to Stanislaw Petrov.
http://lesswrong.com/lw/jq/926_is_petrov_day/