The fam and I toured Quebec 01 Peacemaker Missile Alert Facility in Cheyenne, WY yesterday on a side journey from Rocky Mountain National Park. Man, what a cool place. We did Minuteman Missile NHS in South Dakota last yr but the tour down into the launch bunker was unobtanium due to NPS COVID restrictions. I was worried they would be busy being a holiday weekend, only one other group showed up for the 11am half hour tour.

I can't imagine the boredom of sitting down there for 12 hours or getting stuck down there for 3 months if things got hot. Surprisingly, it smelled just like a Navy ship museum from all of the generator fuel. I was impressed at how realistic they got the intro to War Games compared to what I was seeing in person.

Anyone else been there?

I use to work the Polo Hat Exercises when working at Mitre Corp in the 80's. Back then, I recall that they worked 24 hour shifts.

I've visited Oscar One at Whiteman AFB MO, which is the only launch control center ON an AFB. Getting on base is a major PITA, but I breeze through with my retired mil ID.

https://www.whiteman.af.mil/Co...ours/Oscar-01-Tours/

This site is semi close and high on my list. It has the much larger Sylvania (?) capsule:

https://www.history.nd.gov/his...anmissile/index.html

If you're real serious about the Minuteman system you need to read this:

https://www.uapress.com/product/minuteman/

Not into buying books? This is a start:

https://minutemanmissile.com/

No, I haven’t and honestly, hadn’t heard from others about the site becoming a state park with guided tours. Somewhat ironically, the son of a friend of mine graduated from USAFA last year as a missileer. He ended up being assigned to Malmstrom in Montana, rather than F.E. Warren, but he stayed at the house on his way up to Malmstrom.

As an aside, the Academy graduate I referred to was diagnosed with colorblindness. I had no idea that there were different levels of colorblind, but his case sounds pretty mild to me. Still, it was enough to keep him from flying, AND it means a one-year delay in going through AFSO officer selection trials.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TMats,

I've done the tour of the facility in South Dakota (years ago), as well as the silo site, and gone down in the training silo at Ellsworth AFB. All very interesting and eye opening. And I agree...sitting 12 hour shifts down there would be absolutely mind numbing. On the flip-side, when on alert, knowing that a good portion of the Soviet arsenal is definitely pointed right at you would not be a real fun time.

Last time I was out there, it was 2020 right during the height of covid, and the NPS had even closed the outdoor viewing area for the missile silo. Its completely outdoors, self-guided, and in the middle not nowhere, so I'm not sure what the reasoning was behind that, but I was pretty bummed because I was with my brother who had never been out there before and wanted him to get to see it.

Minuteman III Combat Crew at Grand Forks AFB, ND from 89 to 93. 24 hour alerts are the standard, but you can get snowed in, and yes it sucks, but we had a shitty little TV and every site had the best porn collection in the US (decades worth). Then they brought women on crew and the porn had to go, but we got upgraded TVs, bathrooms and sleep accommodations.
You had work to do, and the commander and deputy rotated sleep shifts so it was not all that bad.
The tough part, back then in SAC, was the 100% standard for everything you did. One missed test question on the three or four monthly tests, or a mistake on a simulator ride and you are standing tall in front of the man explaining why you, or your deputy, is a fuck up. That got old.

I thought the missile crew were in the hole for 12 hours, they were in there for 24 hour shifts? Ooofta. My wife compared to it being on the space station, but at least then you had a view. I guess either has the risk of sudden death if something goes wrong. I assume you'd have up to 30 mins warning in a launch center.

I've always found this stuff fascinating, back to the days of driving past Minutemen silos when they were still at Whiteman. I worked for a retired Lt. Col. for awhile who flew A-10s, he always gave me his Air Force Journals for me and our son to peruse. I recall many of them talking about burnout of missileers, that it had limited advancement. Everybody knows about you real quick if you screw up though. That boss always talked about being dead ended at Lt. Col. because he wasn't certified for mach aircraft, but also had some personality proclivities I could see would be a hindrance to advancement.

I read about the Whiteman facility, but it was my understanding seeing it was extremely limited.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
No, I haven’t and honestly, hadn’t heard from others about the site becoming a state park with guided tours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ssile_Alert_Facility

Turned over to Wyoming Parks in 2017 and opened in August 2019. The tour guide did a good job going through everything, it was a 30 min tour and you could look around topside all you wanted. Evidently the Air Force stripped everything out when they closed it in 2005 and either Wyoming or Wyoming and the Air Force put it back together to look period correct. The flag that flew over it on 9/11 is displayed and all of the security, cook, and staff berthing is set up. Looked like my college dorm from the early 2000s, .gov probable bought the same institutional furniture as my .edu. Unless Wyoming put .edu furniture in there and said "good enough." I was more interested in what was underground anyway.

ALSO: Cheyenne SHUTS DOWN on Memorial Day, we had to resort to McD's on the interstate for lunch, even Karl Jr.'s was closed with a sign on the door to "Have a blessed day."

Since it was around 50 degrees with 900 mph winds and sleet the size of Dippin Dots, going there and to Laramie Prison worked out.

quote:

originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
ALSO: Cheyenne SHUTS DOWN on Memorial Day, we had to resort to McD's on the interstate for lunch, even Karl Jr.'s was closed with a sign on the door to "Have a blessed day."

I know, isn’t it great?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
I thought the missile crew were in the hole for 12 hours, they were in there for 24 hour shifts? Ooofta. My wife compared to it being on the space station, but at least then you had a view. I guess either has the risk of sudden death if something goes wrong. I assume you'd have up to 30 mins warning in a launch center.

24 hours for normal ops. If we went to higher DEFCON you would have two crews out at the site one in the capsule and one topside in rest status. Then there would be no sleeping as both crew members would be awake for 12 hours in the hole.
The "bolt out of the blue" scenario is not very realistic as Intel would give warning.
As for the whole global thermonuclear war threat, after receiving however many classified briefings on our targets etc., it is a totally insane idea. Much like Bugs and Marvin the Martian hanging onto what's left of the moon after the space modulator goes off.