Minuteman Missile Site Now a National Park - VOA Story

[angelkid79]

Worked at this very silo as Security Specialist in 1983-85.

[guns2112]

I was born at this base. My father was a Safety officer for the minuteman 2 missles at that time.

[kidcoast777]

I was security police officer at Ellsworth from 1971 to 1973. spent a lot of time on these sites checking the entry systems.

[CerealKiIIer]

The guide looks mentally challenged

[grooveclubhouse]

a good reason to never take the human out of the loop.

[EMT302001]

I worked Camper Alert Teams Spent many a day sitting on a nuke site hoping the door would not "blow back"

[billmurray777]

i went here today. i found it interesting but i wish they would've talked more about the control center because we spent more time upstairs than in the launch center.

[rdvd7]

1:55 Minuteman III we deliver in 30 minutes or less, or the next ones free.

That's Badass!

[rcdrury1]

@rdvd7 I was one of D-01's (the very LCC in this video) last Flight Commanders, and half of the crew who painted the blast door. While this blast door art was the brainchild of my deputy, Tony Gatlin, I was proud to have added several strokes of paint to the effort. Not to nitpick, but it is Minuteman II. I pulled alert in both MMII SSAS (this system), and MMIII CDB at FE Warren AFB.

[cautionthisissparta]

imho, i wouldnt consider any sort of weapon to be technology... its advancement, but not technology because technology is meant to help people survive , not to kill

[rcdrury1]

@cautionthisissparta This technology most definitely exists to serve mankind. It's purpose is deterrence. You have it, and those of us who manned it, to thank for your very existence.

[Bbendfender]

The parks guide: man, what part of the country is he from? I'm from Texas and I don't talk like that. I was on a missile launch crew during the 70's and it was some exciting duty. Our missiles were a deterant to war.

[cautionthisissparta]

hes from virginia/southeast us

[blackefron]

Mr. Petrov deserves some kind of award

[hrdknox2000]

@blackefron I think the Nobel Peace Prize is in order! Look up Able Archer 1983 and you can see a dramatization of Petrov's ordeal and the events leading up to it. The story told here, though and EXCELLENT presentation, doesn't even scratch the surface of Petrov's story. He suffered humiliation and discharge from the military for his actions, which saved the world!

[applesweeter]

@blackefron

Yes, I agree with you. Luckily, we have Mr. Petrov to brave enough to hide away the virtual missle fact from the USSR military. Otherwise, we are all barbecue by nuclear thrmal reaction.

He should receive a Noble Price of world peace.

[datboysha40]

@blackefron He was given the World Citizen Award

[daleearnhardt1]

Just saw this place yesterday pretty cool, but didnt get to go into delta 1 because the guide was not there. dangnt i really wanted to see inside. USA! USA!

[3gyupsal]

No, I am an American living in South Korea. Also no, American troops on the Korean boarder are nothing but a drain on the American economy. South Korea is perfectly capable of defending it's self without the U.S. troops. The Americans mostly perform logistical services and mostly aren't combat soldiers. It's interesting that you have changed your tone and are invoking American military power to try and insult someone supposedly from South Korea, which Australian troops also defended.

[3gyupsal]

Blah Blah Blah, world war II. There is much more important shit to be talking about today than that. Americans should talk about what they are going to do today to help the world, and not what their grandparents did. And yes jasonbennettgc thank you for for the great Australians like Rupert Murdoch and his newscorporation for bringing us the all too professional journalism of Bill O'reilley and Sean Hanity. I hope your rose scented feces doesn't attract the crocs.

[geoffck1969]

This is a great video, but the accompanying commentary has no connection to the main topic. Petrov would have been manning a Soviet early warning radar station. What the fuck does that have to do with the history of America's land based ICBM force?

[rocktruggy03]

I love America with all my heart but good grief that accent is baaaad.

[MrFlamewar3]

Australia played a minor role in the Japan campaign.You know shit.Australia

was so stretched thin by involving itself

in campaigns around the world with

out the necessary industry to keep it going.They would have fell to the Japs in months.Now go to bed now and wish you still had the freedom to own a gun.Dip-shit.Maybe you would have been better off as a lamp shade.

[MrFlamewar3]

Shut up you cross eyed inbred descendant of Pedophile rapists.

You and your whole family would have been slaves of the Japanese if it wasn't for America.Jason?You are a Jew?

How dare you hate on America.Your

Grand parents would be lamp shades and pot stickers, if it wasn't for MY Grandparents.

[MrFlamewar3]

Go fuck a Kangaroo.

What the fuck have Australians

ever done for the world?You

are a penal colony.A bunch of inbred

criminals.

[steveeaa]

I grew up North of this silo and many more. We'd see them all the time and the "flaps" that manned them. As a kid I wathced B-52's do low level flyovers above our 2 room schoolhouse occasionally!  People my grandfathers age came in covered wagons and in their lifetimes saw the jet and missile age. How about those apples! Can you imagine?

[umahuma4]

i dont think i would of been up to it

[VitoPossilipo]

Well, the door buzzed open by the crew below looks not very stabile to me...

[indigo419]

Well you had to authenticate with your codes first...and god help you if you screwed the codes up....you got "jacked up"

[indigo419]

Maybe.....but you'd still have to get thru two blast doors to gain entry.

[VitoPossilipo]

Thank you for your replies.

Are you or have you been a missileer?

[indigo419]

I was a Missle Control Communications System Technician (MCCS) AFSC 36253. Minot AFB 84-88....2150th Communications Squadron...spent a lot of time at all the LF's and LCF's maintaining all the fixed wire comm systems....ours was one of the smallest career fields in the service and I don't believe my AFSC or Squadron exists any longer...I had the time of my life in ND and these posts have brought back a lot of fond memories....Thank you.

[VitoPossilipo]

Thank you for your answer. What have been your tasks in that positions. Or is that top secret?

Was it similiar to the tasks the men in green in "The day after" made (drive to the LFs and make maintance of the missiles)? Did you wear a dosimeter? Was you afraid of radiation sometimes?

I anticipate for your reply.

[indigo419]

No I never wore a dosimeter.....we wee technicians that basically repaired all fixed wire (telephone communication systems between the sites.

[VitoPossilipo]

Thank you for your answer.

Was you dressed in green with a cap?

[indigo419]

yep lol

[Kl4pp5tuhl]

Interesting.

I can haz missile silo? :3

[Amberball]

Nice video from this place. I was there and inside the launch control facility in August 2008 (part of my trip through the US).

[BoostedPanda]

How in depth is this tour!???!!!

[bcyaden]

Good Video. They upgraded Minuteman I and II (like in the video) in late 1970 and I was one of the first Minuteman III Missile Combat Crew Commanders in the AF stationed at Minot AFB ND. Indigo419 is full of bull that wouldn't also one site can not launch missiles and it would take another "vote" from a seperate LCC. All the other LCCs in the Squadron would have to agree. Interesting though

[NickDanger0001]

I got to photograph this site for the resource study while it was still active. Very, very interesting. Got one pic of myself sitting in the deputy commander's chair inserting a key (in my case a VW key, lol).

[indigo419]

Actually you could duck tape one of the keys to the end of a broom stick and turn both keys by oneself.

[CrewDog1976]

I spent a total of ten years on Missile Combat Crew and you could NOT do that.

The system was engineered to prevent such things from happening.

[and1hotsizzle18]

wow....way to much info. Cant believe they allowed this....

[n4neq]

I just visited this site earlier this week. Chris is still there, complete with his awesome Morganton NC accent. Southerners rock, and so does this National Historic Site!

[medicvet]

I was wondering where he accent was from, it sure didn't sound like South Dakota. I really want to go check this out. I think it is awesome that Stanislav Petrov went there. I have read up some on him.

It really makes you think about what one person can or can't do.

[trextrent027]

Funny that the park ranger is giving tours, and not some Ret. USAF dude.

[njh621]

There are three Minuteman museums (one for each style of deployment), and I'm certain former missileers do give tours and all that. But yeah, I'm surprised a former crewdog didn't give the tour in his crew blues (missileer uniform).

[devilslayer888]

No doubt, he did save the world.

[WA2YTX]

I was stationed at Malmstrom AFB assigned to 341st SMW from '64 to '67 as a Missile Facilities Specialist AFSC 54250G.

[krizla4]

lol, his accent :)

[HauntSlider]

Wow.. I had no idea that they perserved a site and LCC.. I SO have to take my daughter to the site as I worked on both those sites..

Proud member of the 44 FMMS.. Ellsworth AFB 89-92

[swacksman]

This brings back a lot of old memories. I was a crewdog from 86-90 at the 351 SMW, Whiteman AFB, MO.

Lt Col Steve Wacksman, USAFR

[090850lars]

I was in the 341st Minuteman Missile Squadron, Malmstrom AFB, Montana. That was a great time and looking back on it now, as very young adults we mostly had no idea what we were contributing to the history and protection of our country. The threats were real. Minuteman prevented an escalation of the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962. Minuteman also keep the Soviets at bay for all those years.

[crunchywolf]

There is also a missile silo just north of Tucson, AZ. It's called the Titan Missile museum, and they give tours of that as well. It's pretty cool if you're into this sort of stuff.

[unclejohn607]

There weren't 'many' Titan sites....period, the minuteman sites were much smaller...err, are much smaller...there are over 200 of them still in operation in Montana - Great Falls is/was the center of the 'missile field' stringing from NW of Great Falls to Big Timber, Harlowtown.... It's good to finally realize the extent of what's still there! - I don't know of a functional TITAN site, I'd still love to tour one.....

[veedub87]

Titan II is long deactivated. You can tour the Titan Missile Museum, which is South of Tucson, AZ in Sahuarita, AZ. The Sahuarita site was deactivated in 1982.

If you are talking strictly about Launch Facilities, there are not 'over' 200 Minuteman III ICBM's still in operation in MT. There are exactly 200.

[muzzleray]

You can buy one of these places, if you've got the cash.

[futurecm21]

this place is really awesome... but then again so is all of western south dakota....

[ludocrat]

Get some help.

[FreakOfDaVideo]

The whole video is great, but do people still talk like that? Such a heavy southern accent. I don't mind as long as it is not Japanese, German, Chinese or Russian. :)

[SCE2AUX]

Sho' nuff they do.

[GoyoTex]

Now this is one great story!