Posted: 1/8/2005 12:08:41 PM EDT
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One of the cool things about this site is the huge spread of skills, knowledge and talents. Some threads over the last couple of months makes me wonder how many nuclear warriors we have in our midst, so I thought I'd start one of those annoying "check in here" threads. So, if you: - Jump to your feet every time you hear "klaxon klaxon klaxon" - Know what EWO really means (and no, it's not Electronics Warfare Officer) - Can tell the difference between a TLAM and a TLAM-N - Have ever heard a "Skybird" (though you probably have never heard just one!) - Ever worked in a weapon system nicknamed Duece, SSAS, CDB, PK or MOD - Been on a blue or gold crew - Have ever been PRP certified ....then let's hear your story! Me, I spent five years in Grand Forks as an ICBM launch officer, followed much later by a year at the HQ USAF as the chief of nuclear systems operations. Anyone else? |
I saw some video footage of these things on the web--they were an awesome weapon system. Someday I'm going to visit the restored site out in San Franscisco. |
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Could tell all kind of stories on how MI tried ------ a penetration. We had a blast keeping them prone , out in sub zero weather till the Sgt. of the guard showed up from the reaction hut with the rest of the troops. EDIT: We would have fired on them up if they did not obey our commands ------- a tricky thing , that they do. |
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When we get called, something ugly happened. Luckily I never had to do a Nuke Op. PRP'ed I have seen practically every type of nuke the U.S. fielded including a Little Boy (definitely crude) Took the former NetOps course at Kirkland, basically a weapons accident type training stressing radiological equipement and hot line work. Got to see the Secret Nuke Museum there, cool stuff.  I find Nukes to be extremely fascinating. |
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You left out RADCON and a few other dorky terms but... USS Holland AS-32 - 1980-1984 Nuke Sub Tender I patroled in a little fast boat standing behind an M60 with two marines and a boatswain's mate while our ship transfered nuke heads and FBM's from ship to sub and vice versa. We had to recon the local waterways, rivers, deltas, etc. Had some pretty hot run ins with the locals in the middle east and South America. Idiots o'plenty. Also spent many hours as a zombie in the missle mags armed with an Shotgun or M14 (that'l mess up a missile) marching from level to level to make sure the dust mites didn't try to run off with a FBM.  I wasn't a nuke guy, but I spent enough time around them (bazillion hours) to know they are an odd bunch. ETA: Those little little yellow nuke meters we wore on our belts creeped me out. |
 I was a "real nuke". Nov. 87 - Nov. 93. NFAS, NPS, NPTU - staff puke up, USS Sandlance SSN660 - MM2 SS. All I ever saw was the engine room and my rack. All your forward compartment and/or non-Navy nuke acronyms mean nothing to me.  Presently work at Enricho Fermi Energy Center as Nuclear Maintenance Journeyman - Mechanic. I spent five years in the Ops department as a power plant operator, before switching over to the cushy maintenance life. I also spent about one year at NNS (Newport News Shipbuilding) preparing APLs for equipment on the Seawolf subs. For the guys on the Seawolfs, if your parts are wrong, I apologize, I did the best I could with what I had to work with. We dropped off some SEALs once, that makes me part of the SEAL team, doesn't it?
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Cool, I'm a nuke mechanic headed to the USS Topeka(SSN 754) in april. im 98% done with prototype and got picked up welder. edit: i know, i know...im a NUB 
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There are some checklists you'll be able to recite at the age of 80, with Alhziemer's and no teeth, you've done them so much. For missile cops, that'd be one of them! We had an launch facility (LF) activities checklist that we were supposed to brief to every team entering a site; the maintenance guys would hear it so much, THEY would brief US. "Yes, sir, we are aware of no-lone zone, two-person policy, buddy care and code component handling requirements, tripping/electrical/falling hazards, we will contact you before any change in status, and please tell the cook there will be six for dinner." |
GD NUBS!!!!  Go through two GD years of schooling and don't know a GD thing!!!!Good luck with that. Sub life is..................................different. I grew up an outdoors type and it was eye opening, to say the least. Nukes on subs are the first one on, the last ones off and the first to be volunteered to do work that the others won't or can't get done. And subs stink, an undescribable stink, a combination of 100+ men's BO, added with diesel fuel, added with garbage, added with 2190TEP oil vapors.......................................... 
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I can't say I'm looking forward to sea time seeing as how i've been miserable every step of the way thus far
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Three places, actually. Minuteman Missile National Historic Site located near Rapid City, SD. When they shut down Ellsworth, they kept a launch control center and a launch facility, completely restored, and gave them to the national park service. Oscar Zero-1 is a launch control facility located within the perimeter of Whiteman AFB, Knobnoster, MO. When they shut the wing down there, they turned it over to the base historian's office as a museum. The downside of this museum is they don't have any missileers who work there who can tell you how things worked; the tour I got was run by a guy from the bomb wing fuels section; I wound up teaching him more than he taught me, and I didn't even work in that system.  The Titan II Missile Museum is a Titan site in Tucson, AZ that was also saved from destruction when the Titans came off alert in 1987. I believe this one is a privately owned museum. I had also heard that one of the LCFs and LFs in the missile wing I worked at in Grand Forks had also been spared and turned over to the North Dakota Historical Society, but I have not heard that they are open yet. Other than that, it's really a matter of knowing someone in the business who can take you on a tour. Right now, the only missile wings open are in Great Falls, MT, Cheyenne, WY, and Minot ND--not exactly spots on the way to anywhere. I used to arrange tours all the time to the on-alert capsules (we never took family and friends out to the launch facilities, for obvious reasons), but that was in 1994; things may have changed since 9/11. ETA: If you're ever near Kirtland AFB, in Albequerque, NM, (I hate trying to spell that name) they have an unclassified Atomic Museum that I believe is still on base (tho they're moving it off base to get better attendance). That's got exhibits on ALL the US nuclear systems, from Fat Man & Little Boy to the present. |
I heard they moved the Atomic Museum off base after 9/11. It is a fantastic place to visit but not as good as the Secret museam across the street from it when it was still on base. |
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As a destroyer sailor, the only nuclear capable system we ever had was ASROC. First nuclear weapons handling school: 1968. First NWAI: 1968 Loadout soon after. Attended warhead school and rec'd required CNWDI training: 1971 PRP from 1967 to 1992. Member of handling team. Team leader. Nuclear weapons handling and custody officer. Later on, moved out of direct handling billets into command structure. Member of SAS team. Two NTPIs, three NWAIs and two DNSIs. Never fired a QAST shot tho...always wanted to...but never got the chance. Overall, I consider the nuclear weapons program in the military to be one of the best run programs I ever saw...and THE biggest pain in the ass ever. As a staffy, I oversaw the download of our squadron ships in late 1991 when Bush 41 ordered everybody to return those weapons they never had to the depots. |
Damm you're an old fart. |
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Lance Missile platoon leader, FDO and Executive Officer. Spent most of my time on the "Blue Team" handling the cookies with shaky hands. 1. Had one officer who opened a real cookie by mistake. They DX'd him a month later and nobody else but his Red Team partner ever admitted that they were in the building at the time. 2. Had a Red Team guy who locked everybody out of the cookies, twice, because he couldn't change a Greenleaf combination. |
Our EWO planners at Grand Forks lost a cookie once. As they were doing inventory during the annual doc swap-out, one slid behind one of the safes. They literally locked the vault door and no one left--not even to the bathroom--until they found it. Only took them about three hours to find it. |
"Greetings, Professor Falken! Would you like to play a game?" War Games. Considered a comedy by the missileers! I used to tell folks there are only two things true in that entire movie. The first is the opening scene where the guys are slogging thru the blizzard to get to the missile site. The second was where the deputy says "Sir, I have a light out on A3," and the commander says "give it a tap," and the light comes back on. Everything else was pretty funny. |
What about the sequence in "The Day After"? Was that even remotely accurate? I ask because back in the 80's War Games WAS the "definitive" rendition of silo operations. The only other examples were "The Soldier", which was laughable, and "The Day After". Is there any movie that accurately captures the launch sequence while remaining within security restrictions? |
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Nope, War Games was all make believe. Nothing true, even down to the fact that we carried S&W Mod 15s in the field, not the little 2" snubbies the movie showed. They didn't even get the uniforms right. The missile consoles were Minuteman II, while the missile being shown in the video was some kind of Titan hybrid....I could go on. Now, "The Day After" uses all SAC footage. Every crewdawg you see in that movie is doing his thing right. So, the missile crews are running their unclassified Tactical Launch checklists, the B52 crews are responding as they would in the real world, etc. The footage from Looking Glass is from one of the annual Global Guardian exercises. That is as close to the real thing as you would see without having TOP SECRET stamped on the top and bottom of your screen. ETA: Another good comedy from the missile field was "Twilight's Last Gleaming," a movie from 1970-something with Burt Lancaster, where he takes over a missile silo in Montana. That one's got non-Euclidean geometry in it. From the air, the missile site has three silos arranged in a triangle. Okay so far, but later the guys are walking down a straight tunnel. They look into a door on one side, and there's a missile right there. They keep walking down the PERFECTLY STRAIGHT tunnel, look into two more doors and there's the other two missiles. Talk about bending space/time! |
No kidding? I've been in the yard for almost 5 years now. Electrical test, nuc. I get to hang out with RC div-ers all day. Them dudes is NUTS. I'm not prior Navy, so I dunno if I count as a "real" nuc. Building'em oughta count though. |
Whoa! That was the MTS I was at for prototype in '97. It's a little different now than you probably remember. No missle compartment, and everything forward of the RC is either offices or empty. Not to mention the fact that it's permanently moored in a river now, too. |
Yep. All true. I wish I could walk her just one more time. I got pinned aboard her, and I regret she was the last boat I ever served on in any real capacity.  Did they empty out or get rid of Aux 1, too? I can't remember if there was a FW distiller there or something else. Been a LONG time. Still have my qual card somewhere!
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I don't know because I retired in '92...but I suspect we did go to DEFCON III or II. FWIW, I've only seen DEFCON I just once. When the shooting war started in GW I. |