oliver9184

This is from the end of the 12th part of Alistair Cooke's America. It covers the procedures followed at the time by Strategic Air Command both above and below ground in some impressive detail. I'd like to see what the modern equivalent to this is as closely but something tells me it's far too 'top secret' now. Surely these days they have gates that can open automatically... and do the guys in the missile silos still strap on guns every shift so they can shoot their buddies if they suddenly go mad? What if the mad one shoots the others first?

ring

I wonder if they still play cribbage?
My father sat for hours upon hours in the 'alert shacks'
playing cribbage with his best friend colonel/uncle Dan.
The only time my dad ever wanted to shoot me is when I would
throw points into his 'crib' on purpose.

Heh.

Titan II Missile Complex

Lindy

My great-uncle owns an abandoned/decommissioned Atlas missile site in Kansas. It is in a sad state of disrepair due to neglect and vandalism. The silo was filled with dirt forty years ago, but has settled so much that the hole is now about twenty feet deep.
He's getting too old to do much physical work anymore, and I am supposedly helping him to "rationalize his holdings" by selling and consolidating. It's hard, because he doesn't want to let go of anything.

Lindy