Back in the days of yore when many telephones still had dials and every roof had a TV antenna we all had a very simple vision of how the world would end.
Without a doubt those Soviet type Russians over there on the other side would push a button and the apocalypse would begin. We would respond heroically of course with our own weapons. Land and sea-based ICBM's and of course with the old Air Force war horse, the classic B-52 also known as BUFF or Big Ugly Fat Fucker.
Terror and destruction would rain down from the skies as the United Kingdom, France, China, India, and Israel responded to all of the madness.
The post apocalyptic society would the evolve from theory into reality as survivors crawled out from beneath the rubble and wreckage of the remains of civilization.
My view of this possibility was different than most. The year was 1983 and I was in the United States Air Force as a Security Policeman. These days the Air Force calls them Security Forces, but the duties then and the duties now are basically the same.
The 341st Air base Wing at Malstrom Air Force Base (AFB) sits just outside of Great Falls, Montana and was my home. Great Falls is in the northwest corner of Montana with the great plains to the east and the continental divide to the west. Shortly after arriving I decided that barracks life was not for me and rented a house in the city with a Technical Sergeant named Gary Foster. He was an Arizona guy, a little older than me with a penchant bordering on fetish for firearms and explosives. He is worth a few blogs all by himself but that is for another time.
The 564th Missile Security Squadron provided missile security for all of the Minuteman III ICBM's located north of Great Falls and Malstrom AFB. This area covered the ground from the little town of Dutton all the way up to Shelby which is near the Canadian border.Four flights constituted the squadron, the phonetically named Papa, Quebec, Tango, and Sierra.
As a Staff Sergeant I was the Crew Chief for the squad at Papa-0 (P-0) Launch Control Facility located threes miles east of the farming town of Conrad. You can see a photo of an LCF above. These sites were secure, fenced locations where the the security teams and the missile crews were based. We, the security guys would spend three days there providing response to security situations at 10 missile sites sited at various locations in a 20 mile arc to the north and west.
40 or so feet underground, in the center of the LCF sat the capsule. The capsule or Launch Control center (LCC) was a big pill shaped re-enforced bunker that sat on top of big springs in a large cavern carved out of rock for just that purpose. In theory this capsule could survive a nuclear strike. The Missile Control Crew, which consisted of two officers, usually Lieutenants but also the occasional Captain manned this LCC. It was their job to monitor the electronic security systems of the missiles, notify security of these situations, and to execute a launch order when and if the time came. Their tours of duty were 24 hours.
Each LCF had a Facilities Manager who took care of the place, sometimes using security personnel to assist. There was also a cook assigned, after all everybody has to eat and we were locked in to the place unless a security situation required a response.
Maintenance troops would come and go as required but no one entered without some simple but thorough and effective security procedures that are blog worthy all by themselves.
The LCF could sleep and feed about 25 people when required. Office space, kitchen, day room and dining area, a full bathroom with showers, and five rooms for sleeping were standard issue.
The very thought of these missiles was not comforting to me. One Minuteman III contained three warheads, each programmed separately for a target. Our 10 missiles could theoretically destroy 30 separate cities or military bases. That is a lot of destruction.
Our crew consisted of me and five other troops. They varied a bit over the two years I was there but the ones that I recall are Sellner, Reed, Morales, Green, Standish, McRae, and Bell. Earl Bell was another Sergeant who I outranked even though he was older and had more time in service. He and I had problems that in hindsight were a result of each of our insecurities. These problems manifested themselves into what was the only race-based issue I ever personally encountered. That is also a story for another blog.
We were divided into two three-man teams. One for the 12-hour day shift and one for the 12-hour night shift. The senior team member was the Flight Security Controller (FSC) while the other two comprised the Alarm Response Team (ART). The ART would leave the LCF to respond to any security situation in a security vehicle, usually a Chevy Blazer or a Dodge Ram. The off duty shift was the Security Response Team (SRT) which would be utilized only if things got serious.
The FSC manned the phones, the radio, directed the ART and SRT responses and deployments, and controlled access to the LCF and the missile sites known as Launch Facilities (LF).
When we left Malstrom in our Air Force Blue Chevy Suburban we had all of our personal gear, an M-16 A1 with 220 rounds if ammunition, and all of our required code materials. Once we got to the LCF we assumed control of two M-60 machine guns
The FSC was also equipped with a Smith & Wesson K-38 Combat Masterpiece Revolver Model 15 with 18 rounds of ball ammunition.
For such a small force, we were well armed.
That's all for now. We can cover more later.
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