Minuteman Missile Maintenance - Typical Day
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- A look into a typical day for a Minuteman Missile Maintenance Team. Stationed at Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls Montana I worked as a Minuteman Missile Systems Analyst - Doppler Technician during the cold war and this video gives you a bit of an overview of that career field.
Part 1 of the series can be found here
Minuteman III Missile Site - Virtual Tour
• Minuteman III Missile ...
I'm a 75 yo now, but I do remember my 8 years in the Air Force, the best years of my life. It was between 1967 - 1975 since I last carried code pages to penetrated these Launch Facilities as a Team Chief. I actually had a great team of five technicians with different job specialties, a couple corrosion control guys, and a security guard. On the missile site we did work in the support building and I opened the security pity with the coordination with the Launch Capsule Crew to penetrated the B-Plug telescoping ladder down to the first level of the equipment floor, then coordinating again with the Capsule Crew we "failed safe" the missile for us to safely perform maintenance on both equipment levels. I was very honored to serve my country. The USAF gave me a good foundation to move into a 37 year career with Air Products and Chemicals Inc, into my present retirement. I think I had a great run working for two great organizations in my lifetime.
It just occurred to me what the B in B plug stands for. Lmao😂
Hey I'm a fellow Airman from Malmstrom myself... I was there from September 76 through May of 80... I was USAF RENT A COP,
MOBILE FIRE TEAM/ Convoy Escort team. Sadly I join the Air force to see the world and they ship me right back to my home state. I was raised in the back country of Idaho, until the lumbermill that our family worked for bought a mill in Western Montana, just west of Missoula Mt. So my senior year in high school I lived in Montana. So I join the AIRFORCE to get out and see the world and ended up back in Montana. I spent quality time hunting ground squirrels outside of Great falls and enjoyed my time fighting the snow, blizzards and of course responding to every site security issue, convoy escort and mobile fireteam dispatches, spring summer and fall. it's just like eastern Montana got to love it, but I did enjoy hunting and the fishing. IT wasn't that much different from living in the backcountry in North Idaho and the little bit of time I spent living in Western Montana my senior year so all in all it was an interesting four years in the Air Force... The current version of the Air Force's is a different world now.. My youngest son is finishing up his last six years of his 20 and he can't wait to get out as all the POLITICALLY CORRECT BS is killing the military in general. At least according to my son. I will say that maintenance teams had some of the best reading material on their tech manuals and stuff, I got a lot of time called reading time and my four years out there. And yes I got my rear end torn up more than once for materials I wasn't supposed to be clear for. BUT as I told the various officers if they lock the stuff up I wouldn't be forced to read it, security clearances or not... I did make senior Airman by the way so apparently they weren't overly pissed off about me reading their various so-called classified materials... All those for the innocent days of the Cold War, 30 minutes or less or the next nuke was free.... Although the bygone days of the Cold War is looking a lot like the 2023's of today, what do you think.... Love your videos and please take care and have a good one wherever you might be
Any UFO stories?
@@klipklop-ls8hy Oh, boy! IIRC on 16 March 66, a security guard at one of Echo-flight LF's saw a light over the site. Then the guidance systems in the whole flight (10 birds) shut down! Took my Targeting team out the next night to bring one of the birds back to Strategic Alert (green light on the capsule drivers' panel). Never saw anything myself, but shortly thereafter, something similar happened out at Oscar, but only some of the birds shut down. That light was over the LCF (now called the Missile Alert Facility (MAF). Scared one of the security kids so bad he tried to climb over the fence, and cut himself on the barbed wire! No explanation that I have ever heard since. Boeing ran a bunch of simulations and got one similar failure out of a hundred attempts.
I was Security Forces stationed at Malmstrom 2007 - 2012. 341st MSF Sqd.
It was not a nice experience, but was unique.
Interesting to see things from the maintainers side
Winters were cold - topside had to be rough on the cold days.
Really interesting to learn about the procedures and life on the ground, much better than the usual docos
Used to ride dirt bikes out to the old abandoned NIKE Missle sites in Glastonbury, CT.
This was back in the mid 80's nothing really to see but a group of concrete slabs and something that looked like an old bulkhead structure filled with cement. Maybe for below ground generator or controls?
The only active use of the area was a fenced in air traffic direction beacon on a hilltop. We must have gotten too close one day and tripped a perimeter sensor. Our second mistake was taking a break from riding long enough for the forest officer responce vehicle to arrive (I forget what their official name was). Being kids, we started our bikes and bugged out into the woods.
Thanks for the video.
I was a Minuteman II ICBM Crew Member at Malmstrom from 1983-1987. I spent one year in the 10th Strategic Missile Squadron, one year as an Evaluator Crew Commander and 1.5 years in the Instructor Shop. I enjoyed my time On Crew and loved being stationed in Big Sky Country. Great video. Can still remember performing TO demand response checklists like it was yesterday.
"Team Chief - make the Sortie Launch Capable and accomplish LF EWO Evacuation."
I was an EMT TEAM member at Malmstrom AFB 1976-1978. I have been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer & Kidney Cancer
i wanna see the security clearance video for sure man
I've undergone a lot of security clearance in my time over here so it would be nice to compare via this video.
This brings back a lot of memories. Back in 1962 I was working for Boeing on the Minuteman missile A5 the first Missile to go one line. It happen during the Cuban Missile Crisis. That was a close call. We where working on site with the missile in place without the war head on, when we got a call to get off now. On the way back to Great Falls we saw the truck which carries the war head go out.
The rest of my time our crew went to just about every site, balancing the lines that go between missile silos. Sites before and after the Air Force took control of the group. In Montana, South Dakota, and Minot North Dakota. I’m now 82.
I know all about the combination lock’s and the big clam shill cover and the big plug in the hole which took for ever to go down. And don’t forget the Polaris tube if you know what I mean?
Former EMT Team Chief here, 91st MW, 91st OMMS/MXS. Thanks for the video, remember everything like it was yesterday. From squadron code change to MG R&R to OZ/IZ Checkout to GMR25 & chromate filter changes to MEEDS box authentication to yelling CAPSULE! on the SIN line to get them to pick up their phone 😂
1st of all, I to would like to thank you, deeply for your service...
I found this segment fascinating, to get the inside scoop on the nuts and bolts, of how to maintain our Nuclear deterrent apparatus. What a colossual undertaking it must be, to bear the weight of the 🌎 world so to speak, ensuring we are ready to launch, and also being ever vigilant not to allow an "inadvertent" incident to rewrite human history in a poorer light . Thanks so much for sharing this...
God bless ..
A few years ago, was passing by a mussike site in North Dakota. They have numerous armored vehicles on eirher side of the site entrance. Those armored vehicles have crew zerved weapons on them. Also, numerous humvees. It was interesting and a bit unnerving at the sametime. Not a place or time that you wsnt to stop and ask questions.
Up the raod, at small town with a convenience stop, there was another column of humvees and support vehicles , with a different maintenance team. We went inside , and many of the team were inside, getting coffee or whatever. They were all very polite and respectful. My respects to all of them.
Tango 50...up in the 564th squadron, North of Great Falls. That squadron was originally Minuteman II, and the system was like Wing VI at Grand Forks. Which meant the equipment and personnel were unique...not like the other 150 LF's and 15 LCF's at Malmstrom.
Let me tell you how maintenance was in the "Old Wing"! I was a Targeting team chief on Minuteman I, from 1965 to '69! We aligned the missile guidance system, and associated equipment using Swiss-made optical theodolites. (We were told at missile school that the Russians used parts on the bottom!) We had a targeting console contained in a large box on the back of a 5-ton, six passenger truck, with which we programmed using mylar tapes, the signals sent down to the programmer in the upper equipment room, through a large cable. Guards? Yes, we had them with us on each dispatch. They were armed with M-2 Carbines and one magazine with 10 rounds of ball ammo! Never saw an AR-15 or an M-16. They were pipelined to 'Nam! Want to know more? I wrote a book called, "And the Truck You Rode In On!"
I've been at T-50. . .
I was running a SIT-7 one night -- at T-50 -- and part of the check was to take the ladder down in the support building as us good cops do. The lower I went down that ladder, the stronger the stench of diesel fuel became. I remember walking into the main section that is shock suspended and finding nothing, but the odor was almost overpowering at this point. Looking under the suspended floor is when I discovered the source. Instead of seeing space -- I saw a blueish liquid.... Almost to the bottom of the floor. What had happened was the fuel tank for the auxiliary generator had somehow developed a leak, and the contents settled in the suspended space that made up the support building. Of course, I unassed the area as quickly as I could secure it, reporting my finding to my leader as I went. I was actually ordered back in to verify what I saw. That went all the way to Offutt as they had to take the site off active alert -- take it offline completely to the point we had to pull on-site security because of no power to the banjos and such. That was a long night. I got some atta-boys and accolades at next guard-mount, so that was cool in the end.
I was stationed at Ellsworth AFB from 90 to 92, during that time they started decommission the 44th MW.
This was such a great video! All I really knew about missile silos was from "The Day After." You are truly an unsung hero, working in adverse conditions to keep those awesome delivery vehicles operating. God bless you and all who served with you!
Thanks for your comment - I appreciate that
The US Air Force was so sneaky, they had those Minuteman silos right next to the residence halls on the KU campus.
Was an FSC/ART Team member for the 342nd MSS working primarily out of the GOLF (12th SMS) and TANGO (564th SMS) flight areas back in the mid to late 1980's. I loved my Montana experience, and have been back often since back in the day.
Odd. I never worked FOXTROT or PAPA in all my time on the westside. I never saw the eastside (10th, and 490th SMS) at any time.
The prairie dogs got so bad at GOLF, they actually issued us (the site) a pellet rifle. We had a great competition -- The FM got in on the act by keeping score. Between that, and hanging out in capsule with two of the coolest combat crews I ever had the pleasure of serving with will be enduring memories forever.
Every once in a while a farmer would snag the fence with a tractor and tear it open and cows would wonder on to the site. I never saw many other critters
Oh, the memories. I was an EMT team chief 1974-1978 Wing 1 Sq4. Tango 50 was almost always a guaranteed RON. Any Tango flight LF was a pain in the butt and we would really push the timeline. Dutton 0, the best sticky buns on the planet. The skycop would have to babysit the truck but we bought him a roll and his coffee for his efforts.
In the early hours at Dutton 0 - it was like a sea of blue trucks and green uniforms 😅
@@djorges MMM = 333. New Clear Energy comes from Water.
RON? I get that from being EMT team chief you responded to medical emergencies?
"The skycop would have to babysit the truck but we bought him a roll and his coffee for his efforts."
At Carswell, AFB the guards would not take any food or drink from us. It was against their rules. No doubt. A Guard could be drugged or poisoned. We would be eating warm danish and hot cocoa and their supervisor was nowhere to be found. They treated our sky cops like rented mules.
@@rael5469 Skycops, like MP in helicopters? I am endlessly fascinated by the occupational jargon of you people
I enlisted during the latter part of ‘Nam and served in 91st MMS at Minot ND. The base had a saying “ Why not Minot? Freezin the reason.” I was there in the mid 70’s as a 31650G-2. Boeing Aerospace was finishing up the change over from MM 2 to MM3’s. It’s been 50+ years ago. If they ever launched at us I’d go out on my front porch with a barley pop and watch the fireworks. The northern hemisphere would be toast. There isn’t a hole deep enough to hide in.
Thank you for your video's regarding these silent killers sitting in the open plains of Montana, Nth Dak and NEB/COL/WY (yes, I've painstakingly located about 99% of the MM silo's on Google Earth), still that's just the above ground portions which are the iceberg principal...there's more below than above....but growing up I was fascinated with everything US and Nuclear....still am, hence watching this, and I can assume whilst it has significantly entered the technological age, there are still many old school processes that are still followed these days....can't imagine the rigmorol during the Cold War era, no wonder there was/is the cost associated with these sites....is truly hard to fathom being from Australia, but the world is so small these days....the whole ICBM thing is still nonetheless impressive!!!!
Cheers from Aus!!!! 🍻🍻🍻🍻
I wss a CTT team member from 74-78 in WAFB, MO. Then a site chief from 78-79 at FEWAFB, WY. Your video brought back some memories!
I enjoyed both parts one and two. Very informative story with clear pictures and superhero music. Always wondered how these systems were maintained. Excellent!
I’m glad you liked them
Thank you for your service, and the video. I find these kinds of videos very interesting, to see how the other parts of the Triad worked. I was Navy, worked on the UGM-96A, and associated weapons system. We didn't have trucks, we could walk to our Silo's. lol
Great job! I was in FMMS at Malmstrom from 81-84. Loved the work.
Just found your channel. Very interesting topic! Loved hearing all the intricate details about the job. You've earned yourself a subscriber, keep the videos coming good sir.
Great video. I'm retired active duty and retired civil service. Most of my time was in Minuteman. Malmstrom 84' - 88', 96' - 04', F. E. Warren 04' - 21'. I was FMT (facilities maintenance team). Also, prior to cross training, I was comm. - worked on the HICS. The cinnamon rolls at the By-Way Cafe were legendary. We all had our 3x5 card and I think once you bought four you got on free. One cinnamon roll would hold me till' well after lunch.
Thanks - since I always went north west to the Minuteman III sites we stopped in Dutton for cinnamon rolls - referred to as Dutton - 0. In the mornings it was a bunch of blue trucks in that parking lot.
I miss the food out there! I was a facility manager in the 564th for a couple years and loved stopping at Dutton.@@djorges
Very cool video! I never was in the military.
Thank you for your service! 💪
I WAS FMMS AT GRAND FORKS ALSO SMW 1977 TO 8O THEN FE WARREN PMT THEN FMMS ORDERLY ROOM SQDRON CAREER ADVISOR 1980 TO RETIREING IN 87. THEN WORKING FOR RCA DOWN RANGE AT THE TEST RANGE AT QUAJ ATOLL AS A FACILITY TECH
loved this man !!! thank you for your time and service !
I went all the way through tech school at vadenburg and completed the entire school for missle maintenance technician, and the last day of class I got called into the Cpts office and got told I wasn't graduating, and I was in fact getting discharged for fraudulent enlistment. I had a weed charge that got dismissed when I was 17 ,and my recruiter told me just don't put it on my paperwork that I've been arrested. I didn't end up getting discharged because when I was waiting on my discharge papers 9/11 happened and I ended up getting reclassified to a medical administration job. Lol sucked , but I wished now it would hade all worked out with the missile job . I was proud of myself for once in my life for finishing that school
Fascinating stuff. I enlisted in 1996 and my job would have been electronics maintenance on those missiles, if I hadn't gotten a medical discharge. I worked at Vandenberg for 9 years as a contractor so I've seen plenty of facilities and launches, but never really knew exactly what my job would have looked like if I'd stayed in. Thanks for posting this. Maybe skip the background music next time?
I got to work on the IMU for the MM-IIs for Northrop back in the day. Sure was nice to see the rest of what was going on downstream!
After I left the Air Force I worked at Northrop in El Segundo on the Peacekeeper Missile
@@djorges Oh nice. I was in Hawthorne (electronics division). After I was laid off there I tried for the B2 project not too far from there but didn't get it before I returned to Houston for the gas & oil industry. Those were some days! Cheers.
The sad irony are the little acellerometer chips they put in toy drones and cell phones now could best it in both accuracy and repeatability if full resolution is enabled. Yup a chip half the size of a tic-tac. Btw some of those IMU assemblies with the beryllium ball inside ended up on ebay around 2009. 😳
@@christopherleubner6633 Oh wow! Those had some parts that were classified as secret back in the day. Also that beryllium ball is not something you want somebody cracking or breaking up!
Haven’t seen a PSM-6 in 50 years. Quite a memory.
Great vid! Thanks
Interesting Video Duane. At least you didn't drop that big socket down the silo.
They kind of frown on that
@@djorges 😀
Wow I live within walking distance of where that happened. Pretty impressive that the 9Mt warhead got lobbed 300 feet in the air, crash landed but no explosion or radioactive materials released. Built them warheads well, the missile itself. Not so much.
For all its faults, the USA and it's people are wonderful. Thank you for helping to keep the world safe.
You are obviously speaking I past tence!
I worked at FEW 83-93. MHT/MMT. Drove the T.E. and P.T.
Hey mate!!! I’m heavily involved in AER ( amateur experimental rocketry ) scratch building motors, airframes etc so missiles are indeed interesting!!!! Suppose I could design and install a guidance system and vwallah, I have a missile!!!!!!!! Real cool video
HAH! MMT at Malfunction Junction 73-79, worked MMIII from its introduction, prior to that, I worked F bird on Force Mod and Wg VI holes both. Tango 50 and Oscar 3 can changes were guaranteed RON. Dutton Nothin' had damned good rolls. "TCC, TCC, Maintenance 183, 10-5 at Dutton Nutton for a sticky bun and a cup on the run"... I will never forget the smell of stale air mixed with dead mice, diesel fuel and sodium chromate. We NEVER had a problem with facility managers when we had to RON. Yeah, NOT! We were always muddy, greasy, needed a shave, boots scuffed, we had weapons and wouldn't take our cover off while armed. The cooks were GREAT!!!We got real food, and it was good. I did some time in the Army, and had occasion to eat at Navy chow facilities. There's a reason the USAF gets ribbed about the chow, everyone else's sucks! Also spent six years at FEW working Peacekeeper doing pretty much both MMT and MHT. Was interesting as hell!
Did you know Tom Hahn or Mike Kaseno? I was EMT 77-80.
There was no authentication number for us maintenance guys when I was working Minuteman sites at Ellsworth AFB in the mid 70's. They must have started that later. I was an FMT team chief.
Very interesting, Thanks!
When you contacted TCC they would give time and initial. Such as ‘Ten-4 TC copy, time is 10:30, initials are fox alpha Charlie’.
dude this is fucking amazing
I was at Ellsworth AFB at about the same time you were at Malmstrom. I liked both your videos. I was on the Operations side as an MCCC. I'd like to ask you some questions about the maintenance side of things and also the MM II and MM III mix. If you'd care to converse a bit, let me know, and I'll give you an email address.
thanks for the video !
1-2-3-4?!? That’s the combination to my luggage!
Very interesting 👌
I could do without that background music though.
Was it a "TOP SECRET" clearance or a "SECRET" clearance? I was in the Air Force during that period and bomber Crew Chiefs had a SECRET clearance, but not a Top Secret clearance. We took possession of nuclear weapons until the flight crew got onboard and then we would sign them over to the Aircraft Commander. The flight crew got Top Secret clearances because they had targeting information.
Top Secret - at least for my career field - perhaps because I carried launch codes and targeting information as well as installing encryption/decryption hardware
@@djorges I see what you mean. Yeah, launch codes would be Top Secret. Targets too.
I maybe a civi but I grew up in sea scouts...24hr clock is standard
I saw a Minuteman video where the site was compromised and the maintenance crew had a shotgun to defend the access. Where weapons kept in the LF?
Don't make a V for Victory sign with your fingers when the local media comes out if you are in the PRP. Some officer will see it as a peace sign and not understand the historic significance.
Hey! Were Hank Habenick, Bobby Watts, and Joe Shafffers still there? And that doe-eyed beauty at Dutton-0 ?
Which Minuteman looks like it has an MX-10 nosecone? Is that the III? Now I'm feeling like an ignoramus because I totally forgot about that.
I for some reason pictured them tossing a warhead in the back of that truck.
A question I can’t seem to find an answer to is does the missile silo have flame tunnels to release flames from the thrusters of the missile?
No it does not - the flames shoot straight up the silo - it will actually blow a giant smoke ring as it launches
Been considering a silo purchase in the future, do you have some idea of the dimensions of the minuteman III, or peacekeeoer silo, including equipment capsule. Love your site and a very good presentation. I also was a Montana resident, 9 years Frenchtown
May be the most toxic environment you could find. I'd reconsider.
Who replenished the tritium in the warheads?
Robert.
Have you ever seen Twilight's Last Gleaming? How factual is that in terms of procedure and site security?
I haven’t seen that - I’ll have to check that out
About as factual as ER is to real medicine. The green poison nerve gas was great! :)
Ha ha click that thumbs-down twice. I was born on Scott AFB. My dad retired from 410 MMS in 1976, enlisted at age 18 in 1950 after graduating HS. When I was allowed to call his office so mom could speak to him, everyone even dad would say Maint last name. If I was asked my dad did, I said Maint. So in first grade I went part of the year to a civilian school. Across from our first grade room was a closet thing. On the door it said Maintenance. I knew the Janitor used that closet, in my six year old mind for a few years I thought dad was probably the best Janitor in the Air Force bc everybody showed so much respect in a friendly way. The day when I was prob 14 it dawned on me what Maint was, I walked a little differently. I asked him on day, dad what is it really that you do (we were at Andersen AFB 1967-70 busy busy era)? He smiled really big and said I can't tell you classified info. I totally understood classified, being fully enmeshed in my B.R..A.T.- hood @USAF. He taught what he cold and I was proud not to know anything for the second time in my short life at that time. That's a whole other story whew. THank you for serving {eace, that being the Profession.
after watching this entire video I am further convinced that pineapple belongs on pizza.
Any of these sites that aren't in operation? Love to have one to explore!! Make a home out of
There’s a titan missile museum in AZ with control room and silo tour
A lot of them had to be destroyed as part of the treaties limiting nuclear missiles - not sure how many remain.
None of the Titan sites are operational. They have all been decommissioned.
@@djorges According to published reports there are 450 Launch Facilities (LF) among the three active wings, Malmstrom, Minot and Warren. There are supposed to be 400 birds, so that some LF's are being refurbished. It also allows for a game of "where is the one with the bird"?
There is a Launch Facility and a Launch Control Facility that is part of a National Historic Site in South Dakota
321st FMMS Grand Forks 78 to 81
Every time I double tap the dislike button it always stays blank. What’s the deal?
This makes me so sad, knowing we have this technical capability and a near perfect approach to maintenance and services at any cost, yet we have homeless and hungry citizens and veterans who need help. I wish our country cared as much about that as being a superpower. We could be an ultrapower by eliminating homelessness and suffering within our own land. It disgusts me to see our money go overseas for their wars. Are we not so advanced now that we have artificial intelligence? Where is the solution to end poverty and homelessness, hunger, killing?
Lol. I wonder if we were at Chanute together.
I went to GFAFB worked MMT and VECB (I was a 443)
"friend: You coming out today bro? "
"Me: na bro not today I'm changing the oil on my minute man later on.. I'll drive her over after though"
Turn your mic up. We can barely hear you.
How much do you get Paid yearly doing this type of work ???
About $625 a month - we could eat for free in the chow hall - live in the dorm for free - things were cheaper in 1983
@@djorges Interesting technology - Harnessing the power of stars ✨. Nuclear technology should only be used for space travel through the solar system.
Do they update the technology as well?
No , nothing is updated everything has been the same since the day the complexes were made.
finaly i find a guy that can answer my question if its allowed that is ....why do they move the warheads atall
bc even nuclear missiles need their own routine maintenence sometimes
@@matthewmarting7420 but why move it ...i work on my car in its hanger ...just seems like so much risc
Even a car engine has to be pulled for major work
@@danbrit9848It needs to be done in a clean environment, for some operations there is a radiation or poison risk.
@@dale116dot7 thank you so much
Nos dias atuais, criançinhas de Hollywood, é sarmat 2, para carbonizar vosso prazer nacionalista!!!!!!.
I had to hit it twice to see what it would do! Lol
Fun video but the music is annoying.
Top secret clearance's are easy to get.
A ts clearance isn't just given out. Hell mine took almost 11 months when I was in.
The L clearance is relatively easy and is given as you wait on your Q to be finished. With this said, watching stuff pop up on ebay was somewhat amusing from 2009 through 2015. Lots of x stuff re nuclear weapon. Openly sold and nobody seemed to give a 💩
New information about the system I'd never heard of before. But please lose that mental repetitive noise which is the internal music of a mentalcase😮
Those seatbelts...lol
Dutton 0
I don't recall any sticky buns at Dutton, but I think they had the only bar for fifty miles or so. Was on a site near there about 0230 when a car pulls up to the gate. The kid security guard, armed with an M-2 carbine and one magazine with 10 rounds in it walks up to the gate with the headlights blinding him. I saw this and angled up by the ditch, hoping, if they were hostile that I could grab his weapon after they shot him, but they were friendly, and offered us a beer...which we declined of course!
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I HAVE MADE DONATIONS TO GREENPEACE FOR OVER 20 YEARS
losers