![]() We kept passing unmarked blue pickup trucks with large tool chests-missile maintenance guys. Had President Obama ordered an attack with ICBMs, Aaron could have received a coded message, authenticated it, and been expected to turn a launch key.Īlso read: “ That Time We Almost Nuked North Carolina“-a timeline of near-misses, mishaps, and scandals from our atomic arsenal. Aaron, as I’ll call him, had recently completed a four-year stint at the Alpha facility. Six hours earlier, I was driving through Great Falls with a former captain in the Air Force’s 341st Missile Wing. ![]() “Hey, there’s something going off in there.” “Just you being here taking photos is causing trouble,” he snaps.Īn alarm starts blaring from inside the building. “I’m not here to cause trouble,” I say, picturing myself in a brig somewhere. He’s followed by an older guy clad in sneakers, maroon gym shorts, and an air of authority. We’re steps away from the 10th Missile Squadron Alpha Missile Alert Facility, an underground bunker capable of launching several dozen nuclear-tipped Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), with a combined destructive force 1,000 times that of the Hiroshima bomb.Īnother airman comes out of the ranch house and asks for my driver’s license. “Well, we might have to confiscate your phone.” “You’re not taking pictures, are you?” he asks nervously. I’m snapping photos when a young airman appears.
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