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Fwd: EPISODE 152 ICBM MISSILE BASES IN NORTH DAKOTA…HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT



Begin forwarded message:


From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Subject: EPISODE 152 ICBM MISSILE BASES IN NORTH DAKOTA…HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
Date: October 26, 2020 at 6:23:35 PM EDT
To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>


EPISODE 153   ICBM MISSILE SILOS…DO THEY LIMIT THE CHANCE OF NUCLEAR WAR?

alan skeoch
oct. 2020



Minuteman ICBM site….Hidden from view…almost  hidden on two acre lots across the American midwest .


 I did not want to look like the yahoo B52 pilot in the Movie Dr. Strangelove but
this picture taken on our trip to North Dakota certainly gives that impression.

Two boys at the controls of a Minuteman launch control center during a "community day" at a facility in South Dakota in the 1
Making child’s play out of a potential horrific disaster.  Tours  of the missile silos could be arranged. In this case
two children are planed in the launch seats.  What could be more chilling?

THE NORTH DAKOTA MINUTEMAN SILOS


Summer around  1980:  We  headed west  In search of

the missile  silos in North Dakota.  Frightening.  Marjorie and  I

were just ordinary citizens…not political party members or members of peace groups;
Just Concerned citizens.  


We drove from Toronto to North Dakota back  around 1980 just to get a sidelong look
at this American silos housing the Minueman Inter continental ballistic missiles…ICBM’S.
WHY?  First, I found it hard to believe that such  missile  sites really existed.  They did exists…
and many still exist today, Oct. 27, 2020.   Second, Our boys were now teen-agers and we thought they should
be aware  of the insanity of Nuclear conflict.

“Boys, look over there.”
“Where?”
“That field.”
“Nothing there, dad”
“That is  where you  are wrong.  See  the little  bump?  What you are looking at is the hiding place
of a 1.2 megaton nuclear armed  ICBM.”
“ICBM?”
“INTER CONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE…A nuclear weapon capable of wiping out a city.

From launch  to impact in 30 minutes.”


“Oh, Alan,  don’t say that.  You  will scare the boys…and me!”
“Scares me as well, Marjorie.”
“Tell us more, dad.”
“These Minuteman  missiles buried  in silos 8o feet deep….many around us  here
in North Dakota…spread  out in a circle around the city of Minot which has a big SAC base with those 
big B 52 nuclear bombers.   Some  of those planes are in the air at all times in case of nuclear war
they are ready to strike.”
“Alan that’s enough…no more.”
“Just one last comment, Marjorie, before we strike north to Manitoba and then to Wick’s place on Lake  of the Woods.”
“No more.”
“Can’t I just tell the boys to watch the movie titled Dr. Strangelove?”
“No!  Now stop.”
“What movie dad?”
“Dr. Strangelove is supposed to be a funny movie with Peter Sellars…really a dark comedy.  Seems  funny until
the very end when the crazy pilot of a B 52 rides a nuclear bomb heading for a Russian city.”
“Riding…what do you mean  by riding, dad?”
“Like riding a horse only it’s a bomb.”
“Alan,  if you don’t stop, I am  taking the boys for s walk.”
“My lips ae sealed…for a while”

COMMENT

How  long does  the President of the United States have to make his decision to launch the missiles?  About six minutes.
Has a mistaken alert led to a near catastrophe?   Yes.

  From 1961 to 1967 the United States was building silos encased in rebar and concrete. That’s most of my teaching  career.  Why?   To house

 1,000 Minuteman missiles …  underground  silos, 80 feet deep,  all across the American midwest.  Why underground?  It was expected  most

of the Minutemen missiles would withstand a surprise nuclear war and be ready to fire back at an enemy.  That was the essence of the Cold War. 

Two enemy states capable of destroying each other and thereby creating a stalemate…a tenuous  Peace due to the chance of mutual self destruction.

Who had…whups! I used  the past tense…the verb ‘had’  should be the verb ‘has’. Who has the power to push the launch button? The President

of the United States.   Did you ever notice the military man with the briefcase that follows the President.  That brief case contains the codes that

can trigger a missile launch.   Two men are in each command room near the missile silos.  Replaced by others in each 8 hour shift
These men are deemed psychologically stable before getting placed.   Great Care is taken.  
The missiles could only be launched when both men receive the “Go” command from the President and agree to push the  launch 

button simultaneously.


Some of the silos  have been rendered inoperable but around 400 or more are still ready in  spite of the fact that the Cold War is
over.   Most of the operable silos are located on farm land distant from any human beings.


Is  the system foolproof?  Could one man  go mad  and just launch a  Minuteman  for the hell of it?   What if one man refused?  
What was the other man supposed to do?  What if the President of the United States went mad?    Is there some kind of check

  on madness?



alan skeoch

Oct. 2020




The Minuteman was the first missile that could be stored in and fired from a concrete silo sunk 80 feet underground. <em>(” apple-inline=”yes” id=”1FD4C95F-5574-43C4-B78B-1E4D4472C194″ class=”” src=”http://alanskeoch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/5bb619b13c000018010d296d.jpeg”></div> <div class=










minot map copynukewatchinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/minot-map-copy-300×278.jpg 300w, nukewatchinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/minot-map-copy-768×711.jpg 768w” sizes=”(max-width: 895px) 100vw, 895px” apple-inline=”yes” id=”D6802E7A-CB14-492A-8A9B-F40236FB4AB2″ src=”http://alanskeoch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/minot-map-copy.jpg”>










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