Veterans Month
November 2003
NS Veterans Remember
Bob Sorber
Train dispatcher, Harrisburg Division
Harrisburg, Pa.
I had the opportunity in 1976 when I entered the Air Force to test for a position in Electronics. The test score would determine the field best suited for you. After testing I was assigned to train as a "Ballistic Missile Analyst Technician." Had no idea what that was, but figured why not.
After 6 months on the beaches of Vandenburg Air Force Base in Southern California studying electronics I was given orders to Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz. It was then that I found out just what a BMAT did. I was training to be one of the four member crews that were responsible for overseeing the world's largest nuclear warhead missile. In layman's terms, when the President gave the orders to launch a nuclear attack on an unknown country (predetermined by only those privy to that type of info), we as a crew would be given a Top Secret Code to translate and then push that button to launch the world's largest nuclear missile toward the coded target. We all know what would follow in the event that happened.
During the next six months of training and actually preparing for the job at hand, there was a lot of soul searching that went on ... can I really push that button knowing that possibly millions of people would die? Could I really push that button knowing that if aimed at another powerful country the United States may very well get fired upon with nuclear weapons as well?
The training became more intense as the qualification date came closer. In a Top Secret vault on the base, we simulated getting those orders to launch a nuclear attack. We were evaluated on our performance to troubleshoot problems that were thrown into the launch, and how we would react to bypassing circuits to ultimately launch our missile. Each crew member, two officers and two enlisted, had very distinct responsibilities and each was tested in their respective areas to troubleshoot every conceivable problem that could develop that would hinder the mission to launch the attack. It was your job if the problem occurred in your area of responsibility to find a way to correct it, whether it was electrical, mechanical or otherwise.
It was winter of 1977, and the United States was involved with the Iranian crisis. President Carter had his hands full. I was qualified as a BMAT and was pulling "Alerts" - the name for the tour of duty when you and your crew were at the controls of one of the 20-some underground missile complexes that the Titan II nuclear missile was housed in and ready for deployment at any given time. I was on duty with my crew underground just doing our job as we were trained to do. At this point in time, you had the realization you probably would never be called upon to launch your missile. You had confidence in the power of the United States, and it just seemed impossible to take our world into that kind of a devastating situation.
The Hot Line rang and you could see the shock in all our eyes. Was that really the Hot Line ringing? The Captain answered the phone. He and the 2nd Lieutenant began to write down the code coming across the phone..."tango - bravo - six - charlie - ..." Was this really happening? My heart was in my throat as they finished writing, hung up the phone, and opened the Top Secret Books that would tell us what we were being asked to do by order of the President of The United States.
When we were done decoding the message, we all took our positions in the "shell" - the 3 story underground living quarters that housed all radio communications, sleeping quarters and the control center. The actual missile was a quarter mile away reached by an underground blastlock tunnel that protected you in the event of a launch. The sweat was pouring off us as the Captain read us our orders. The alert readiness of the world was being raised to a higher level of "defcon" preparerdness. We had to be at our assigned stations in the control center and could not leave, waiting for the next Hot Line message to come across to tell us to lower our state of readiness, or maybe to launch our missile.
We obviously never did fire our missile, and it was only a few years later that the Titan II missile complexes in the United States were closed down as computer technology advanced us to the next level of military advancement.
Twenty-five years later with the aftermath of the 9-11 attack on our country, I often flash back to 1977 and wonder what happened to the perspective I held on the impossibility of taking our country into a devastating situation such as nuclear war. It doesn't seem that impossible anymore.