THE STRENGTH OF SAC

so flavours you went to class early ones Oh keys that one for your plan that stunt you left them all course played for take them filling up on 16 and 1/2 seconds now continuing ready ready Rachel our cube I'll control Subaru jump children I have a work order to radio aircraft one one six on Baker walk Julia cut that up Roger four quarter radio one one six Roger ready for disconnected disconnect on my count of three one two three bird this is John Keifer of all stations is acknowledged at the count of five one two three four five there's a dropkick releasing we are in the command post of the Strategic Air Command at Offutt Air Force Base 10 miles south of Omaha Nebraska from this location some four stories underground the endless activities of Sakka precisely monitored and controlled every second of every day the controllers who manned this facility provide the link between the president through the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commander-in-chief of the Strategic Air Command and the link between the sac commander and the strongest and most ready military force ever conceived a moment ago the Duty controller pushed a button and picked up a telephone and those two simple motions put him in touch with over 70 subordinates at command posts command posts which supervised over a quarter of a million people the strength of SAC is its people there every effort contributes to the success of the mission who they are where they are how they feel about their jobs is our story a story best told by the people who live it every day well this is navigator coming up on the IP in one minute that was a navigator telling us we're coming up on our initial point this is the point in which the bottom line actually begins the bomb plot is going to be looking for us at this particular point and we must arrive over this point on the ground so that they can pick us up for their very narrow beam radar after we pass over the IP or initial point the bomb run effectively begins and everybody in the whole crew radar navigator and UWE pilot co-pilot gunner everybody's concerned this time we're getting the bomb on the target and when I say put the bomb on the target I don't mean it's an actual bomb it's a simulated bomb the Air Force for sac stations is trained at about three month intervals places around the country most of the places are isolated so that the target should be difficult to find and sack sets up all their equipment to destroy the Bombers as they come across this bomb plot bomb bot knows where we are and when we release the weapon to fly us down and the ground the big plotting board for my crew if most of cruising in our wing while we fly approximately three sorties a month that's three missions a month that we fly on these missions I'd say we've had maybe five or six bomber ins and this is not only my crew or the crews in this wing but the crews of all the wings and squadrons in sac 20 seconds to go the radar navigator actuates a tone downstairs with a switch he turns his tone on the bomb plot here's it and they track us their final track on their big plotting board now shut up number when I get them 25 you're right in new year right now as I was holding five left it's okay Bob doors coming open Roger two one bombs away frame number zero 172 gunner that's the first run we have several more we'll know how well we did until bomb plot computes and calls back to us our coded scores like everything else at this nature requires a great deal of practice practice to keep ourselves at peak efficiency in order to carry out sacks mission of deterrence as deterrence not only for a nuclear war but to keep it limited warm escalating into a nuclear war maintaining a nuclear deterrent demands precise and positive control of the force this applies not only to the delivery of weapons in time of war but to the readiness of dying in time of peace we have master we have to behind that console and those screens up there are over 1,000 combat aircraft and nearly 1,000 ICBMs positive control revolves around the system called the to officer policy that is to say at any level of command in regards to positive control no action towards a striker executional force can be can't be taken without some kind actions by two designated positive control individuals now regarding the aircraft it can be launched on a positive control and continue to a point Geographic fix short of enemy territory if by reaching that fix they have not received a valid and a thank go code they will turn around and return home without striking receipt of a valley girl code by a combat crew in flight must be verified by the aircraft commander and at least one other foster control officer even if they should experience radio failure while airborne and enroute to this geographic fix they would return home because they have no possible chance of receiving a valid code code now in regard to missiles this is a missile procedures trainer where crew members can practice almost everything that they can accomplish in an actual capsule operation and get the proper reactions now I could take this key insert it and turn it and I wouldn't launch any of the maps that I monitor it takes other key in the hands of my deputy turn simultaneously with this one after we've accomplished several checklists to get a vote in beyond this it also takes two other crew members in another capsule miles away to accomplish the same procedure in order to launch any missiles this is an aspect of positive control that is very precise if we should undergo an all-out attack it is planned for the missile forces to ride it out underground any decision to the launch must come from the president whatever happens we'll be ready being ready means many things to the crews of the Minuteman for the combat crews it means being prepared at the beginning of each Duty day to pass a test of procedures with a grade of 100% well this is the only passing grade and if an individual does not achieve it he does not go on duty a single duty day averages 30 hours from portal-to-portal and being ready means being psychologically and physiologically fit to spend 24 of these hours 60 feet underground in a capsule enclosed by earth and reinforced by concrete and steel through change of command after change of command the systems are kept in the green ready to launch in a matter of seconds miles from the consoles of the launch control facilities are the silos of the missiles themselves almost 1,000 of them deployed in areas isolated and remote here the men trained to send the Minuteman missiles on their way are backed up by those trained to maintain them and what they do lends true substance to the definition of being ready to go they're always checking us out one way or the other they say we're highly skilled technicians why shouldn't we prove it we're now in the process of removing the missile with the transporter erector to send abandon Berk for test firing when we do get the word we're going to launch my fine firk the teams immediately picked up in morale we've been working on this missile for quite a while we have no doubt whatsoever that the maintenance has been performed correctly the missile feel is different than their aircraft feel because the maintenance people in the aircraft feel and see their bird fly every day muscle people can't they just go out and work on it it comes in the green that's last they have to do with it until it goes out again they never see it actually pilot until they get a proficiency on it basic idea for the missile crew members is to good experience watching actually launching a missile and they can't see him when they launch it themselves but they know it's all actual operation I would sometimes think that we're sitting out there that a big man on the other side stops and looks and takes inventory of our deterrent circumstances here and he says to himself today isn't today and as long as we can continue to having him say this every day we are continuing this deterrent effort and it is effective we expect it to be a perfect lunch with no holdups no delays whatsoever everyone really gets out they work hard just to get to go out on these launches because more to it than just working they get to see what happens they get to see the final result of what we're all working for this is the piece of our nation the order for the proficiency launched into the Air Force Western Test range comes from the commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command through the senior controller on duty at the command and it comes without warning nobody watch table switches and we'll all agree I agree sir for lunch panel switches are more planned selects which required position launch key it was Vandenberg with a report on the missile looks good have a detailed report triggers from tests like this Sakon judging confidence ability is something you can't take for granted even when things are working smoothly here in the sacrum and pose to get into just about everything it goes on on my position is senior controller I can see a mommy respect for the command and control system that enable sac to carry out his daily commitments with swiftness and accuracy in the event that the SAC underground command posed an alternate command posts were destroyed in an all-out conflict an airborne command post would assume direction of the commands bomber missile force and execution of the commands emergency war orders under authority of the president we have this airborne command post operating day and night 365 days a year along with every other general officer in sac and on a roster basis I am serving as the emergency airborne actions officer we have a very highly qualified and competent staff aboard here consisting of operations material intelligence and communications people in fact it's very much like being downstairs in the underground once we're airborne we establish and maintain contact with the SAC underground down in the headquarter alternate sac command posts the Air Force command post in Washington and the joint war room in Washington well certainly having this facility at 30,000 feet gives us a further guarantee that we can launch our mobile force effectively Andrea Talley a Shinto attack under a single tanker management concept sack with some 600 kc-135 Jets treto tankers is assigned the entire United States Air Force aerial refueling responsibility tankers strategically positioned help to maintain the deterrent power of the United States and are prepared at any time to extend the punch of its fighter and bomber forces mobile capability means getting out bombers to the target and back again that's where every fielding comes in that's our business that's what we're here for Airy feeling could be a tricky business flying along at 500 knots transferring up about thousand gallons for a minute and you can tell this could be a bit tricky I feel like with our professional cruise bomber pilots our tanker Chris boomers I feel like we've taken the trick out of very guilty we're killing when you're flying up there and of course you know once you were doing this is all coordinated on the ground you know you either are killing be 50 to be 58 or something like this you know exactly what you're doing the airspeed you're gonna be flying at and you know this manly is pulling back oh yeah has more than like they've been doing this a lot of while my first thoughts and I'll let them back there and start picking them out you can start seeing quite a waiting back from six to eight miles and you observe him closely coming in and few thoughts it until your mind like this well why does the copilot's gonna be reviewing today one of the pounds gonna be watching it real carefully at what you know you know that there are you know this man that uh as he comes in there has been at the game more than likely he's a b-52 pollen he's been the game a long time and you can watch him you can you can tell as he's coming in just exactly once one time for apologies gonna be if he comes in real slow cautiously moving in very slowly taking his time you know that he's he's thinking about the refueling he's coordinating he's got it on his mind and as you were observing moving in closely of course you're all our balls your land back ya know for sure that when he's moving in there he's relying on my skill and I'm also relying on his skill we trust each other we know that that we're both capable and we wouldn't be there yeah we were fuel bombers of course this business but also in the same the same time that we do I'd say right now the best time of better business for fighters these people when they go overseas of course you know when I grow up okay the bill that we have now when they want to live a wing a bunch of people in a hurry they can rely on kc-135 the tankers to care to the cross but is we're on our way across there they realize it we reach past and get to the point of that's the point of no return that where we're sort of a mother we have a lifetime worth of either navigation and fuel on the way over I had fighter pilots pull up a command while we're glad to see you and if they could ever get here they know that that time the big iron pipe coming down there they know that that means it that means getting there I'm not getting there and when you get past the point of no return it's pretty nice to go inside in regard city conflict in Southeast Asia to that gauged the present time push you know we're busy would be 52 any the tag fighters the same time we feel like we have up probably just a violent job serious is because we see a b-52 put in back of us loading the bombs and armament and we know the vitality of this mission very viable function is performing what it means to the people on the ground over there and the same holds true to the fighters guessing going coming also we know that that we've been right they're also providing a page on this vital and not as dangerous perhaps I realized but a job at Vilas Aires because they have to have the gas to get there and we realized that when we were finished with these people and they're on the way the target that the man on the ground there this is more than a welcome sign to him we know the support that the be good the Conners are providing there when the man on the ground looks up and sees their planet the man an airplane is also very aware of support this just isn't a one-way effort here this is everybody combined and smashed together to get this job done the aircraft and crews in sac are combat ready but to keep crews at peak efficiency means thousands and thousands of hours of flying time every year and this means getting the most from the aircraft the question then how do you keep complex aircraft from wearing out under continual use the responsibility is in the hands of those in maintenance maintenance schedules are adhered to as closely as any phase of an airborne mission it begins with a debriefing as soon as an aircraft lands each air crew member who's the entire mission in detail with the maintenance specialists all systems that have not worked perfectly have to be fixed immediately maintenance control is the heart of the maintenance activity and top Airmen regulate it's every beat the system the controllers use is so thorough so accurate that they can tell a month in advance where each aircraft bite tail number will be and what it will be doing because on every sac base a portion of its aircraft are on continuous ground alert as part of the 50% of sacs total bomber and tanker force ready to react well within the warning time provided by the ballistic missile early warning system as a result of the maintenance debriefing of this aircraft we find we have numerous discrepancies this aircraft has got to be on the alert pad at OU 800 in the morning and we're gonna do it keeping the Strategic Air commands mighty force of aircraft operationally ready isn't exactly an easy way of life but neither is standing alert waiting for something you don't want to happen to happen yet this concludes the briefing other any questions this morning this has been our daily alert briefing each day of our 7-day alert tour starts with a similar briefing round consists of weather information operational planning factors and maintenance during our 7-day alert tour we live here in this building we eat sleep and flight plan here we're now going out to preflight followed by mission planning activity to me is a very important thing of course with our crew we think it's very important and we think it's important to the country for defense and it's difficult to explain alert because I work to me means mission planning daily pre flights daily briefings and a great deal of study and testing example on the first day when we come on and work a good portion of that day I'll say 75% is made up of testing testing in the areas of launch procedures tactics emergency procedures and on the mission that you're supposed to fly in event we would have a war well as a navigator on this b-52 crew usually it'll take at least two hours for every two hours of flight planning for every are that you will be in the air I have to get almost all of my paperwork down before any of the rest of the crew members can start I will take it from takeoff through aerial refueling into a nav leg or to fly a GM missiles into several racetracks for bomb releases into the gunnery if we have it scheduled for that time back here schedule enough time for some of the pilot work and then land it's a personal relationship with the other members it's something that I don't think most people appreciate in that you have to not only work with this man on a 8 to 5 basis such as a civilian would do but you also have to live with them you have to live in the same room with him you have to eat at the same table and you're never out of sight of that man and so after a week it's amazing to me that you don't get on each other's nerves I don't work we all stay together as a crew but we do have certain freedoms outside the building the wife has to be able to accept your job just be able to accept that you're going to be gone for seven days at a time she can come down to see you if she remains all at the gage he'd go out see her in a cars just like back in high school Dave sitting in the car again if you were to wear go to the VIX without crew doesn't very often I like to stay pretty close to the airplane I don't like to get too far away that involves a traffic problem if you go to the PX by for example and co-pilot wants to go that we actually get some toothpaste or something we all go along with them we don't all this and charity by Too Faced our will stand there while he does well if I'm Hornblower just creates a rush to the airplane and he does a security policy we have to go in a group the time requirements are such that you can't have one striker you have to get there very short period of time the more into me just scares me to death every time it blows in fact when they have the daily test I jump even if I'm looking around watching don't blow on the next five seconds I jump and in fact at home if I I hear something sounds like a horn I usually jump and I turn pale I'm sure and I run to the same location this is a test exercise the order comes as a complete surprise whatever the situation is these men respond with all the concentration seriousness and confidence the occasion demands despite the fact that the men of sac are specialists who work in an extraordinary environment and are trained to an extraordinary degree they are not Superman they are just as fallible as any judge surgeon or man in government anywhere in a word but with more than their share of dedication and responsibility beyond this what more could one ask