Having pulled 408 Strategic Alert Tours with the 509th SMS and with three years of those tours performed when two day alerts were the order of the day, I'm guessing I've spent something in the neighborhood of 720 days living approximately 100 feet under the Missouri countryside, behind 8 and 5 ton blast doors in little bits of domestic heaven as you see pictured below. The paint schemes left a lot to be desired ("there are green ones and green ones and green ones; and theyre all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same!") and the sound of the cooling air coming off all those equipment racks could be distracting, but the space was small enough to be described as decidedly cozy and the USAF paid me to do it! Can't get much better than that.What!!??? No more Strategic Air Command? LOL, are we open to attack from the dreaded Russkies? Or the Chinese?
I read a fascinating article some time ago in the Sunday New York Times Magazine about how one of the unused silos for the ICBMs had been converted into multi-level residential flats for the very wealthy, as hideouts in case of nuclear catastrophe. They were actually small communities built into the silos, with schools, libraries and shops, even a bar and a cinema built in! A two-bedroom flat could cost a cool two million. As soon as the catastrophe struck, you could fly into the area and be helicoptered to the silo location. I have always loved architecture and unique homes, and the whole idea appealed to me from that perspective. But who would want to live in a world that bleak? Here is a website:
https://survivalcondo.com/
You have to admit that there is a bit of poetic irony here -- a survival condo in a disused missile silo! Nice touch. And now, you can have a taste of this style of living for $49 per night, in Kansas:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/248469...1613313324_V4gV22f3DCJpBDRK&guests=1&adults=1
However, having done that I would never pay $2M for a two bedroom apt in a decommissioned silo or even a modest $49 to stay in one for even a single night. LOL.
PS: This picture was taken more that 30 years after I completed that assignment. The weapon system had been decommissioned as part of one of the Salt Agreements, the 509th SMS had been deactivated and the control center you are looking at was turned into a museum tour at Whiteman AFB, MO. There is nothing classified about the picture you were looking at