Turning The Titan Missile Key

"I have read the terms and conditions to start a thermonuclear war."

"With that blast door open we're fu- we're vulnerable." Nice save.

Who ever knew how accurate WarGames actually was!

"Await further orders..." has got to be one of the most haunting, sobering things on that otherwise mundane checklist. One moment it's 3AM and you are following through a checklist you studied over and over, making sure the launch went fine, and the last reassuring thing it tells you may never happen in your lifetime.

President receives email It appears a nuclear missile was launched from another device. Was this you?

Imagine the horror of getting far enough into the staging sequence and finding out that it's not a test.

What this man is doing, taking history and presenting it to the public, is known academically in the field of public history as “interpreting.” He is one of the finest interpreters I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching in action, in person or online.

There’s something telling about how these silos were only single use.

Hey guys, LockPickingLawyer here in a missle silo...

The fact you have to fill out a form before launching a nuke is the most military thing ever

I really like this guy. He is educating and describing the scariest and (for everyone else) the most dangerous job on the entire planet yet has the tone of an enthusiastic tour guide or that really funny and chill teacher from high school.

"Nobody wins in a nuclear war. It's only degrees of losers." That sent chills up my spine and goosebumps down m arm, holy hell

He shoulda said "wait did you just actually turn the key?!?!"

turns launch key "Configuring Windows updates" "0% complete" "Do not turn off your computer"

“And the missile will no longer take any orders from us.” For some reason that felt super powerful to me (7:20)

In the Air Force we maintained a communication system call SACCS. It was at every SAC command post, base, and launch facility (part of it can be seen in this video). My system was at a SAC bomber base. After the alert bombers are in the air, the base has completed its mission. We then await the command to start emergency destruction. We had a board dedicated for that with axes, sledge hammers, and such. We practiced breaking/burning up critical pieces/documents of our equipment (ironically what we worked hard to keep active) and scatter the pieces. After that we were on our own... grab a girl and go out with a bang... we were on the Soviet's first strike list. There was that one time I set the whole base to DEFCON 1. I was in the squadron job control where we dispatch communication crews 24/7. It was 3 AM (03 : 00) and I was checking out the board that had switches and lights for the DEFCON settings. I was told they turn on lights in the commanders office. Being 3 AM and in charge of quarters when the commander or a senior officer is not present, I started to turn the knobs just to see how they worked. Less than a minute later the phone lines lit up. It was the command post, the tower, and combat crew facilities calling to confirm if we really are at DEFCON 1. I can hear the base klaxon and alarms on the phone. I said, stand down, we are having trouble with the alert board, I wiggled the knobs back and forth a bit and put them back at DEFCON 4 (we were not at 5 at the time). I said how's that... relieved, they canceled the alert. Nobody told me it turned on lights in ALL of the commanders offices on base! Lucky for me they didn't get to the point to fire up the bombers.

So this is how feels like when you're using two-factor authentication.

"This weapon is ONLY and ONLY for Mr. President" "So here's the step by step tutorial how to launch the codes"

I love how he looks at the camera when talking about the commander, it really makes it feel like you’re the commander.

This dude is an amazing character. Who knew such a scary and somber subject could be made to be so fun and exciting. Very interesting, this guy needs a raise