[CholeraJoe]

There is not a high turnover among missile launch officers. Their tours are long and boring but they stand ready to perform if needed.

It takes two launch votes to launch ICBMs from silos. Even if both crew members go wacko and turn their keys, that's only one launch vote. Two other crewmembers must also turn their keys within a specified time. Either at the squadron operations center, the group control center or in the airborne launch control center (Code Name: Looking Glass). The "Glass" was the only location where both launch votes can be entered from the same physical location. In the glory days of SAC, a Glass with a general officer was airborne 24/7/365.

[eastforker]

Thank you both for a very informative post.Even though I posted this as a vanity I knew it would provoke good intelect and information. I have read and understood from others that the USA almost got nuked from Russia in 1995 from the launch of a weather satelite. Also, with the threat of a launch, there is like only 15 minutes to make a decision to counterlaunch. Very sobering facts folks.