It was a different time.
Crazy job you had. I was watching a documentary about that Atlas explosion...the way the guy talked about seeing that socket fall. As he talked about it, you could see from his face it was clearly replaying in his mind.
Falling in slow motion...clink....smack, hitting the rocket. I swear, I could almost see that happening in my own mind.
That was a Titan II down at Little Rock, AR, killing one person. I was stationed at McConnell in Wichita, KS. Two years before the Little Rock disaster we had the "Rock, Kansas" disaster. No explosion but over 14,000 gallons of oxidizer leaked, killing two people and destroying the complex. I volunteered and spent three days out there with the disaster team.
It was a dangerous job being on crew for that weapon system. We were authorized Hazardous Duty pay but it was never funded until after our leak at Rock. I know a lot of us that have serious health issues from living underground with that system and I have been affected as well, just not as bad. There were a lot of toxic substances down there that we inhaled or touched every Alert.