UTMC

http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02 ... r-truckers

The OST's operations are an open secret, and much about them can be gleaned from unclassified sources in the public domain. Yet hiding nukes in plain sight, and rolling them through major metropolises like Atlanta, Denver, and LA, raises a slew of security and environmental concerns, from theft to terrorist attack to radioactive spills. "Any time you put nuclear weapons and materials on the highway, you create security risks," says Tom Clements, a nuclear security watchdog for the nonprofit environmental group Friends of the Earth. "The shipments are part of the threat to all of us by the nuclear complex." To highlight those risks, his and another group, the Georgia-based Nuclear Watch South, have made a pastime of pursuing and photographing OST convoys.

so. what kind of psychological tests do these folks undergo before they are handed the keys???

--Jaeger

Ah, this brings back memories.
I think I once saw a similar transport operation on holiday in the UK.
We were driving through the countryside, on the right side of one valley and to our left, a few hundred yards away on the other side of the valley, was another road.
It was clogged (literally, they had come to a stop) with army Land Rovers, army trucks and I think an APC. And right in the middle were a pair of quite civilian looking, gerneric-white trucks. It was in the Scottish Highlands, so it's possible they were coming from or were on-route to the nuclear submarine base at Clyde. Warhead maintenance used to be done a Dungeness, maybe still is.

When we were driving up a hill a little further on, we suddenly saw something standing in mid-air. Was a Harrier jump jet. He decided he had to stop standing around in mid air and blasted along the road at seriously low altitude. Those buggers are fucking noisy and seeing one of them just standing in mid air, less than a mile away, and then up close as it blasted over our heads was what made the episode stick in my memory.

So either a very secure transport of nukes, or some other exercise involving non-military vehicles alongside the military ones.

I saw a BBC report on these transports later, they were complaining about the convoys regularly going through populated areas like Glasgow, so not entirely unpossible.

Back in the late 60's my dad worked at Sandia Laboratories for the NRC. He was a freshly minted engineer, just graduated from Penn State. He also had top secret clearance. My mom would ask him, upon his returning home, "How was your day, honey? What'd you do today?" He'd say, "I can't tell you."
Every few years my brothers and I would pester him about what he worked on. The answer, to this day, is always "I can't tell you." But, he did mention one time that he designed brakes or parts of brakes for trucks such as these. That wasn't secret, so he could tell us. But by then it was thirty years on and he's pretty sure things have evolved since. I got the impression they were ABS brakes.
So, the trucks aren't normal trucks. They appear to be, but they aren't. If they had ABS brakes in 1968, who knows what they have now.
Pretty nifty.

my ex is a trucker. and he has told the kids that he works for the government.

hmm, i guess i won't be asking the attorney general why they haven't prosecuted him for 11 years worth of contempt of court (he refuses to cover the kids with his insurance, per court order)...

one more very big reason for me to leave the country...

1-- The psyche testing, a clearance commensurate with the work being accomplished is required prior to training or operations. Ask rench, the FBI is knocking on his door asking about me about once every 5 years, sometimes it's for work.

2--I've worked with these guys for almost a decade. They are consummate professionals. Nothing moves that doesn't have to, the safest means of transport is always the one utilized, and the capabilities are unrivalled anywhere in the world. Take a minute to extrapolate some additional information from the article referenced, they've been operating since the 1976 implementation of the energy reorganization act of 1974. There are only 3 road accidents to even mention? Does anyone remember them? Is there a smoking hole in Nebraska from a tipped semi?
For a group as accident prone as we ootmiks, this should be particularly impressive. If they drive through a city, it's because they must, believe me NO-ONE prefers populated areas.

3--If you do more research on the alcohol incidents, they were off duty, while on missions. This is the same as if you went from Dallas to Chicago for a conference, got lit at a bar afterwards, and had a little scuffle. You're in Chi town for official duty, but you're not on duty. They are held to a higher standard, and that is why an issue was raised, but if an individual had been trashed when it was time for work, he/she would not have been working that day.

4--Chasing, playing chicken, harassing, or photographing the convoys is a bad idea. Think about it for a second, what would expect an adversary to do? Gather intel, disrupt operations, then attack. Sorry if it bothers you, but nuclear materials are not something to dick around with, if you appear threatening to a team, it's not wise for them to wait and find out if you're just playing.

5--The Ex. He's an ass hat, and his job is no excuse, nor does it provide him any special privilege. In fact, that should make it easier for you to guarantee you receive any legally binding payments. I have removed personnel from duty because of their failure to pay a credit card on time. We are rather boring people by regulation. If you're interested below is the reg for USAF

http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/shared/m ... 0-3902.pdf

6--ask what you like, I'll say what I can.

actually it's not the insurance i am concerned about.
it's the possibility that the man who threatened to kill us could be driving nukes. and driving them my way the day he loses his shit for good.

i REALLY hope he is driving government food or something.

Mk3 wrote: 6--ask what you like, I'll say what I can.

- the red button, that's actually for aborting proceedings, isn't it?

- I'd like to think there's an emergency method that ensures no one launches anything unless it's really intended, something beyond government interference, so...if they think they got a launch order but have a niggling doubt about it, can a silo dude pick up a phone and call someone they trust to confirm nuclear war has broken out? Like, I dunno, his mom?

I think I know the answer to the first one, based on repeated viewings of numerous films on the subject matter, and I can understand if you can't answers the second one, but still, worth a shot, ey.

sun rat wrote:actually it's not the insurance i am concerned about.
it's the possibility that the man who threatened to kill us could be driving nukes. and driving them my way the day he loses his shit for good.

i REALLY hope he is driving government food or something.

I wouldn't worry about that. Considering how many military men have lost their shit over the years shooting up their comrades, doing the whole fucking village, etc., and that as of writing this there still has been no unintended nuclear blast, they made them things pretty difficult to set off, apparently. Also, someone woule be there to stop him. Two man rule in all things nuclear, right Mk3?

Mk3 wrote:6--ask what you like, I'll say what I can.

WHO IS KAISER SORCE?

Mk3 wrote:6--ask what you like, I'll say what I can.

What is your name?

What is your quest?

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen Minuteman?

Zim wrote: What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen Minuteman?

LGM-30A or LGM-30G?

Ok by name:
Sun rat: no radioactive revenge driving is not a possibility, you are literally more likely to be struck by a meteor, can't say why, but literally meteor.

DerGolgo: there is no way of launching without intent of by both the switch flicker and the President (or replacement if POTUS is toast) but once launched that’s it. Again need to be sketchy on details, but you CANT make boom boom without dad's permission.

The big button just makes the alarms go quiet and usually its black, but there are a few red ones out there. The button is just a basic button, so the color doesn't matter. The only big red thing is the phone in the president's office...and gum, there's a big red gum too.

Two person concept is still strictly enforced. It's one of the two most basic rules I teach my students 1. You'll never be alone with the weapon and 2. The weapon is always more important than you.

As for unintended blasts, every weapon in the US arsenal is one point safe, meaning there is a 1 in 1billion (or greater) chance it will detonate with a nuclear yield under normal conditions, and a 1 in 1million chance a yield will be achieved under adverse conditions such as fire or explosion.

Sisyphus: if you're asking that question you've already answered it

Zim: Name is Maurice, you can call me Al.
Quest is to seek the holy grail.
Air speed is irrelevant with an exoatmospheric vehicle, but velocity is approximately 2600 feet per second at peak, but that too is kind of irrelevant. The warhead reenters at approximately 2200mph, though that would make the MMIII inherently "laden". Here's some footage.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7jFCmfAhhQg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Calamari: LGM-30A has been gone for a very long time. All we use now is G models, at least until the next upgrade.

OK I think that’s everything.

Chance you'll be struck by a meteor, 1 in 300000000000.

/RM

There is a "Safe Haven" Fed truck yard over in Missouri that always has a few unmarked, average looking rigs around. I know a kid that worked dispatch there for the commercial trucking company that runs out of the same yard. He said there were no nukes moving through there, but lots of conventional weapons. Makes since as we have an munitions plant on the Kansas side that used to churn out a couple flavors of bombs and grenades. There is another one quite a bit south in Oklahoma, but last I knew all of their shipments went out by rail.

I've got a CDL Class A w/ 8 yrs experience. I wonder if these nuke drivers are hiring?

And that article was only a tad alarmist and conspiracy-theorist-y

Next Page: Were nuke truckers involved in a UFO crash in Southern California?

She sheds her polite smile, giving us and our car out the window a second look. "I wouldn't know anything about that," she says, declining to give her name. "Here's your receipt."

Yep, even the teenage gas-station attendants are in on the Nuke-UFO-007 conspiracy!