CW3 Kevin Storm1026629<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>"Ma, someone put a missle launcher in the back yard!"<br /><br />During the Cold War Nike Ajax and Nike Hercules Missiles were scatter around the United States. My dad used to talk about one not far from where he grew up. He took me by it once when I was a kid, but it had long been closed. Here in the California Bay area, there are several former Nike sites in the area, and one is reserved in the Golden Gate National Park in Marin just north of the Golden Gate. This site shows what a typical site looked like back in the late 1950's:<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/pr-79.php">http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/pr-79.php</a> <div class="pta-link-card answers-template-image type-default">
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<a target="blank" href="http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/pr-79.php">Nike Missile Battery PR-79 Foster Rhode Island</a>
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<p class="pta-link-card-description">The Foster NIKE Missile Battery PR-79 is significant because it is a representative example of NIKE batteries in New England and in Rhode Island. PR-79 is an intact, physical manifestation of American military history, and in particular, the Cold War in the United States and as such, it demonstrates the technology and prevailing political attitudes of the 1950s.</p>
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Did anyone else grow up with missiles in their backyard?2015-10-08T14:09:41-04:00CW3 Kevin Storm1026629<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>"Ma, someone put a missle launcher in the back yard!"<br /><br />During the Cold War Nike Ajax and Nike Hercules Missiles were scatter around the United States. My dad used to talk about one not far from where he grew up. He took me by it once when I was a kid, but it had long been closed. Here in the California Bay area, there are several former Nike sites in the area, and one is reserved in the Golden Gate National Park in Marin just north of the Golden Gate. This site shows what a typical site looked like back in the late 1950's:<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/pr-79.php">http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/pr-79.php</a> <div class="pta-link-card answers-template-image type-default">
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<a target="blank" href="http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/pr-79.php">Nike Missile Battery PR-79 Foster Rhode Island</a>
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<p class="pta-link-card-description">The Foster NIKE Missile Battery PR-79 is significant because it is a representative example of NIKE batteries in New England and in Rhode Island. PR-79 is an intact, physical manifestation of American military history, and in particular, the Cold War in the United States and as such, it demonstrates the technology and prevailing political attitudes of the 1950s.</p>
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Did anyone else grow up with missiles in their backyard?2015-10-08T14:09:41-04:002015-10-08T14:09:41-04:00PO3 Steven Sherrill1026656<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div><a class="dark-link bold-link" role="profile-hover" data-qtip-container="body" data-id="215660" data-source-page-controller="question_response_contents" href="/profiles/215660-cw3-kevin-storm">CW3 Kevin Storm</a> One is a part of the National Park Service.<br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm">http://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm</a> <br /><br />Out on Kwajalein, at the Softball fields they had a Nike Zeus missile on a platform behind the dugout. It was non operational (obviously), and was one of the many things we climbed on and played around as kids without any idea what it really represented. <div class="pta-link-card answers-template-image type-default">
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<a target="blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm">Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)</a>
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<p class="pta-link-card-description">The Cold War was the defining historical era of the last half of the 20th century. It led to fear, panic, and distrust symbolized by a nuclear arms race between the United States and Soviet Union. The Minuteman Missile was an iconic weapon in the American nuclear arsenal. It held the power to destroy civilization, but acted as a nuclear deterrent which maintained peace and prevented war.</p>
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Response by PO3 Steven Sherrill made Oct 8 at 2015 2:15 PM2015-10-08T14:15:04-04:002015-10-08T14:15:04-04:00SCPO David Lockwood1026681<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>That would not be a good sign!Response by SCPO David Lockwood made Oct 8 at 2015 2:20 PM2015-10-08T14:20:28-04:002015-10-08T14:20:28-04:00SPC Private RallyPoint Member1026707<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Wow all I had to play with are some old ww2 bunkers in the middle of no where. The Army literally moved a town for this base(nobody knows what when on in those bunkers). There is a bunker not 50 ft from the graveyard that is still there. People say it's haunted.Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 8 at 2015 2:26 PM2015-10-08T14:26:56-04:002015-10-08T14:26:56-04:00LTC J. Lee Mudd1026783<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>No; I did grow up with SAC B-52s and KC-135s taking off and landing in my back yard though... Response by LTC J. Lee Mudd made Oct 8 at 2015 2:54 PM2015-10-08T14:54:28-04:002015-10-08T14:54:28-04:00SFC Everett Oliver1026820<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Didn't have them as a Kid but my first assignment in Germany (after a short TDY posting) was with a Nike Hurc Btry... D-2-1 Dichtelbach Germany..... Never will forget the place. From the cross eyed St Bernard to the day a nuke fell off the rollers...Response by SFC Everett Oliver made Oct 8 at 2015 3:07 PM2015-10-08T15:07:55-04:002015-10-08T15:07:55-04:00MSgt Donald G.1026844<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>As a kid, my father worked at NASA, so I got to watch dozens of missile launches (Titan's and Saturn's), including the space race/moon landings (Apollo missions)... Not quit out the back door but definitely in the back 40ish. hahaha Awesome times!Response by MSgt Donald G. made Oct 8 at 2015 3:15 PM2015-10-08T15:15:34-04:002015-10-08T15:15:34-04:00PFC Al Sethre1026919<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I grew up near Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota, and there are Minuteman II silos all over the countryside.Response by PFC Al Sethre made Oct 8 at 2015 3:45 PM2015-10-08T15:45:15-04:002015-10-08T15:45:15-04:00SPC David S.1027046<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>No however at Robbins AFB - SAC placed nuclear alert aircraft on the eastern side of the base. I remember doing a lot of duck and cover drills in school. Looking back now I can see that really wouldn't have mattered when boom goes the dynamite. Always fun when these guys scrambled at 0300.Response by SPC David S. made Oct 8 at 2015 4:32 PM2015-10-08T16:32:27-04:002015-10-08T16:32:27-04:00SCPO Private RallyPoint Member1028047<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Not really in my backyard, but I remember driving all over the Midwest in the '50s and '60s and seeing the Minuteman Siilo sites. There are three abandoned sites near where I live now.Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 9 at 2015 1:49 AM2015-10-09T01:49:31-04:002015-10-09T01:49:31-04:002015-10-08T14:09:41-04:00