(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Weather Balloons and Missile Silos, Report from Roswell, NM [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-04 Who needs the hysteria about a Chinese weather (surveillance???) balloon when you've got Google Maps? This Google Maps photo is of a de-commissioned 1960s Atlas missile silo NE of Roswell, NM. The hysteria over a Chinese weather balloon secretly (??) taking close-up photos of missile silos in Montana is just about as stupid as the media can get. Rather than posting satellite Google images of Montana missile silo images, I’m sorry, I flashed back to my own history of working on several de-commissioned Atlas missile silos, thirty years ago, just outside Roswell, NM and looked around for images there. Google Maps. Atlas Missile Silo, Roswell, NM And, now at least one of these missile silos is a freaking AirBnB lodging spot! Links to stories about private ownership and sale of multi-million dollar silos, originally sold for less than $2,000, up to >$200K ten years ago, including the surrounding 25-acres. www.krqe.com/… Google Maps. Atlas Missile Silo, Roswell, NM (closer view) www.airbnb.com/... www.abqjournal.com/... Sometime around 1990, my environmental mobile laboratory company obtained a contract with the Army Corp of Engineers to provide analysis of potential leakage of diesel fuel from underground storage tanks which supplied fuel for backup electrical generators at former Atlas silo facilities in New Mexico, east of Roswell. (The least of their problems.) Those missile facilities were built starting in 1961 and de-commissioned around 1965 due to massive issues with leaks in liquid fuel and oxidizer from the Atlas rockets. They were replaced by silos with solid rocket booster Titan missiles. But, that entire Roswell project, in my mind, 30 years ago, was capped off by two amazing encounters of the surreal kind. First, was the alien cat attack. I’ve written about this before and won’t waste much time about it. In the wee hours, the night before leaving for this Roswell project, I got between a dog/cat fight and ended up with a severe infected cat bite in my calf. When I asked the Roswell ER Doc what that swollen lump was, he asked me if I had ever seen the movie “Alien”. Second was an alien homey encounter of the bizarre kind. We were collecting and analyzing samples around the diesel storage tank when I looked up to see an old Chevy Blazer, with no top, roaring up the access road. He screeched to a stop and shouted, “What are you guys doing here?” We explained we were working for ACoE, and he calmed right down, got friendly and explained he lived here. “I live here. You guys ever been inside one of these silos?” “Nope.” “Well, c’mon, I’ll give you a tour!” We followed him to the nuclear-blast-proof door. He dragged the 2-ton door open with a classic cre-e-e-a-k and we descended the steep stairs to a second fortified door. He said to me, “You go first, the light switch is inside on the left. Oh, … and don’t worry about the rattle snakes. They’re in terrariums, just burglar defense . . . unless they got out AGAIN!” I gulped and my eyes bugged out. I reached in and hit the lights. Sure enuf, the entire entryway area was lined by rattlers in terrariums. None on the loose! Our host showed us around the upper two levels of the silo, which served as his home. We were able to look down an additional eight or ten stories into the pit which, at one time, contained an Atlas nuclear arsenal. And, GOP MAGA “Phobies” are afraid of a freakin’ Chinese weather balloon? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/4/2151012/-Weather-Balloons-and-Missile-Silos-Report-from-Roswell-NM Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/