Delta Flight: Reflections of a Cold Warrior

Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Craig Manson speaks at the 2002 dedication ceremony for Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.

NPS Photo

This essay was written in 2002 by Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Craig Manson prior to the dedication of Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. As an Air Force officer, Mr. Manson served as a missile combat crew member at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and served alerts in the Delta-01 Launch Control Facility now preserved as part of the park.

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The Cold War ended for me when I almost drove through the front window of Macy's in downtown Sacramento. It was Sept. 27, 1991. The radio announced that President Bush had ordered all land-based intercontinental ballistic missile sites to stand down from 24-hour alert. I nearly lost control of my car.

As an Air Force officer in the late 1970s, I regularly took the elevator down into the concrete and steel bowels of Minuteman launch facilities like "Delta-01" in South Dakota, which controlled 10 Minuteman II missiles hidden in remote silos on the prairie. I held one of the launch keys and waited for the encoded message that would start Armageddon, hoping it would never come.

Suddenly, it was over. The missiles in "Delta Flight" would never launch.

For me, as for many in my generation, the Cold War seemed a permanent part of our lives. The abrupt end a decade ago shocked me. It passed so quickly that many young people today offer a blank look when you tell them about mutual assured destruction or elementary school drills that involved ducking under desks. Terms like "nuclear triad" have passed from even sophisticated usage. In the realm of international politics, concepts such as "containment" and "deterrence" are no longer relevant.

This September 27, just over a decade after President Bush's order to stand down, I will return to Delta Flight to help ensure that future generations don't forget the war that was fought and won by brave men and women over the course of 50 years. As Assistant Secretary of lnterior with jurisdiction over the National Park System, I will receive the transfer of launch control facility Delta-01 and the missile silo Delta-09 from the Air Force. The sites together will become the first unit of the park system dedicated to the Cold War.

Soon the public will freely enter the formerly top-secret launch facility where officers like me tensely checked coded launch messages sent by central command to make certain we were ready when and if the real thing came. They will gaze at the giant hole in the ground with its 90-ton cover and 58-foot missile. They will imagine what might have been.

Today, we are fighting another long and largely behind-the-scenes war against terrorism. It's important to remember Delta Flight and the reasons we won the Cold War.

Of course, there are differences. Our enemy in the Cold War was well known. We knew its political and military objectives. We knew that it was not suicidal. That enemy possessed the technological means to destroy us but was deterred by the certainty of mutual destruction - by Delta Flight and other missile sites.

In contrast, the enemy today is shadowy. It doesn't even have a state. Its objective is to cause destruction even if it requires self-destruction to do so. There is no doubt that if it possessed the technological means to destroy us, this enemy would use it.

Consider also that as would-be bullies strive to perfect weapons of mass destruction, America is turning hers into a national park. Only a free, prosperous and secure nation could afford to do such a thing.

A key lesson of the Cold War is this: America must persevere. Even if the present war drags on for years and decades, we must maintain our focus and our resolve.

When Delta-09 was decommissioned three years after President Bush's order to stand down, the officers who served there received symbolic launch keys. Inscribed on the keys were the words: "Mission Accomplished."

These words once seemed so improbable. Indeed, the very notion that Delta 09 could stand down nearly sent me into the front window of Macy's. But what was true of the Cold War is true of the war on terrorism. Someday, we will be able to stand down. If we persevere, we will win.