The commander of Air Force Space Command closed the three-day 50th anniversary commemoration of the ICBM at the base theater here Oct 9.
Gen. C. Robert Kehler, AFSPC commander, expressed gratitude for all attendees of the ceremony, which included Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley; Maj. Gen. Roger Burg, Twentieth Air Force commander; and the many Airmen who work in the ICBM field, either operating, maintaining, supporting or securing missiles.
He closed the events by simulating an incoming emergency action message, which is a message that transmits into an ICBM launch control center requiring special decoding to find the meaning. Using checklists and decoding manuals, missileers translate the letters into direction: It can be as simple as a weather advisory or as important as the president ordering a missile launch.
The message began with a signal sounding like a real EAM transmission. General Kehler phonetically spelled the mock message to attendees of the ceremony, gi
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