Rehearsing for Doomsday: Memoir of a Nuclear Missile Crew Commander

by Scott Cook

In 1988, Scott Cook was a boarding school PE teacher responsible for the proper inflation of dodge balls. A year later, he was operating an underground strategic missile control center with 10 intercontinental nuclear weapons capable of obliterating an entire country. This unexpected journey took him from the serene hills of Virginia through months of intensive training on the California coast to the front lines of the Cold War, beneath the frozen plains of North Dakota. His frank, entertaining memoir describes the insular and secretive military subculture of men and women who lived with the sobering burden of potentially unleashing global devastation, and how an easy-going gym coach ended up in an organization whose unofficial motto was "To err is human; to forgive is not Strategic Air Command policy."

265 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 20, 2021

About the author

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Reviews

[David Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy reading books about the daily lives of others and found this to be well done. There is a mix of what it is like at "work" and his home life as well.

Obviously he cant disclose any "secrets" even if they are well known and no longer a secret so there is limited info on his day job. US Security clearance is weird.. Like if something is pubic knowledge and well known, a TS clearance holder still cant say anything about it unless the government itself published it and they are citing that. It is easier to avoid anything remotely sensitive. If you are interested in the silo life, YouTube has more info than this book.

Anyhow, it is a great story about setting goal and reaching them, as well as the routine, mundane life holding the keys to a fleet of thermonuclear weapons.

[Kris L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting and gripping first hand experience of what it takes to maintain the world’s foremost military. The mental, physical and social fortitude required for such a feat is nearly unfathomable. The author does a wonderful job of relaying this truth without slogging the reader thru years of life in the stark reality of northern United States life! To which the reader thanks him deeply.

[David Runyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun look at an often overlooked aspect of the Cold War.