After piling onto site with 2 Tractor-Trailer "PT" rigs (Payload-Transporter), a 5-ton payload truck, a Suburban "Carryall", 6 people, a ton of equipment, and lots of noise, the Missile Maintenance Team swings into action. The large team they use is a necessity due to the multiple tasks they must perform almost simultaneously.

A PT truck must be pulled across the top of the silo while the door is closed. Next, a compressed air manifold system is used to pump down the massive steel lockpin that prevents the silo door, or "launcher closure", from being opened by intruders. Then the huge piston and cable setup that slingshots the Launcher Closure off the site in a launch is disconnected, and a small hydraulic ram and pump setup called a "Pipe Pusher" are attached to the silo door and a notched rail; the Pipe Pusher drags the 80 ton silo door open, a few inches at a time.

Down in the underground Launcher Equipment Rooms, MMT personnel open the 2 access hatches that allow entry into the launch tube for work on the missile. One is a 3 x 4 foot hatch placed about 10 feet above the floor near the ceiling. This door has a section of rail built into it to hold a special traversing winch motor; this winch holds the workcage that technicians use to access different areas of the launch tube and missile. The rail is built into the entire circumference of the launch tube, as well. A MMT technician must hoist the 100 lb-plus winch motor up to ceiling level, and then while standing on a ladder, deftly slide it and it's associated cabling into the rail, then bolt the hatch shut. Little wonder many MMT troops are built like linebackers.

The other door is a 3-piece affair, called the "diving board" and "barn doors" - which is exactly what they resemble. The large steel "barn doors" are swung out to open the top half of the 8 foot high access hole, and the "diving board" is then lowered from vertical to a horizontal position into the launch tube, using a hand-cranked winch. Once the "diving board" is in place, a small safety barrier is erected, and the 2-man aluminum workcage is brought in through the access hole, and connected by a wire rope to the winch motor in the rail. Once the workcage is installed, the diving board is in place, and the silo door has been opened, all is ready for the MMT crew to start work. At this point they also get a rare luxury - daylight. Normally work in the launch tube is gloomy, at best. There are no lights other than the 2 small floodlamps mounted on the workcage. If the Launcher Closure door is not required to be open for the work involved, the Launch Tube is a deep, dark, hole.

Here, you can see MMT technicians ready to begin tearing down the missile payload for removal, with a man on the "diving board", two in the "cage", and one at an access port used to check the upper umbilical.

Workcage-Eye's-View: looking down the brightly lit launch tube of a training silo (note the light fixture in the wall). The 3 large blocks near the launch tube bottom are made of dense foam and are part of the suspension system that keeps the missile from being damaged by blast shock from a near-hit. There are also pneumatic arms that hold the missile balanced in place on the steel ring assembly it rests on, and the whole affair is suspended by thick wire cabling and springs. Among the many hazards workers must face in the tube: static sparks that could explode detonator devices called squibs, falls up to 90 feet, high pressure pneumatic lines that can cut or puncture faster than any saw, toxic coolant chemicals and PSRE fuels, suspension components that can crush you like a bug, ground water leaks that make surfaces slick and allow poison gases to accumulate, and not to forget, a fungicide coating on the missile that eats skin!