The best thing to come out of Cheyenne mountain is the annual Santa tracker. In 1955 a newspaper misprinted a phone number to "Santa's workshop" and hundreds of kids starting calling in to the Highly Classified phones within the complex. The men on watch decided to play along after realizing what had happened, and now NORAD tracks Santa's movements every year.
No way! I knew about the annual tradition of them tracking santa and remember it fondly from my own childhood, but I had no idea it started from a mistake that they decided to play along with 😂 That seriously makes me so happy to know 😊
Long time ago a buddy of mine went on a tour in Norad. As you're walking down one of the halls there's a door with the emblem on it and a bunch of placards and stuff and it says SGC level 1. That's where they keep the stargate program and when people ask "Really" or "Its Real" then the guide opens up the door and it's a broom closet. Lol
@@kurtsnyder4752 so you mean to tell me ive been sticking that broom stick up my ass for no reason????????? i knew my commanding officer was fucking with me
I wouldn't be surprised if this were true. Seems like the people who work there have a long history of having a sense of humor and trying to include moments of brevity in an otherwise intimidating, potentially depressing atmosphere.
Its probably likely, I mean they did make Richard Dean Anderson an honorary General after all, the air force clearly liked the show and how it presented them
I was visiting my cousins and uncle back in 1994 in Colorado Springs, and got totally lost (pre GPS) and wandered up to Cheyenne Mountain and found myself confronted by a teenager in an Air Force uniform wielding an M-16 who had plenty of questions for me! I explained I was a lost tourist and the young airman could not have been nicer and helped me find my uncle’s house in Fountain
@@seantaggart7382 i actually once accidentally went into a guarded military complex. I was trying to find one professor to talk about some projects. There were a lot of buildings and i couldn't find his office, so i decided to go through all buildings one by one. All of those were research institutes, except 1. I somehow went through the gates around the anti truck barriers and walked around the rest of the things that block the passage. Immediately guards with rifles ran to me to ask me what im doing there, when i told them who im looking for, they told me that he wont be there for sure. I have no idea how it didn't seem weird to me, that this one building has walls around it, anti truck barriers and a guard posts. It was not marked as a military object and it was right next to an area where 10 research institute buildings were, and the building even looked similar. It was really weird feeling to get intercepted by soldiers with assault rifles, i really thought that i effed up, as i walked straight through the guard post and continued a bit towards the building. Im really glad that they weren't harsh, but they also weren't happy that i was there. They told me to immediately leave before i finished why i walked in there. Why the hell has someone placed a military object between 2 buildings of nuclear research institute tho. Also as the complex of buildings is so huge, i ended up coming almost 2 hours late for the meeting despite the fact that i arrived near the complex 30 mins in advance -_- i just couldn't find his office and i went to every single other building, before i found it, as he forgot to tell me which building it was and i didn't have his number to call him. He also only responded to my emails couple of hours after the meeting.
@@mitotakjde9763 "Why the hell has someone placed a military object between 2 buildings of nuclear research institute tho" The military (DOD) employs lots of scientists, and it just makes sense for their facilities to be near other research institutes. Set up where the people you need already are, plus have nearby outside experts you can pull in on shorter-term consultations. I would be surprised if there was anything in that building that'd be unusual compared to the other facilities in the complex, just that the research being done there was classified.
@@kakumee Yeah, I’ve driven by it when I lived in the Springs.. and the exit on the highway was clearly labeled as restricted access only and to expect military response if you didn’t have the proper credentials.. and Fort Carson is right across the road.. you’ll get a fast response.. But I’m told if you try to get access to Schriver AFB just east of Peterson… you’ll get an even less friendly response.. (that houses the Reagan ERA Star Wars initiative… )… Colorado Springs is a nice place to be if You like military.. between Cheyenne Mountain, Fort Carson, Peterson AFB, Shriver AFB and you have the Air Force Academy… it’s literally a city surronded by military..
Hi Simon, I'm retired from US Army andn was stationed at Buckly AFB in Aurora Colorado from 1997-2000. I had a Top Secret SCI clearance and was fortunate enough to visit this complex and given a rare classified tour. It is facinating and awe inspiring to actually see some of this amazing engineering in person.
#1 the single most important job of Norad is tracking the flight path of Santa every year. My kids and now my grandkids love getting online to track Santa. They know when he hits Brazil the USA is next so they scurry off to bed. #2 I notice Simon struggling to keep The Boi with the Blaze under control for the serious vids. Love it!!!
I am always so glad to hear people are still loving the Norad Santa tracking! I am an adult and I still check in occasionally myself every year just because it feels like tradition even if I am a far age from Santa worrying about stopping at my door ;) It's one of the more wholesome things our government does for sure. The operators during it are amazing.
@@TheOnlyDamien It certainly gives kids an idea of how hard Santa and the elves work as they also tally the number of toys distributed. By the time my son began to outgrow NORAD my oldest daughter gave me a grandson to watch with. Ut oh Cameron he's awful close and your awake, followed by a quick scamper to his room. Memories are priceless.
It is a bit of an oddity to have something as ominous as NORAD tracking Santa. My daughter asked me what NORAD was during one of these light hearted Christmas eve updates and that was a rabbit hole I did not what to go down... for some reason it took a bit of doing to change the subject. lol
I live about 40 miles from there. I took the "tour". I tried to sneak away and see the "real stuff". Note: They don't like it when you do that. The carpeting in the detention center is nice.
This is one of the best videos on the NORAD subject I’ve seen since I retired. I worked on the Mountain upgrade and the upgrades to the sensor sites that sent warning data to the Mountain. Spent my entire USAF career in the Space Command, before there was a Space Force! Thank you for the memories. (One photo must be older-I don’t think the Airmen can smoke in the dining facilities anymore.)
@@--enyo-- SG1 would have been better if it ended after 8 seasons instead of continuing to season 9 with half of a new cast. I'm pretty sure Atlantis should have ended one season before it actually did. SGU is odd in that its second and final season seemed better than the first (other than it will never have the cliffhanger at the end of series resolved.)
@@jonnunn4196 The new cast of SG1 was okay. Ben Browder and Claudia Black had an established on-screen chemistry from Farscape and Beau Bridges was playing the first character I actually liked him as. What was not okay was the Ori storyline. I think it would have been fine if they had just written the rest of the series as the SGC dealing with the after-effects of the collapse of the System Lords.
🎯🎯🎯👍 Mark! It was a very small, tight knit community! I was assigned there 2008 for 18 Months taking Engineering Air Samples on Concrete- Radioactive Decay & Depth Affects on Hearing/ ABSENCE of T- Ear Ringing. Although the NO : Pets, Crappy Videos and Odd Smells; have to say the S*** on a Shingle & Cheese- Onion/ Fries were pretty good! Except the ZERO: ANY food/ Spices/ Sauces / Personal Grooming- that could promote Mold - Acidic- Spores or Allegers Rules were Rightfully enforced. Shame after 18 months- I was informed I “ wouldn’t be invited back in “ anytime in the Future Despite my Clearance. Long Story… but it involved POP CORN 🍿. God Bless. BRN. 👴🏽NoBody. ( maybe Bill Gates Will employee me! After he’s finished buying a 4th/ 5th/ 6th U.S. State!)
My college roommate in 1976 worked and lived in the mountain in the early 70’s. He was in the Air Force and repair electronics. He left to attend college. One February day I answered a knock at our apartment door. Three Air Force officers were looking for my roommate. Reminds me of SG Universe opening. He returned a month later. With short military hair cut. All he said was he was ‘asked’ to fix stuff. He scored A’s on the midterms he missed. Those guys had the coolest sunglasses.
You should do The Stargate Program for your April Fool's episode of Megaprojects. I know it's a while away but I'd love to hear an episode delivered in a serious style on The Stargate.
Well, the complex has already been built and the Ancients made the Stargate, so there really wouldn't be much to it, other than maybe the crane that lowered it into position after taking out an ICBM ,then sealing it. Big whooup.
@@kurtsnyder4752 but the building of the complex would be interesting. Then there is the discovery of the gate. How it was brought back to the states and the early testing of the gate. Or just go back to the ancients building of the gate
@@derrickfoster644 Think that secondt thing is what something called Stargate Origins is about and an episode had it being shipped on a freighter to the US. Another had SG1 using the gate at the warehouse it was in in the past to get back to their time.
From the desert wastes of Abydos to the lush verdant forests of Chulak and even to places (and times) thought unreachable in human lifespans, the Stargate Network is a massive array of wormhole generating devices allowing near instantaneous transport accross vast distances throughout the galaxy, and even beyond. But how does this massively complex network function? Who made it? And why? Lets dive in on today's... Megaproject!
In the fall of 1979 I went on one of the tours of Cheyenne Mountain installation. We saw a tunnel, blast doors, shock absorbers on which building rests, a class room. It was a very “sterile “ presentation on the whole. When Iranians took over US Embassy in Tehran the tours ended. Later in summer of 1980 a friend happened to deviate off Old Stage Rd and on to access road to Cheyenne mountain back door. The side trip ended abruptly when armed sentries materialized out of the woods. The sentries politely returned the visitors to the correct road.
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series: www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
@@dantetre How does singing up work? Do we have to gather at the foot of the studio's headquarters and all sing together until they hear us outside their window?
The Stargate program originally was situated in another mountain complex, which is seen in the 1994 movie, but prior to the events of the series, it had been moved to Cheyenne.
I visited Colorado Springs back in the 90's. From where I was staying, you could see the north entrance. There were dump trucks running in and out of there about every 10 minutes. I'd think it's safe to say it has been expanded a bit since the first build out.
My father worked at Cheyenne Mountain, and my mother worked for NORAD at Peterson AFB, so I got to tour it a few times. I wish it looked like it does in Stargate or War Games, but it is more mundane and cramped. The combat center is pretty cool though. The parking lot and outside buildings are built on the rubble dug out when the tunnels were dug. The first HQ, Ent AFB, was a very small base only a few blocks in size and is now the US Olympic Training Center.
@@EZ-D-FIANT O'neill was hitting balls thru the gate with teal'c when hammond shouts that thru the PA system and O'neill shouts back "In the middle.." Season 4 episode "window of opportunity"
Interesting that you covered the SAGE computer system. I'm a computer programmer / systems analyst who is interested in history and I've been in the game since 1978, when computers were a BIT different. In 2005 I was on an ocean cruise with my parents - before the ship left I sat down at the table with my parents and the was an elderly couple there as well - they looked to be mid 80s, perhaps even older. In conversation I found out that the fellow had worked on ENIAC which is generally considered to be the first "production" computer! He had then gone to work for IBM and was involved with the SAGE project in the 1950s - he had two patents to his name that had only recently been de-classified as they pertained to national defense. Unfortunately, in a MASSIVE brain fart, I did NOT find out the fellow's name. It would be the computer equivalent of meeting Henry Ford, frankly. He had been in computing since the very beginning.
As a civilian, I count myself lucky to have gone on a tour of "the mountain" back in 1989. One interesting thing is their water reservoir, which is basically a man-made lake, complete with rowboat. The main control room disappointingly didn't look anything like the one from War Games, but the tour guide said they were working on building a new one, based on the the movie. He said it with a totally straight face and none of us were quite sure if he was serious. I can't confirm the SGC broom closet story, as the show didn't come along until much later.
Im still watching/rewatching it. Im on the last episode of season 2 SG1 as of 20 minutes ago :). Before that i fisished of Atlantis for the second 2 time :)
Hollywood was not permitted to film in the mountain for that movie so they made up what they thought looked like what was inside. During a later renovation the Government used some of the ideas from the movie in their renovation.
My Dad's friend used to work out of the Aleutian Island chain base in the 60's. He would sit by himself for 6 months waiting for the radar to go "blip" and then call people. My Dad's job was to maintain the lines connecting it to the mainland, which is basically how they knew each other. Dad would stay for a couple days while working on the lines and all the other stuff (IDK, I wasn't even born yet). Some of the stories were amazing, but most of it was just loneliness. In the end, Dad's friend was just a little bit insane, but he was still an awesome guy. I did meet him, but he was half mad by then.
13:52 Children in Canada had these drills too. I remember very vividly these drills. They had us line up in the basement and leave in some order (that I don't recall) and we were to walk home, presumably to be vaporized half-way there. During the Cuban missile crisis I remember the fear in the faces of every adult in my world, teachers and relatives. I didn't understand what was happening but I was scared too. I remember praying to God to not let me die....
When I was 19 (I think) my dad came by, picked me up, and took me to the grandparents' place for Christmas. Dad's cousin Marianne and her husband Mac were there, first time I had seen them since I was about 9. Mac had a story to tell. He was a Journeyman Carpenter and he had worked on the set crew for a real Hollywood movie, something about some stupid punk kid messing around with his computer and almost starting WW III. Sounded like a real turkey to me and I doubted I would ever see it, but it was fun listening to Mac talk about his experiences doing something out of the ordinary. Actually, I loved it when I saw it, although it took me a while, nearly half way through at the scene where Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy catch the ferry to the island, at which point I saw that it was a Washington State Ferry, to realize that this was the film Mac had worked on. The Cheyenne Mountain Complex entrance in the movie was actually at Diablo Dam just off the North Cascades Highway. When they were working on that location the crew stayed in trailers in the town of Newhalem, about 30 miles to the west. The way Mac told the tale, when they would get dome with the day the would all head back to Newhalem and pile into the small local restaurant for dinner. Someone got the bright idea to start telling the good townsfolk that the movie they were working on starred Burt Reynolds. Why not, right? I mean...Reynolds was HUGE at that time while Broderick was almost unknown. So they would sit there, eat their dinner and talk about "what Burt did today". Pretty soon the townies were telling their own "Burt stories". "I shook his hand!" "I got his autograph!" Mac and his buddies laughed the whole time. In 2000 Dad, who had by this time divorced from his 3rd wife, and Marianne, now a widow, rented a two-bedroom house together. Hadn't seen her since that Christmas, so I got the chance, finally to ask her about the movie, what she could tell me. She said that Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker were wonderful people and a cute young couple together and that she had gotten both of their autographs.
@@catfan5756 Well perhaps I'm stupid but I've re-read it and to me it looks like that "finally to ask her about the movie" is still referring to War Games and that "Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker were wonderful...” is referring to people she met on the set. Feel free to enlighten me.
I live in Colorado Springs. Cheyenne Mountain is nowhere near Divide Colorado and there are no gold mines on Cheyenne Mountain. I would sure like to know where you heard that story. NORAD is staffed with a lot of Canadian soldiers that I see when I go shopping and especially at the DMV. Ent air force base no longer exists. It became the United States Olympic training center. There used to be guided tours of the underground complex but they were cancelled after the September 11 attack.
@@daisiesofdoom No! The real SGC! The "broom closet" is just a cheap (though admittedly effective) plausible deniability gambit! Some airmen had a good idea, and they actually went with it. Unbureaucratic, if you ask me!
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series: www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
Was assigned there from 1975 to 1979 and was the best duty station I ever had. I managed to get my wife and a visiting high school friend and his wife on a tour and they still talk about it to this day as the most amazing place they've ever seen.
I was lucky enough to be able to take a tour in about 2012. Probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Fun fact: most of the doors are kept closed and the labels are purposely mixed up in case someone were to sneak in. In other words, if you open a door marked “main control center” don’t be surprised if it’s a janitor’s closet. Or just a bunch of guys with guns pointed at you...
Theres a NORAD installation in my hometown in North Bay, Ontario. When my dad was young his uncle took him inside as they were building it (its nicknamed The Hole). Canada's own little Cheyenne Mountain not many people know of.
My friend grew up in North Bay, Ontario where SAGE was located. She lived in the Sage subdivision beside the Norad complex. We went down the tunnel under Canadian Shield twice after the base was no longer the first line of defence. Both times I panicked while breathing in the diesel fumes of the school buses used to transport the tourists and skeleton staff. It was a single tunnel, about two miles long. I'm surprised you didn't mention it because it was in service before Cheyenne.
@@AH-sr5px Chances are that in the Stargate verse the Earth Stargate had the Iris welded tight on it in Mid March 2020 as a means of helping keep the quarantine on Earth in place.
One of my best friends from high school served there for several years back in the late 1970s to mid-1980s. He had been offered a scholarship to MIT. The Air Force apparently gave him a better deal. At any rate he told me that the computers there were so unreliable that they would tap them with a hammer or even just kick them. His stories were frankly terrifying.
@Doby Pilgrim "At any rate he told me that the computers there were so unreliable that they would tap them with a hammer or even just kick them"......and yet they went to the moon back in the 60s with computers which were even worse.....🙄.....or have they.......🤔
Funny story: I was in training at Lowery AFB in Denver in 1978. I wanted to go on a tour BUT, they only had tours during 9-5 monday thru friday. In training we got NO time off, so I went to the training OIC and asked if he could allow us to go to NORAD and could he drive some of us. He had never been there either. So, the commander, my instructor and 8 students made the trip. It was great! The buildings on springs, the armed guard in front of our tour and behind (all of us were in uniform), but BOTH doors were open at the same time. We were instructed, if an alert came in, we would be placed in the tunnel and the doors would be closed.... Good Luck!. My classmates never thanked me but, I got the unique tour of a lifetime. (Training was for F-106 MA1 mockup, 32132xC school).
and they had the Air Force Chief of Staff on the show and a couple of other Air Force people. IIRC they thought Col O'neil was a little tamer than some of the Colonels in the Air Force
I have been inside the mountain. Sometimes they have limited tours. It’s impressive. Doesn’t look anything like the movies, or tv shows. More cramped. Reminds me of being on a clean drilling rig.
I was there when I was 15 or 16, back around 1974 or so, as a Canadian Air Cadet from Regina, Saskatchewan. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen! I remember those giant coil springs holding the building up, and driving into the place in that bus. The control room was very James Bondesque. Kind of like every Bond film ending where the evil villain's control bunker was being destroyed. We teenagers were really happy for the road trip and of course everyone else in high school was jealous of us, which was quite satisfying as well! (Smirk, smirk ...)
"-most secret and well known-" So true! I can see this place from my current house on a clear day and night it is very well illuminated. I know the area where I live has a huge "X" on it for any world major conflict. I hope that the world never get's to the point I see the 'flash' and hear the 'BANG' before all goes dark.....
Hey Simon I used to serve in the 21Space Wing who now is responsible for the missile warning network, you should do a Mega Project on our early warning radar system... uses a solid state digital steering system that’s pretty trick and hasn’t really been duplicated yet
I was at Peterson AFB in the early 1990s. Colorado Springs is a beautiful place. Every morning I would open my shades at the barracks and there was Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mountain, just gorgeous.
My Father worked for Cat and back in the 70s he used to go in Cheyenne Mountain to work on the generators all the time. I never knew what he saw or what stories he could have told since he had to sign a non-disclosure with the Feds. RIP Dad!
I worked out of NORAD for 6 years, And damn it was the best place I've ever been assigned to. 2-hour lunches playing basketball. The Chow hall had the best food. I wish I wasn't so young at the time, I would've appreciated it much more, But I've been all over the inside of that mountain.
We never should have moved NORAD out of Cheyenne Mountain. This was motivated by the foolish optimism of the post-Soviet era, when we unilaterally disarmed our nuclear deterrent. We will pay dearly for this lack of operational readiness one day
The primary reason given for the move was the cost of maintaining the Cheyenne Mountain complex. I once worked for an army Colonel at US Space Command in 1992 who advocated for this move at his retirement in 1995. Prior to the announcement of the plan to mofe, many of the operational missions had already been transferred to Vandenburg AFB, CA in order to justify the 14th Air Force's existence as an "operational" unit. I worked in the Missile Warning Center 1993-1995. It was the best assignment in my career.
Some items not mentioned and probably not know are: -There is a piece of the world trade center towers outside as a memorial -There is a Subway restaurant inside -You can walk instead of taking the bus/van but it's a fair distance and the air is thin for those not used to those heights -There are Canadian Troops on the base -Military personnel wear fatigues including the Navy -There are warnings all over the place that lethal force will be used so that guy that claimed to wander away is lucky if his story is true -If you trigger an alarm, guys with M16's will show up to secure the area which includes you being on the ground with your ID held in the air before they ask questions and lastly -NOC2 personnel > NOC1 personnel
I was one of the folks in the 1010th Special Security Squadron, carrying the M-16 from '83 to '89 (along with a 9mm) - and yes, we would "jack up" anyone who wandered away, or wasn't displaying their restricted area badge. In one instance, we jacked up a full bird colonel who was in civvies, but forgot to display his badge. I spent many, many cold, freezing nights sitting outside the blast doors - you weren't allowed to play music, read, or anything else -only checking incoming badges and wishing you were someplace else. (I did, however, learn to juggle while stationed there!) Also, he's incorrect about the blast doors being cycled like an entrapment area. In the seven years I was there, they only cycled the doors during base level exercises or routine maintenance. The doors were notoriously finnicky and they'd sometimes have to use the hydraulic hand pump to close them.
I grew up in Colorado Springs and worked as a contractor for years, worked on Peterson AFB, Falcon AFB and inside NORAD, was a cool job and paid amazing
My aunt worked there and got us a tour one summer vacation. She could take us anywhere she was allowed to go. We saw two main "work areas". Space Surveillance, where they track everything in space and the early missile detection room (I forget what it was called) where they use infrared to detect any missile launches anywhere in the world. Pretty cool place.
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series: www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
Hello Simon, could love to hear you on any infrastructure projects that are located in the province of Québec, Canada. Plenty of great projects up north, the Manic-5 dam, or the Fermont city wall. Love the channel!
It’s also considered a historical site. I was assigned to NORAD for 3 years as a Command & Control Air Battle Manager. Because I’m a massive fan of WarGames, I was crushed to arrive and find out I was not going to be actually in the complex. But I did tour it, as well as several B-52s and a decommissioned Air Force Facility Titan II Missile Site. So I got to have the whole Cold War nuclear serial experience. Especially being a Gen-X dude who remembers being freaked out in Jr High after watching The Day After (1983).
I toured NORAD in high school in 2000 with our aerospace class. I lived in Colorado Springs, and one of the people in my class had a dad in the Canadian Air Force stationed there. Once the Cold War was over, the base lost most of its mystery, and when we went, as you see in the video, it was more a museum of late-mid-century office furniture than an impressive billion-dollar command center. As 2001 and 2020 have proved, when a biological or computer virus or a targeted terrorist is capable of more havoc on a nation than thermonuclear weapons, an apocalyptic bunker is rather superfluous.
No, but the children in the elementary school building that I work in have to take part in shelter in place and active shooter drills each month along with their fire drills and tornado drills.
Today everybody ridicules that famous duck and cover video with a turtle which thought the people how to react in the case of a nuclear explosion, but the advice was sound then as much as it is today. Of course, ducking and covering won't help you if a 500Kt bomb explodes 500 yards from you but if you see a flash and duck behind something sturdy, and an explosion occurred a few miles from where you were standing, then hell yeah, that shit could save your life...
Fun footnote - the reason NORAD can take a direct hit - probably greater than estimated - is the design of the tunnels. The entrance is off a T junction. The T extends through the mountain - which is where the shockwave would travel. Atmospheric overpressure doesn't do right turns of any considerable length, so any effects at the (massive) doors would be minimal as most of the wave would pass through a solid granite mountain and out the other side.
I've visited and got a tour as part of a Summer program for high school students going into engineering sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers in partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers and the US Air Force Academy! It's a little surreal and really fascinating how simple but clever solutions can solve problems large and small.
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series: www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
Yay, a fellow Stargate fan lol. NORAD didn't have to move out for the SGC tho, the SGC was located under it. In the show, I think it was sub-levels 1-11 that were used by NORAD, and sub-levels 12-28 were used by the SGC with sub-level 28 being the level that held the actual gate room. Given the fact that the US Air Force was heavily involved in the making of SG-1, I'm inclined to believe it does in fact have many sub-levels lol. I believe this is also part of the setting of the 1983 movie, War Games, which, if not based on, must have at least been heavily inspired by one or two of those false alarms you mentioned, as they sounded a lot like the movie lol.
So a few inaccuracies: -The mountain is used by the Watch on a regular basis. Every Watch crew (A through E) does and entire shift cycle (2 days, 2 swings, 2 mids) at least once a quarter. -The Watch has moved back into the mountain on numerous occasions due to threats. Additionally the Watch moved into the mountain for 5+ months when the Peterson facility was being renovated. -Lots of people walk from the parking lot all the way in. For one thing, the bus sometimes breaks down. For another, you are about to be seated for 8-12 hours so its a nice way to stretch. -The move out of the mountain was due to space. When the NORTHCOM mission was added to the NORAD mission, more bodies were needed. -The doors are closed for training on a regular basis and crews stay in the facility for extended periods (read days) during that time. -I dont know what picture you have for the Peterson facility but it is not the NORTHCOM building. Trivia: -The Navy does reenlistment ceremonies on that boat in the lake -When you park you crack your windows a tiny bit. The mountain creates massive downdrafts that rapidly change the air pressure and windows are known to blow out -There is a door marked "Stargate Room"
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series: www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
“They moved out to make room for the StarGate people.” One of my all time favorite shows! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 C’mon Simon, it’s time you do a MegaProjects episode about the StarGate Network! I’m sure us fans would love you to tackle this galactic network, you can do it!! 🥰🥰🥰
I grew up in the shadow of Cheyenne Mountain, learned to ski on its slopes, visit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. As a kid I knew we'd all be toast in a nuclear exchange, as a primary target - right behind Washington DC and New York City. An interesting thing to recognize, as a 10 year old. As a Young Astronaut in grade school, visited there on a school trip, got to tour the command center modular buildings inside the cavern, all supported on gigantic shock absorbing springs.
My father, a WW II, Korea, and Vietnam veteran, retired in 1969, worked sometime at Cheyenne Mountain. I found this out by taking him to see "Wargames," for Father's day in 1983. I didn't know that the US Airforce was a part of the plot in the movie, as my father would let me know how many mistakes were made. To my surprise Dad said that their NORAD, was as he remembered it except for the fake computer and the large red warning light in the middle of the complex. Of course he didn't go into details of his work there, I do know he was in Airforce communications.
The shot of the exterior of the complex on SG1 was actually filmed on location and 2 real air force chiefs of staff were on the show Michael E Ryan and John Jumper.
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series: www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
The best thing to come out of Cheyenne mountain is the annual Santa tracker. In 1955 a newspaper misprinted a phone number to "Santa's workshop" and hundreds of kids starting calling in to the Highly Classified phones within the complex. The men on watch decided to play along after realizing what had happened, and now NORAD tracks Santa's movements every year.
No way! I knew about the annual tradition of them tracking santa and remember it fondly from my own childhood, but I had no idea it started from a mistake that they decided to play along with 😂
That seriously makes me so happy to know 😊
That's actually really sweet. Instead of absolutely panic-basketing, they started something that would become a holiday tradition in some families.
I was disappointed that Simon didn't talk about this wonderful part of NORAD. It is one of my favorite stories about a military complex.
@@christinedeshano2872 I was too
Oh yes!
Long time ago a buddy of mine went on a tour in Norad. As you're walking down one of the halls there's a door with the emblem on it and a bunch of placards and stuff and it says SGC level 1. That's where they keep the stargate program and when people ask "Really" or "Its Real" then the guide opens up the door and it's a broom closet. Lol
But they don't show you the closet's fake back wall and the retinal scanner that opens it...
Twist the second hook on the right clockwise and stand back.
@@kurtsnyder4752 so you mean to tell me ive been sticking that broom stick up my ass for no reason????????? i knew my commanding officer was fucking with me
All my fantasies blown!
@@mattfors1791 does it still hurt my guy?
There is a story circulating that in honor of Stargate SG-1, NORAD labeled a broom closet in the bunker as "Stargate Command".
I really want it to be true but I'm not sure.
It’s no story.
I wouldn't be surprised if this were true. Seems like the people who work there have a long history of having a sense of humor and trying to include moments of brevity in an otherwise intimidating, potentially depressing atmosphere.
@@Chaotic_Pixie As incredible as it may sound, even the military are people too.
Its probably likely, I mean they did make Richard Dean Anderson an honorary General after all, the air force clearly liked the show and how it presented them
I was visiting my cousins and uncle back in 1994 in Colorado Springs, and got totally lost (pre GPS) and wandered up to Cheyenne Mountain and found myself confronted by a teenager in an Air Force uniform wielding an M-16 who had plenty of questions for me! I explained I was a lost tourist and the young airman could not have been nicer and helped me find my uncle’s house in Fountain
Which thats usually what they'll do
Ask what's going on and then say you never saw this place
@@seantaggart7382 i actually once accidentally went into a guarded military complex. I was trying to find one professor to talk about some projects. There were a lot of buildings and i couldn't find his office, so i decided to go through all buildings one by one. All of those were research institutes, except 1.
I somehow went through the gates around the anti truck barriers and walked around the rest of the things that block the passage. Immediately guards with rifles ran to me to ask me what im doing there, when i told them who im looking for, they told me that he wont be there for sure.
I have no idea how it didn't seem weird to me, that this one building has walls around it, anti truck barriers and a guard posts. It was not marked as a military object and it was right next to an area where 10 research institute buildings were, and the building even looked similar.
It was really weird feeling to get intercepted by soldiers with assault rifles, i really thought that i effed up, as i walked straight through the guard post and continued a bit towards the building. Im really glad that they weren't harsh, but they also weren't happy that i was there. They told me to immediately leave before i finished why i walked in there.
Why the hell has someone placed a military object between 2 buildings of nuclear research institute tho. Also as the complex of buildings is so huge, i ended up coming almost 2 hours late for the meeting despite the fact that i arrived near the complex 30 mins in advance -_- i just couldn't find his office and i went to every single other building, before i found it, as he forgot to tell me which building it was and i didn't have his number to call him. He also only responded to my emails couple of hours after the meeting.
@@mitotakjde9763 "Why the hell has someone placed a military object between 2 buildings of nuclear research institute tho"
The military (DOD) employs lots of scientists, and it just makes sense for their facilities to be near other research institutes. Set up where the people you need already are, plus have nearby outside experts you can pull in on shorter-term consultations. I would be surprised if there was anything in that building that'd be unusual compared to the other facilities in the complex, just that the research being done there was classified.
That's crazy! Then again Fountain and Colorado springs was a lot smaller than today so definitely understandable, especially as this was pre GPS
@@kakumee Yeah, I’ve driven by it when I lived in the Springs.. and the exit on the highway was clearly labeled as restricted access only and to expect military response if you didn’t have the proper credentials.. and Fort Carson is right across the road.. you’ll get a fast response.. But I’m told if you try to get access to Schriver AFB just east of Peterson… you’ll get an even less friendly response.. (that houses the Reagan ERA Star Wars initiative… )… Colorado Springs is a nice place to be if You like military.. between Cheyenne Mountain, Fort Carson, Peterson AFB, Shriver AFB and you have the Air Force Academy… it’s literally a city surronded by military..
Hi Simon, I'm retired from US Army andn was stationed at Buckly AFB in Aurora Colorado from 1997-2000. I had a Top Secret SCI clearance and was fortunate enough to visit this complex and given a rare classified tour. It is facinating and awe inspiring to actually see some of this amazing engineering in person.
#1 the single most important job of Norad is tracking the flight path of Santa every year. My kids and now my grandkids love getting online to track Santa. They know when he hits Brazil the USA is next so they scurry off to bed.
#2 I notice Simon struggling to keep The Boi with the Blaze under control for the serious vids. Love it!!!
I am always so glad to hear people are still loving the Norad Santa tracking! I am an adult and I still check in occasionally myself every year just because it feels like tradition even if I am a far age from Santa worrying about stopping at my door ;) It's one of the more wholesome things our government does for sure. The operators during it are amazing.
@@TheOnlyDamien It certainly gives kids an idea of how hard Santa and the elves work as they also tally the number of toys distributed. By the time my son began to outgrow NORAD my oldest daughter gave me a grandson to watch with. Ut oh Cameron he's awful close and your awake, followed by a quick scamper to his room. Memories are priceless.
It is a bit of an oddity to have something as ominous as NORAD tracking Santa. My daughter asked me what NORAD was during one of these light hearted Christmas eve updates and that was a rabbit hole I did not what to go down... for some reason it took a bit of doing to change the subject. lol
Us here in Canada don't fit in huh
Yes! I was just coming here to write about this. It’s such a fun fact it should’ve been included.
Fun fact, according to the SG1 behind the scenes look. There is a broom closet in Cheyenne mountain entitled SGC
Yes.."broom closet"
Star Gay Command :D
Bet that "broom closet" uses colossal amounts of power and quietly consumes an enormous chunk of budget.
jadefalcon001 It could be vital for national security, or it could be corruption.
Ha! I laughed
I live about 40 miles from there. I took the "tour". I tried to sneak away and see the "real stuff". Note: They don't like it when you do that. The carpeting in the detention center is nice.
serves you right :D
Nice carpets are good, but ..... was the coffee decent in the detention centre?
I live near Denver tho I've never taken a tour of norad but I've been to Patterson's and fort Logan.
Don’t try that at Russian complexes. All you’ll get to see is the room with the sloped floor and a drain.
Seems like a good way to end up with a body cavity search and on a list to get "randomly" selected for addition airport screening.
This is one of the best videos on the NORAD subject I’ve seen since I retired. I worked on the Mountain upgrade and the upgrades to the sensor sites that sent warning data to the Mountain. Spent my entire USAF career in the Space Command, before there was a Space Force! Thank you for the memories. (One photo must be older-I don’t think the Airmen can smoke in the dining facilities anymore.)
"I love the Stargate series"
Ah, a man of culture.
Simon: I really like the show Stargate SG1.
Me: I see you're a man of culture!
Actually he said ‘all the iterations of Stargate’. Which unfortunately includes Universe.
@@--enyo-- well universe is better then the animated version stargate unlimited from 4kids back in the day
@@--enyo-- SG1 would have been better if it ended after 8 seasons instead of continuing to season 9 with half of a new cast. I'm pretty sure Atlantis should have ended one season before it actually did. SGU is odd in that its second and final season seemed better than the first (other than it will never have the cliffhanger at the end of series resolved.)
@@jonnunn4196 The new cast of SG1 was okay. Ben Browder and Claudia Black had an established on-screen chemistry from Farscape and Beau Bridges was playing the first character I actually liked him as. What was not okay was the Ori storyline. I think it would have been fine if they had just written the rest of the series as the SGC dealing with the after-effects of the collapse of the System Lords.
Simon referencing pop culture. I never thought I'd live to see the day.
I knew the moment I saw Cheyenne mountain that we were starting off with a stargate reference 😂
STARGATE FTW! ❤️❤️❤️
SG-1! :D
I came here for the Stargate reference. I was not disappointed.
Only reason I'm here
I was hoping Wargames would get a mention too...I was disappointed...
I was assigned at Cheyenne Mountain/NORAD as a Security Forces member in 1992 - 1993. Working there was top notch.
🎯🎯🎯👍 Mark! It was a very small, tight knit community! I was assigned there 2008 for 18 Months taking Engineering Air Samples on Concrete- Radioactive Decay & Depth Affects on Hearing/ ABSENCE of T- Ear Ringing. Although the NO : Pets, Crappy Videos and Odd Smells; have to say the S*** on a Shingle & Cheese- Onion/ Fries were pretty good! Except the ZERO: ANY food/ Spices/ Sauces / Personal Grooming- that could promote Mold - Acidic- Spores or Allegers Rules were Rightfully enforced. Shame after 18 months- I was informed I “ wouldn’t be invited back in “ anytime in the Future Despite my Clearance. Long Story… but it involved POP CORN 🍿. God Bless. BRN. 👴🏽NoBody. ( maybe Bill Gates Will employee me! After he’s finished buying a 4th/ 5th/ 6th U.S. State!)
My college roommate in 1976 worked and lived in the mountain in the early 70’s. He was in the Air Force and repair electronics. He left to attend college. One February day I answered a knock at our apartment door. Three Air Force officers were looking for my roommate. Reminds me of SG Universe opening. He returned a month later. With short military hair cut. All he said was he was ‘asked’ to fix stuff. He scored A’s on the midterms he missed. Those guys had the coolest sunglasses.
You should do The Stargate Program for your April Fool's episode of Megaprojects. I know it's a while away but I'd love to hear an episode delivered in a serious style on The Stargate.
this must happen
I would also love to see this.
Well, the complex has already been built and the Ancients made the Stargate, so there really wouldn't be much to it, other than maybe the crane that lowered it into position after taking out an ICBM ,then sealing it. Big whooup.
@@kurtsnyder4752 but the building of the complex would be interesting. Then there is the discovery of the gate. How it was brought back to the states and the early testing of the gate. Or just go back to the ancients building of the gate
@@derrickfoster644 Think that secondt thing is what something called Stargate Origins is about and an episode had it being shipped on a freighter to the US. Another had SG1 using the gate at the warehouse it was in in the past to get back to their time.
You had me at Stargate.
The truth is just as cool, this thing could survive A supernova almost lol
Stargate FTW!!!!
Indeed
He almost lost me for that. (#trueTrekkie)
@@JohnDoe-tt6bh Anything can survive a supernova...
...if it happened far enough away. :D
"Today on Megaprojects we're going to talk about the vast Stargate network"
From the desert wastes of Abydos to the lush verdant forests of Chulak and even to places (and times) thought unreachable in human lifespans, the Stargate Network is a massive array of wormhole generating devices allowing near instantaneous transport accross vast distances throughout the galaxy, and even beyond.
But how does this massively complex network function? Who made it? And why? Lets dive in on today's... Megaproject!
This would probably the one Megaproject Simon wants to investigate personally instead of researching it on the internet ;-)
I would like to see it on the sideprojects channel
He could always do it as an April 1st episode... if I remember correctly you have April Fools /day in the states don’t you?
@@damianjaviervediamcmahon7149 Simon needs to get on this ASAP.
NORAD Computer: "Shall we play a game?"
How about a nice game of Geothermal Nuclear Warfare?
“Wouldn’t you prefer a nice game of chess?”
Fine
Is this a game or is it real?
The only winning move is not to play.
In the fall of 1979 I went on one of the tours of Cheyenne Mountain installation. We saw a tunnel, blast doors, shock absorbers on which building rests, a class room. It was a very “sterile “ presentation on the whole. When Iranians took over US Embassy in Tehran the tours ended.
Later in summer of 1980 a friend happened to deviate off Old Stage Rd and on to access road to Cheyenne mountain back door. The side trip ended abruptly when armed sentries materialized out of the woods. The sentries politely returned the visitors to the correct road.
Cant wait to hear about the stargate.
Agree
DAMMM!!! I knew id be too slow to mention Stargate. And now just hearing Simon mention Stargate. So kind of pointless. Anyway. Why delete a comment?
Trying to remember what the Stargate replaced in Cheyenne, as you have to go "down" several levels to reach it.
@@scottpoole2182 A missile silo. It's in the movie and/or the pilot episode.
Ditto
As a fellow SG-1 fan you have my deepest of respect!
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series:
www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
@@dantetre How does singing up work? Do we have to gather at the foot of the studio's headquarters and all sing together until they hear us outside their window?
The Stargate program originally was situated in another mountain complex, which is seen in the 1994 movie, but prior to the events of the series, it had been moved to Cheyenne.
what mountain
I visited Colorado Springs back in the 90's. From where I was staying, you could see the north entrance. There were dump trucks running in and out of there about every 10 minutes. I'd think it's safe to say it has been expanded a bit since the first build out.
My father worked at Cheyenne Mountain, and my mother worked for NORAD at Peterson AFB, so I got to tour it a few times. I wish it looked like it does in Stargate or War Games, but it is more mundane and cramped. The combat center is pretty cool though. The parking lot and outside buildings are built on the rubble dug out when the tunnels were dug. The first HQ, Ent AFB, was a very small base only a few blocks in size and is now the US Olympic Training Center.
"Open the Iris." -General Hammond
"What the HELL is going on?!?"
@@lubtp7133 In the middle of my backswing?!?!?!?!
@@paulmichaelfreedman8334 haha
Hammond and Teal'c wasn't it?
@@EZ-D-FIANT O'neill was hitting balls thru the gate with teal'c when hammond shouts that thru the PA system and O'neill shouts back "In the middle.." Season 4 episode "window of opportunity"
@@paulmichaelfreedman8334 yea your right, I said Hammond when I meant O'Neil lol...👍👌👍
In the middle of my back swing!!!!
Indeed.
I like the resignation part in that episode.
I'm taking this loop off
*kisses Carter right before the end of the loop*
also: Teal'c decking the Airman who collides with him at the start of every loop
WHACKO!! 😠😠😠
"The world's not ending every day." -Simon
Greatest original quote I've heard in a long time.
Interesting that you covered the SAGE computer system. I'm a computer programmer / systems analyst who is interested in history and I've been in the game since 1978, when computers were a BIT different.
In 2005 I was on an ocean cruise with my parents - before the ship left I sat down at the table with my parents and the was an elderly couple there as well - they looked to be mid 80s, perhaps even older.
In conversation I found out that the fellow had worked on ENIAC which is generally considered to be the first "production" computer! He had then gone to work for IBM and was involved with the SAGE project in the 1950s - he had two patents to his name that had only recently been de-classified as they pertained to national defense.
Unfortunately, in a MASSIVE brain fart, I did NOT find out the fellow's name.
It would be the computer equivalent of meeting Henry Ford, frankly. He had been in computing since the very beginning.
As a civilian, I count myself lucky to have gone on a tour of "the mountain" back in 1989. One interesting thing is their water reservoir, which is basically a man-made lake, complete with rowboat. The main control room disappointingly didn't look anything like the one from War Games, but the tour guide said they were working on building a new one, based on the the movie. He said it with a totally straight face and none of us were quite sure if he was serious. I can't confirm the SGC broom closet story, as the show didn't come along until much later.
Simon,
Do a episode of your YT channels.
They are pretty much a mega project.
There is one its like 2hrs long i don't remember the name of it
Ayyy hello fellow Stargate fan!
ME TOO LOL
That was indeed a good show
Im still watching/rewatching it. Im on the last episode of season 2 SG1 as of 20 minutes ago :). Before that i fisished of Atlantis for the second 2 time :)
@@dandutre2272 Indeed
@@nicosmind3 beat me to it you legend
"Would you like to play a game of global thermonuclear war?"
Cheyenne Mountain was used for the movie War Games in 1983
How about a nice game of chess?
Hollywood was not permitted to film in the mountain for that movie so they made up what they thought looked like what was inside. During a later renovation the Government used some of the ideas from the movie in their renovation.
"I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it would help." (Most memorable line is from the NORAD commander in the movie.)
@@howlandowlle7953 "We've had boys in those silos since you were play'n Houdy Doody!"
Flashback to freshman year of High School
My Dad's friend used to work out of the Aleutian Island chain base in the 60's. He would sit by himself for 6 months waiting for the radar to go "blip" and then call people. My Dad's job was to maintain the lines connecting it to the mainland, which is basically how they knew each other. Dad would stay for a couple days while working on the lines and all the other stuff (IDK, I wasn't even born yet). Some of the stories were amazing, but most of it was just loneliness. In the end, Dad's friend was just a little bit insane, but he was still an awesome guy. I did meet him, but he was half mad by then.
13:52 Children in Canada had these drills too. I remember very vividly these drills. They had us line up in the basement and leave in some order (that I don't recall) and we were to walk home, presumably to be vaporized half-way there. During the Cuban missile crisis I remember the fear in the faces of every adult in my world, teachers and relatives. I didn't understand what was happening but I was scared too. I remember praying to God to not let me die....
_WarGames_ fired my imagination when I was a kid; even though the interior looks nothing like what they showed in that movie, it always fascinated me.
'Greetings Professor Falken, would you like to play a game?'
When I was 19 (I think) my dad came by, picked me up, and took me to the grandparents' place for Christmas. Dad's cousin Marianne and her husband Mac were there, first time I had seen them since I was about 9. Mac had a story to tell. He was a Journeyman Carpenter and he had worked on the set crew for a real Hollywood movie, something about some stupid punk kid messing around with his computer and almost starting WW III. Sounded like a real turkey to me and I doubted I would ever see it, but it was fun listening to Mac talk about his experiences doing something out of the ordinary.
Actually, I loved it when I saw it, although it took me a while, nearly half way through at the scene where Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy catch the ferry to the island, at which point I saw that it was a Washington State Ferry, to realize that this was the film Mac had worked on.
The Cheyenne Mountain Complex entrance in the movie was actually at Diablo Dam just off the North Cascades Highway. When they were working on that location the crew stayed in trailers in the town of Newhalem, about 30 miles to the west. The way Mac told the tale, when they would get dome with the day the would all head back to Newhalem and pile into the small local restaurant for dinner. Someone got the bright idea to start telling the good townsfolk that the movie they were working on starred Burt Reynolds. Why not, right? I mean...Reynolds was HUGE at that time while Broderick was almost unknown. So they would sit there, eat their dinner and talk about "what Burt did today". Pretty soon the townies were telling their own "Burt stories". "I shook his hand!" "I got his autograph!" Mac and his buddies laughed the whole time.
In 2000 Dad, who had by this time divorced from his 3rd wife, and Marianne, now a widow, rented a two-bedroom house together. Hadn't seen her since that Christmas, so I got the chance, finally to ask her about the movie, what she could tell me. She said that Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker were wonderful people and a cute young couple together and that she had gotten both of their autographs.
@@fredlougee2807 Sarah Jessica Parker wasn't in War Games though. Do you mean Ali Sheedy?
Perhaps you need to reread his story. He didn't say that.
@@catfan5756 Well perhaps I'm stupid but I've re-read it and to me it looks like that "finally to ask her about the movie" is still referring to War Games and that "Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker were wonderful...” is referring to people she met on the set. Feel free to enlighten me.
I look a Simon's head in this video and just think "Hammond of Texas"
He was a great man
Whistler of Britain.
i saw this and thought it was that Galaxy guy who helps people with their cats
Simon would need to shave his magnifcant beard and then apply aging makeup to add between 40 and 50 years to look like Hammond.
@@ericmcconnaughey2782 if whistler is our Hammond then we're fucked cos he can barely remember his own videos let alone anything else haha!
I live in Colorado Springs.
Cheyenne Mountain is nowhere near Divide Colorado and there are no gold mines on Cheyenne Mountain. I would sure like to know where you heard that story.
NORAD is staffed with a lot of Canadian soldiers that I see when I go shopping and especially at the DMV.
Ent air force base no longer exists. It became the United States Olympic training center.
There used to be guided tours of the underground complex but they were cancelled after the September 11 attack.
I would love to see an April fools version of this explaining the role it plays in Stargate
There is a Stargate room in Cheyenne mountain. It's a broom closet.
@@daisiesofdoom No! The real SGC! The "broom closet" is just a cheap (though admittedly effective) plausible deniability gambit! Some airmen had a good idea, and they actually went with it. Unbureaucratic, if you ask me!
"Titanic sized blast doors...", well then, they'll be totally safe in the event they hit an iceburg
Not so much, considering....
@@GeoEstes Yeah, that's the joke.
we all know how well the real Titanic turned out....
@@GeoEstes r/that'sthejoke
The unsinkable blast doors..
I already like you, but now that I know you're a Stargate fan, I practically love you :))
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series:
www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
PLease can ypu do one on the Tokyo Flood Prevention System
I think I saw a video on it, but I don't recall what channel it was.
Was assigned there from 1975 to 1979 and was the best duty station I ever had. I managed to get my wife and a visiting high school friend and his wife on a tour and they still talk about it to this day as the most amazing place they've ever seen.
I was lucky enough to be able to take a tour in about 2012. Probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Fun fact: most of the doors are kept closed and the labels are purposely mixed up in case someone were to sneak in. In other words, if you open a door marked “main control center” don’t be surprised if it’s a janitor’s closet. Or just a bunch of guys with guns pointed at you...
The Stargate program, now that is a mega project!
Is it too early to start talking about a video for April Fool's day?
How about CIA project stargate for real
Just started watching Stargate SG-1 again don't think I've ever clicked on a video so fast .
Theres a NORAD installation in my hometown in North Bay, Ontario. When my dad was young his uncle took him inside as they were building it (its nicknamed The Hole). Canada's own little Cheyenne Mountain not many people know of.
Noted "NORAD installation in my hometown in North Bay, Ontario" ... thx for sharing
My friend grew up in North Bay, Ontario where SAGE was located. She lived in the Sage subdivision beside the Norad complex. We went down the tunnel under Canadian Shield twice after the base was no longer the first line of defence. Both times I panicked while breathing in the diesel fumes of the school buses used to transport the tourists and skeleton staff. It was a single tunnel, about two miles long. I'm surprised you didn't mention it because it was in service before Cheyenne.
I’ve been to the tunnel in North Bay. It doesn’t get mentioned because it’s not American.
Undomesticated equines would not have prevented me from enjoying this video.
Indeed
Wild horses
nice!
now im imagining Mick Jagger singing “undomesticated equines” lol
It would not be wise to attempt that again realheroeswearblack.
"the world's not ending every day"
2020: Let me introduce myself.
Lets all go to the Alpha site till everything blows over.
@@AH-sr5px Chances are that in the Stargate verse the Earth Stargate had the Iris welded tight on it in Mid March 2020 as a means of helping keep the quarantine on Earth in place.
1941: oh, hello little bro!
Allow myself to introduce... myself.
@@crazzy88ss clap...............clap..............clap.................
One of my best friends from high school served there for several years back in the late 1970s to mid-1980s. He had been offered a scholarship to MIT. The Air Force apparently gave him a better deal. At any rate he told me that the computers there were so unreliable that they would tap them with a hammer or even just kick them. His stories were frankly terrifying.
@Doby Pilgrim
"At any rate he told me that the computers there were so unreliable that they would tap them with a hammer or even just kick them"......and yet they went to the moon back in the 60s with computers which were even worse.....🙄.....or have they.......🤔
"The world's not ending every day" is a funny thing to hear someone say in 2020
Don’t confuse societies bowing down to the demands of authority as a sign the world is ending; it’s only just pushing the cycle mover the arch.
I worked there 1999-2001 it was a great place they used to do tours there for anyone who wanted one... They were awesome.
Funny story: I was in training at Lowery AFB in Denver in 1978. I wanted to go on a tour BUT, they only had tours during 9-5 monday thru friday. In training we got NO time off, so I went to the training OIC and asked if he could allow us to go to NORAD and could he drive some of us. He had never been there either. So, the commander, my instructor and 8 students made the trip. It was great! The buildings on springs, the armed guard in front of our tour and behind (all of us were in uniform), but BOTH doors were open at the same time. We were instructed, if an alert came in, we would be placed in the tunnel and the doors would be closed.... Good Luck!. My classmates never thanked me but, I got the unique tour of a lifetime. (Training was for F-106 MA1 mockup, 32132xC school).
SG1 constantly talked about that being right above them and used B role of the entrance
and they had the Air Force Chief of Staff on the show and a couple of other Air Force people. IIRC they thought Col O'neil was a little tamer than some of the Colonels in the Air Force
@@Bruisedmelon "Air Force Chief of Staff" Twice!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_SG-1#Collaboration_with_the_military
"B roll" maybe?
Oh, the multi billion dollar complex who's sole most important purpose is to track Santa while he's delivering presents.
Actually they track Santa from the Canadian side in North Bay, Ontario
norad and cheyenne mountain complex house the stargate of course :P
whose
As long as "Santa" isn't delivering "presents" by the megaton...
I've heard a rumor that the sleigh and reindeer are nuclear powered lol
My mind immediately went to Stargate when I saw the title of this too 😂😂😂😂 #Nerd
#ProudNerd 👍😉
I have been inside the mountain. Sometimes they have limited tours. It’s impressive. Doesn’t look anything like the movies, or tv shows. More cramped. Reminds me of being on a clean drilling rig.
I was there when I was 15 or 16, back around 1974 or so, as a Canadian Air Cadet from Regina, Saskatchewan. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen! I remember those giant coil springs holding the building up, and driving into the place in that bus. The control room was very James Bondesque. Kind of like every Bond film ending where the evil villain's control bunker was being destroyed. We teenagers were really happy for the road trip and of course everyone else in high school was jealous of us, which was quite satisfying as well! (Smirk, smirk ...)
And I know they are hiding the Stargate somewhere in there... :D
19 floors below the main base
Indeed
And no one can convince me otherwise!!!
Costed 1.2B to make and got a 1.7B "upgrade" in the mid 90s...
*Stargate theme starts playing in the background*
indeed
Today we can't build a bridge for that kind of money....
@@zelenizub2036 Or a bridge to other worlds, or a gate to the stars of some sort....
"We've had men in those silos since before any of you guys were watching Howdy Doody!" General Beringer
"I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it would do any good!" Also General Beringer
This was my first Air Force duty assignment. Pretty cool place/experience!
"-most secret and well known-" So true! I can see this place from my current house on a clear day and night it is very well illuminated. I know the area where I live has a huge "X" on it for any world major conflict. I hope that the world never get's to the point I see the 'flash' and hear the 'BANG' before all goes dark.....
I came to find my fellow Stargate nerds, I am not disappointed.
My favourite depiction of NORAD Cheyenne Mountain is in War Games!
Hey Simon I used to serve in the 21Space Wing who now is responsible for the missile warning network, you should do a Mega Project on our early warning radar system... uses a solid state digital steering system that’s pretty trick and hasn’t really been duplicated yet
That is cool af!
JTAGS is better
The two airmen in the boat in the industrial reservoir i was stationed there with them. So cool that photo is still being seen.
I was at Peterson AFB in the early 1990s. Colorado Springs is a beautiful place. Every morning I would open my shades at the barracks and there was Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mountain, just gorgeous.
My Father worked for Cat and back in the 70s he used to go in Cheyenne Mountain to work on the generators all the time. I never knew what he saw or what stories he could have told since he had to sign a non-disclosure with the Feds. RIP Dad!
I always like to learn about stuff like this as a native Coloradan.
Next episode Atlantis. The lost city of the Ancients.... That's also a frigging enormous spaceship!
Let's get those darn Wraith 😄
I was stationed there for 6 years. I had access to the entire complex, best assignment of my entire career
Stop lying😂😂😂
KGB coming for your ass
I lived in CO Springs for 3 years. My condo had a view of Pikes Peak. Never realized I could see NORAD at night
I worked out of NORAD for 6 years, And damn it was the best place I've ever been assigned to. 2-hour lunches playing basketball. The Chow hall had the best food. I wish I wasn't so young at the time, I would've appreciated it much more, But I've been all over the inside of that mountain.
We never should have moved NORAD out of Cheyenne Mountain. This was motivated by the foolish optimism of the post-Soviet era, when we unilaterally disarmed our nuclear deterrent. We will pay dearly for this lack of operational readiness one day
The primary reason given for the move was the cost of maintaining the Cheyenne Mountain complex. I once worked for an army Colonel at US Space Command in 1992 who advocated for this move at his retirement in 1995. Prior to the announcement of the plan to mofe, many of the operational missions had already been transferred to Vandenburg AFB, CA in order to justify the 14th Air Force's existence as an "operational" unit. I worked in the Missile Warning Center 1993-1995. It was the best assignment in my career.
Pretty sure I first learned about this place in the Matthew Broderick movie War Games.
Some items not mentioned and probably not know are:
-There is a piece of the world trade center towers outside as a memorial
-There is a Subway restaurant inside
-You can walk instead of taking the bus/van but it's a fair distance and the air is thin for those not used to those heights
-There are Canadian Troops on the base
-Military personnel wear fatigues including the Navy
-There are warnings all over the place that lethal force will be used so that guy that claimed to wander away is lucky if his story is true
-If you trigger an alarm, guys with M16's will show up to secure the area which includes you being on the ground with your ID held in the air before they ask questions
and lastly
-NOC2 personnel > NOC1 personnel
I was one of the folks in the 1010th Special Security Squadron, carrying the M-16 from '83 to '89 (along with a 9mm) - and yes, we would "jack up" anyone who wandered away, or wasn't displaying their restricted area badge. In one instance, we jacked up a full bird colonel who was in civvies, but forgot to display his badge.
I spent many, many cold, freezing nights sitting outside the blast doors - you weren't allowed to play music, read, or anything else -only checking incoming badges and wishing you were someplace else. (I did, however, learn to juggle while stationed there!)
Also, he's incorrect about the blast doors being cycled like an entrapment area. In the seven years I was there, they only cycled the doors during base level exercises or routine maintenance. The doors were notoriously finnicky and they'd sometimes have to use the hydraulic hand pump to close them.
I grew up in Colorado Springs and worked as a contractor for years, worked on Peterson AFB, Falcon AFB and inside NORAD, was a cool job and paid amazing
My aunt worked there and got us a tour one summer vacation. She could take us anywhere she was allowed to go. We saw two main "work areas". Space Surveillance, where they track everything in space and the early missile detection room (I forget what it was called) where they use infrared to detect any missile launches anywhere in the world. Pretty cool place.
Bring back Stargates!
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series:
www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
Another Stargate fan here. Let it rest in peace.
Just seen here on RUclips there going to do more carrying on from S.G. Atlantis near future look it up.
I can't believe you forgot to mention tracking Santa! 🎅 It's NORAD's most important task.
he did, watch the whole video
Hello Simon, could love to hear you on any infrastructure projects that are located in the province of Québec, Canada. Plenty of great projects up north, the Manic-5 dam, or the Fermont city wall. Love the channel!
It’s also considered a historical site. I was assigned to NORAD for 3 years as a Command & Control Air Battle Manager. Because I’m a massive fan of WarGames, I was crushed to arrive and find out I was not going to be actually in the complex. But I did tour it, as well as several B-52s and a decommissioned Air Force Facility Titan II Missile Site. So I got to have the whole Cold War nuclear serial experience. Especially being a Gen-X dude who remembers being freaked out in Jr High after watching The Day After (1983).
I toured NORAD in high school in 2000 with our aerospace class. I lived in Colorado Springs, and one of the people in my class had a dad in the Canadian Air Force stationed there. Once the Cold War was over, the base lost most of its mystery, and when we went, as you see in the video, it was more a museum of late-mid-century office furniture than an impressive billion-dollar command center. As 2001 and 2020 have proved, when a biological or computer virus or a targeted terrorist is capable of more havoc on a nation than thermonuclear weapons, an apocalyptic bunker is rather superfluous.
You haven't lived if you didn't go thru the "Duck and Cover" era.
No, but the children in the elementary school building that I work in have to take part in shelter in place and active shooter drills each month along with their fire drills and tornado drills.
Today everybody ridicules that famous duck and cover video with a turtle which thought the people how to react in the case of a nuclear explosion, but the advice was sound then as much as it is today. Of course, ducking and covering won't help you if a 500Kt bomb explodes 500 yards from you but if you see a flash and duck behind something sturdy, and an explosion occurred a few miles from where you were standing, then hell yeah, that shit could save your life...
@@markbrisec3972 nonsense! Obviously school desks of the 1950 were built from far more substantial material than today!! 😁
Simon: I like stargaze sg1.
Me: Hit the like button
yeah, those weapon systems put inside to shield them from an attack is just the cover story for them moving the Stargate program inside. ;D
Fun footnote - the reason NORAD can take a direct hit - probably greater than estimated - is the design of the tunnels. The entrance is off a T junction. The T extends through the mountain - which is where the shockwave would travel. Atmospheric overpressure doesn't do right turns of any considerable length, so any effects at the (massive) doors would be minimal as most of the wave would pass through a solid granite mountain and out the other side.
I've visited and got a tour as part of a Summer program for high school students going into engineering sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers in partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers and the US Air Force Academy! It's a little surreal and really fascinating how simple but clever solutions can solve problems large and small.
"the worlds not ending every day"
Simon Whistler - 2020
Probably because I love Stargate too but I really enjoyed this one!
I love the stargate series! ❤️
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series:
www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
Yay, a fellow Stargate fan lol. NORAD didn't have to move out for the SGC tho, the SGC was located under it. In the show, I think it was sub-levels 1-11 that were used by NORAD, and sub-levels 12-28 were used by the SGC with sub-level 28 being the level that held the actual gate room. Given the fact that the US Air Force was heavily involved in the making of SG-1, I'm inclined to believe it does in fact have many sub-levels lol. I believe this is also part of the setting of the 1983 movie, War Games, which, if not based on, must have at least been heavily inspired by one or two of those false alarms you mentioned, as they sounded a lot like the movie lol.
So a few inaccuracies:
-The mountain is used by the Watch on a regular basis. Every Watch crew (A through E) does and entire shift cycle (2 days, 2 swings, 2 mids) at least once a quarter.
-The Watch has moved back into the mountain on numerous occasions due to threats. Additionally the Watch moved into the mountain for 5+ months when the Peterson facility was being renovated.
-Lots of people walk from the parking lot all the way in. For one thing, the bus sometimes breaks down. For another, you are about to be seated for 8-12 hours so its a nice way to stretch.
-The move out of the mountain was due to space. When the NORTHCOM mission was added to the NORAD mission, more bodies were needed.
-The doors are closed for training on a regular basis and crews stay in the facility for extended periods (read days) during that time.
-I dont know what picture you have for the Peterson facility but it is not the NORTHCOM building.
Trivia:
-The Navy does reenlistment ceremonies on that boat in the lake
-When you park you crack your windows a tiny bit. The mountain creates massive downdrafts that rapidly change the air pressure and windows are known to blow out
-There is a door marked "Stargate Room"
11:50 what are the hiding in there? The Stargate. They found the Stargate.
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series:
www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE
They got an Ori ring too. Its called Apple HQ
Stargate Command is like three levels below NORAD.
I'm gonna twitter you and we'll geek out over SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis
“They moved out to make room for the StarGate people.” One of my all time favorite shows! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
C’mon Simon, it’s time you do a MegaProjects episode about the StarGate Network! I’m sure us fans would love you to tackle this galactic network, you can do it!! 🥰🥰🥰
I grew up in the shadow of Cheyenne Mountain, learned to ski on its slopes, visit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. As a kid I knew we'd all be toast in a nuclear exchange, as a primary target - right behind Washington DC and New York City. An interesting thing to recognize, as a 10 year old. As a Young Astronaut in grade school, visited there on a school trip, got to tour the command center modular buildings inside the cavern, all supported on gigantic shock absorbing springs.
My father, a WW II, Korea, and Vietnam veteran, retired in 1969, worked sometime at Cheyenne Mountain. I found this out by taking him to see "Wargames," for Father's day in 1983. I didn't know that the US Airforce was a part of the plot in the movie, as my father would let me know how many mistakes were made. To my surprise Dad said that their NORAD, was as he remembered it except for the fake computer and the large red warning light in the middle of the complex. Of course he didn't go into details of his work there, I do know he was in Airforce communications.
Correct, SG-1 command is located in Cheyenne Mountain Complex.
I am currently rewatching Stargate SG1. On season 4.
@@ericvacca551 me too! 3rd time again.
@@ericvacca551 You sir are in good company
The shot of the exterior of the complex on SG1 was actually filmed on location and 2 real air force chiefs of staff were on the show Michael E Ryan and John Jumper.
Stargate fans. Here you can sing up for a Petition of the Revive Stargate series:
www.change.org/p/mgm-studios-revive-the-stargate-franchise?recruited_by_id=d0206560-107a-11ea-9259-6b4ba708510c&fbclid=IwAR3LQC_p0wZk5iTl9S7Cxbzo6fnWyfNcBA0NTcTGYCoc6x74_0CJOOLqqdE