My father used to command a nuke in the 60s, before they phased out his missile (I forget which one). Once that happened, he went into the less stressful, but equally boring, field of accounting.

Must be like a nuclear sub cruise, without the occasional tipping of the deck... I have a lot of respect for either of those crews.

Actually, they show up around noon, get lunch, go downstairs, (in an elevator) conduct changeover for about an hour, order their dinner and breakfast, and relax to 600 channels of satellite TV. They get relieved the next day.

Oh, and they like making us enlisted folks run around clearing up alarms. We refer to them as cave pilots.

The REAL fun is topside, where your chefs have to prepare 40 meals per day, (ONE guy) while keeping his kitchen in inspection order, the facility manager who makes sure the place doesn't fall apart, (45 year old GOVERNMENT building) and where the security forces control multiple maintenance trips, co-ordinate security responses, and ensure the facility manager stays on his toes.

You could do it, Steve. And Yogimus is pretty much dead-on. I never worked in a silo, but I've known folks that did...it wasn't THAT bad.

Now, OTOH, my middle son was a Boomer Sailor for a couple of years, going 90 days at a time without seeing sunlight, without a decent drink (read that: alcohol) or being able to touch something/anything soft. I sure as Hell couldn't do THAT!