As a person who loves American history and grew up watching the Cold War movies of the 80's, the Titan silo was a site I had been waiting to have a chance to see.
The site in Tucson is the only surviving Titan II missile of the 54 that used to be located in Arizona, Kansas and Arkansas. All the rest have been destroyed as part of treaties with Russia. That made the trip even more rewarding knowing that this is the only place you can see a very important part of American history.
There is a small museum as you enter the visitor's center. The tour starts with a "debriefing" video where the history of the site and its state-of-the-art security measures are explained.
The tour starts with a walk around the grounds where the fueling tanks, booster engines and security systems protecting the site can be seen. There is a window covering the opening of the silo and you can get an idea of how massive these missiles were. That view was the highlight of the trip for me.
You then take a walk inside and get an idea of the saftey measures that had to be in place for this site to survive a nuclear attack. There is even a mock launch senario that is acted out by the guide and a volunteer from the group.
During the tour, I could not help but think that 25-30 years ago, there is no way we would have even known the site existed let alone walk through it. It was almost surreal since the closest I have ever gotten to such a scene was only in the movies.
I highly recommend visiting this site if in the Tucson area or in Phoenix (only about a 2 hour drive)!!
