Alaska 1:Base Clear

It is cold out there!

that's a working dog.. err bear

It is cold out there, and we are having a great time. We finished a show and went out to a Halloween party. The zombie theme was def prevalent. They love the idea of the zombie Apocalypse.
There were a lot of severe talks on this. I believe Alaska would be a safe place during this because of the firepower but one word... well two words ZOMBIE BEARS!




Clear Air Station, Alaska

Clear is in Central Alaska, It is a massive radar in the middle of nowhere. These photos are some of the equipment from the '50s. I didn't get to check out the new stuff because it was way too cold.

Clear Air Station is home to the 13th Space Warning Squadron. The squadron is assigned to the 21st Space Wing, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

The primary mission of Clear AFS is to provide Early Warning of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and Sea-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) to the Missile Warning Center (MWC) at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

If there is any type of attack toward us- these guys will know before the attacker even knows they are thinking of attacking North America.
Five people man the radars 24hours a day. Air Force personnel are assigned to operations, security police, fire department, and squadron staff. Clear is about 14 officers and 99 enlisted military members, and 3 Canadians (who mostly tell the Americans how great Canadian bases are), 50 Department of Defense civilian, and 210 contract employees.

Clear Air Station had three large detection radar antennas that transmitted radar energy into space. Each was 400 feet wide by 185 feet high and weighed 2 million pounds. Also, located at Clear was a tracking radar housed in a 140-foot atop one of the transmitter buildings and 1 German lady who made us lunch.

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The building looks like the "Death Star." All white hallways instantly confuse you, and it is really easy to get lost.

It is so cold the workers travel by shuttle bus to the operations and security work areas; otherwise, all in the same 1 building to minimize exposure to the arctic environment. Clear covers a total of 11,500 acres.

The show was well attended, and we had a lot of fun with the guys. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling so great and headed down toward my room right after the show to rest.

http://polarnorthernlights.blogspot.com/

Mount McKinley lies 100 miles to the southwest and is visible from the site on a "clear" day dump! We left in the middle of the night and was hoping to catch the Northern Lights... We pulled over on the highway and did. It was terrific- like aliens trying to enter our town like in the movie "The Stand" funky green mist floating around.. I wish My camera was kind enough to take a photo- but I found a picture online that looks a lot like what we experienced.