This pre-1970s special covers training training activities at three of the major centers in which the Army's missile men receive their highly specialized training. The United States Army, as almost everyone knows back then was placing an ever-increasing emphasis on guided missiles, projectiles which can deliver deadly conventional or atomic warheads to enemy targets hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
Perhaps the most remarkable fact about these amazing weapons is that they were all developed in little more than a decade. The combination of nuclear weapons and guided missiles have, in a very real sense, revolutionized our concepts of warfare. Although the USA entered a new era, it was not an era of "push button" warfare. For to function, one of these new weapons required more soldiers, better-trained and more highly-skilled, than any other weapon in the history of war.
"Missile Man" dramatically tells the story behind the training of these young men who are taking their places in what was then ... tomorrow's Army. It is a picture dedicated to this new kind of soldier -- the Army Missile Man.
Episode from The Big Picture series (1950-1984) Video courtesy of U.S. Army / Department of Defense
Missile Man
