I dare not be annoying in the recollections of my service in the formidable form of the troops - the Strategic Missile Forces. I saw enough photos on the Internet about the R-12 missile system, which was called "Sandal" in the west. Sandalwood in nature is a tree with a wide crown. If you process a snapshot of this tree in Photoshop, transferring the snapshot to the contour processing mode, but in black and white, it will look like a snapshot of a nuclear explosion.
Looking at the pictures of this complex on the Internet, I drew attention to the staging of these pictures. There are even such beautiful missiles in the color image, in the new special protection there are numbers of calculations. In reality, there was nothing of color in combat training at this complex. There was hellish work in gas masks and rubber, in any weather and time of year and day. There was a yellow-brown gas fog from the oxidizer vapors during the complex trainings with the MRT refueling, a terrible stench from the fuel spilled on the concrete of the launch pad. There were leaks of terrible acid from the loose connection of the flanges, burns and injuries to the numbers of the calculations. Sweat poured out of rubber boots after removing the rocket from the launch pad.
During the period of combat duty, inspectors came from overseas, examined the premises of the complex, asked to roll the missiles onto the piezoelectric sensors to check whether they were filled or not. It was 1990 - time to fulfill the shameful agreement on the reduction of the INF Treaty. Under these conditions, with the permission of the opera, some officers photographed the military complex going down in history. I didn’t stand aside either. For a long time I had tapes, the hard times of the 90s did not allow me to start translating them into digital. But now I am retired, I remembered about them. I would like to share my photo archive with VO readers. There will be questions - I will answer if possible and if there is time.
