Vandenberg Space Force Base (f/k/a Vandenberg Air Force Base) in southern California is where most west coast rocket and missile launch activity happens, dating all the way back to the 1950s. Lately people may know of it as where SpaceX launches payloads on Falcon 9 and ULA launches Atlas and Delta rockets. It’s also where the USAF test fires all sorts of missiles including intercontinental ballistic missiles, such as Minuteman III.
In the case of a Minuteman ICBM test, what they will do is pull a random active missile from a silo in Montana, Wyoming, or North Dakota, remove the nuclear warhead, and truck it down to Vandenberg. Here they will mount an instrumented dummy warhead on it, and store it one of the many silos right on the coast.
Usually about 4 times a year they’ll regularly launch a test Minuteman III from Vandenberg toward the Kwajalein Atoll, way out in the Pacific Ocean on the other side of Hawaii. This is done to test readiness, maintenance, and try out new technologies. These tests are scheduled way in advance and are publicly announced as to not escalate tensions somewhere. Generally a press release is sent out a couple of days ahead of a test, sometimes noting which launch facility will be used, and the launch window. If you don’t mind dropping everything at a moments notice to drive there and going to sit in a lawn chair for potentially 8 hours in the cold, you can watch one get launched.
Anyways as part of following SpaceX, ULA, and USAF launch activity there, I spent a while reading up on the various history and lore of the area. I’ve been down there several times to photograph launches, often with time to spend wandering around the area after a scrub. Apparently it was tradition after successful launch for all the technicians and whatnot to head over to a small steak house called The Hitching Post in Casamilia for a beer and steak, which is just a short drive away from Vandenberg. I went there in 2018 and it’s mostly nondescript, except for all the mission badges mounted on the wall and stickers plastered on the mirrors in the bathroom and behind the bar.
A while back I came across this video which described in more detail what happened when a Minuteman missile was launched toward Kwaj. After launch, radar stations at Hawaii and Kwaj will track the incoming missile and warhead, and measure the accuracy of the impact of the warheads vs the intended target. Around the 6:42 mark of the video, they describe the tradition of the launch teams going to Hitching Post, tallying up the number of yards the warheads missed their targets, and then drinking that many yard-sized glasses of beer. Interestingly, the narrator says the person starting off the yard glass activities is Launch Director Randy Eady, and the credits say the video was written and directed by Randy Eady.
I don’t have another source to back this story, but it sure seems plausible, because what an excuse to drink beer.
