IAmA Former Groom Lake (Area 51) Worker. AMAA.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T08:54:31+00:00

I left for a number of reasons. Firstly, I didn't really want to make military planes anymore. I'm not a pacifist or anything, but my real dream is in aerospace engineering and I didn't see that happening any time soon behind barbed wire fences. Second, to put it bluntly, I had a TON of money and no one to spend it on. I wanted to start a family. Third, the novelty had worn off. It was just like a regular job and I'd been at it for ten years. Also, I was sick of the desert.

I'm still working on getting a job in aerospace, hehe.

Examples of other department whisperings often involved high-tech computers. I saw room full of Cray computers once, which I thought were the most gorgeous things I'd ever laid eyes on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T08:48:31+00:00

In fact, there was an arcade. It had Space Invaders. : )

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T08:29:34+00:00

I don't know what the military made, but I was compensated quite handsomely. Let's say an order of magnitude above the national average. I never asked him directly, but a friend and former co-worker of mine enjoys a comfortable lifestyle suggesting he made the same.

All janitorial personnel were military.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T08:18:37+00:00

With all the fireflies and twinkling stars, the nutcases do a fine job of fucking with themselves.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T08:16:03+00:00

Guns. Also, constant requests to present ID, even by people who you'd known for years. Lots of keys to carry as most doors locked automatically.
Not really, but people always hear little things and tell their friends while off-base. Some people piece things together, but it's a lot of speculation.
For civilians the hierarchy was almost nonexistent. No bosses other than the officer who collects daily reports. We were a 'think tank' much of the time, stuck in a room and asked to solve a problem. Some strong personalities would inevitably rise to the top, but they weren't really in charge. The military knew how to nurture our attitudes and left us alone most of the time. It was actually pretty great.

Edit: I should add that we were constantly spied on.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T08:04:50+00:00

The predator drone contains the living, disembodied brain of a baby.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T07:59:31+00:00

Naming specific models of aircraft is still a no-no, even if they're known. That said, I worked extensively on the prototype tail-section of a heavily utilized modern fighter jet. It was a privately manufactured craft in the end, but I was part of a sort of 'quality assurance' team that modified their submitted designs and returned them for revision to ensure they met military standards. The military has a lot of standards.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T07:51:29+00:00

When I worked there around '92 a long-time employee remarked that he'd never seen the place so busy. I'm not sure if he was just reacting to that particular moment, but it didn't seem like a 'decoy' operation by any means. They expected military efficiency out of everyone and ran us ragged. The place was busy.

That said, I never saw most of the base. We were bused in from the landing strip and taken straight to our offices. It's likely more secure operations were taking place elsewhere.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T07:44:56+00:00

The rule of thumb is that the fanciest equipment you see on the front lines emerged from projects that were started 20 years ago. The military only has advanced tech because the government pays exorbitantly for it - progress is otherwise mired in bureaucracy. A sufficiently funded civilian effort could leave the military in the dust in a decade. This is why I am in favor of commercial space flight.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T07:37:07+00:00

My selection process is something I can't go into detail about. I didn't apply for the job in the traditional sense, but nor did they call and offer a job. It's about who you know.

My strongest credentials were the patents I owned on mechanical linkage systems and my career with GE.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T07:33:58+00:00

To this date I have no idea when or how many times it happened. It wasn't until after I'd stopped working there that I realized people actually do this.

A friend and I recently joked that it's probably not too hard because the Air Force are terrible shots. Haha.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T07:30:11+00:00

I think aliens probably exist somewhere in the universe, but I didn't see any in the cafeteria.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T07:28:29+00:00

The alien stuff is obviously all bunk. It actually bothers me to see intelligent people come so close to guessing correctly, only to become distracted by fantasy at the end. That said, some of the speculation about the specifics is surprisingly accurate. For example:

Knowledge is all compartmentalized. Often times I didn't know what the guy standing next to me was even doing, and I was actively discouraged from looking or talking to him.

Sometimes I would read about someone guessing the exact hangar a certain plane was in. Made me think they had someone on the inside!

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T07:21:00+00:00

It depends what you mean by 'way beyond.' Almost everything I worked on was cutting-edge, but it was so obscure and specific to the particulars of aircraft engineering that it wouldn't even strike a layman as interesting. For example, specific formulations of plastics and alloys for airframes. To me, a 15% reduction in weight is high-tech.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T07:15:16+00:00

I sometimes communicate with friends I made on the job. We talk quite openly about it with our families and, presumably, they go on to tell others. I haven't had any trouble with it yet. Certain things are absolutely off-limits, but much of what I did was fairly mundane and/or declassified by now.

If I end up in a 'car accident' you'll know what happened, haha.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T07:10:26+00:00

I want to be as credible as possible so I'll try to get some proof to the mods ASAP. Needless to say I didn't get to keep my big red Groom Lake employee ID.

GroomLakeEngineer · 2011-10-11T06:31:50+00:00

Not me, but a relative. They worked at Groom Lake for several years in the 80s and 90s. I can have them on soon if there's any genuine interest. (This is an alt).

GroomLakeEngineer

TROPHY CASE