Cole Smith, Director, Writer 

Sloan Grant(s) Received: 2023, Film Independent Fast Track / 2023, TIFF, Project Pitch Participant

Project Type: Feature 

Genre: Biopic 

Length: 

Field of Science: Physics; Nuclear Technology

Stage: Development 

Synopsis: 

On September 18th, 1980, in rural Arkansas, Air Force Airman Shane Setter (19) arrives at a nuclear missile site. Setter joined the Air Force as a way to pay for college. After completing training for nuclear weapons maintenance, she found that she had more than just a path towards an education, she had a family. She grew to love the tight knit Air Force community and enjoyed the increased level of responsibility she received for her hard work. Having been certified as a nuclear missile crew chief by the Air Force, Setter receives a new crew partner, Isaac Boyle (19). Boyle was not a certified repairman. On September 18th, Setter is showing him the ropes on a series of routine maintenance operations on a nuclear missile.

As the two young technicians are working in the classified missile launch tube, they acciden- tally drop a nine-pound socket down the shaft. It falls 70 feet and punctures the fuel tank at the base of the missile. The missile begins spraying fuel inside the launch tube. As it does the rocket becomes structurally unstable. With every minute that goes by the rocket is at risk of collapsing on itself — an action that would combine the fuel in the air with the oxidizer still in the tank and create an explosive that risks detonating the nuclear warhead. The missile essentially becomes a ticking bomb that, if detonated, contains more explosive power than the combined yield of every single bomb dropped in the entirety of the Second World War, including the bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Setter tries to work with 1st Lieutenant Ron Glenn (23), the young Air Force Officer in charge of the site, to find a solution that will save the crew. But Glenn calls Colonel Sauls (48) who immediately orders the crew to evacuate. As Glenn and Sauls stymie the efforts of Setter and her crew with checklists and bureaucratic processes, Setter breaks back into the missile silo and risks her life to prevent an explosion. When Sauls learns what she’s done, he orders Setter off site, halting the best chance at stopping the explosion. Setter resorts to contacting her crew over the radio, where she offers them advice and instructions as they continue to try and work on the missile. Eventually, the missile detonates. Despite Setter’s attempts to save her friends from the site, she is helpless to watch as Boyle dies in her arms.

When the dust settles, the warhead has been launched in the explosion and has disappeared into the night. Setter joins an Air Force team who must find the warhead and disarm it. As they search for the warhead, Colonel Sauls leads a misinformation campaign with the media, hiding the facts of the explosion and claiming that there is no danger to the surrounding community. Eventually, the crew does find the warhead, fractured and leaking radiation. They are able to neutralize the weapon and deliver it safely back to the base. In the aftermath of the explosion, the Air Force downplays the systemic issues that lead to the disaster, writing the event off as a tragic error on the part of Setter and Boyle. All this despite the fact that Boyle was not a certified repairman. He was receiving what the Air Force calls “on the job training” from Setter on the day of the explosion. His error was caused by the Air Force asking him to do a job he wasn’t trained to do with tools that weren’t right for the job. Ultimately, the Air Force blames Setter for an error that lead to the death of her best friend and the injury of many more. But Setter refuses to sign the Article 15 assigning her responsibility for the disaster. Instead, she turns in her uniform and leaves the Air Force — the only family she’s ever known.