Recently, I got to spend four days attending Ekahau training in Arkansas, at the new Titan Ranch training facility.
The Titan Ranch happens to be an actual Titan Missile Silo that GT Hill bought and converted to a usable training facility.
This was the first time an actual class was held in the facility. There were six of us in the inaugural class; an ECSE class taught by Kieth Parsons.
The first day, when we arrived on site, GT gave us a briefing about the Titan Missile Silo and all that he had to do to open it back up after the military had scraped the facility. The site had been scuttled as part of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty(SALT) agreement, back in the 1970's. Part of the scuttling was to cap the silo and the command center. GT has some harrowing tales of all they had to do to open up the command center portion of the facility.
He's been at it for more than ten years, and he and his family have poured massive amounts of time and energy into recovering the missile center and making it into what it is today. Which is ...
I was going to say "training facility," but it's much more than that. The area of the Command Center that they have renovated is three levels, or floors of the Command Center for the missile silo. Check out this article from Wired Magazine for pictures of a Titan Missile Silo #Armageddon.
All floors are connected with a spiral staircase that GT had built with the steel recovered from the site excavation.
The lowest floor is the largest and that's where we ate and watched old movies, like "War-games" that were displayed on the large wall and were played through a great speaker system.
The second floor is where the training was held. This was a most impressive training facility with all the aides an instructor might want when teaching a technical class. It has great lighting control integrated with an Amazon voice control. All the desk were specially designed with power plugs on top of the desks and even phone cradles. The instructors desk had the controls for everything imaginable right at his fingertips.
One of the things I really appreciated was that GT has installed a "short-throw" video projector that allows the instructor to display without having to worry about walking in front of the video projection.
You can tell the room was designed by someone who is familiar with giving classes because that room has everything you need to give a great class - including two huge white boards, which Kieth took full advantage of.
The third floor is the dome of the facility. It's an acoustical fantasy because you get crazy echo effects when you're up there. It's a smaller room that's unfinished right now, but GT has plans to convert into a bedroom so that they can turn the place into an AirBnB.
The six of us students had a great time because each training day was broken up with a long lunch break, and GT had different activities for us to do outside. The first day we learned how to skeet shoot. That's right, we went to Arkansas and shot guns; yeehaw!
The other days we had other fun outdoor activities that were of a rugged nature. We had a Hatchett throw, a drone flying exercise, and some even got to learn how to use an excavator tractor.
The activities were a great way to break up the training and it made the afternoons much more enjoyable.
I have to mention what a great hostess Elizabeth Hill was. She took care of us and showed real Southern Hospitality. Not only did she keep us well fed and even cooked some things for us, she did a lot of the activities with us. She graciously taught me how to throw an ax, along with cleaning up after us while attending to all the behind the scenes logistics of supporting the class.
GT and Elizabeth hope to make money on the Titan Ranch, but every time I talked to GT, he was telling me about yet another improvement they (he) want to make to the facility. GT is a visionary, and they already have a great facility. Yes, it's rugged. You have to descend about forty feet down wooden stairs to get in, and if it rains you're going to get mud on your shoes, but it's all part of the experience and it makes it much richer, in my opinion.
I wish Elizabeth and GT all the success in the world and if the first class is any indication they will do well.
Congratulations on a successful launch!
The Titan Ranch happens to be an actual Titan Missile Silo that GT Hill bought and converted to a usable training facility.
This was the first time an actual class was held in the facility. There were six of us in the inaugural class; an ECSE class taught by Kieth Parsons.
The first day, when we arrived on site, GT gave us a briefing about the Titan Missile Silo and all that he had to do to open it back up after the military had scraped the facility. The site had been scuttled as part of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty(SALT) agreement, back in the 1970's. Part of the scuttling was to cap the silo and the command center. GT has some harrowing tales of all they had to do to open up the command center portion of the facility.
He's been at it for more than ten years, and he and his family have poured massive amounts of time and energy into recovering the missile center and making it into what it is today. Which is ...
I was going to say "training facility," but it's much more than that. The area of the Command Center that they have renovated is three levels, or floors of the Command Center for the missile silo. Check out this article from Wired Magazine for pictures of a Titan Missile Silo #Armageddon.
All floors are connected with a spiral staircase that GT had built with the steel recovered from the site excavation.
The lowest floor is the largest and that's where we ate and watched old movies, like "War-games" that were displayed on the large wall and were played through a great speaker system.
The second floor is where the training was held. This was a most impressive training facility with all the aides an instructor might want when teaching a technical class. It has great lighting control integrated with an Amazon voice control. All the desk were specially designed with power plugs on top of the desks and even phone cradles. The instructors desk had the controls for everything imaginable right at his fingertips.
One of the things I really appreciated was that GT has installed a "short-throw" video projector that allows the instructor to display without having to worry about walking in front of the video projection.
You can tell the room was designed by someone who is familiar with giving classes because that room has everything you need to give a great class - including two huge white boards, which Kieth took full advantage of.
The third floor is the dome of the facility. It's an acoustical fantasy because you get crazy echo effects when you're up there. It's a smaller room that's unfinished right now, but GT has plans to convert into a bedroom so that they can turn the place into an AirBnB.
The six of us students had a great time because each training day was broken up with a long lunch break, and GT had different activities for us to do outside. The first day we learned how to skeet shoot. That's right, we went to Arkansas and shot guns; yeehaw!
The other days we had other fun outdoor activities that were of a rugged nature. We had a Hatchett throw, a drone flying exercise, and some even got to learn how to use an excavator tractor.
The activities were a great way to break up the training and it made the afternoons much more enjoyable.
I have to mention what a great hostess Elizabeth Hill was. She took care of us and showed real Southern Hospitality. Not only did she keep us well fed and even cooked some things for us, she did a lot of the activities with us. She graciously taught me how to throw an ax, along with cleaning up after us while attending to all the behind the scenes logistics of supporting the class.
GT and Elizabeth hope to make money on the Titan Ranch, but every time I talked to GT, he was telling me about yet another improvement they (he) want to make to the facility. GT is a visionary, and they already have a great facility. Yes, it's rugged. You have to descend about forty feet down wooden stairs to get in, and if it rains you're going to get mud on your shoes, but it's all part of the experience and it makes it much richer, in my opinion.
I wish Elizabeth and GT all the success in the world and if the first class is any indication they will do well.
Congratulations on a successful launch!
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