In this clip from "Mail Call", R. Lee Ermey provides a glimpse into the mysterious world of missile silos and missileers.

FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

RELATED CONTENT

Experience the sights and sounds of New York City as if you were visiting in the 1940s. A lot has changed since then, but not everything.

Get the story of the dramatic face-off that nearly ended in nuclear war, as told by musician and artist Jeffrey Lewis.

In a secretly recorded meeting on October 19, 1962, President John F. Kennedy discusses the Cuban missile crisis with his military advisors. After criticizing Kennedy’s call to blockade the island as too weak a response, Gen. Curtis LeMay, Air Force chief of staff, tells the president that his refusal to invade Cuba would encourage the Soviets to move on Berlin.

The stars! The sights! See Hollywood as it was in the 1960s, as television and movies became equals in Los Angeles' most famous neighborhood.

On October 18, 1962, President Kennedy met with nine of his advisers to discuss what to do about the Soviet missiles that U.S. aerial surveillance discovered in Cuba on October 16. After the meeting, President Kennedy went to the White House Oval Office and recorded his recollections of the meeting.

R. Lee Ermey is rocking and rolling after dark in this installment of "Mail Call" as he comes to us from the Knob Creek Late Night Machine Gun Shoot in West Point, Kentucky.