MILLEDGEVILLE – Thanks to a group of community-minded men, the missile mascot on the south side of Milledgeville High School is looking good and ready for action.

Once an actual working nuclear missile in Huntsville, Alabama, the decommissioned version has been standing guard outside MHS since 1970. The 27-foot missile was propped up by two brick supports, with an old-style message board underneath.

In recent years, however, the missile and supports had began to show their age. The school looked into having them professionally refurbished, but the price tag on that project was about $40,000.

That’s when members of the Milledgeville Men’s Club stepped in.

“They had just deteriorated and had weathered and had started to kind of become an eyesore,” club member Brad Smith said. “We knew that something had to be done. The missile itself, the paint was getting faded. We could tell the missile needed repainting and the supports needed to be redone, so it was a good community project for the Men’s Club to take on.”

The project, dubbed “Make the Missile Great Again,” began in late August when the 2,000-pound projectile was hauled to the shop of Brad Stewart, who owns Stewart’s Boom Service. Stewart sandblasted and primed the missile, and got it ready for Ken Duncan to paint.

Duncan used about 5 gallons of white paint, as well some orange and black – Milledgeville’s school colors – for the trim. It looked like new by the time he was done with it.

“It’s exciting to see it, because it’s a whole new facelift on it,” Duncan said. “The missile is a landmark here, and it’s fun to see it refurbished and reconditioned like this. It’s going to last a long time.”

Once the missile was removed, a host of club members went about cleaning up the site. They tore out the bricks that had once supported the missile, and skid loaders put those bricks in dump trucks to be hauled away.

The new support for the missile now could be installed, and that’s where Mark Dettman came in. He designed a 7-foot pedestal made of sturdy carbon steel with a cradle on top that would support the missile. It also pivots at the top, so the missile can be pointed toward the south or the east by hand, after unlocking the cradle.

There had been some debate in town over which way the missile would be headed.

“It was talked about spinning it 360 degrees, and I said that probably wasn’t going to happen,” Dettman said with a smile. “You don’t need to go up and spin the missile.”

With either donated or discounted materials and labor, it cost the Milledgeville Men’s Club less than $10,000 to complete the project, one-fourth of the original bid.

“It made a big difference to just do it locally with local talent,” Smith said. “We’ve got good craftsmen in the area, so it was nice to get them involved.”

Milledgeville School Superintendent Tim Schurman needs only to look out his office window to view the missile makeover, and he truly likes what he sees.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with how the missile turned out,” Schurman said. “It looks great as you drive up to the school – the profile of it – and really, it enhanced the missile all the way around.

“We’re grateful to the Men’s Club. They are a great community organization, and we’re indebted to them for making our missile great again.”