I was a young airman assigned to Reese AFB in the Texas Panhandle in the mid '60s. I was a Security Police augmentee. We had a SR-71 make an emergency landing due to engine problems we later learned. They emptied a maintenance hanger where T-38s were undergoing maintenance and bought all the brown wrapping paper the commissary had to cover the windows. We were called out and told "Boys, this isn't an exercise, this is the real fucking deal. SAC is coming in and they are going to take over the base." Spent two nights guarding the hanger. It wasn't too bad as they brought all of the portable lighting available to light up the outside area around the hanger. We were all relieved to see that big boy take off a couple of days later.
The least they could have done was to give you a ride in it. I saw one a few years ago tethered to th ground in front of an aviation museum in Richmond, VA. I was driving by an hadn't known the museum was there. I didn't have time to go in but I walked all around the SR71 and took pictures with my phone, Which have lost. A really awesomely cool plane.
I doubt that I had the security clearance to get a ride. I did get a ride in a T-38 a few months later.
