Time to replace the missile crews.
"How about a nice game of chess?"
Posted on 07/24/2008 3:35:10 PM PDT by Fundamentally Fair
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Members of a US Air Force nuclear missile crew face disciplinary action for going to sleep while in possession of an invalidated nuclear launch code component, the air force disclosed Thursday.
The breach occurred July 12 at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, the scene of two other recent high profile lapses involving nuclear weapons or nuclear-related components, according to the spokesman.
An investigation into the violation of procedures "concluded that no compromise of the classified material occurred," the air force said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at afp.google.com ...
As recently as 2003-2004, I thought we had the finest group of young officers and NCOs that I had ever seen.
Something has gone terribly wrong since that time.
In your time problems were probably taken care of internally. Now they have the media looking over their shoulder.
In your time problems were probably taken care of internally. Now they have the media looking over their shoulder.
Why not? Minot!
I bet the ghost of Curtis LeMay is going to hand someone a can of “ Womp-a-Ass”
They have to win hearts and minds.
/johnny
I’m surprised the commanding officers at the base, and specifically in charge of that ordinance, haven’t been transferred to an AntArctic station by now.
This should have remained classified.
Proud USAF veteran PING.
If I had fallen asleep on radar scope I would have never bagged that plane with 275 kilos of coke from our remote radar base in Jamaica!
The penalty for falling asleep on duty used to be pretty severe. Hope these guys get whats coming to them.
But where-ever he is, he's spinning.
/johnny
It seems like the nuclear strike component of the USAF has become a backwater. They seem to have the mentality of, “We’re never going to use these things, so we don’t have to care.”
Nuclear devices make me feel all warm and fuzzy, so I understand.
Skyking Skyking, Do Not Answer....
z-z-z-z-z-z
One of the problems these days is that way way way too many minor things are getting all blown out of proportion by the press. It was a long long way from what these guys did to nuclear weapons on the loose. Send them to training, extra duty - the military used to know how to handle minor stuff like this.
That would be an improvement after Minot!
ping
Invalidated? KP for a month.
Where do the Minot crews stand in the Air Force buttonmen competition?
Isn’t this the attitude that just got the top AF guys fired?
This is what I mean about the press. Item one was high profile and the president himself should have gone nuclear on some civilians and some generals butts, except it turned out no one was in charge The second one was a pretty major oops. This one shouldn't even be a blip. Senior noncoms used to know how to handle this without leaving a mark, not one that anyone would admit to.
I think a shake-up might be required at said base.
Nuclear devices would make a lot of people feel warm and fuzzy, I’m sure...
No, after reading about all the problems the AF has been having over the past decade or so I think the whole damn force needs a shake-up. There’s a hellofa lot of good officers and NCO’s wearing the uniform but I see a lot of dead weight that needs to be weeded out. Only way to accomplish that is go back to basics starting with standards.
My 2 cents worth.
Part of the problem now is nobody get any training.
I’m not really sure what the “two other recent high profile lapses” at Minot were. The flying nukes was one. What was two? The Taiwan thing didn’t involve Minot.
It's cold, I'm told
Well, hold on now,.......our various governments ban cigarettes, the Feds can't build a wall even when ordered by Congress, and blindfolds discriminate against the sighted.......
Oh, well, let's call the whole thing off.
Leni
Time to replace the missile crews.
"How about a nice game of chess?"
I agree, but there is more to it. Airmen need to be given an opportunity to comply...they need good direction (all of our AFIs are junk), they need training (training $$ are next to nothing), they need time when they aren't deployed (some AFSCs are constantly gone--CE, Trans, SF, EOD), they need to know where they fit in the big scheme (our organizations change every 6 months)...we need a lot of work.
If I understand the article correctly:
The offending 4 person crew was not on-duty in the alert bunker. They were in the topside facility (but still on-duty) awaiting transport back to main base.
The nuclear code component thingy they had was inoperative for launching missiles and it had been locked away in a secure container that only the crew knew the combinations to.
The facility was secured from the inside by the still-on-duty-but-awaiting-transport-back-to-main-base crew. The facility was secured from the outside by fencing, sensors, and the AFP.
The facility had racks for crew members to lie down. (How odd, since both the on-coming and off-going crews would have nuclear code component thingys and not be permitted to sleep anyway.)
They went to sleep inside the double secured facility with the nuclear code component thingy locked up in a secure container that could only be accessed if they were awake.
They woke up inside the double secured facility with the nuclear code component thingy locked up in a secure container that could only be accessed if they were awake.
During the interval they were asleep, nothing happened inside or outside the double secured facility with the nuclear code component thingy locked up in a secure container that could only be accessed if they were awake.
One of the crew felt bad about it so he/she reported that they had fallen asleep inside the double secured facility with the nuclear code component thingy locked up in a secure container that could only be accessed if they were awake.
Sounds like the PRP is working fine to me.
From what I saw on my AEF deployment with the Air Guard, the Army, Navy, and Marines have gone to war. The Air Force has gone to c*#p. The complete lack of discipline and anything resembling a wartime mentality was shocking.
A'HEM!!!
November 21, 2004
The U.S. Air Force Academy is warning Christian cadets to curb their faith. Officials at the Colorado Springs military college have instituted a new training program, Respecting the Spiritual Values of People, to teach the cadets tolerance toward non-Christians.
And we haven't even touched on the issues of firearms, absence of trigger locks, lead ammunition, etc.
Agreed.
Johnny are you still inactive reserve? Careful...they might come get you and make you go to one of those “sensitivity” classes they have now;’)
I will tell you whats wrong, a lack of discipline! I served in the marine corp 83-87 honorably discharged. Then when year latter I joined Air Force Reserves, at bergstrom in Austin, Texas. I could not stay in the Air Force, only for 5 years! I could not believe the lack of discipline or respect, either in the active or reserve side on base! This problem you are seeing is not just in that base! The Air Force promotes management, not leadership skills. And if you see there system of promotion. You would be amazed, and very disgusted! You would not believe some of the men I had to answer to, that were senior enlisted men, that had no clue to there job responsibilities or knew how to look after men!
I'm free and clear.
/johnny
today the Air Force is required to carry on a mission with less then half that.
There are a lot of things wrong with the Air Force,mostly of a need for leadership in the officer corp and the politicians who keep screwing around with the military budget.
One more thing I was a member of SAC and during my time in that command I found it to be the most disciplined and professional organizations in the Air Force.
The Air Force needs to return to a dedicated Nuclear strike command to prevent things like this from happening.
But then thats just my opinion..
Shoot, move, and communicate are lifelong lessons.
USAF damned sure doesn't need to be in the IT world, pretending to lead.
/johnny
What are they going to do to these guys, sent 'em to Minot? Oh ...
Vehicle dispatchers as convoy guards, Space Pigs (sorry, but I just gotta) as force protection (but not for USAF) and on and on.
And the personnel cuts / no promotions are killing any notion of service as career for a lot of folks.
So, ya, the Force is in the crapper right now.
But they still deliver beans and bullets worldwide....
Reagan was perhaps the only POTUS in recent history to understand that delegating responsibilities meant selecting knowledgeable and qualified leaders for key positions. Most appointments after Reagan by all POTUS to defense related key positions in the civilian sector have been corporate back scratching deals.
Unfortunately I don't see it changing even if by some miracle the GOP won both houses again because Stooges like Warner enabled Poppy and Clinton's bad ideas on cuts as well as Juniors. The chickens are coming home to roost and the bill for negligence is coming demanding payment in full.
Sigh....
I think it’s no coincidence that these problems started up right after I retired.
I’ll go find my bdu’s... I think they’ll still fit. Got any black Kiwi polish?
And freezin’s the reason!
I always liked Lincoln wax and buffed with my wife’s old nylons. Really put a shine on the low quarters!
You’ve got to have been there to know that!
I don't want to get down on the USAF Reserves, 'cuz they do get the job done. They do some things that are very different from the active duty though. One thing is calling everyone by their first name. You won't see a SSgt calling a Major "Pete" or "Willy" in the active. Promotions in the Reserves are different too. Basically, if there is a vacancy, you can move into the slot and take the grade. You have some folks that have little or no active time, and it shows.
True, but in this case, even with such a minor infraction in their record, they'll be on the list in the coming RIF as the DemonRats give us another "peace dividend", and cut the numbers yet again. Even McCain might cut the Air Force numbers, just as the Bush administration has (~40,000). (That doesn't count the numbers of folks who are off doing Army type work, escorting convoys instead of keeping 'em flying)
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