New Details About the 341st Missile Wing’s Failed Inspection
In August of last year, the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB, MT, failed a major security inspection. It passed a re-inspection a couple of months later.
At the time, Air Force authorities declined to reveal details of the reason for the failure.
Yesterday, the Associated Press revealed the reason for that failure. From an AP article in the Air Force Times:
Armed security forces at a nuclear missile base failed a drill last summer that simulated the hostile takeover of a missile launch silo because they were unable to speedily regain control of the captured nuclear weapon, according to an internal Air Force review obtained by The Associated Press.
The previously unreported failure, which the Air Force called a “critical deficiency,” was the reason the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana flunked its broader safety and security inspection.
The Air Force Times article is fairly lengthy and provided additional details. IMO it’s worth a read.
The incident was one of a series of problems occurring recently within the US strategic nuclear community. As a result, the SECDEF ordered a pair of parallel nuclear reviews earlier this year. Those reviews are currently still in progress.
Category: Air Force, Military issues
Montana in the news again, and not in a good way. *sigh*
Shoulda put Shinseki in charge of the reviews, they would have been done in a week.
Security Forces got the worse job when it comes to working at weapons bases. I felt bad for them, I worked at Volkel AB in Netherlands with them.
Security Forces are already stretched thin, and it’s going to get worse:
http://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20140203/NEWS/302030011/Security-forces-hardest-hit-Air-Force-plans-cut-23-263-year
Not just that, most of those guys hate the career field by 12-13rd year. They end up cross training into C2 or Command and control career field or other critical ones that have better schedules.
They just get burned out by that job. I can’t blame, how they feel about their career field, I feel about mine. But they seem to love C2 field.
I remember when I was up for testing for E5, I looked at SF numbers for testing, it was insane. They almost had 8k people testing for Staff.
SF Marines hate it too.
Standing post is the worst.
Eggs thanks for the article. I understand their frustrations.
Sounds like a hostile work environment to me. Self esteem was irreparably damaged. Lawsuits shall follow.
When I was in the Air Force, I served at Little Rock AFB, in SAC for the 18 Titan II missiles spread across northern Arkansas. I remember when we went onto the silo property one of us first, who had the security code had to go into a double locked cage and “code in” with the site commander. Before we left base we went to the SP security center and received the code. It was written on a piece of paper and shown to us through the glass to memorize. Could not write the six digit alpha-numeric code down anywhere. To be caught doing so was a huge security breach and a loss of a stripe endeavor. A “career decision” you might say. I remember ONCE, forgetting one digit of my code. I stayed locked in the cage until the the SAC SP Tactical Team arrived. They held my fellow workers at gun point on the ground outside the silo fence and then came to get me. They opened the door and had me, weapons pointed, on the ground and cuffed in a split second. No messing around at all. Even though I KNEW the SP, since I was a “voluntold”, Auxiliary SP for additional on base security of the building for the warhead maintenance. But even though he knew me it made NO difference. He did his job as trained to do and protocol required. Once my ID was determined, we were all let go to go back to base, get a new code and go back to the silo. I never forgot a code after that. If the Air Force security at the 341ST MW failed that badly it tells me a couple of things. Shit had gotten way too lax and training was on the back burner. The Tactical Response Teams I saw in action were of the highest caliber of professionalism and effectiveness. As an aside, when a warhead was traveling to or from a silo from base, there were many security trucks ahead and many trucks behind the warhead trailer, plus Arkansas State Patrol to… Read more »
For a drill or test to be worth a damn, occasionally, it’ll have to be failed. Otherwise, it’s just a rubber stamp kinda thing.
And, when it’s something as important as securing nukes, the failure needs to result in the rolling of heads.
As mean and/or callous as that sounds, it serves the purpose of providing a motivational example. Stay tight or suffer.
And, if the job has an issue with burnout associated, those performing the job needs must either transfer out, completely, to a new job type once the burnout starts to set in, or separate from the service and go on about the rest of their lives doing something civiliany. No one is entitled to a career to retirement just because.
We’re starting to forget, in our culture, that the needs of the service come first and always. It isn’t, has never been, and can never be about the individual wants and desires.
I’d be willing to bet cash that the security around those nukes at the installation that recently failed is, currently, the tightest of such on any installation. But, I’m not a betting kinda guy… and this is the Air Force…
Grimmy…good points and well taken.