Three More Nuke Commanders Get Nailed
I swear, there must be something in the water out there in the northern Great Plains.
The USAF has relieved two more key nuclear missile unit leaders. One was a Wing Vice-Comander; the other, a Squadron Commander. A third senior leader – a Colonel – was investigated also, but managed to keep his command. However, he has been given a formal reprimand which almost certainly will end his career.
Relieved of duties were Col. Carl Jones, Vice-Commander of the 90th Missile Wing, FE Warren AFB, WY; and Lt. Col. Jimmy “Keith” Brown, a missile squadron commander with the 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB, ND.
The third individual, Col. Richard Pagliuco, is the Commander of the 91st Missile Operations Group at Minot. He was allowed to continue in command after receiving his reprimand.
Details are sketchy, but are found in this article from the Air Force Times. Best I can tell, from article at least one of the two that were relieved – Col. Jones – appears certainly to have deserved to take a fall; Lt. Col. Brown appears likely to have deserved the same. There isn’t as much info available about why Col. Pagliuco was reprimanded other than the rather nebulous statement that he had “failed to promote and safeguard the morale, well-being and welfare of the airmen under his command.” Maybe he got nailed for not providing better supervision to Lt. Col. Brown; dunno.
Yeah, it looks like there are still some issues out there in the USAF’s “Nuclear Kingdom”. Let’s hope they can square those away posthaste.
Category: Air Force
I’ve always said the military went to shit when we started hiring people to cut our grass and take our trash out for us.
Don’t worry. As soon people start getting that new medal, things will get better.
That’s right. Just what is the status on the all new,I’m feeling unappreciated, Nuclear Deterrence Medal? Is it still being considered? Oh,well,they’ll continue playing Whack-A-Mole with Commanders until it comes through. BTW,Hondo,I don’t think it’s the water out there. It has to be the purified silo air and florescent light exposure that has numbed their brains.
I am pretty positive the ND Medal is approved according to a AF CIF I just read, they are going to start handing that out in March or something like that.
Wow. Not at all like the old SAC Titan II Missile Wing I served in. They were deadly serious about EVERYTHING in those days and failing the simplest of inspections was a very big deal! I think we need the old SAC mentality of General Curtis LeMay again. This shit WOULD STOP then.
I hear ya – it is not the same USAF I joined back in the good old days of SAC. I am afraid if Gen Lemay somehow came back he would be escorted out to a reeducation camp right quick.
Dunno if I agree, Sparks.
LeMay did a great job for SAC – but not so much for the rest of the USAF. The USAF’s actual non-nuclear warfighting capability atrophied hugely between the late 1940s and early 1960s due to LeMay’s incessant push for SAC to get more and more and more. It was derisively referred to in the rest of the USAF as having been “SACumcized”.
We found out the hard way in Vietnam that conventional warfare capacity is just as important – and is far more likely to ever be used.
Not saying the strategic deterrence mission is unimportant – it’s a hugely important one. But it’s not the “be all/end all”, either. It’s only one mission among many.
Hondo…I agree LeMay was no saint in uniform. But he instilled an air and confidence of simple excellence. He demanded it. Rewarding those who served well and God help those who screwed up. A small object lesson, one way or the other, here and there went a long way towards morale and pride in SAC as well as an atmosphere to strive to be the best. Just MHO.
Everything went to shit in 2005 I hate to say it. It was falling apart by earlier 2000s in the missile/MUNSS/Weapons world in the Air Force. 2005 was weeding out time.
What the fuck? Is the radiation getting into their brain housing groups?
They need an asskicker like LeMay but his cigars just wouldn’t go over at all these days. We’ll just have to make do with the Total Quality Leadership that the business schools have been pumping out.