Posted on 05/24/2018 7:46:23 AM PDT by BenLurkin
More than a dozen U.S. Air Force airmen faced disciplinary action – including court martial – after a drug ring was found operating at a base that controls America's nuclear missiles, the Associated Press reports.
Military investigators cracked the ring in 2016, after one of the service members made the mistake of posting material to social media that suggested the drug use.
Nearly half of the airmen were convicted of using or distributing LSD – a drug for which the Pentagon had stopped testing, the AP says. Citing records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the AP reports that the drug ring operated at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, just outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The airmen took the drugs – which also included ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana – during their off-duty time, but at least one airman admitted that while under the influence of LSD, he wouldn't have been able to respond properly if he had been suddenly called to duty.
Evidence in the airmen's cases showed that they did the drugs state parks or at parties in Denver – where a group went longboarding on the streets after taking LSD, the AP says. It also includes quotes from some service members who recalled having "bad trips" – and others who said their experiences had been positive.
"Minutes felt like hours, colors seemed more vibrant and clear," Airman Basic Kyle S. Morrison is quoted saying. "In general, I felt more alive."
But Air Force prosecutors had a different view, saying that taking the powerful hallucinogenic drug can produce "paranoia, fear and panic, unwanted and overwhelming feelings, unwanted life-changing spiritual experiences, and flashbacks."
Warren is the headquarters of the 20th Air Force, which oversees three missile wings. While the personnel there are held to a high standard because of their work securing Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles, the AP notes that the assignments are sometimes seen as a "backwater."
More than 400 Minuteman missiles, each capable of delivering devastating nuclear blows, are deployed around Warren and other bases, the Air Force says.
Six of the airmen were convicted of drug offenses in courts martial. They're among 14 service members who faced disciplinary measures over the investigation — which came on the heels of other scandals involving the U.S. missile corps.
Those recent incidents include the use of narcotics by officers with launch authority, and rampant cheating on proficiency exams – which was seen as both manipulating the promotion process and masking security lapses.
Revelations about drug use at Warren also come less than five years after the Air Force's No. 2 missile commander, Maj. Gen. Michael Carey — who led the 20th Air Force that is headquartered at Warren — was relieved of command over "drunken and inappropriate behavior while leading a security delegation to Moscow."
Reporting on the recent drug case, the AP quotes Capt. Charles Grimsley, a lead prosecutor in some of the courts martial, saying, "Although this sounds like something from a movie, it isn't."
LSD was commonly used in the 1980’s.
Boom
“Personally, I think they ought to test just about everyone every six months.”
The PRP rules we followed had a psych and drug screen monthly. They dropped that as staffing levels fell.
Funny thing on this is that they are tested regularly. It’s called “golden flow” and is done on a no warning basis. But sometimes the people being tested carry vials into the stall and use them rather than their own with a hose in their sleeve.
Another way to beat it is have only certain people tested. I was called in on a monthly basis to be tested because everyone knew I was clean. That was about the time I asked the question as to why every time for me. Their stock answer was, well it is just the randomness of it. See, it works.
While at a certain couple of locations, I was tested on an average of 11 times a year for four years each where others were not tested at all. Kinda makes you wonder doesn’t it. This went on for over 15 years and I tested positive one time for the use of medically prescribed steroids, prednisome, which I warned them would show up when they tested me. It did, and the commander tossed it when he saw the bottle I had with my name on it from the hospital. Stupid.
rwood
The whole time I was in the Air Force I was subject to a piss-test at any time due to my clearance level and job.
I didn't get tagged once for the first four years I was in, but then I was tagged four times in about a six month period all in the same year at the same station. Not sure why or how my name came up so much. Always clean, but kept coming up. Then from the last one, nothing until I separated two years later.
Took the AP two years to get the information under FOIA. No fan of the MSM, but the government knows how to play FOIA like a champ; info comes out in drips and drabs, with the feds hoping the inquiring individual (or media outlet) loses interest. You are correct, such stories appeared far less frequently when Barry was in office.
BTW, the full article contains even more bad news for the Air Force. One of the airmen disciplined for LSD use at F.E. Warren told investigators he reported using the drug in high school to his recruiter. The recruiter told him to “lie about it,” and claimed lying about drug use is normal in the Air Force.
We can only hope that clown was sent packing as well.
Commonly used in the barracks in the mid-late 80s as it’s undetectable in urine sample testing. We would get trippindiculous
In my day, drug use history would result in no clearance. But eventually the use became so widespread that it was said that if they did not allow some prior drug use they would have no one to serve.
In this era, the proper statement was to admit to some “experimentation” with drugs as they moved through the social structure but never any purchase or dealing. And follow up with no current or planned future use. With this in the record, an applicant could be approved.
I think I would agree with this approach because nearly everyone I knew did experiment at some time while in school. The main thing is to be clear and stay clear.
Son is now a Lt Colonal in the AF. He has worked in the launch capsule at Malmstrom and Minot. My wife and I have visted a capsule at Minot and run the simulator at Vandenberg. I suppose it could be a boring job but I thought he was never once tempted.
He has also worked on the E4B out of Offutt. I remember him saying he wouldnt even want to be on the plane if he had taken cold medicine the day before. Always wanted to be very alert
While Brandon drinks on an occasion with his peers he is sure to be totally aware when on duty.I think his peers
are also the same way.
Joe Friday on LSD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Twre6ItGEI
Your son exemplifies the standard we expect in the Air Force. Unfortunately, we are now in an era where drug use is rampant, and recruiters have a difficult time meeting quotas, because prospective service members can’t meet minimum standards.
Drugs are just one problem; other recruits are rejected for past run-ins with the law, failure to achieve a required score on the ASVAB (minimum is 30/31 for Army and Marine Corps, on a 100 point scale) and even the use of some legal drugs. For example, a young person put on Ritalin or another ADD/HD medication as a child is automatically rejected—which should tell you something about the long-term consequences of that drug.
The individuals involved in the drug ring at F.E. Warren were all junior airmen, mostly first-termers. None had actual control of nuclear weapons, but most were assigned to guard them, so their drug use is disturbing to say the least. There have been a few cases of drug use among missile launch officers—the position held by your son—but such incidents are (thankfully) rare.
Anyone associated with nukes has to meet standards required under the Personnel Reliability Program (PRP). While the program does a pretty good job in identifying folks with problems and weeding them out, my late friend (a retired USAF Chief Master Sergeant) railed that commanders and first sergeants did a poor job in utilizing that tool. “Flush early and often” was his credo—and he was Senior Enlisted Adviser at a USAF nuclear weapons site, so he was intimately familiar with PRP.
Unfortunately, drugs like LSD are hard to detect; as someone else noted, all traces of the drug are out of the body within 12 hours, so it’s tough to catch offenders. However, a lot of these dopers aren’t very bright. They videotaped one of their parties and used drugs off-base on a regular basis. Not surprisingly, word got out and the AFOSI (Air Force version of NCIS) caught the ringleader and turned him into an informant.
Overall, the rate of drug use in the military is still far below that of society in general. Zero tolerance still works, and that’s the way it should be.
Spent ten years on missile crew responding to the "Glass" performing their Front-door and Backdoor tests of the Primary Alerting System. It usually happened when I decided it was safe to run back to the Lav and take a pee, or worse, while my Deputy was asleep.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.