Posted on 08/13/2013 1:32:02 PM PDT by Sleeping Freeper
An Air Force unit responsible for dozens of nuclear missiles failed a recent safety and security inspection -- a setback that comes just months after the Air Force temporarily sidelined 17 officers in connection with a prior inspection flop.
The latest failure was recorded by the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. According to Air Force Global Strike Command, the unit received an "unsatisfactory" rating during the inspection in early August after personnel made "tactical-level errors" during an exercise.
"This failure resulted in the entire inspection being graded 'unsatisfactory,'" a statement from Global Strike Command said.
Commander Lt. Gen. Jim Kowalski stressed in the statement that the failure does not mean the safety of America's nuclear arsenal is at risk, and that the inspections are "designed to be tough."
But the failure comes on top of other disappointing news for the Air Force's nuclear weapons force.
Last spring the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., received weak grades on an inspection but did not fail it outright; that performance was so poor, however, that 17 officers temporarily lost their authority to operate missiles.
The group's deputy commander said at the time it was suffering "rot" within its ranks.
"We are, in fact, in a crisis right now," the commander, Lt. Col. Jay Folds, wrote in an internal email.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Decades ago, my Chap/Vulcan battery was stationed near a Nike-Hercules battery. Their inspections were career makers/breakers. The outbriefings were attended by the chain of command all the way up to 32nd AADCOM (the deputy CG usually attended, flying up from Darmstadt).
Anything close to unsat ratings resulted in an immediate change of leadership for a Nike-herc battery.
The last one I was involved with (as an Augmentation Reserve Force Commander), my unit was written up because we beat our mission time by only 30 minutes. When asked by the chief evaluator why we were "late", I explained to the colonel that I was giving them extra training, as my soldiers hadn't had any infantry tactics since AIT.
After the conclusion of the outbriefing, the first words out of the Deputy CG's mouth were "LT, I'll take that hit for you. Anytime you think they need extra training, give it to them."
As to this unit, there's definitely a leadership deficit in the chain of command. Sounds like too many staff officers have been placed in line units. That's a recipe for disaster.
I have to disagree with you...for 17 officers to lose their qualifications, it's more than just too many coats of paint.
This Failure of Nuclear Security is the Air Forces problem.They created the Problem when they disbanded the Strategic Air Command.Who’s specialty was Nuclear Warfare.
During the Period SAC was in existence Security drills were run every year and they were unannounced.
During that time being assigned to SAC was a tough assignment but it was also very rewarding.
I feel for the guys who are assigned to this Global Strike Command.Your not sure what your job should be.Whereas with SAC you knew what SAC’s job was and that was to maintain the PEACE through Nuclear Stregnth.SAC’Motto after all was Peace is our Profession.
It sure seemed to work well during its tenure.
The Air Force is, to say the least, not cited with its nuclear mission. It used to be a career in the nuclear defense was a great path and now it is a dead-end.
Damn straight ..... As a former SAC trained killer an ORI or Wing Security Evaulation was what we got no less than a perfect grade in.....This commander saying they had ROT in the ranks needs his butt kicked. Things do not rot overnight....
Bring SAC’s concepts of operation and doctrine back now ....
Maybe a legacy flight of retired mentors to evaluate and identify problems.
I’d like to see the write ups ..... Bet most was support programs lacking. Silly stuff.
This sounds like another Obama accomplishment and it is being publicized to further weaken the US like disclosing Seal Team Six secrets and where we got some of our most sensitive intelligence information.
Your story is nothing compared to this from 2007, with armed nuclear weapons just sitting outdoors without people knowing it, and crews flying them around while not aware they were armed.
” Air Force weapons officers assigned to secure nuclear warheads failed on five occasions to examine a bundle of cruise missiles headed to a B-52 bomber in North Dakota, leading the plane’s crew to unknowingly fly six nuclear-armed missiles across the country.
The Air Force said Friday it would punish 70 airmen involved in the accidental flight following an investigation that found widespread disregard for the rules on handling such munitions.
“There has been an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base,” said Maj. Gen. Richard Newton, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations.
Newton was announcing the results of a six-week probe into the Aug. 29-30 incident in which the B-52 was inadvertently armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from Minot in North Dakota to Barksdale in Louisiana without anyone noticing the mistake for more than a day.
That August flight, the first known incident in which the U.S. military lost track of its nuclear weapons since the dawn of the atomic age, lasted nearly three hours, until the bomber landed at Barksdale Air Force Base in northern Louisiana.
But according to an Air Force investigation presented to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Friday, the nuclear weapons sat on a plane on the runway at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota for nearly 24 hours without ground crews noticing the warheads had been moved out of a secured shelter.”
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2007/oct/19/air-force-punishes-70-accidental-nuclear-weapons-f/
If anyone in the DoD chain up to and including the CIC, gave a damn about fixing things, this would have been resolved after the live nukes were flown to Barksdale, LA.
“after personnel made “tactical-level errors” during an exercise.
“Oh, crap. Where I DID I put those ke
I hope that the Rooskies haven’t gotten sloppy also...
They probably hadn’t done their sexual assault prevention training recently enough.
ping
Maybe they were role playing it during the launch procedure portion of the test.
Rot is possible but lack of action to remove said rot is total BS on that commanders comments.
I agree with you.... Should be a multiple set of eyes on the recurring problem of not meeting routine requirements.
Used to be a wing king and all squadron and combat support group commanders that failed a ORI were on the next flight off the base with their OER done in crayons .....aka career OVER as well as the senior enlisted advisor and anyone else who stood out as a gun decking shitbird during the evaluation.
As a commander, if my funding is very restricted I am going to surround myself with innovative leaders and skilled horse traders who know the value of trading paperclips for helicopters etc... I want everyone from the slick sleeve wing nuts to myself working hard to sustain the mission we are responsible for. Pride, professionalism and ownership are severely lacking when such as we see with is report is repetitive .
NCO’s need to dig in and fix this or identify its cause. Anyone who gets in the way needs a general discharge and a escort from the SP’s out the back gate .... To many folks are hurting for work. I know young men and women that are on waiting lists to enlist. Good men and women.
Slackers don’t want to meet basic job requirements step down, retire, leave active duty.
Selection process for nuclear duty used to require human reliability program participation. If it still does in the USAF (pretty sure it does) it too is being mismanaged.
My rant, .....my opinion. Some will say it was just an evaluation, nothing to get bent out of shape about. I’ve been assigned to units that failed. We recovered, improved and never let such happen on our tour again.
Hopefully these folks will as well....
This is serious. If the people who control the missile firings are incompetent, or have other problems (drugs, depression, etc.) This situation cries out for a big sweep in the USAF Chain of Command from the top on down.
It was probably process then. My base failed one of these tests back in 80. We lost two birds because of it. A few people didn’t follow the instructions when doing their job. They winged it (no pun intended) and even though they did it correctly, they still got dinged.
This is big because the media made it big.
In the Mk 11 high bay at VAFB, we had a different version on the wall.
The caption read:
To err is human, to forgive is not SAC policy.
oh...and the hand wasn’t holding lightning bolts......
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