Posted on 11/04/2009 4:52:44 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
For the second time in less than a year, the U.S. Air Force has relieved the commander of a combat wing. This time it was the 5th Bomb Wing, a B-52 outfit. Previously, the commander of one of the three Minuteman ICBM wings was relieved. The three missile wings control 450 American Minuteman III ICBMs. In this case, two other senior officers were also relieved (one of them the guy in charge of the Wing Maintenance Squadron.) In both cases, the reason was "loss of confidence in his ability to command". That's milspeak for "too many little things have gone wrong and you are making your bosses nervous." In the case of the dismissed missile Wing commander there were two accidents with the large trailers that move the missiles. A vehicle accident is normally not grounds for removing a Wing commander. The other two missile wings also failed their Nuclear Safety Inspection. But there were also incidents of misconduct by members of the Wing that lost its commander. Too many problems, and the commander becomes a problems. Times have changed.
These two week long Nuclear Safety Inspections take place every 18 months. Because of the embarrassing problems with nuclear weapons security over the last three years, these inspections have become more strict. Scary inspections have become fashionable again, and commanders who don't get with the program are headed for early retirement.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
Perhaps he stood up to Dear Obummer wanting to share our nation’s security features with our Muslim enemies.
Hmmm...
Probably a case of the cover up attempt was worse than the error. Damn fools, Man up!!!
Ah, yes, good ole SAC: the AF way, and then of course “the SAC way” which was way harder than the other commands...I think that’s where my ulcers began, as a young LT at a SAC base. I went thru my share of NSIs; those inspections are supposed to be tough—dealing with nukes should be serious business, not like running around with candy in your pockets. But my folks always aced’d theirs!!!!
Bet lots of folks are getting booted at these wings; it all rolls down hill ya know.
Well considering these commanders are probably working out of Minot AFB in North Dakota it will probably be a blessing to be force into retiring early before the winter gets too hard up there. Will probably end up working for some big civilian company in a warmer climate, making a lot more money.
My father was a Missile Squadron Commander in the 80’s and early 90’s. He was stressed with that job, then he moved to coding and the stress went to a whole new level. Things can get pretty tense when you are locked in a vault with 4 foot thick walls for 8-12 hours a day with whatever part of the warhead they had in there.
The 5th Bomb Wing is out of Minot AFB
SAC Was a much more professionally run organization.
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