Free Republic

Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota recently sent service members a text message warning them that their “continued service” could be in jeopardy if they attended a local rally featuring a speaker from an organization that has historically been supportive of former President Donald Trump. In the text message sent to the Air Force base’s service members, leadership warned “participation with groups such as Turning Point Action could jeopardize their continued service in the U.S. military.” Leadership warned Air Force members that some of the people attending the rally “could be confrontational to military members.” ... Turning Point Action...

The missing machine gun that triggered the firing of a security forces chief at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, in May turned up in what’s probably the last place the Air Force wanted it to: stashed in an airman’s home off-base. Minot officials announced on Wednesday that the machine gun had been recovered by Air Force Office of Special Investigation agents after obtaining a federal search warrant for the unnamed airman’s residence on June 19. The machine gun was discovered missing during a standard weapons inventory by the 91st Missile Wing security forces on May 16, just about two...

More than 200 Airmen and two B-52H Stratofortress aircraft arrived here recently to replace the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron. The Airman are assigned to the 69th Bomb Squadron from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and are supporting U.S. Pacific Command's continuous bomber presence. "Our number one priority is to support theater objectives and maintain peace and stability in the region," said Lt. Col. Michael Cardoza, the 69th EBS commander. "After that, we are looking forward to honing our combat skills in a variety of conventional mission sets. "We have spent the last year primarily focused on perfecting our nuclear mission....

More than 200 airmen and two B-52 bombers from Minot Air Force Base's newest B-52 squadron will deploy next week for Guam, said base officials. This will be the first deployment for the 69th Bomb Squadron, which was reactivated at the Minot base Sept. 4, 2009. Historically, it is the first time the 69th will deploy to Andersen AFB, Guam, since the Vietnam War. The 69th is a distinguished unit that also had deployments of its bombers during World War II. Led by Lt. Col. Michael Cordoza, the 69th is the second and newest B-52 squadron at Minot AFB. The...

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...

Minot Air Force Base is preparing to activate a new B-52 bomber squadron that will send 10 more B-52s to the North Dakota base. The new unit will be the fourth B-52 squadron in the Air Force. Minot base already has one squadron and Barksdale Air Force Base has the other two B-52 units. The Air Force has not said whether the planes will be transferred from Barksdale or taken from backup aircraft. Air Force officials say adding the new squadron at Minot is part of plans to put a stronger emphasis on nuclear mission training for B-52 units.

Link only Air Force Times http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/07/airforce_nuclear_072408w/

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Members of a US Air Force nuclear missile crew face disciplinary action for going to sleep while in possession of an invalidated nuclear launch code component, the air force disclosed Thursday. The breach occurred July 12 at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, the scene of two other recent high profile lapses involving nuclear weapons or nuclear-related components, according to the spokesman. An investigation into the violation of procedures "concluded that no compromise of the classified material occurred," the air force said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today announced the resignations of Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley following an investigation revealing a decline in the Air Force's nuclear program focus, performance and effective leadership. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announces that he has accepted the resignations of both Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley at a Pentagon press conference, June 5, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by R. D. Ward  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image...

Breaking. This has been a long time coming, with SECDEF fighting with the USAF to lose the Cold War mentality and come aboard the 21st century's asymetric warfare.

The military and civilian chiefs of the Air Force are resigning, U.S. officials said Thursday. Defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne to step

WASHINGTON — Both the top uniformed officer of the Air Force and its civilian leader have been asked to submit their resignations, FOX News confirms.Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne will resign by the end of the day, two sets of sources tell FOX News.

A great inside look at a Pentagon after-action report on that embarrassing nuke flub where the Air Force flew a couple doomsday weapons across the US without even knowing it. Let's hope this report doesn't just collect dust on some general's shelf and that the recommendations are actually implemented. From our friends at Popular Mechanics: One might think that the United States' nuclear weapons -- the cornerstone deterrent in the country's arsenal -- would be treated with the utmost precision. This comfortable illusion was shaken on Aug. 31, 2007, when crews loaded six live nuclear warheads onto a B-52 bomber...

Airmen not following the proper procedures that they were trained in, along with a lack of leadership and supervision, caused the incident in late August where nuclear weapons were loaded on a B-52 bomber at Minot Air Force Base and were flown to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, said Maj. Gen. Richard Newton, assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements. “Their lack of attention in detail is where the failure occurred,” Newton said at a news conference at the Pentagon Friday. . . . He said the incident began with the failure of airmen to conduct a required...