Breckey

1. Timing is everything 2. Better lucky then good 3. There is no justice 4. Always lawyer up

God no. A new OG/CC would help tremendously.

There are a bunch of non-CMR missileers getting rapidly spun up so they can go post. The ops-tempo for them is going to suck. Granted it's not the same as deploying, but spending 15+ days per month in a capsule smaller than a pop-up trailer with hamburgers and tater-tots will not do good things for the remaining officers morale.

Stupidest motto/callsign ever. A UPT class made a Friday patch saying that they "BLAZEd every day" Some of them must have gone on to be missileers.

History Sunday: The original 150 sites at Malmstrom were constructed in 1961-62 as Minuteman I sites. Site A-06 (the one by Monarch) was the first Minuteman site to come on alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In fact there is the little information board just north of the site along US 87 that discusses this. Malmstrom was "Wing I" as in the first wing to be built. The subsequent wings were constructed over the next 5-7 years in FE Warren, Ellsworth, Grand Forks, Whiteman, and Minot AFB. Each time the DoD refined their dispersal algorithms and each field was designed a little differently based on bedrock and other factors. For example Grand Forks' field was designed in a north-south line to the west of base, while Minot and Ellsworth were more or less a "C" shape around base. When the 564th was constructed in the late 60's the the Minuteman II was the newest missile so the silos and the Missile Alert Facilities were constructed with new technology and a different design. By the early 90's the 1000 ICBM fleet was a mix of Minuteman II and Minuteman III's, Malmstrom had 150 II's and 50 III's (564th) at that time. In 1992 when Bush II made the decision to take the Bombers and Minuteman II's off of alert, only the 564th was on alert. After Grand Forks was BRAC'd, the 150 III's from there were transplanted into the former II sites at Malmstrom. START II required the reduction of around 100 ICBM silos. Since the 564th was different from a MX and operations perspective from the rest of the Malmstrom complex, the decision was made to deactivate those silos. The 50 Peacekeeper silos at FE Warren were also deactivated. The decision process for the emplacement of the ICBMs is excellently detailed in "The Missile Next Door" The book kinda has a hippie anti-nuke slant for the last few chapters but the detail and research on the design and deployment of the Minuteman is outstanding. Basically what happened was that the dispersal algorithms that the DoD had in the early 60's said to put Silo A at X location, Silo B at Y location, etc with no regard for what the surrounding area was. Army Corps of Engineers personnel came out and took core samples, if it was conducive to a silo, the land was purchased at marked value by the gov't for something like 100 years. The gov't did not care that it was in a prized wheat field and that 50 ft across the road was useless pasture. They only moved the location of a silo (keep in mind over 1000 were emplaced) once due to a house being within the 1200 ft exclusion zone around the site. The 1200 ft was the blast radius of the rocket plume if one of those candles ever lit off. The Nat'l Park service has former Ellsworth Minuteman II silo and MAF in South Dakota that you can tour. Whiteman AFB also has a silo inside the confines of the base that is now a museum. Any other questions please let me know. I'm on 128.6 from time to time.

The sites at Malmstrom were the first ones built. By the time that Minot was built the dispersal algorithms had advanced enough that Minot's field could be constructed as efficiently as it was. The now-closed 564th squadron area at Malmstrom was built around the same time as the Minot and you can tell the layout is much more efficient. Its still going to take damn near 150 warheads to take out either base so its pretty much a wash. Also the sites locations are not classified. They have signs on the gates that say "Welcome to A-01!"

Unfortunately as awesome as the flying is Malmstrom should close. Its missile field is the largest and most expensive to maintain. Warren is a national historic landmark and has nothing but the missiles at the base but it too should close. Minot has the smallest and least expensive missile complex. Dual hat the bombers and its cheaper overall for the taxpayers.

If you are assigned to a wing that has approved it can you wear it there? My thought would be similar to our flight regs: I follow my MAJCOMs sup, not the base I'm TDY at.

There are really no jobs for missileers after their first assignment. There is a reason that they have cross-flow boards to put them in the MX, PA, Space, and a couple other AFSCs. The vast majority of "combat-ready" missileers are O-1/O-2. Our Wg/CC and OG/CC have probably sat around 10-15 alerts (24 hrs each) SINCE THE LATE 1990's. Are there any flying group/wg commanders that haven't maintained BAQ since 9-11? The missile wing personnel system is designed for high attrition. A missileer thought that one of our pilots was "on the fast track" because he was flying on his third assignment. The crux of the problem is the piss-poor leadership and the lack of mission focus (surprise). Micro-management and lack of ability to think critically turns people in the ICBM enterprise into mindless robots. It's checklist or counseling. Leaders are so worried about their careers that they oversee every aspect of their command and influence it to portray them in the best light. It's just like the rest of the AF but the culture of the ICBM leadership and mid-level crew force amplifies the issue. We cannot go TDY without an O-5 and an O-6 asking us why we are claiming airport parking or why we gave the taxi driver a 20% tip (totally wish I was joking on the last one). Our OG/CC did not want a crew to classify a flight control malfunction on short final as a PL, rather a ground abort because the PL would drive a CCIR to NAF. As I had said before in the Minot mishap thread, it will require a complete gut-cleanse-replace of the ICBM force to bring about any meaningful change to the morale and motivation problems facing the nuclear enterprise.

It was pretty much the whole Missile Group (we're like Switzerland over here).

So to speak! Only when I need gas. Farmer John isn't too keen on a FARP in his alfalfa field.

Another reason it's good to fly helos. Wrong airport? Takeoff and fly to the right one.

Now if only they authorize black shirts and boots with the FDU. Change 4 maybe?

Any Sq/CC worth his weight would send out a memo on Tuesday authorizing the tab patches and Friday shirts.

Also you now can wear sister service badges that you earn including the Ranger Tab.

to a previous discussion by our resident ATC type

Can the birds in the NV desert be used as DT birds? They were initially scheduled to be Block 0.5 birds then converted later.

Until all 112 HH-60U's are on the ramp I still think that AF can screw it away.

Huge fucking 2

Ha! He He. Ho-man. You're funny.

No boobs, F-

Hitting the skid monster course wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen. Just like Jabara, Malmstrom is uncontrolled so there is nobody but ATC to tell them that their about to land on a closed runway.

The missileers are being investigated for basically the same issue that struck UPT a few years back.

I have no idea what she saw in MAF food. It's greasy bar food without the bonus of alcohol to help your appetite.

Godspeed.