Troops guarding America’s nuclear missile silos getting upgrades
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Version 0 of 1. Widespread cheating by Air Force officers who oversee the U.S. nuclear missile arsenal embarrassed the service this year and prompted questions about what can be done to change their culture. But it also did something else: It gave rank-and-file troops who provide security at nuclear missile sites a voice to express concerns about their aging equipment. The nuclear security forces, as they are known in the Air Force, include hundreds of enlisted troops entrusted with responding rapidly if a terrorist or other enemy force attempts to take over a nuclear missile base or launch facility. There are 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles spread across America’s rural heartland, cared for by troops serving at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana and Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. Air Force officials said in January that dozens of officers watching the missiles — known as missileers — had been caught cheating on a monthly launch officer proficiency test, or knew colleagues who did so and said nothing about it. About 100 of the 190 missileers were eventually ensnared in the probe, and at least 82 received discipline ranging from letters of counseling to non-judicial punishment. The scandal prompted Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, chief of the Air Force’s Global Strike Command, to launch a “force improvement program.” The internal study has interviewed everyone from missileers, to helicopter pilots, to the security troops, and then spread to the aviation side of Global Strike Command, which also oversees the care and deployment of nuclear equipped bombers like the iconic B-52H Stratofortress and the bat-winged shaped B-2 Spirit. On the security forces side, troops expressed concern about driving for hours on narrow, treacherous roads in rollover-prone armored Humvees to get to missile sites. They also expressed an interest in wearing the Army’s “Multicam” camouflage and said they need better cold-weather gear because of the time they spend outdoors in the frigid winters of America’s Midwest, Air Force officials told this writer for Foreign Policy in April. Now, it appears they have been heard: the Air Force said in a news release Thursday that nuclear security forces at Minot, Malmstrom, Warren and a training base at Camp Guernsey, Wyo., will get the new uniforms, cold-weather gear and “personal protective equipment that has been redesigned with the missile field mission in mind.” The camouflage will replace the “tiger-stripe” pattern that airmen typically wear. “We are putting together this system for our Security Forces Airmen to operate and survive, both on base and in the missile complex at our northern tier bases,” said Gregory Simpson, who oversees equipment requirements for Global Strike Command, in the news release. “The system we have currently, although it’s good, doesn’t all work together as a single system; it’s a hodgepodge of cold weather garments from different vendors used in conjunction with approved duty gear,” Simpson said. “The complete system we’re building incorporates cold weather and duty gear, and is more efficient and conducive to the type of environment these troops are operating in.” Wilson had told Foreign Policy in April that he was open to the uniform change. Multicam has proven itself effective on soldiers in Afghanistan, and he did not see why it would not be useful on the wooded sites around missile bases. “It’s a pretty good uniform, and it’s pretty good at making sure that under different conditions — day, night — I can blend in, versus stand out,” he said at the time. “And it’s pretty durable. I’m OK with it.” It’s unclear if the security forces will get better vehicles. Troops have expressed interest in using unarmored sports utility vehicles when possible, citing their practicality on country roads and better heating systems in the winter. A smaller fleet of armored vehicles could be kept to respond when newly installed surveillance cameras spot a potential threat, they argue. There is no update yet on the future plan for vehicles, said Lt. Col. John Sheets, a Global Strike Command spokesman, on Friday. Staff are continuing to examine options. |