The U.S. Air Force on Tuesday activated two new squadrons to handle nuclear-weapon logistics operations at bases in Montana and Wyoming, the Great Falls, Mont., Tribune reported (see GSN, June 12).
"It is truly an historic event for our Air Force," Lt. Col. Jeffrey Pruss told personnel at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana after he formally took charge of the installation's new 16th Munitions Squadron. "The 16th Muns and I will not let you down," he said.
"What you do every day is the most important job in the Air Force," he told squadron personnel.
On the same day, the 15th Munitions Squadron launched operations at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
The new squadrons were organized following a series of embarrassing nuclear-weapon management lapses within the Air Force, including the accidental transfer of six nuclear-armed cruise missiles across the country in 2007 and the 2008 discovery that the Pentagon had mistakenly shipped sensitive ICBM components to Taiwan (see GSN, Sept. 5, 2007, and May 29, 2008).
The squadron at Malmstrom will oversee logistics for the base's nuclear-weapon storage site as part of the Air Force effort to improve management of its nuclear mission and support operations, according to the Tribune.
"The nuclear enterprise is under tremendous scrutiny" from the public as well as military and civilian officials, necessitating revisions to the nuclear command structure, said Col. David Milner, head of the Montana base's 798th Munitions Maintenance Group.
"The nuclear enterprise, as a whole, has had an awakening to a more scrutinizing standard. We are well on our way -- and are meeting those standards. The challenge then becomes to not become complacent," Pruss added (Ryan Hall, Great Falls Tribune, Aug. 5).