I was in SAC for 2 years. A B-52 base. Being assigned to an aircraft maintenance squadron, I was authorized to be around the nukes themselves, the Air Force's PRP (Personnel Reliability Program), on alert-loaded aircraft (And let me tell you, being a few inches from weapons that could level a city and kill all within is something I never got used to. An ass-puckering experience.). To receive said authorization, I had to undergo a security check equivalent to a cavity search. I think the Air Force was aware of every bowel movement I had since I fell from my mother's womb. Several times a year, drills were run to keep us sharp and up on all safety and security regulations.
... The certification process looks at a person's psychological profile, any medications they are taking and other factors in determining a person's reliability to handle weapons ...
So tell me, have the standards in the Air Force fallen so far that 70 people can choose to disregard protocols in place for 50 years? Do they have any standards at all anymore?
WASHINGTON - The Air Force said Friday it would punish 70 airmen involved in the accidental, cross-country flight of a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber following an investigation that found widespread disregard for the rules on handling such munitions.
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The missiles were supposed to be taken to Louisiana, but the warheads were supposed to have been removed beforehand.
A main reason for the error was that crews had decided not to follow a complex schedule under which the status of the missiles is tracked while they are disarmed, loaded, moved and so on, one official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The airmen replaced the schedule with their own "informal" system, he said, though he didn't say why they did that nor how long they had been doing it their own way.
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"Their own way"? Are they fucking high? How can they take the handling of nukes so casually?
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Newton said the flight in question resulted from an "unprecedented string of procedural errors," beginning with a failure by airmen to conduct a required inspection of the missiles before they were loaded aboard the B-52 bomber at Minot. The crew flying the plane was unaware nuclear warheads were on its wing, though it wasn't explained what role they played in the mistake.
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What the fuck kind of base were they running up there? I'm flabbergasted. I can't believe all these people (from wing commander, to MMS commander, to the load crews) just decided to turn their backs on their duty and obligation. This isn't the Air Force I know. It's an accident waiting to happen.
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