Airmen from the 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron approach a launch facility February 28, 2013. The Airmen perform regular checks of the launch facilities and train to regain control from aggressors in the event of unauthorized entry. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes)
Airman 1st Class Thomas Huenink (center) yells out to an “aggressor” while Senior Airman Jacob Petersen (background) provides overwatch and Senior Airman Kendra Walker calls down to the capsule during a training scenario in a missile alert facility March 28, 2013, at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. Alarm response force team members routinely run scenarios to keep their skills sharp. Huenink, Petersen and Walker are assigned to the 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes)
Senior Airman Travon Kelly and his teammates inspect a launch facility during an exercise February 28, 2013. The Airmen perform regular checks of the launch facilities and train to regain control from aggressors in the event of unauthorized entry. Kelly is assigned to the 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes)
Staff Sgt. Daniel Khrayzat performs an operations check on a wheel loader February 28, 2013, at a missle alert facility in Wyoming. As a facility manager, Khrayzat is responsible for making sure everything in the MAF is in working order. He is also responsible for snow removal during the winter. Khrayzat is assigned to the 320th Missile Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes)
Airman 1st Class Thomas Huenink (left) and Senior Airman Jacob Petersen play catch during a break at a missile alert facility February 28, 2013, in Wyoming. The Airmen who work at the MAF live and work at the facility 24/7 during their three-or four-day shifts. Huenink and Petersen are assigned to the 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes)
Senior Airman Christopher Kolp prepares meals for Airmen while they are working at the missile alert facility March 27, 2013, at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. Kolp is responsible for cooking three meals a day for the crews in the MAF and performs the dining facility functions on his own. Kolp is assigned to the 320th Missile Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes)
341st Missile Security Forces Squadron Airmen travel across a Montana highway to a 490th Missile Squadron Launch Facility to perform a routine security check March 12, 2013. Each of the 341st Missile Wing’s three missile squadrons control 50 Minuteman III ICBM launch facilities. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. R.J. Biermann)
Airman 1st Class Lachaundre Wilson rings up a customer’s order and gathers their change from the cash register March 12, 2013, at a missile alert facility nearly two hours from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. Missile chefs post out to the missile complex for four days during which they cook and serve meals, clean the kitchen, and check and update the food inventory, among other tasks. Wilson is a chef assigned to the 490th Missile Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. R.J. Biermann)
Airman 1st Class Lachaundre Wilson sprinkles seasoning on french fries while preparing a chicken breast dish at a missile alert facility March 12, 2013, in Montana. Missile chefs are responsible for preparing meals for up 10 to 15 people each day. Wilson is assigned to the 490th Missile Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. R.J. Biermann)
Staff Sgt. Ryan Bullard breaks for a nap at the end of the day after hosting guests at his missile alert facility and ensuring his facility manager-in-training has passed his training evaluation March 12, 2013, in Montana. Facility managers serve four days at a time at any one of the 341st Missile Wing’s 15 missile alert facilities, which are spread across 13,800 square miles of various Montana landscapes. While posted to the missile complex FMs eat, sleep, exercise and work. Bullard is a facility manager assigned to 490th Missile Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. R.J. Biermann)
by Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes
Air Force News Service
6/12/2013 - FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (AFNS) -- Senior Airman Jacob Petersen is packing for the "trip." Extra uniforms, underwear, socks, some special snacks. He kneels to give his 18-month-old daughter an extra hug and kiss before heading out the door. But Petersen isn't going on a deployment or an extended TDY or school.
On this morning, Petersen is one of about 10 Airmen from his unit at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, in Wyoming, headed out the door for work. But work for this security forces Airman is a lot different than for most of his Air Force counterparts. Petersen and his team of security forces, chefs and facility managers will spend the next three to four days at a remote missile alert facility supporting the underground ICBM mission.
Most of the roughly 15 teams supporting missile alert facilities at this Wyoming base are made up of junior enlisted Airmen, responsible for maintaining, securing and feeding missile crews with missions that cover more than 9,600 square miles over three states.
According to Petersen, the facility he and his teammates will call home for the next 72 to 84 hours is a nondescript building in the middle of nowhere, with a living area, several bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen and a gym area.
Many Airmen who support missile facilities liken the environment to a short deployment, where trips can be isolated and weather conditions, at times, austere. Airmen drive as long as two hours to get to their facility and oftentimes civilization is transformed to open fields with very little else.
"It gets lonely sometimes, but I think a big part of dealing with it is the people you're with," said Airman 1st Class Jake Newinski, a missile support team member at Minot AFB. "I work with some of my best friends, and I think it's the support element that really helps out with being isolated."
Newinski realizes that everyone in the missile arena goes through something similar and, at the end of the day, teams have each other's backs. "In the back of my mind, I know we're not in the missile field by ourselves. We know there are other cops going through the same thing, whether they're at Minot, F.E.Warren or Malmstrom."
Staff Sgt. Ashley Sakurai, is a missile facility chef at Minot AFB who believes life at a remote site is quite a bit different than working as part of a larger team at a traditional dining facility on main base. "It's different for the young Airmen because, when you're out there in the field, you're working by yourself. You are the shift leader, the manager, the worker - it's like doing everything in a dining hall but with only one person. It's a lot of responsibility for a young Airman, but, to me, it's a privilege to be so young and in charge of something so big."
Petersen agrees that, for a young Airman, regardless of the career field, working in a small group, as an Airman, can be nerve-wracking. "Our first alarm was like that. I'm running down an access road, in an open field, by myself, not knowing what is going to happen. Fortunately nothing usually does happen, but when it does we have to be ready. And that's what we train for."
Probably the busiest job at the missile alert facility goes to the facility manager, a jack of all trades, of sorts, whose job is to make sure his support Airmen can do their jobs and ensure the missile teams have what they need to make sure they have mission success 24/7.
"I have three different jobs while I'm at the facility," said Tech. Sgt. Sean Walko, a facility manager at Minot. "I'm also kind of like a mini first sergeant because I have to know personnel issues, deal with a group of personnel, counsel, mentor and things of that nature. I help guide and take care of the facility once the missile crews go downstairs for 24 to 36 hours. Once they go underground, they have absolutely no way of knowing what's going on outside, and I'm the only link."
Staff Sgt. Daniel Khrayzat is a facility manager at F.E.Warren who explains that running a topside facility encompasses much more than simply doing one thing. "We're responsible for checking the water, making sure the sprinklers are good, monitoring the fuel, running the generators and making sure everyone is safe. As MAF managers, we're also the chief of safety, so anything that happens, from a fire to a tornado, we're there to respond."
But, according to Airmen who work along the approximately 32,000 square-mile stretch of northern tier plains and foothills at more than 50 facilities, it's the families of these Airmen who are impacted the most.
Petersen noted that it takes time for family members to adjust. "Now that my daughter is older, I think she's starting to understand and get into the routine like we are. When she sees me packing my bags to go, she's always in there messing up my clothes in hopes that it will make me stay or at least make me leave later. But she understands that I'm going to be leaving that morning."
Sakurai is a single parent at Minot who says it's tough at times to balance between her obligation to the Air Force and her responsibilities as a parent. She credits the Air Force's missile care program for helping provide child care above and beyond the normal hours of the child development center.
"When we got to Minot, he was still very little and didn't understand when I went away for days at a time," said Sakurai. "Now he knows what I mean when I say I have to go to work. He knows that when I pack my bags, he packs his. He says, 'Mommy's going to work, and I'm going to Miss Jane's house.'
"It was very hard at first because I felt very bad and guilty." But Sakurai explained that, like most single parents, she's glad to be in a stable environment, with a "roof over her head, food on the table and stability."
Newinski is part of a security escort team who says that his family and friends help him put his work at remote sites in proper perspective. "To people on a national or world scale, we work on some of the most isolated places on the planet. It makes me proud to be in the field that I am and I feel that the job we do in the military, and with our missiles, is a very important one."
Comments
6/21/2013 6:49:28 PM ET I was an FSC at the Tango LCF at FE Warren AFB the 400th SMS in the mid 1970's. Since then have found out after removing the old MMII's they installed the 'Peace Keepers' in 1987 but removed them in 2005. Since that time the 400th has been deactivated the 5 LCF's Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango and their 50 LF's sites are empty pad locked boarded up and weed choked access roads and chain-linked fences remain.
R.Slator, Clwtr. Fl
6/18/2013 11:01:29 AM ET I spent 11 years in the missile field between three different locations for Titan II and Minuteman III. One could write a book on the stories that come from the field. From complex 4-7 in Damascus AR to the ghost town of Tagus ND. I enjoyed it made a lot of good friends have good memories but glad it's in my past. Defender in the house
SF Ret., Texas
6/15/2013 3:04:09 AM ET My experience in the missile field goes back to the 70's at Ellsworth when we worked at the LCF and LF in SECURITY POLICE. It was lonely duty. We did not have satellite TV and picked up one or two snowy channels from Rapid City. And you've never lived until you get called out at 330 in the morning in a blizzard at 20 below to re-set a generator through base job control in the underground equipment room on a missile site...it was quite an experience.
Sgt West, Phoenix Az
6/14/2013 4:10:16 PM ET I had security duty the Atlas sites in western Kansas. Liked it better than bomber duty. That was 50yrs ago
Gary Asher, Oklahoma
6/14/2013 12:19:33 PM ET Appreciate the story. Worked the missile field from '87-'92 at Malmstrom AFB. Was in the 342 MSS as a ARTSRTFSC. Primary sites were JuliePapa then GolfTango. Eventually worked every site on the west side. Plenty of stories worked with lots of good FMs and cooks. Most missile crews were OK. Winters were tough fun choppering in once in a while on recovery day. Great memories.
Mark Corchado MSgt ret, central PA
6/13/2013 2:14:27 PM ET Oh the stories I could tell about the good ole missile field. ART leader trying to call his wife and letting the phone ring for 30 minutes before I had to give him a lawful order to hang up. Didn't go good. ART leam fed my exlax for three days and I thought I was sick. Me taking their bed apart for a return favor. Tackling a SSgt at 300 in the morning as he was slamming 12 ga. shotgun shells into his gun because he still could not find his wife. Shooting an M16 in a peacekeeper because the weapons were not cleared properly. I could go on and on and on. But I loved the duty and would do it again at Ellsworth. Peace all
Kett Winsor MSgt ret, Lamar CO
6/13/2013 9:54:34 AM ET When I first got to Minot many moons ago I said OMG. I was part of the MET Mobile Eating Team aka MFT Mobile Fire Team. I met great people from different career fields and made many friends. Its a tough gig but I put it down as if you could survive here you could survive anywhere not the same as N.Y... The winters were brutal even reaching numbers in the triple digits...like -125 degees below. Thats how you make you make friends...Good Luck MY SF'ers
SOLL 2, The Black Hole
6/12/2013 7:23:04 PM ET I was a Facility Manager for the 741st in Minot for almost eight years. It was a rewarding position with memories that I will cherish for a lifetime. None of that would have been possible if it wasn't for the Security Forces to stand up to the forces allied against us the Chef to nurture our bodies the Maintainers and Civil Engineers to keep it all working and the professional Crew members training day in and out to do what no one wants but only they can do. Bully
