Airmen run missile-alert facilities

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Danny Monahan
  • 5th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (AFPN) --  For the last 40 years, the great plains of North Dakota have been housing the 91st Space Wing’s intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The missile-alert facilities are manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

There are security forces who protect and operators who run the nation’s greatest deterrence system, but it is the facility managers and chefs who run the day-to-day operations, said Tech. Sgt. Curtis Philip. He is the 742nd Missile Squadron facility manager in charge of Kilo-1.

The overall missile complex for the space wing here is broken down into 15 MAFs throughout North Dakota, labeled Alpha through Oscar, Sergeant Philip said.

“I supervise everything topside,” he said. “I issue the rooms, cut the grass and paint what needs touching up. It’s a little bit of everything.”

Each MAF is complete with a living room, kitchen and bedrooms. It resembles more of a hotel than a dorm.

“I can’t complain about this place,” Sergeant Philip said. “I have satellite TV, a weight room, and the chef and I have our own rooms.”

All of the MAF’s electrical amenities run on commercial power, but if it is lost, it has a backup.

“We have a diesel generator that kicks on in case the power goes out,” the sergeant said. “It will run everything except for the air conditioner.”

Besides a generator, each MAF has a 10,000-gallon water tank, which goes through an elaborate and intricate series of filters.

“The water comes from a well, and it’s probably the purest water on Earth,” Sergeant Philip said. “Even after it goes through all these filters, it still goes through another one located in the kitchen.”

Kilo-1 is well taken care of, and it is a meticulously clean environment. Throughout the day, the facility manager is always busy, and when the chef is not cooking, she is cleaning her work area.

“I do a lot during the day, but the chef has the hardest job here,” Sergeant Philip said. “She has to prepare four meals a day, and she might not be done until 9 [p.m.]”

The other people at a MAF, whether they are security forces, missileers or contractors, have a very diverse menu from which to choose, even with only one chef to prepare it.

“Normally a technical sergeant runs the dining facility on a base, and performs tasks such as ordering food, supplies and managing the finances,” said Airman 1st Class Valarie Whalen, 742nd Missile Squadron chef. “But I’m doing all these things; I’m pretty much doing (a noncommissioned officer’s) job. It’s a lot to grasp at first, but I’m the only one -- I’m my own supervisor.”

Being the only chef and given the harsh winters in North Dakota, Airman Whalen said her job can sometimes be a tasking one.

“There was a time last winter where we couldn’t even see the MAF [because of the weather]. We came here to relieve the other facility manager and chef, and everyone was ordered not to leave because of the snow,” the chef said. “We didn’t have enough beds, and people were sleeping on couches and the floor.

“The other chef that I relieved was pregnant and technically off duty,” Airman Whalen said. “But she helped me out all night because I had to cook for all (those) people.”

It was a true testament of service before self, Airman Whalen said.

Another trying task at the MAF is the numerous four-day tours the facility managers and chefs work, which equal about six months out of the year.

“In this job you miss certain things you wish you could be there for,” Sergeant Philip said. “You miss holidays and kids’ sporting events, but that’s just part of the job.”

However, there is more free time than people think, Airman Whalen said.

“The duty day at a MAF is not like most of the Air Force (jobs) on base,” Airman Whalen said. “Most people’s duty days are eight hours, and [then] they go home. When I’m not cooking and cleaning, that time is mine throughout the day.

“I kind of live at my job, and I’m able to study a lot while I’m here,” she said. “I’m taking classes this fall online.”

There are thousands of people running the day-to-day operations of a base, but at a MAF, a hub of the deadliest weapons in the world, there are only two: the missile alert facility manager and chef.