Inspections are top priority at base
By ELOISE OGDEN, Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.comArticle Photos
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE The new commander of the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base said his first priority is to make sure the wing is ready for inspections. Col. Douglas Cox began Monday as the top officer of the bomb wing.
Cox replaced Col. Joel Westa, who, along with the commander of the base's 5th Operations Support Squadron, were relieved of duty. Eighth Air Force Headquarters officials said Friday the actions were taken because of loss of confidence in their ability to command. They said Westa was not relieved of the command for any misconduct or wrongdoing but cited substandard performance during several nuclear surety inspections, including the newly activated 69th Bomb Squadron, Minot AFB's new second squadron of B-52s, as reasons for the dismissal.
"The results of the inspection were deemed not ready, so obviously our first priority is to make sure that we are ready," said Cox, referring to a recent inspection of the 69th Bomb Squadron. He said that includes a myriad of details with complex training and complex systems that they have to work hard at and achieve a standard of excellence.
Cox met with local media Tuesday morning in his office at bomb wing headquarters.
He said the plan for the wing as it has been and now that he's here is to continue those preparations on an aggressive schedule.
"In fact, my first day here in the job was yesterday, Monday, and we're conducting a Prairie Vigilance exercise which helps to prepare us for the combat mission. That exercise is going well," he said.
"It entails 24 hours a day of working on all of our procedures and making sure that we have the technical aspects of our nuclear mission ready to go, safe, secure and credible," Cox said. "Building that credibility is one of the biggest challenges that we are working on. We feel like we present a credible mission capability right now but there's always room for improvement and we're going to work on that for the foreseeable future."
"We actually are inspected all the time so every day we're either inspecting ourselves or we're expecting inspectors to come from outside of Minot Air Force Base," Cox said.
He said a high-level visit will occur later this month. "The third week of November we have a nuclear surety staff assistance visit which is much in the character of an inspection, and we do expect our ACC (Air Combat Command) inspector general will be coming to visit early in 2010. So just in a very short time we do expect to have a number of inspectors come in to Minot Air Force Base, and we're looking forward to showing them the excellence of our airmen, how hard they've been working and that they can perform the mission with the level of perfection that's expected."
Cox said the bomb wing's mission "demands continual attention to the idea of safety, security and credibility, and we are never done. We are never satisfied."
"We are always working to continually come to a standard of excellence and even perfection in terms of the execution of our technical operations," he said. He said it's hard to compare it with any other kind of job demand. "It's very stringent, it's very demanding and that's why I'm so proud of the folks here in the 5th Bomb Wing the airmen who do the job every day because they hold themselves to that standard of excellence and that's what they work for each and every day, 24 hours a day. It's my honor to be here to serve with them because they are a very elite group of airmen."
"Our Air Force leaders and the taxpayers have every right to expect that we'll exert every effort to achieve that standard," Cox said. "And the best result of that is it speaks comfort to our folks in terms of the national defense that we're able to provide as the United States Air Force to our folks here at home in the United States. It also assures our allies in terms of the deterrence that we are able to provide and finally, it puts our adversaries on notice that we are ready to do the mission should they decide to challenge the United States."
He said the airmen at Minot AFB work hard so he wants to make sure they are properly taken care of.
"One of the focus items that we will pursue as we go forward in the months ahead is to ensure that we have good quality of life facilities here on the Air Force base for our airmen and their families," Cox said.
He said November is declared the month of the military family and a variety of activities are planned at the base. He said those activities are being done "to reach out to our families and take care of them (and) thank them for the support that they provide to the airmen because it's tough to do the mission without someone to come home to or to rely upon.
"We have a lot of single airmen up here at Minot as well, so we do our best to take care of them with appropriate facilities for them for recreation in their duty time. We're also working on nice new dormitories for them so they have nice places to live," he said.
Cox was previously assigned to Minot AFB for about five years 1994 to 1999. He said he's always wanted to come back to Minot.
Cox is a B-52 navigator who has more than 3,000 flying hours in the B-52, including combat missions over Afghanistan. He previously was the vice commander of the 36th Wing at Andersen AFB in Guam.
Other changes are ahead for both the base's 91st Missile Wing and the 5th Bomb Wing. On Dec. 1, the missile wing becomes part of the new Air Force Global Strike Command and on Feb. 1, the 5th Bomb Wing becomes part of the new command. Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz is the commander of Global Strike Command. Klotz visited the base and Minot community last week
"Here, in the coming months, both the 91st and the 5th are moving together to the new Global Strike Command which will be our new shared major command which is at the same command level as Air Combat Command and (Air Force) Space Command now occupy our chain of command," Cox said.
He said both wings at Minot AFB are moving from separate chains of command into the same chain of command. Cox's immediate commander will remain the same Maj. Gen. Floyd L. Carpenter, who is commander of Eighth Air Force, which has its headquarters at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana.
The 5th Bomb Wing reports to Eighth Air Force, which is its numbered Air Force or a higher headquarters and Eighth Air Force reports to the major command which currently is Air Combat Command.
The 91st Missile Wing reports to 20th Air Force, their numbered Air Force and a higher headquarters. Twentieth Air Force reports to its major command which currently is Air Force Space Command.
Cox gave a message for the public:
"First of all I'd like to tell the folks the public here in the local community to thank them very much for the generous support that they always provide. Minot Air Force Base is famous in the United States Air Force as one of the most fortunate bases in terms of the level of cooperation and support that we have with our local community here. So first of all I would tell them thanks," he said.
"Secondly, I would tell them that they should be reassured by the fact that their leadership of the United States from the highest levels here to our wing are continuing to work on the safety, security and credibility of our nuclear force," he said. "This is something that should reassure them because while we've always been capable of doing this mission, the Air Force is emphasizing accountability to make sure that I understand as the leader of the 5th Bomb Wing that is my responsibility to always seek the very best performance and excellence from every single individual. And the reason that we have to do that is because our credibility depends on it."
"It's a very important mission and my leadership holds me into account for that," Cox said. "I think the public should feel good about the fact that I'm held to that standard and now it's my responsibility to hold everyone in this wing to that standard."
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BDCLWELLS
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11-04-09 7:41 PM
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Forty years ago, our slogan was "PRIDE" i.e. Professional Results in Daily Effort. Now the first word needs to be changed to the "Impossible Dream" word of "Perfection". Some have already commented "Ain't likely, given Minot's climate and its remoteness affect on morale". I had 69% Present for Duty due to "Vietnam". My guys did Security 70-120 hours a week in either AC or Missile areas. Passed inspections w/"Perfection" = never, but got our job done w/PRIDE! Minot people were the "Best"! Lt Colonel Dave Wells, ret'd. BDCL/MAFB '65>'69
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