Ay, mami

Alguna vez te habrás hecho la pregunta: ¿qué pasa si los que manejan los botones nucleares, allá en el Hemisferio Norte, son una banda de borrachos? No me refería necesariamente a los soviéticos, te diré. Primero vamos a la noticia tal cual apareció hoy en el sitio iraní PressTV:

Título: Alcoholic US Air Force officers hold nuke buttons: Bruce Gagnon

Epígrafe: An American activist and expert on military affairs says the US Air Force’s frustrated, demoralized and alcoholic officers have their fingers on the nation’s nuclear buttons.

Texto: Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, from Bath, Maine, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Tuesday. He also regularly offers his reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire on his blog.

He was commenting on an Associated Press report which revealed that the US Air Force dismissed two undisciplined commanders from its nuclear missile corps on Monday.

“This is a very important story. Actually, I grew up in the Air Force. My father was a career Air Force man, and then during the Vietnam War I myself joined the Air Force. So what I see in the story is a lot of what I experienced in my own time of being in the Air Force, that is a severe culture of alcoholism,” Gagnon said.

“And it’s actually the way they retain people by turning them into alcoholics and then they keep them in the military, that’s part of their primary retention strategy,” he added.

“I also think that there’s a lot of frustration with these officers that are working in these nuclear bunkers because, I think, a lot of them wanted to be pilots. They were washed out from flight schools; they were not -- for whatever reasons -- acceptable in flight schools.  So they were kind of dumped in this area, sitting in the hole on the ground with their fingers on the [nuclear] button,” he continued. “So I believe they are very frustrated and prone to things like alcohol and other such things.”

According to the Associated Press, Colonel Carl Jones was the most senior officer who was sacked on Monday “for loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities.”

Jones was in charge of 150 of the Air Force’s 450 Minuteman 3 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles at the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.

The second commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Keith Brown, was also relieved of command for the same reason.

According to Air Force officials, Brown was also “engaged in unlawful discrimination or harassment" of his staff.

“The behavior of one of the commanders was just clearly one that indicated severe alcoholism,” Gagnon said, referring to probably Brown.

“I think that’s a key problem here in this particular case. And it’s frightening when you think about the people that are manning the nuclear weapons infrastructure in the United States are in such a bad condition. It is very frightening,” he concluded.

***

Vayamos a la noticia, aséptica, claro está, tal cual la publica el periódico militar estadounidense “Stars & Stripes”

Título: Air Force fires 2 nuclear missile corps commanders

Texto: WASHINGTON — Adding to signs of distress in the nuclear force, the Air Force fired two commanders and disciplined a third in response to internal investigations of leadership lapses and misbehavior at two of its three intercontinental ballistic missile bases.

The most senior officer to be relieved was Col. Carl Jones, the No. 2 commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, in charge of 150 of the Air Force's 450 Minuteman 3 nuclear ICBMs. He was dismissed "for a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities," and has been reassigned as a special assistant to the wing commander.

The actions Monday were confirmed to The Associated Press in response to an AP inquiry about an internal Air Force investigation of two commanders at the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, which also is responsible for 150 Minuteman 3 missiles. A separate investigation was conducted at F.E. Warren.

The Air Force nuclear missile corps has suffered a rash of recent setbacks, including the firing last year of its top commander and a number of security lapses.

It is unusual for disciplinary action to be taken against senior officers at two of the Air Force's three nuclear missile bases on the same day. Officials said the timing was a coincidence. It extends a pattern of leadership failures in the ICBM force over the past year.

Last March nine officers were fired at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, which is the third of the three nuclear missile bases, in response to an exam-cheating scandal there. On the same day as that announcement, the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren disclosed that it had fired Col. David Holloway, the officer in charge of the three missile squadrons there. It has never fully explained that action.

Last year, Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, commander of the entire ICBM force, was fired after an investigation into a drinking binge and other misconduct while he was in Russia as head of a visiting U.S. government delegation.

The nuclear missile force, whose work is arguably the most sensitive in the military, has been beset with problems in discipline, training, leadership and morale, prompting Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in February to order an independent review. The results of that review are expected to be announced in coming weeks.

In response to an AP inquiry Monday, Lt. Col. John Sheets, spokesman for Air Force Global Strike Command, which is in charge of the Air Force Minuteman 3 force as well as its nuclear bomber fleet, said that as a result of the Minot investigation a missile squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jimmy "Keith" Brown, was relieved of command Monday "because of a loss of confidence in Brown's ability to lead his squadron."

Sheets said the investigation was directed by Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, commander of the 20th Air Force, and "substantiated that Brown engaged in unlawful discrimination or harassment." He added that the probe found that Brown "made statements to subordinates that created a perception within his squadron that pregnancy would negatively affect a woman's career."

The probe also substantiated allegations that Brown had failed to ensure the well-being of his troops. In March a two-person crew operating a Minuteman 3 launch control center at Minot felt ill from fumes created by a refurbishment project, but the crew remained at their post because they believed Brown would have taken action against them had they left. They later were hospitalized, Sheets said.

There are three missile squadrons at each of the three nuclear missile wings. Each squadron is responsible for 50 missiles operated by officers in five underground launch control centers.

The second officer targeted in the Minot investigation was Col. Richard Pagliuco, commander of the 91st Operations Group, which is in charge of the three missile squadrons at Minot, including Brown's.

Sheets said the investigation confirmed that Pagliuco "failed to promote and safeguard the morale, well-being and welfare of the airmen under his command." Pagliuco received administrative punishment in the form of a letter in his personnel file, but Sheets said he could not be more specific about the punishment.

The complaints against Jones, the vice commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren, were the most extensive, according to Sheets' description of the case.

Sheets said Jones' immediate superior, Col. Tracey Hayes, commander of the 90th, removed him following an internal investigation that substantiated allegations of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, and cruelty and maltreatment of a subordinate.

"In four separate instances, Jones acted in a manner that degraded his status as a senior officer and wing leader including maltreating a subordinate," Sheets said.

The most recent incident involving Jones was in September and occurred at a thrift store operated on F.E. Warren by volunteers, Sheets said. According to the investigation report as described by Sheets, Jones went to the shop, called Airman's Attic, to discuss shopping hour policies.

"He hit the sign on the Airman's Attic door and repeatedly hit the shop's front counter while raising his voice, using profanity" and threatening to shut down the place, Sheets said.

It was this incident which prompted a complaint to the 90th Missile Wing's inspector general, leading to the investigation and the decision by Hayes to remove Jones.

Three other incidents of allegedly inappropriate behavior on base by Jones during 2014 were substantiated in the investigation, including one in May in which his behavior was described by one officer and a witness as shocking.
Sheets said the disciplinary actions at Minot and Warren reflect an effort to ensure that commanders do not behave in ways that detract from the mission.
"Our people must treat each other with dignity and respect," Sheets said. "That applies up and down the chain of command."

***

Finalmente la interpretación, in extenso, realizada por el activista político Bruce K. Gagnon 

Título: Nuke Boys Like Alcohol

Texto: I was up earlier than normal this morning in order to help set up our table at the Bath polling station.  Selma Sternlieb took the first two-hour shift so I came home and immediately did an interview with PressTV in Iran.  They wanted my comment on a story about nuke silo commanders being fired that was published in the military newspaper called the Stars & Stripes.  I read the story which you can find here.  I came to only one conclusion - alcoholism.

I told Press TV that I grew up behind the barbed wire fences.  One primary military retention strategy is alcoholism.  You make the GI dependent on the booze (and the military job) and then you have them in a position where they must carry out your orders.  Often their conscience is drowned in the drink.  It happened to my step-father who was in the Air Force.  From about three years old until I was 18 I lived in the military culture.  Then in 1971 I joined the Air Force.  I witnessed first-hand how the military pushes booze on the troops.  And think of the profits for the alcohol industry.  Can you imagine organized crime connections here?

My Air Force bosses would come around to our office early on a Friday and say that if you would go to the Prop Shop (Airman's club) at noon and drink until 5:00 pm you could leave work.  If you didn't want to go to the 'club' then you had to stay in the office until quitting time and must look 'busy'.  So of course everyone goes to the club and by 5:00 pm are drunk.  It's the one place where lower grade airmen (like me) got to tell their immediate bosses how they really felt about stuff.  The drink helps eliminate inhibitions.  So run that game over a 20-year career for many in the military and you can see how drinking becomes an epidemic.

As long as the GI can function at work there is no problem.  A drunk can hang on until full retirement.  That is what happened with my step-father.  I saw many people like this when I was in the Air Force.  It's the biggest welfare program going today - damn near full socialism - except you have no voice and the morals tend to lag.

So reading the Stars & Stripes story I came to the conclusion that most of these nuke button pushers underground in North Dakota (cold and increasingly fracked) were wanna-bee jet jockeys.  For whatever reason they washed out of flight school and were sent underground...the booby prize.  These folks are deeply resentful and are very susceptible to alcoholism.  The patch on the commander's chair in the photo is clear evidence of alcohol's role in the military culture.

Reading the description in the article about one of the commanders who was fired was illustrative in itself:

The most recent incident involving Jones was in September and occurred at a thrift store operated on F.E. Warren by volunteers, Sheets said. According to the investigation report as described by Sheets, Jones went to the shop, called Airman's Attic, to discuss shopping hour policies.

"He hit the sign on the Airman's Attic door and repeatedly hit the shop's front counter while raising his voice, using profanity" and threatening to shut down the place, Sheets said.

It was this incident which prompted a complaint to the 90th Missile Wing's inspector general, leading to the investigation and the decision by Hayes to remove Jones.

Three other incidents of allegedly inappropriate behavior on base by Jones during 2014 were substantiated in the investigation, including one in May in which his behavior was described by one officer and a witness as shocking.

When you feel powerless and miserable you want to strike out.  The military likes that in their GI's but it is supposed to be kept under wraps.  This North Dakota story broke out into global media.  The nukes boys are now being watched and they damn well should be.  The whole nuclear weapons system needs to be shut down.  Instead Obama and a bi-partisan Congress are upgrading the nuclear weapons program.  In a sadly cynical way this story helps force Congress to kick more money into the nuclear mess.  Properly timed in the Stars & Stripes.