And Putin is promising to start Russian recon flights over the Gulf of Mexico. Awesome.

History is unwinding, folks. We're headed back to the world state that existed (exclusive of technology advances) prior to WWI. Europe is going to fracture; neo-czarist Russia has nukes, and we have a government full of Woodrow Wilsons.

For example, while inspectors obsessed over whether every checklist and review of individual medical records was completed, they ignored huge problems, including ... the discovery that the crews that maintain the nation’s 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles had only a single wrench....

And these are the folks who want to be entrusted with our healthcare?

This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it.

Regarding health care: wait till there's only one functioning MRI unit that they're FedExing across the country...

I would like to be able to blame Obama for this, but I believe the fault lies squarely with the Air Force.

The Air Force controls the ICBM's, and has since the fifties at least, is also a particularly poor acquisition manager.
They will remodel the Burger King on base before they spend money on mission essential equipment.

It sounds scary that they are mailing one wrench around the country to attach a new warhead to a missile, but I also don't believe attaching a new warhead is done very often.
(Yes, I have worked with nuclear weapons, but in the Army, not the Air Force. We had the tools we needed to attach the warheads, and practiced it frequently, as our missiles were mobile, not fixed in place in a silo like the ICBM's. )

The Air Force is very process intensive.
People's careers live and die on that paperwork, so it gets priority.

I am sure the sequester didn't help any, but still the Air Force thinks their mission *is* the paperwork.

I have a good friend who is retired from missile maintenance. Next week I will ask him about the wrench thing. He will probably know if it is true, or if there is a lot more to the story.

...the Air Force thinks their mission *is* the paperwork. ~ Posted by: Isab at November 14, 2014 1:10 PM

Unfortunately, that's par for the course for government bureaucracies - of any stripe.

...the Air Force thinks their mission *is* the paperwork. ~ Posted by: Isab at November 14, 2014 1:10 PM
Unfortunately, that's par for the course for government bureaucracies - of any stripe.

Posted by: Conan the Grammarian at November 14, 2014 2:18 PM

I expect this from non DOD agencies.
Most of them would be improved by firing everyone, and shutting it down.

The Air Force is by far the worst in all of DOD. Ask anyone who has worked for them, and any other branch of the service.

The Air Force is very process intensive. People's careers live and die on that paperwork, so it gets priority. ~ Posted by: Isab at November 14, 2014 1:10 PM

The most important career skill in the military today is knowing PowerPoint.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html

Excerpt:

Last year when a military Web site, Company Command, asked an Army platoon leader in Iraq, Lt. Sam Nuxoll, how he spent most of his time, he responded, “Making PowerPoint slides.” When pressed, he said he was serious.

I hope the wrench story isn't true. I have to admit my first instinct is to believe it. There are dozens of fixing systems out there, any number of which would do the job off the shelf, but of course any contractor worth their salt will come up with a new one 'tailored' for the application.
The first step in a contract should be "here's the standard toolkit. Anything extra you need to add, justify it!"

I hope the wrench story isn't true. I have to admit my first instinct is to believe it. There are dozens of fixing systems out there, any number of which would do the job off the shelf, but of course any contractor worth their salt will come up with a new one 'tailored' for the application.
The first step in a contract should be "here's the standard toolkit. Anything extra you need to add, justify it!"

Posted by: Ltw at November 15, 2014 10:46 PM

This isn't like changing the oil in your Chevy.

Everything to do with maintaining a nuclear war head and attaching to a missile is top secret.

The Air Force and the Navy are not handing anyone a contract, and a set of tools to go out, and attach a nuclear war head, nor can they run right down to Ace Hardware and buy a wrench to do this.

This is highly specialized delicate work, and doesn't need to be done very often at all.
When it is done, it is done by military and civilians with lots of training, and top secret security clearances.

I don't care if 'it doesn't need to be done very often', that does NOT mean every base shouldn't have the damned tools to deal with the job.

I guarantee you there are machine shops in the Air Farce where machinists could make them; but oh NO, they can't do that! Because paperwork.

This is proof the DoD is primarily being run by politicians in uniforms, not warriors.

"I don't care if 'it doesn't need to be done very often', that does NOT mean every base shouldn't have the damned tools to deal with the job."

The article I read indicated the tool was needed three or four times in the last twenty five years.

Most base commanders who are there for only three years, probably never ever heard about it, or encounter the problem.

Also, The ICBM's are not located "at the base". They are all in individual silos located anywhere from 40-150 miles from the base.
So why stop there?

I agree that the Airforce is a politicized mess, but this isn't a particular good example of a real problem.

This sounds bogus and engineered to scare up money, to me.

I was only qualified on two subs that carried them, not a missile tech, but the story we got was that each Navy ICBM comes with its own tool package.

After all, the entire submarine is issued with spares. The Supply Officer actually signs for receiving it. The sub. The whole thing.

Maybe the Air Force really DOES need to hold a bake sale to fund its programs...