At Minot Air Force Base, Capt Darian Titus and 2d Lt Willie Jones, as missileers, are responsible for operating intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Their duties include maintaining and securing missile systems, executing launch procedures if required, and coordinating with defense entities. Operating from underground centers, they ensure readiness for nuclear deterrence. This role demands technical skill, discipline, and an understanding of nuclear warfare ethics. ~~~ For the Third Consecutive Year, U.S. Agricultural Imports Surpass Exports, Resulting in a Trade Deficit Over $20 Billion: A Shift in American Trade Dynamics? Analysis by Will Bauer for Harvest Public Media. ~~~ Tom Isern presents a Plains Folk Essay, this one titled, "A Beautiful Guest at the Table." ~~~ Embracing Scars: An Essay by Jessie Veeder on Accepting Physical Scars Post-Surgery.
Interview Summary with 2nd Lt Willie Jones and Captain Darian Titus at Minot Air Force Base:
2nd Lieutenant Willie Jones:
- Unexpected Role: Jones, at 23, never expected to be in this significant role. His selection reflects the trust placed in him by the Air Force and the President.
- Background and Decision to Join: He joined the Air Force ROTC at the University of Central Florida, influenced by his military family background and his father's advice to join the Air Force.
- Duties and Responsibilities: Jones described his role as a missileer, responsible for the control, maintenance, and security of ICBM missiles. He highlighted the importance and seriousness of his duties.
- Ethical and Mental Preparedness: He discussed the rigorous training and mental preparation required for the role, including extensive background checks and psychological readiness.
Captain Darian Titus:
- Path to Becoming a Missileer: Titus shared his journey to joining the Air Force, influenced by his family's financial situation and the opportunity to obtain an education.
- Primary Responsibilities: His role involves ensuring everything functions correctly in the missile operation, coordinating with security forces and maintenance groups.
- Shift Routine: He described the process of taking over shifts, including a detailed briefing on the status of missiles and facilities, and the responsibility he undertakes once signing for an alert.
- Impact on Perspective: Being a missileer has broadened his perspective on global security and the importance of deterrence in diplomacy, leading to a more globalized mindset.
Missileer Interview Transcript
Main Street
It's my honor to be joined by 2nd Lieutenant Willie Jones. He's a missileer assigned to the 741st Missile Squadron at the Minot Air Force Base. 2nd Lieutenant, welcome to Main Street.
You are trained to turn the keys if ordered to launch a nuclear missile. Yes, sir. But you're fairly young.
Two years ago, three years ago, is this where you thought you might be?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
I did not. I can say that honestly. The fact that the President or the United States Air Force gave this, like you said, a young 23-year-old this huge responsibility proves how much trust they have in our training, in our military training, especially in the Air Force.
So I couldn't say I would be in this position, but I'm glad I am.
Main Street
How did you find yourself here? When did you make the decision to join the Air Force and come here?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
So it all started when I came to college. I went to college at University of Central Florida in 2018. I always knew I wanted to be in the military, so I came from a military background.
My father, he served in the Army. He always gave me, as growing up, he always gave me the idea to, if you're going to join, you better join the Air Force because the Air Force is the best. So when I...
The Army father told you the Air Force was the best. Yes, sir. Wow.
Yes, sir. He was like, they got everything you need. So he set me up with that.
So when I got the idea, ultimately went to college, and I always knew I wanted to follow in his footsteps. So that's when I knew I wanted to become an officer, hence I went to college. So at University of Central Florida, they have a ROTC program there, Air Force ROTC program.
So that's when I joined up there. Phenomenal program there. I loved it.
And that allowed me to commission into the Air Force. And as far as missiles goes, I put that on my dream sheet. I got picked for it, and I was happy to get it because, like I said, I did put it on my dream sheet.
And ever since then, I didn't know what to expect when I got it. When I've been through the training and tech school and all that, and to this day, like I said, when I got here, I'm absolutely loving it, man.
Main Street
If you were to describe to our listeners what you perceive your responsibilities to be, what would you tell them?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
In a nutshell, it would basically be, as a missileer, you are in charge of one of three of the nuclear triads, which is ICBM missiles, nuclear missiles. And we maintain and control the maintenance and whatnot, the security and all that good stuff with the missile. And like you said, if we did get the message or the call to turn keys or whatnot, that'll be our job, and to do the processes of that decision to turn the key from those higher ranks and higher ups up there.
Main Street
Second Lieutenant, how do you approach the ethical implications of potentially what that would mean?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
So, to answer that, that'll be basically, they make sure you are ready to do this job before you get the job, in a sense. Like I said, right before I commissioned and graduated from UCF, I sat down with my commander there, my deck commander, and he asked me, hey, this is a very important job, this is one of those jobs where you have to do what you're told. And they do extensive background checks, they do extensive questionings to make sure you are willing to do this job.
And so, once I seen that, and I realized that you gotta have certain clearances and whatnot, they make sure, okay, he's good to do the job, he or she is good to do that job. That kind of made me excited, because when you see those exciting movies like Mission Impossible and whatnot, you're doing a top-secret job and whatnot. And so, when I seen that and I got the excitement of that, I was like, yep, I would love to do this job, defending our nation, being that deterrence to other countries and whatnot.
And so, having that huge responsibility, it gave me pride. And like I said, I love the job of doing it.
Main Street
Taking you back to the first time, first day you went down into a capsule, what'd you think?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
Oh man, doing the train to rise, it doesn't seem real until you get down there. And that first day, I remember my first trip out to the sites, that drive, it's like, whoa. In your mind, you're like, okay, this is what's going on.
I remember my training, you're nervous, you're getting butterflies. And so, it's like, when you're playing sports and you got your first game, you're walking down and it's like, ooh, I hope our training and all that, our practice is going well. So, you drive out to the site and you get there and you're loading all your stuff and it's like, all right, it's time to go down.
And you see the elevator and you're like, all right, here we go. Going down there, man, it was an excitement because, like I said, I was nervous, of course, but once I seen the capsule and whatnot and seen the system, it came natural to me once I settled down and did the job that we had to do. It came natural.
And then I'm proud to say the training that I got, it came, it worked out, it worked all out because, like I said, it came like second nature to me when we had to apply what we were trained. It was easy to me. And so, I'm still learning to this day.
There's never a moment that I'm not learning this weapon system and this job. So yeah, I can say that it was nervous. It was a nerve-wracking at first, but even with my integral commander in my career, shout out to Brian Clancy.
He's a great commander to me. He's teaching me a lot, and he kept me calm during the whole thing. He let me know, hey, man, your training is going to pay off.
Don't worry about it. You're going to be fine. It's scary at first when you're knowing you're in charge of this huge, huge responsibility, but your training will pay off, and it did.
Main Street
Your shifts are 24 hours. Correct. Tell me what happens today when you go down and start your shift.
What happens?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
So, we will do, like I said, 24-hour shifts. We'll go down, we'll process down, and once we process down, we will switch off with the old crew. So, there's two crews that goes out to site.
You got the A1 and A2 crews. You will go down. You will process, do our daily tasks with processing them out, double-checking inventory and all that good stuff, making sure everything's working properly, fine.
They will let us know what's going on out in the field and brief us, like I said, going on everything, and then from there, we, me and the new, like I said, me and your commander or your new crew partner will take control of the weapons system. That can be from maintenance. We probably have maintenance scheduled for that day, so we will do, handle maintenance with the maintenance squadron, or we will have security situations, whereas that will be stuff at the, it could be anything from a rabbit running on the, at the LF sites to training, when they have training with security forces.
We work hand-in-hand with the security force, and they have training at the sites or at the MAPS. So, it's just day-to-day actions of maintaining and controlling that weapons system.
Main Street
There are times I'm thinking that maybe you have some downtime. How do you fight boredom? What do you do?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
Yep, so being that you can't have electronics down there, of course, in this day and age where electronics are everything, they do provide us with a computer, and so most of the times we knock out side work, whether that be, some folks are taking, like right now, I'm about to take my, start my master's, so I can do, knock out homework if I have to. If not, they have upgraded to where we are allowed to watch movies, so Netflix, Hulu, all that good stuff, or if you can bring your own DVDs. Right now, I've been trying to, now that I have the downtime, I'm practicing reading more books, so I wanted to get myself into reading more books or whatnot.
But most of the time, I can say that we will knock out side tasks that we have to do for the squadron, whether that be trainings, that we have to do online trainings, or scheduling for the weeks to come ahead, or working on projects. Like recently, I know some of my squad mates have been planning out events for the children out here. Yeah, it'll just be planning ahead, or like I said, working out schoolwork, or if you completed all your responsibilities at home, you can sit, relax, enjoy a movie, and...
When you're down in the capsule, do you lose track of time? At first, absolutely, because if you didn't have a clock, and you were outside on a watch, you would tell time by the sun, right? Sunsets, or sunrise and sunsets, right?
And so when you're down there, there's no windows, of course, you're only looking at some screens, and you're in a capsule, which could be with the lights on or lights off. And so we do have three methods of time, and down there, we go by Zulu time, so there's always a way to know what time it is during the day. And I can say also, it moves pretty fast on a busy day, because we will always have stuff going on, like I said, whether that be maintenance at one of the sites, or whether that be when some security situations, there's always something going on.
And so you can tell what time it is by that, because of what's going on at the site.
Main Street
Second Lieutenant, do you pay attention to current events? And I ask that in the context of a couple wars happening as we speak today, and specifically Russia's war with Ukraine, and President Putin threatening to use nuclear weapons.
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
What goes through your mind when you hear those things? First, I will pray that I won't have to do my job. But if it ever comes a time that I do have to do my job, I have to oblige orders.
You know, that's why I signed up, like I said, that's why I signed up for this job, because it takes a huge mental strength to be able to know that nuclear missiles will be launched. Like, if there was ever a threat to the United States, it is our job as the final standpoint to defend our country. With that, like my great pride and the love of this country, I can say that I hope that this world won't come to that point.
But if it comes a time that the President sends us that message and says, hey, I need you guys to turn those keys, there won't be a doubt in my mind to not turn those keys and whatnot and defend our country. So I can say, like I said, there is a lot going on, and I pray that the world finds peace and whatnot. But yeah, I pray that I don't have to do my job, but if I have to, I will.
Main Street
You're apparently young. What are your ambitions in the Air Force?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
So I do plan on serving the full 20 years. My father's a huge role model to me, and just seeing what he accomplished in life, he always pushed me to be better than him and to see the sacrifices he made for me and my family, just not my dad, but my whole family, all the sacrifices they made for us to be as comfortable as we are now, to have a comfortable life, that gave me a lot of joy and motivation to follow in those footsteps. And so when I, like I said, even starting from ROTC, when I had no idea what the military was like, only hearing the stories from my father, when I did, started from college and I did the ROTC, I see, I had the love and passion for it, and it came like second nature to me in a sense, knowing the knowledge.
I can say that when I got to Minot and I seen the culture here, I can say shout out to 741st because we always come first, and we are, this squadron has a lot of pride. That gave me more intention and motivation to keep serving, because if I could be around people like this, I have good faith that wherever I end up, following my career in the Air Force, it will always bring me back to this moment of knowing how good these folks are here at Minot or in the Air Force in general. Originally planned on serving my full 20, maybe more, I don't know how life will turn out in the future, but my end goal is to at least serve the full 20.
Main Street
You arrived here in April of 2023.
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
Yes, sir.
Main Street
What have you seen relative to North Dakota? Have you gotten out a little bit?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
I have. I mentioned that I'm from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, so I'm a Florida boy at heart, born and raised, and never seen snow before I came here. And so when I got here in the summer, I luckily just missed a huge blizzard, supposedly.
So everybody, when I got here, was telling me how lucky I am. So over the summer, I fished. I love fishing back at home, so we fished one of the local lakes out here.
That was pretty fun. And seeing the different wildlife, I can say, that it was pretty interesting to see all the wildlife.
Main Street
Is it hard to make friends being new, coming to a base like this? No, sir.
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
Being that Minot is Minot, of course, it's in North Dakota, right? And people get the misperception of that, oh, you're going to Minot, North Dakota, there's nothing out there. And when I got here, I can say that everybody here is so nice and so humble to you.
They bring you in as a family. Everybody's a family here. That's what I loved it about here at Minot.
They took me in. They showed me the ropes and everything. They always ask me if I need anything, just let them know.
And not just even the base, even the locals here at Minot, they've shown me a lot of gratitude. I'm very happy that I came here.
Main Street
Were you able to find housing?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
Yes. Where do you live? Easily.
So I live south of town, Minot. I live out of town. I don't live on base, but I live out of town, south of town.
Found a good apartment. It's very nice. It's up to standards.
I expected it to be in. It was way cheaper than Florida, I can tell you that. So I was very happy about that.
Main Street
Can you give me some reflection on how being a missileer has maybe changed your perspective on military service or even global security? You talked about it earlier, being a deterrent. What's changed in you now that you're here, do you think?
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
My perception on life, in a sense, and sense of responsibility and attention to detail. Before this job, I have to do it to learn or I have to fail to learn, if that makes sense. I would just do things, try things without putting thought to it.
But when I joined this job and seeing how much attention to detail I have to have, how much responsibility I have to have of keeping information in and whatnot, how much trust they put into me for this job, it gave me a sense of a lot more responsibility. It made me way more mature for my age than I believe I should have at 23 years old. Like I said, at 23 years old, being in control of all this, the sense of responsibility I have, it gave me a lot more aspect on life of being a lieutenant in the Air Force, I can say.
Having that officer role definitely helped me out.
Main Street
Second Lieutenant Willie Jones is a missileer assigned to the 741st Missile Squadron in Minot. Thank you, Second Lieutenant, for your service and for joining us on Main Street.
2d Lt Willie Jones, Minot AFB
I appreciate it. It was an honor. Thank you.
Main Street
Best wishes. This is Main Street on Prairie Public. I'm Craig Blumenshine, pleased to be joined by Captain Darian Titus.
He's a missileer serving in the 91st Operation Support Squadron under the OSK Division at the Minot Air Force Base. Captain, welcome to Main Street. Thank you so much for having me on.
It's really an honor for me to visit with you. You're here in Minot, North Dakota. You grew up in Washington.
How did you find your way here?
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
I am actually one of four boys, so I have three brothers, one older, two younger. We were never really well off growing up, so one of the main ways we found a way to go to college and really get an education is to kind of go into the Air Force.
So my older brother is currently in the Air Force. I'm obviously currently serving. You know, I signed on to be in the military, and I said, you know, I'm just happy to be here.
So I let the Air Force choose what job they wanted me to have, and here I am. Tell me your primary responsibilities as a missileer. I can think of one, which is to be down in the capsule and to turn the key, but it's so much more than that.
Main Street
Tell me what you do.
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
Oh, as a missileer, there's so much to be done. That is true most of the time.
We are downstairs really making sure that really just everything goes right. You know, it was always a running joke in training that if we ever had to do our job, it'd be a bad day for the world. So really our whole plan was to get trained up on what could possibly go wrong with the missiles, and we coordinate that with our security forces and the maintenance group in order to fix any problems that may arise through the screen that we have downstairs.
Main Street
When you go downstairs, what happens?
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
To begin with, there's already a crew downstairs, so we do what we call crew changeover, where we go over all of the intricacies of what is currently out in the field, any maintenance that may have been scheduled, or any current status at any of our 10 LFs. And LFs are?
LF is launch facility, sorry. So launch facility, that is where the actual missile is housed and kind of stays day to day. So we get a full briefing on everything in our missile field.
We get a full briefing on anything that we're expecting to come at the MAF, and we just get an overview of what we are expected to do that day. Then we continue making sure that all of the classified information that should be downstairs is downstairs. After we verify all of that, we sign for the alert, so we actually have a wet signature saying, I, Captain Titus, have taken this alert.
I am responsible for these nuclear missiles until the next signature. And then after that, for the most part, we monitor, make sure anything, if anything goes wrong. If we have maintenance, we verify that they are at the correct site.
We are verifying that we are seeing the correct indications, such as an outer zone violation or an inner zone violation. Those are the two main ways that we know if somebody is on an LF that they should not be. So getting those violations, knowing that the team is out there, that just proves that our security system is working, and we're making sure that those missiles are secure.
Main Street
You arrive in uniform, but you're allowed to get a little more comfortable when you're down for one of your shifts. Is that correct? That is correct.
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
So we will be in uniform anytime we're topside or transversing between upstairs and downstairs, if you will. But after we finish crew changeover, we are free to change into more comfortable attire. Some people, they will stay in uniform for a little bit longer.
Other people will change right away. I've seen anything from footed pajamas to just workout gear. So it's really just whatever you feel most comfortable in while you are downstairs for that period of time.
Main Street
When you go downstairs, how far below ground are you? It depends on the missile alert facility. It varies, but usually it is approximately 60 feet.
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
So if you're lucky, the elevator is working. If not, you kind of have to climb down a few ladders to get down there.
Main Street
And I'll add there's also an emergency escape built into those capsules, correct?
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
There is. There is. There are a few names that we kind of colloquially call it, but we hope to never use it.
But ideally, there is a long, probably hundreds of foot long shaft that should gradually take us back up to the surface. To my knowledge, nobody really knows exactly where those come out. So we hope that it has not been covered because that will make a horrible escape plan.
Main Street
You come downstairs, you begin your shift. Is it a 24-hour shift? At this point, it is.
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
So the alert style has changed over time. As of right now, we do 24 hours downstairs. We do have what we call tamper detection indicators.
Essentially, we put that on some of the more secret components of our console. Those stickers essentially allow us to go to sleep. So as long as we have all of our blast doors closed and as long as we have all of our detection indicators installed properly, we're actually, one member is allowed to sleep at a time.
So there is a small bed downstairs, but it's better than sleeping on the metal on the floor. I was surprised when I was able to go down into an active capsule a few years ago.
Main Street
You can watch ESPN downstairs.
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
We can. We can. We do have no electronics downstairs, but we have found a way to get approval for some items and we have a lot of cord going from upstairs to downstairs.
But we do have a functioning TV and that monitor can shift over to a computer that sits upstairs. We are able to essentially browse the internet on the government ethernet in order to just look at some of the, you know, Facebook to catch up with friends or whatnot. I know that there's a lot of time spent training and we'll cover that in just a minute.
But there's also some idle time. How do you handle and what do you use that idle time for? I've seen a lot of people do a lot of different things with their idle time.
A lot of people use it for higher education. Some people use it to catch up on sports. I myself actually read a lot.
Not necessarily books, but there's a website that I go to that has essentially fan fiction and I'm able to read. On a good night, I can usually get about 100 chapters of that fan fiction done in one of my shifts if it's quiet and nothing really is going on. But there are times you train.
Main Street
How does that work? What are you training for? Big picture, we are training for war.
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
Unfortunate as it is in our career field, we are training in the off chance that diplomacy and conventional war fails. So we train very extensively on all of the things that we do not see day to day. For example, we train very thoroughly on our emergency war orders.
So anytime we're going to go to war, launching a missile, prepping it for launch, anything of that nature, we do not do that in the field regularly. To my knowledge, we have not done it at all since we have been at that high stakes of a point in war before. But we also cover safety procedures.
We have a few indications on our console and in our surroundings that might have personal safety in jeopardy, whether that's ourselves or maintenance members out in the field. So we train to have those procedures very in mind. That way, if it were to happen in the field, we would be able to respond quickly and adequately to potentially save lives.
Main Street
Do you keep up with current events and have you thought about that in the context of what you do every day? And I'm thinking specifically maybe about the war in Ukraine, President Putin's threat to use tactical nuclear weapons. Day to day, they do not impact me all of that much.
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
We do get intel briefs pretty consistently. So we are kept abreast of both the unclassified and some of the more classified information. However, it doesn't really affect training because we are always training to go to war.
It might be against Russia and Ukraine. It's possible that we could be fighting other adversaries in other states. And so while we are cognizant that we may be used in the Ukraine conflict, it hasn't really impacted just because we're always ready.
We're trained to be ready no matter what happens. Enjoying my conversation with Captain Darian Titus. He's a missileer serving in the 91st Operation Support Squadron under the OSK Division at the Minot Air Force Base.
Main Street
Captain, how do you manage the stress and the responsibility associated with handling nuclear weapons?
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
I speak for myself. I will not speak to how other people handle stress, but I recently got married about a year and a half ago.
Main Street
Congratulations!
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
Thank you. And actually, I have a five week old now.
Main Street
More so. Congratulations. Awesome
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
So I, there's a lot of stress on the home front.
Main Street
So you go down in the capsule to sleep.
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
I do. I do. So for me, stress is really finding my loved ones and kind of finding my center.
So that center for me is through my spouse and my child and really just finding myself and what it means to me to be here. As you said, it is quite stressful to know that we could be called upon to do an act of war, but it's through finding our links to each other that really grounds us and keeps us present in the moment and able to enjoy life.
Main Street
Captain, give our listeners an example of the command and control structure, how it works in a nuclear launch situation.
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
Okay, in a nuclear launch, essentially what will happen is the president will be notified of possible inbounds. There are many strike advisors along their side to brief them on possible plans of actions and what they may want to do. They could choose to go full conventional, they could choose some nuclear options, it really is up to the president.
But once the president decides and everything is verified that that is what they want, it goes to a couple of higher headquarters to really start coding that message. So we have decode documents where A equals X and B equals Z, and so we are able to decode the messages they send us that tell us, okay, we want to launch these missiles at these locations. This is the sixth string of characters that proves it's from the president.
So we have documents inside of our launch control centers that will actually prove the messages from the president, which allows us to know that we are not being fed false information, possible adversaries trying to force us to launch missiles. So there are plenty of fail safes, but we'll get that message, we'll decode it, and as long as everything decodes properly and it authenticates to the president, then we will proceed with our launch action.
Main Street
What does it mean to proceed with launch actions?
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
So to begin with, the missiles day to day are not pointed at a specific country. They are pointed in the rough area that we would want them to go, but not pointed at that location. That way, if something were to happen, the missile, and let's say some tragedy happens and the missile tries to launch, it will not launch on any specific location, it will launch into the ocean and basically preventing the loss of lives.
So part of our pre-launch actions is to align those sorties to its proper location, and then we actually have to enable the sortie itself. The enabling process is what allows it to go nuclear, instead of just being a very expensive dart, if you will. And then after we do those two things, we can actually send a launch vote turning our keys, and if we have two of those, the missile will launch.
Main Street
What might people get wrong about missileers that they may misunderstand about your job and your task?
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
The biggest and kind of joke that is around missiles is mostly the button. Everybody, you know, in all of popular media, there's always a button. The president has a button, the briefcases at the summits, they all have buttons.
It's actually one key and three essentially little switches. And one thing that I think kind of goes unnoticed and just unknown because it's not broadcasted much is that each one has to be turned within one second of each other, or else it does not go properly. So there is a lot of concern about nuclear weapons and the possibility of all these things going wrong.
But there are many fail-safes to prevent any accidental arming, any accidental launch. And we've actually have seen crews in training have to try to turn those keys again because one member was a little bit slower than the other. So it is not difficult to launch a missile, but it is by no means easy to launch a missile.
And it is very much protected of how we go about launching that missile.
Main Street
Is one capsule given the ultimate responsibility for launch, or does more than one capsule, separated by distance, have to work together to launch a missile?
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
Ideally, we have five launch control centers and all five of them will be able to provide a key turn to launch a missile. However, in order to actually launch the missile, you have to have two launch votes. So you'll actually have to have two launch control centers, both key turn with all four within one second of each other.
That being in their own control center, they do not have to have one second between the two of them. But within that one second, you'll send out one launch vote, and then a second launch control center will key turn on all four and send that second launch vote. And as long as a missile has at least two, then the missile will go.
So including all the fail-safes I talked about with that one LCC, it also has to be done right at that other one as well.
Main Street
Your missile systems are about to receive an upgrade. What does that mean for your job?
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
Honestly, it means a lot of headache and just learning. One of the main considerations is we are not upgrading all of the Minuteman into Sentinel all at the same time. So what that really means is down at Vandenberg, where all the training happens, here shortly we're going to have to split.
So we'll have half of the members who show up be trained on Minuteman, and the other half be trained on Sentinel. And so as we grow up and as we kind of start employing Sentinel, what we will see is we'll see almost like a knowledge dichotomy between all the old members who knew everything about Minuteman, the young members who know about Minuteman, kind of juxtaposed against the members who know about Sentinel. So the main issue is mostly going to be trying to find that bridge so that once Minuteman is phased out, we have positions for those members to learn about Sentinel and to take an active role in either being the missileer, the frontline member, or being an instructor and teaching people how they will become a Sentinel crew member.
Main Street
Captain, how has being a missileer impacted your perspective on global security and military service? I'm guessing when you were in junior high or maybe in high school that this isn't something you thought about every day, and now you do. How has it impacted you?
Captain Darian Titus, Minot AFB
It has really opened my mind. It's really widened my perspective. I always thought I was thoughtful and very open-minded growing up, but learning about the nuclear enterprise and how deterrence is just as much a part of diplomacy as it is of actually war, it has really helped me kind of broaden my perspective onto the global stage as opposed to my local stage.
Day-to-day, I don't find it impacting me that much, however, when I overhear a conversation or when I read something online, I find that the kind of globalization that my mind has undergone, it's allowed me to kind of read deeper into the situation. I find that it's not so much a day-to-day, but more of a, oh, I didn't know I would think like that kind of situation, and just the little niche areas. Captain, do you have a career path in your mind of what you want to do in the service?
I sure hope I can get there, but I have a general plan that I would like to happen. Is it something you'd like to share or are you keeping it to yourself? It seems kind of shallow, saying it out loud, but when I was in college, we had a few speaker-speakers talk, and they kind of talked about their career paths in the Air Force and kind of what they did.
While I was kind of thinking and following along, a thought struck me, and I said, you know, General Titus has a really nice ring to it, so I hope to put in enough time and do a good enough job that the Air Force keeps me around until I can pin on one of those stars.
Main Street
We wish you the best, Captain Darian Titus. He's a missileer serving in the 91st Operations Support Squadron at the Minot Air Force Base. Captain, it's been a pleasure.
Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us on Main Street.
