Main Street interviews Minot AFB's Sergeants Walker & Pierce on ICBM oversight, and ND UAS Council leaders Nebaker & Dunlevey on industry growth.
The interview highlights from this segment from the Minot Air Force Base include:
- Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker's Background: He shared his journey of joining the military after running out of money for college. He initially considered the Coast Guard but chose the Air Force due to his brother's advice. He enjoys his job and the location in Minot, despite being from Atlanta.
- Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce's Background: He enlisted in the Air Force right after high school, motivated by his family's military history. He directly moved to Minot for the job.
- Working with Nuclear ICBMs: Both sergeants work at a launch training facility that simulates the environment of an ICBM silo. The facility is highly secure with intricate locking mechanisms and a waiting period for security purposes.
- Responsibilities and Challenges: Walker and Pierce described their specific roles in handling and maintaining missiles. They emphasized the challenges posed by the extreme weather in Minot, North Dakota, and the importance of meticulousness given the power of the nuclear weapons they handle.
- Humbling Experience: Both expressed how humbling and awe-inspiring it is to work with such powerful devices. They discussed the importance of diligence and the heavy responsibility that comes with handling national security assets.
- Operational Procedures: They detailed the complex procedures involved in missile handling, from the arrival of the missile to its inspection, transportation, and eventual launch preparation. This includes erecting the missile vertically and ensuring its secure positioning.
- Safety and Security Protocols: The sergeants highlighted the extensive safety and verification processes in place, including constant monitoring, team checks, and stringent technical orders.
- Renovations and Job Changes: They anticipate that upcoming renovations at Minot Air Force Base might initially make their jobs harder due to the learning curve with new systems and routines.
- Comparisons with Other Bases: They noted some differences in operational procedures between different Air Force bases but affirmed that the core nature of the job remains the same.
- Daily Work Routine and Challenges: The sergeants discussed their typical workday length, the physical challenges of their roles, and the mechanical issues they often encounter.
- Security and Verification Measures: The interview detailed the two-person concept for security, command-response system for task execution, and the role of a team chief in overseeing and verifying work.
- Mechanical Systems and Maintenance: They explained various mechanical components and systems used in the launch process, emphasizing the importance of maintenance and the challenges it entails.
- Impact of Renovations on Work: Both sergeants expressed that while changes due to renovations might initially complicate their routines, they ultimately expect improvements in their work processes.
Transcript
Main Street
Staff Sergeant Walker, let me begin with you. How did you end up here?
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
Well, I did two years of college, I'll say that. So when I got here, my route here was a little bit different than some of my peers, I ended up running out of money, I was a little indecisive with my major. So I started, you know, moving around and looking for different avenues and stuff to get my degree.
And ultimately, I decided to join the military. Air Force wasn't my first option. I wanted to do Coast Guard at first, and I got impatient.
And I immediately turned to the Air Force, my brother was Army, and he said he didn't like Army. So I went ahead and like, alright, that's all I need to know. And I went to the Air Force and joined and I ended up getting this job came all the way out here to Minot.
And surprisingly, I like it here. Grew up in Atlanta, Georgia.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
So my journey was a little bit different. I graduated from high school early to enlist Air Force was the first option, came straight here, got this job, moved up here, been here ever since. My family has a history of military service.
All my aunts and uncles were in the Army or the Marines. My grandfather was in the Army. And just doing that just kind of inspired me to enlist myself.
Main Street
So we're in the launch training facility. But essentially what this simulates is the silo in the ground where nuclear ICBM would be staged and launched. Is that accurate?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Yes, sir.
Main Street
When you come into a launch facility, how does that process work?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
So we start at the top, we have the A-Vault system, which we have security forces open up, unlock the A-Vault so that we can access the lock for the primary door. We unlock that, raise it up, then we go down and there's the B-Plug, just right here. And it has a 60 minute timer, we input our combos, and then we have to wait 60 minutes before it lowers to grant us access into the launch facility.
Main Street
So you're waiting an hour?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Yes, sir.
Main Street
Before you can come in?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Yes, sir. It's to give our security forces time if anyone were to try and access the site, who isn't supposed to be there, it gives our security forces time to respond.
Main Street
Once you're down, typically, what are your responsibilities? What do you do?
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
It depends a lot. As it relates to my job directly, I am only down here if I actually just want to see things. So if I'm trying to, this is MHT, so I'm a Missile Handling Team Chief, what we typically do is we are in charge of handling the actual booster.
So it comes in, Hill processes it, Hill Air Force Base, they end up shipping it out to us, we do our inspection and we see it and then we drive it to and from LFs. So we're typically all topside in all of our maintenance that we do. We sit there, we line them up on those lines that I was talking about, you have about an inch and a half margin of error to back this up and you can't see the pylons behind you.
You line that up as they're doing their thing. So they have the cops and then they have an MFT team, they're doing their code. So we have about an hour before we can even work.
So they give us time so we can actually get our job going. And again, we're all topside, we stay in the weather the entire time.
Main Street
So then all of your work is done and then everything is lowered down.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
And then we essentially are the TE stands for Transport Erector. So we have these actuators on the side powered by hydraulics. And once we get tied down and we position the missile in a proper secure way, we'll be able to eventually erect the missile all the way up, all the way vertical and then you can lower it down once we get the proper permissions that the tube is clear, we get permissions that there's no personnel in there and everything is good and ready to go.
The vaults are open, they can go on there and start working and that's when we can finally lower the missile down.
Main Street
What do you guys think about the massive power of the devices and nuclear bombs that you're working with?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
It can be very humbling. And then also very terrifying knowing like what you're working on is so important. And it definitely inspires a lot of diligence and making sure that you're doing the correct thing.
Because knowing that if you mess up, not only like are you potentially damaging millions of dollars of equipment, like you are setting back national security, you're causing problems all the way up the chain, causing massive problems that you probably won't even see that are discussed in meetings with people with way higher pay grades than I have.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
In terms of the power and firepower that's behind this, it's very humbling. Like you said, my first time seeing a missile, I was in shock. I was like this not only in size, in terms of how large it is when you look at it, but in terms of what it can do.
And that's what we go through with all of our classes. We take classes so we can fully understand exactly what we're doing. And because we have different jobs, and they separate it, that responsibility is moved, you know, and moved in different areas.
Because again, I drive the missile around. That's like our primary objective is to move it to where it needs to be. When you think about that, you see 18 wheelers and you see these truckers like regular everyday jobs, you know, and they're doing this job.
And it's like, I'm doing the same thing, but with something so much more explosive, something that has so much more weight behind it. And it's really humbling. And you have to really respect it to actually do it.
Because a lot of people, they get in there, oh, it's not too bad. And then you finally teach them, show them the ropes. And it's like, I never knew it was like this.
Main Street
What are your biggest challenges in doing your work every day? And Staff Sergeant Walker, I'll start with you.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
The biggest challenges I face while doing my job, for Minot, North Dakota, I would definitely say weather. Weather is one of the biggest challenges. We have people from all walks of life that have never experienced snow, never experienced cold, never experienced temperatures below 30.
And that just makes everything a lot more difficult. You know, not necessarily that our equipment will mess up, but sometimes just mentally, you're going through a whole lot, just to keep yourself warm, to keep yourself thinking straight. And then on top of that, you have this massive power behind you that you're working on.
So being able to overcome the cold, and just know that the people to your left and right are also going through the same thing. And you have to just push through it. It's one of the biggest obstacles I have to face and overcome.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Staff Sergeant Pierce? Again, absolutely. Here in Minot, North Dakota, it's got to be weather.
I'm coming in and it's wind chills down to like negative 60. You're working with cold metal objects, you're trying to keep warm, you're trying not to mess anything up. And then you got the snow, because obviously we have to open up the launch enclosure, there's snow piled up there, you have to spend two, three hours clearing that out, because we don't have any bobcats or anything like that to clear it.
So it's all done by hand. So doing all of that and having that time sync that you have to put into it can definitely be a challenge.
Main Street
Once the missile is down in its silo, then what are your responsibilities?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
So for us, once it's down, it's definitely getting it tied down, getting into proper configuration, starting to connect cables and everything like that. And then after the actual down stages are here, tied down and everything, then it's waiting till the next day so that we can get the rest of the components out here and get those connected.
Main Street
And once everything's connected, pardon me if this is a silly question, how do you know that it will work if it's asked to do its job?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Capsule has a fault system. So it runs constant checks, constant diagnostics on itself, constantly giving feedback back to Capsule over all of its systems. So we constantly have feedback and a monitoring system on there to make sure that all systems are firing up and ready to go.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
And for me personally, it's something that we have discussed amongst ourselves and peers when you first get in the shop is how do you know it works? And not only do we have Capsule monitoring and make sure everything is going on going according to plan, but we do have our test launches and to be a part of that has been such a game changer for me personally. I always had faith that it worked, but to actually see it work, and it's the fact that we will take a missile that is already in our silos or in our hull that will take one from Minot, will take one from F.E. Warren or take one from Alstrom, and they will send it off to Vandenberg so we can actually do these test launches. And then we go through the same process that we do go through here on our day to day basis, and you finally get to see it. And you put it in the hull and then they give us this opportunity to do this, our glory shot, and we get to see it actually launch or our test launch. And that is something that when I saw it, I was like, this is for sure.
I know this works. And I have every faith that when we, if need be, we'll be okay.
Main Street
Is what happens at Minot Air Force Base the same at F.E. Warren or at Malmstrom? Is it all the same? Or is it different?
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
In terms of how similar they'll be, we have drive times, which is a, so yeah, they're gonna be different. The actual nature of the job, that would typically be the same where we all have TOs that we go over. So our technical data in our technical order and how we do our job, all of that mostly is the same.
There are some sites or some bases that do things slightly different. But that's all written in our TO as well, what they would do different. But for the most part, I'll say about 90% of the job in terms of getting the missile in the hole or taking the missile out the hole, same with your job is will all typically be the same.
We have some driving distance changes. So our farthest site is about an hour and a half in terms of drive distance away.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Malmstrom, they have one that's over three hours away. Yes.
Main Street
So typically, tell me what you do when you come on site. How long will you be there for a shift before you get to come back to base?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
It can be anywhere from 12 to 16 hours typically. So typically you're out for at least 12 hours. There are obviously complications that you run into and that can push your timeline to 16.
16 is when they'll send out a relief team because you're no longer obviously safe to drive on the road while carrying equipment and everything.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
Yes, sir. We have outliers. We do have outliers situations where sometimes we need things done in a more dire scenario.
And we can get extensions, but they do acts. They don't just, all right, cool. You're sitting here for 12.
We're going to move you to 16. And then it is awkward. Now you're going to 18.
That's not something they do because truthfully, they do care about us and our well being and being able to protect the asset as well. So to get an extension anywhere past 12, it has to be routed up to cool. We need to do a 14 or we need to do 16.
That has to be agreed upon with the personnel, your team chief, your site suits, and your leadership if they're willing to do that. Sometimes my longest day in the field actually has been 18 hours. And it was something that it complications happen on site and the mission we were all capable.
We all said we were okay with it and our leadership trust us enough to actually get the job done. And they allowed us to go for an 18.
Main Street
So like anything that is somewhat mechanical, things can like you say, maybe go wrong or not go quite as planned. But what do you spend a lot of your time working with when you come on site that you wish you didn't have to do over and over? That is such a good question.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
I know for and in terms of micro field, it's going to be the lock pin for the launch closure door. Sometimes that has problems either going up or going down when it sits in the same configuration for so long, mechanical systems get stuck. So if it comes down, and then it's having trouble going back into the same configuration, we can have a lot of problem with that then it's waiting on a parts run for a specific part to fix it or waiting on direction from higher ups in order to get an eTAR or anything like that.
Main Street
What's an eTAR?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
It is permission from engineers to circumvent technical data. So doing things outside of tech data to solve a problem that is authorized by the engineers who design it.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
Because of our job and the nature of our job, we split our teams up into two different sides. We have inside technicians and we have outside technicians. And for an inside technician, typically on a missile remove.
So if we're taking our silo, we're taking the missile out the silo, putting it back on the road and sending it back to either hill or relocating that missile. I would say one of the biggest challenges that we go through the biggest difficulty in terms of mechanical stuff that we have would be our bands. So these bands that we have will actually attach, it goes around the top of our missile and attached to these carriages that move back and forth to position to properly position our missile inside of our TE, our transport director.
And those bands weigh, I would say anywhere from I want to say there's like 95 pounds, one band. And we have our inside technicians responsible for taking this band. There's two of them.
Definitely the first stage bands, we have their responsible taking these bands, tying them down, torquing them to a proper set value. What makes it so difficult is how tight these places are. We are dealing with people that have to traverse down these silos, like you have your missile here and you have the wall of the truck right next to you.
And we have individuals in there bending over, they're in awkward, compromising positions. You're sometimes upside down trying to get things torqued to the right value. And the torque value is high, the torque value is in the hundreds.
You have to get this down into the angle makes it super complicated. You can possibly drop your torque wrench, you can drop tools, you can drop your actual handle. And all of that makes it super difficult for actually getting the job done.
Main Street
Colonel Slabough was telling us earlier about the renovations that will be happening soon, maybe within a year or two or three here at Minot Air Force Base relative to the ICBMs. Do you anticipate your jobs being really different or very similar when those happen? Or do you know?
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
Personally, in terms of the differences, I do not know, personally. My anticipation, however, would be that it should get easier. But I do expect it to get harder first.
And that's what almost every change when it comes to the Air Force and every change that we have here is that we have to relearn. We have to relearn certain things and go over it and out with the old and with the new. And that process I would see becoming harder for the older season technicians and team chiefs because we establish a habit and a routine that really helps us get through the day.
And then adding new things could possibly hinder that routine. But it doesn't mean it wouldn't get easier down the line. I want to say that all changes that we have been trying to make should make the job naturally easier.
Main Street
Staff Sergeant Pierce, do you agree with that?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Yeah, I would definitely agree with that. Any change is going to be hard, especially in a job like this, where you're going to be out here for long hours, and you have to establish that routine and get it down to muscle memory in order to complete your job in a timely manner. Any change, especially renovations that they're planning on making should definitely make the job a little bit easier.
So this is called the first LER, the launch equipment room.
Main Street
Let's let's continue on with our tour. Where are we going to go next?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
All right, so we can actually move here. So one of our main objectives when we first get down into the LER is to install our work cage. Tight.
Main Street
So you're opening two thick steel doors.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
So these we call these the barn doors, they give us access to the actual launch tube itself. And this is our work cage. This is what we use to traverse the launch tube and go all the way actually all the way down so that we can work on lower components.
Main Street
This device that I'm looking here is almost like a cover for an ICBM.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Yes, so that's the cover for the third stage. So that covers the actual down stages before we can to protect it before we can put on our components. So we'll remove that whenever we lower down the other components to stack on top of it.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
This would be if we break it down into essentially we can do like anatomy, essentially, this would be the body, this was neck down, I would call this the missile. And then you guys will have a the actual head, I will call it that will go on later. But this would be essentially the neck down from your your missile here.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Absolutely. So that's the entire delivery system. What we have up in the truck right now we have the warhead, we have the brains and then we have the post boost control system, which will control after it exits the atmosphere.
Main Street
A complete warhead would be inside a silo, how long before it would be removed to be serviced, and then placed back in.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
So depending on the component depends on when we swap them out. So we swap out individual components a lot more often than we swap out complete down stages. So for our warheads, we swap them out about every three years, I want to say.
And then I'm not sure how long it is for the MGS, the missile guidance system.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
At terms for the actual downstage boosters, that can be in the hole until it is essentially time to change those out. We have a solid rocket motor down solid rocket motor fuel. So we don't have it's there ready to go at all times.
And I have been to sites that haven't been touched in over 10 years. I've been to sites that have just been in place last week. It really depends on what needs to be done and what capsule is calling for if something is going wrong, there's alarms going on.
During winter, we can flood, we try our best to make sure it doesn't happen. But if we do flood, it will also cause time for moving the actual the entire downstage as well. So the actual downstage can be in the hole for a very long time.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Yeah, typically, from my experience, we removes down stages most for sites that are going into PDM, which is just a refurbishing of the inside of the launch tube itself. So refurbishing the suspension system, any of the mechanical components on the walls, like if there's cracks and welds or anything like that, then we send out our civilian force to come out and actually do repairs, corrosion painting, stuff like that.
Main Street
Is your work double checked and triple checked? What security is kind of built into what you do?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
So down here, this entire area is what we call TPC or two person concept. So you have to have two people basically checking each other's work at all times passively. So you always have to be in contact with another person.
We also have another concept called command and response. So everything that you're doing, you're vocalizing it and saying exactly what you're doing, you're repeating back what the other person is saying, checking them on what they're doing. So everything is checked.
And then you have your team chief up here in this window who's reading directly out of our technical orders to make sure that their technicians are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
And same for us on topside, we don't have the two person concept on our topside where we do our main work, but we do have spots in the TO, our technical order that directly states when team chiefs should put an eye on something else that has been done. Or we have verification process that we establish as throughout the MHT culture, where if things are done, you need to have a second eye on it. So you have your two inside technicians, your two outside technicians, we have the call and response that is pretty much standard throughout all of our missile maintenance.
But that is when we essentially we're always hearing out listening to hear what is being read off what is being done. And then you just we typically like to quiz people to this time of if they're doing something I know they're supposed to be doing in a maximum article, what's your torque value? And I need to hear out the correct answer because I know they're doing the right job.
And then you go back around, you verify you check everything. And at that point, you're good to go. You have your site suits that they can go around and check as well.
And as it goes down in here, especially with the actual downstage itself, that's not just checked by us when we receive it. We have our pre inspection when we get it and we look at it and we inspect the entire missile from the nozzles to the court to see if that is that damaged cracks, there's nothing going there. But that inspection is even farther implemented when we actually put it down in the launch tube because MMT they have their own inspection that they do on the court is in the entire downstage too.
So we're always being checked and triple check.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
So this window right here is called the team chief window where the team chief sits that he can watch both technicians and see exactly what they're doing. This is where he does his spot checks. And then he can actually go out onto the board right there and access everything that his board man's working on.
Main Street
And this window so to speak, it's a half inch thick steel plate that opens up and allows him to see or her to see down into the silo.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Yes, sir.
Main Street
What's this device?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
So this is called the retraction actuator. If you look out here, you'll see that big cable hanging by that chain hoist. So that's called the upper umbilical.
It's what talks to the MGS and signals the capsule for anything. So that's where all of the diagnostic and all of that goes through. And whenever the missile launches there on the handwheel, there's a squib that gets screwed in there.
And that will blow shearing the center shaft where it connects to the MGS. And this retraction actuator pulls the umbilical back so that it's not in the way of any other components as it launches. So right here, this is the lock pin.
So this is what locks the launcher closure door. Down under here, we have four ballistic gas generators, all four of them blow and fill with gas, it fills the chambers inside, pulling this down, and then slingshotting the launcher closure off of its rails. And if you look up from here, you can actually see the cables stretched across the launcher closure.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
Very violent moment.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Yes, it is.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
If I'm not mistaken, you might be the correct one on this one during some launches, don't we only use one?
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
Yes. So it can launch like open up the launcher closure with only one ballistic gas generator firing. We have four of them to prevent any mishaps from happening.
If one doesn't fire, it has three more that are still going to fire and launch that. So redundancy is to make sure that nothing can go wrong.
Staff Sergeant Trevon Walker
Like you said, it's a very, very violent opening essentially because during SELM, you have that one that goes off and you can still feel it during our SELM. That's our simulated electronic launch. And that is just again, one, it just and you can feel it.
We have people around us watching it kind of making sure everything works and that one goes off like, oh, that's nice. So you tack on three more, it's very abrupt.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
So right here is the distribution box, all power in the site gets routed through here. So whenever we're working on any explosive or any electrical components, whatever we're working on gets unplugged. All of the plugs are labeled so that we know what we're working on.
And then just behind you right here is the cooler for the coolant for the MGS. The MGS is kind of like a giant computer and like any computer, it needs to be cooled off. And so we use this liquid cooling, we use sodium chromate, and it goes through here, chills and then goes up through the umbilical into the MGS, flows back through to come back and be rechilled.
So all of these drawers are mostly MMT. I don't have a whole lot of knowledge about those. So I can't tell you.
That is the mechanical maintenance team. And then EMT is the electrical maintenance team, different circuits, etc.
Main Street
It's almost like a drawer.
Staff Sergeant Trenton Pierce
It's exactly a drawer, you flip these switches, and then you push these buttons and this whole thing can slide out. So this is the shock isolated floor. So if we were to be attacked, and they were to launch a nuclear strike against our sites, this is to protect all of our electrical components.
So this whole floor on an actual site can move back and forth. So it's supposed to if it were to be attacked, the whole ground would shake. And this is to allow the components to move and survive that contact.
NOTE: AI Transcribed this interview and there may be errors. The audio file from Main Street is the official record of the program.
