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Fired Minot commander weighs options

The fired commander of 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., is weighing whether to retire or accept a position at Air Force Space Command headquarters.

Col. Christopher Ayres was relieved of command Oct. 14 because his boss, 20th Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Roger Burg, “lost confidence in his ability to command.” Burg also fired two officers in Ayres’ chain of command — Col. Lyman Faith, 91st Maintenance Group commander, and Lt. Col. Andrew Healy, 91st Missile Maintenance Squadron commander.

The firings followed the Oct. 9 release of an investigative report that blamed a bug for an Aug. 31 crash involving a truck carrying rocket engine parts for intercontinental ballistic missiles. The driver of the truck was trying to get a “large insect” off his back when the truck overturned.

“We must uphold the highest standards within the nuclear enterprise,” said Gen. Robert Kehler, commander of Air Force Space Command, which oversees the missile wing. “We must have complete confidence in our leadership.”

It was the second time a payload transporter crashed on Ayres’ watch, and while Faith and Healy were in charge of commands that oversee the transport of ICBM components to the missile fields.

Capt. Lindsey Hahn, spokeswoman for Space Command, said she could not confirm that the two incidents directly led to the firings.

Ayres was not relieved of command for any misconduct or wrongdoing, Hahn said

“He was not fired solely because of the accident in August,” Hahn said. “His removal from command was a combination of multiple factors.”

The Air Force would not give Ayres permission to comment.

Ayres was reassigned to Air Force Space Command headquarters, where he will “provide his expertise in the upcoming transfer of the ICBM mission to Global Strike Command,” Hahn said. Ayres, a 24-year missile officer, is deciding whether to accept the post or retire, said Maj. Laurie Arellano, Minot’s spokeswoman.

Replacing Ayres is Col. Ferdinand Stoss, 90th Missile Wing vice commander at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. Arellano said she didn’t know who would replace Faith and Healy.

Ayres arrived at Minot in May 2008 after he served as the 460th Operations Group commander at Buckley Air Force Base, Colo. He came to Minot as the Air Force tried to rebuild its nuclear enterprise — a year earlier six nuclear warheads were mistakenly loaded onto a B-52 bomber and flown from Minot to Barksdale Air Force Base, La.

The 91st Missile Wing never failed a major inspection under Ayres’ leadership, although it twice came close. The wing received marginal grades on its limited nuclear surety inspection in June 2008 and the combat capabilities evaluation four months later. Four months before Ayres arrived at Minot, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency failed the wing in its nuclear surety inspection. When inspectors returned during his tenure, they found similar problems, an Air Force official said.

Other problems plagued the 91st as well: In July 2008, the payload transport carrying an ICBM rocket booster crashed. The same month, three officers fell asleep while in possession of classified components containing superseded missile launch codes for Minuteman III ICBMs. The two lieutenants and one captain received Article 15s. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley discharged the three officers from the service a year later.

Also in the summer of 2008, an airman left a safe containing missile operation procedures open for an entire night. Officials from the 91st Missile Wing investigated and found no sensitive material was removed.