Tester said his meeting with Col. Ron Allen focused on the security of intercontinental ballistic missile sites and replacing the UH-1N helicopter fleet used at Malmstrom and the other two missile bases, Minot in North Dakota and F.E. Warren in Wyoming.

While he is pushing to get the aging Huey fleet replaced as quickly as possible, Tester said Malmstrom’s 341st Missile Wing and other missile wings are maintaining nuclear site security throughout the 450-site complex.

Following a request from U.S. Strategic Command, the Air Force had considered using the Economy Act to purchase UH-60 Black Hawks through the Army’s current production line, but service leaders announced in May that they had decided to stick to the normal acquisition process.

A number of lawmakers from missile base states have expressed frustration with that decision and have penned several letters to military officials asking for the Air Force to change course, justify its decision or use Black Hawks from the National Guard until the Hueys can be replaced.

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James has told the Montana delegation that replacement helicopters would be at Malmstrom and other ICBM bases by 2019.

Tester said Tuesday he supports the normal acquisition process, an open competition, to find a replacement airframe for the Hueys. That may or may not end up being a Black Hawk.

The Air Force needs to “take time to make sure it’s done right,” he said, and find a replacement helo that best suits the nuclear mission’s needs versus rushing the process.

Both Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., have encouraged the military to use Black Hawks from the Montana Army National Guard, or other outside helicopters, to augment the nuclear security mission until the Hueys can be replaced, but so far, the Department of Defense has rejected those requests.

Pulling Guard helicopters for the nuclear mission would not be a good move, Tester said, noting that they might be needed for fighting wildfires this summer.

Other lawmakers have raised the alarm that the Huey’s speed, payload and lift capabilities are compromising the security of the nuclear mission, going as far to say that the 450 missile sites operated by Malmstrom, Minot and F.E. Warren are unsecured, but Tester countered that he is “absolutely, unequivocally confident” that the sites are secure.

“If they weren’t secure, they’d make them secure,” Tester said of the nuclear airmen at all three missile bases. “The security of silos isn’t in question here.”

In the House version of the fiscal 2017 defense appropriations bill, which passed June 16 on a 282-138 vote, Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., added a provision to add $80 million toward a competition to replace the Hueys.

“After years of inaction from the Air Force, I’m relieved to have the support of my colleagues in prioritizing the replacement of Malmstrom’s aging helicopter fleet,” said Zinke of the base in his home state. “The current Vietnam-era helicopters are not up to the job of defending our nuclear missile fields.

“Recent exercises have demonstrated … that the Hueys do not have the range, speed, payload or defensive systems to adequately meet the alert requirements set by the Air Force,” Zinke said. “Operation Mighty Guardian was a demonstration conducted at Minot AFB. In every instance that the Hueys were used, they failed the mission. However, every other modern helicopter successfully protected the nuclear missile sites.”

Meanwhile, the Senate’s version of the defense authorization bill, which passed June 15 on an 85-13 vote, included a provision from Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., requiring the Defense Department to certify any security shortfalls of the UH-1Ns at missile bases.

The provision also requires defense officials to report to Congress how it will mitigate those shortfalls with outside resources until the acquisition process for new helicopters is complete.

Daines had asked the Air Force to consider using Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopters to augment the Hueys at Malmstrom, but the Air Force announced in May it would use a normal acquisition process to replace the missile base Hueys.

Earlier, the Air Force had proposed an immediate reprogramming action, based on a request from the U.S. Strategic Command commander, according to the Air Force, but after a thorough review, it reversed course. The Air Force “remains committed to a competitive acquisition approach,” as reflected in the budget plan, service officials said in May. “The Air Force has taken multiple steps to mitigate shortfalls in mission requirements to enhance readiness and security of the nation’s nuclear deterrent.”

In the House version of the authorization bill, which passed in May, Zinke included a Huey provision to withhold 25 percent of the travel expenses of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics’ travel expenses until DoD certifies that the Huey replacement acquisition process will be under contract by fiscal year 2018.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., also included a provision to push the Air Force to have replacement helicopters at Malmstrom before 2019, which is the Air Force’s planned timeline.

According to congressional sources, defense officials have requested outside forces be sent to Malmstrom or F.E. Warren AFB. Whichever base gets the outside aircraft would sent its Hueys to augment the fleets at the other bases.

The military is considering the option, but no decision has been made.

“U.S. Strategic Command submitted a request to the Joint Staff to address shortfalls resulting from UH-1N performance limitations. The Joint Staff is currently working with us and the services to identify a solution. As part of that effort, the full range of Department of Defense assets and capabilities are being examined,” said Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, Strategic Command spokesman.

Last year’s defense budget included $2.456 million for the UH-1N Replacement System Program Office stand-up.

The Air Force’s fiscal year 2017 budget request included $32.4 million in support of future year aircraft production, as well as procurement of production engineering support, ground support equipment, publications and technical data and program management activities.

Also included in the Air Force’s FY17 budget request is $25 million for a Service Life Extension Program for a portion of the Huey fleet that involves things such as structural repairs and replacement of key systems based on structural fatigue, system obsolescence and a diminishing manufacturing industrial base. The UH-1N is a 45-year-old helicopter and the oldest in the Defense Department, and the work “is necessary to address concerns identified in multiple studies and to prevent the aircraft from being grounded,” according to the budget justification.

It’s part of a longer project to enable the SLEP of 30 Hueys that are needed to bridge the gap until the helicopters can be replaced.

Earlier budget proposals indicated that the Air Force had planned to replace the Huey by purchasing Army UH-60A Black Hawk models and converting them to UH-60L models using existing government contractor services by 2020 for an estimated $980 million.

The bill also includes funding $14.6 million for a new missile maintenance dispatch facility at Malmstrom. Last year’s budget included $19.7 million for a new tactical response force alert facility.

The new helicopters and TRF program are replacing the current missile maintenance dispatch facility in Building 1440. The new facility will provide office space for managing and planning maintenance activity; storage for thousands of components and equipment for missile field; space for component repair and testing; and keep vehicles out of the weather and prolong resource lifespan of vehicles, according to the Air Force project description.

On-base facilities are required to inspect and repair components and equipment to be used or installed at ICBM launch and launch control facilities, according to the Air Force, and those facilities should increase efficiency of component and equipment transport from the repair shop to the installer. Maintenance teams use a variety of vehicles, including some that are specialized, to repair, maintain and replace all components.

Building 1440 will be retrofitted to house the new helicopters.

Staff writer Kent Miller contributed to this report

The MAFFS that were located with the 145th Airlift Wing of the North Carolina Air National Guard will now move to the 152nd Airlift Wing of the Nevada National Guard.

MAFFS are specialized equipment owned by the U.S. Forest Service that can be installed in C-130 cargo plans to drop retardant on wildfires.

The North Carolina unit is converting from C-130s to C-17s and that prompted the National Guard to evaluate existing C-130 Air National Guard units for a suitable replacement for the MAFFS mission, according to the National Guard.

Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zinke both questioned the criteria used to make the relocation decision. The National Guard Bureau said Thursday that they used the Air Force Objective Basing Model to rank all Air National Guard units under consideration for the MAFFS. A Guard spokesman said all Air National Guard C-130 units were considered, including the 120th Airlift Wing of the Montana Air National Guard.

Guard analysis, informed by the Forest Service, determined that “due to aircrew experience and geographic area response capability, the 152nd Airlift Wing in Nevada was the best fit to meet DOD and U.S. Forest Service requirements,” a Guard spokesman wrote in an email to the Tribune.

Basing the firefighting systems out of Montana would provide quicker access to all western states, critical when it comes to saving lives and money during wildfire battles, Montana’s federal lawmakers argued.

The 120th Airlift Wing on Gore Hill has four MAFFS qualified aircrew, consisting of a pilot, navigator, loadmaster and a flight engineer.

That means they can be sent to augment other MAFFS crews if MAFFS missions are activated.

Other airmen at the 120th could become qualified by 2017, if they are selected to attend MAFFS training, according to the 120th.

The four airmen came to the wing already qualified, according to the 120th, and the wing has chosen to maintain their MAFFS qualifications by allowing them to attend annual training events so that they can augment other MAFFS units during the fire season if needed.

The female missile officers at Malmstrom, Minot and F.E. Warren Air Force Bases will be joined in the field by all-female B-52 aircrews from Minot and Barksdale AFBs.

Female operators from the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska are also participating. The 625th provides secondary Minuteman III launch capability through the Airborne Launch Control System, which is housed aboard the Navy’s E-6B aircraft and a backup to Minuteman launch control centers.

It’s a first for the Air Force.

The Malmstrom officers will be wearing special patches that have a likeness of Rosie the Riveter and read “We put the ‘miss’ in missileer.”

Second Lt. Alexandra Rea, deputy crew commander, and 1st Lt. Elizabeth Guidara, crew commander, will be in the missile field Tuesday.

“I”m really excited,” Rea said. “It’s awesome to think about how far we’ve come as an Air Force and a country.”

“We’re continuing on what other women have done,” Guidara said.

It’s also a reminder “not to be afraid to take risks,” Guidara said. She was working as a paralegal before she decided to join the Air Force and was commissioned through the Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

“The fact that we can look across our pre-departure briefing room and see a woman sitting in every seat, for every combat crew going out on nuclear alert, is in itself significant, not because Team Malmstrom is fielding an all-women alert force, but because we have enough women filling combat leadership roles to take alert for the entire wing,” said Col. Tom Wilcox, 341st Missile Wing commander. “It wasn’t always this way, and we have further to go, but the Air Force has made great strides to build a force representative of the nation we serve.”

The patch female missileers are wearing as the Air Force mans the missile fields with all-female crews Tuesday.

Photo Credit: Air Force photo/Airman Collin Schmidt

In the 1970s, women were assigned to missile wings, but largely in support functions. In 1978, women were becoming missile maintenance officers and training as missile crew officers on the Titan missile system.

Retired Col. Patricia Fornes and Airman 1st Class Tina Ponzer were the first enlisted and officer women to perform Titan II alerts at the 381st Strategic Missile Wing at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas, according to the Air Force and press reports.

Titan missiles had four-person crews in large, three-level underground bunkers. There crews included two officers and two enlisted airmen. The Minuteman capsules are 125 square feet with a shared bathroom on one end and a small bed on the other.

At the time, the Minuteman missile crews were two male officers. Strategic Air Command, which then controlled all ICBM units, worried about privacy, morality, spouse objections and crew morale, according to Air Force documents.

In 1980, Strategic Air Command conducted a survey of 475 male Minuteman crewmembers and 281 of their wives.

The results found that 40 percent of the missile crewmen and 67 percent of their wives opposed women as part of the Minuteman crew force.

One of the first women to graduate from missile crew training was Deborah Jermunson of Brady.

She was later selected as a team member for the 1985 Strategic Air Command study examining women on missile launch crews. Jermunson “brought her Titan missile experience and airborne command and control expertise and was the first operationally ready female Titan crew commander,” according to the 1985 document.

The study found that spouses had concerns about male-female crews, and the Air Force study team concluded “that introducing additional stress into an already demanding missile crew environment was not considered prudent.”

Second Lt. Alexandra Rea, left, and 1st Lt. Elizabeth Guidara in the missile procedures trainer at Malmstrom Air Force Base on Monday.

Photo Credit: Air Force photo/Airman Collin Schmidt

That study recommended introducing all-female missile crews for Minuteman and Peacekeeper missile systems, which was implemented later that year.

The Air Force study team also worried about the flow of female officers into the missile crew career field and wasn’t confident that enough female officers would volunteer to be missileers, which would affect the ability to field all-female missile crew teams.

In 1988, the Air Force started a trial of mixed crews on alert with one male and one female at Whiteman AFB in Missouri and Malmstrom.

According to a New York Times report, there were no reports of sexual misconduct among the mixed crews and in late 1988, the Air Force made the mixed missile crews permanent.

First Lt. Dominique Gray and 1st Lt. Jennifer Bishop are glad to be part of the all-female missile crews manning ICBMs on Tuesday.

“It’s very exciting to be part of history,” Bishop said.

She marked her second year at Malmstrom and 15th year in the Air Force on Monday. She was previously an enlisted airman.

Gray said finding out that the all-female effort included bombers and other parts of Air Force Global Strike Command was “that much more exciting. It’s cool to be a part of history.”

Bishop said that in the early missile days, women weren’t allowed to serve as operators. Fast-forward to today when there’s enough female missile operators and bomber aircrews to have those in the field be all women for an alert shift.

“I don’t personally think about it until moments like this,” Gray said. “We have come a long way.”

Lt. Col. Kristen Nemish is the 10th Missile Squadron commander and will be in the field as a missile crew commander on Tuesday.

She’s been in the Air Force for 17 years.

“When I think back to when I was a second lieutenant, we didn’t even have the ability to do this, there weren’t enough of us,” Nemish said. “I’m honored to do this.”

Eleven airmen performed that night, though up to two dozen have rehearsed with the group since it was formed in early December.

Members range from missilieers to security forces to missile chefs to contracting, budget and medical airmen,as well as spouses and dependents.

“I just kept thinking ‘Smile, don’t look frightened,'” said Tech Sgt. Ulices Pereiravelasco on the Monday following the group’s debut.

Most of the members said they have no problem speaking to large crowds or briefing superiors, but as they prepared to sing in front of their peers, their throats went dry and palms got sweaty.

The same went for Chief Master Sgt. Thomas Stiles, the base command chief.

He hatched the idea for a base choir and recruited 2nd Lt. Briana Crowe, who had sung at various base events. Malmstrom is the fourth base where he’s started a base choir, but it’s the first time he’s joined them in song.

Stiles said he hadn’t told some of his tablemates at the banquet that he was in the choir, so when he got up to sing, “Another chief was like where’s he going?”

Even a few days after their debut, the group members were still buzzing from their performance and jazzed about what comes next.

“People know we would sound okay, but I think we shocked them,” Stiles said.

The hope had been to eventually add instrumental accompaniment once the group had the vocals down and after the debut. Stiles said several airmen who play instruments said they were in.

Now the group is brainstorming ways to merge instruments and expand its musical repertoire.

Though their small numbers still create a mighty sound, they’re working to recruit more members.

“People are intimidated that it will be like Glee, with everyone walking around with music to Journey in their heads,” Stiles said. “I think all skill sets welcome.”

A challenge to find members and get them all together for rehearsal is the widely different work schedules on base.

“The realities of a missile base,” said Suzzanne Slaughter, an Air Force spouse and choir member.

Slaughter said she hadn’t sung with a choir since ninth grade, but she was loving it.

She said she’d never heard of Pentatonix before Crowe played some of the group’s a capella music as an example of what they could do in the future.

Since the Air Force canceled the 2016 tour of Tops in Blue, the service’s traveling musical entertainment show, Stiles said that creates an entertainment void on base that the choir and musical groups could fill eventually.

They’ve also seen the videos of the Air Force Band, which performed a tribute to World War II era music over the holidays with heritage uniforms and big band style arrangements and dancing.

“They sky’s the limit,” Stiles said.

The mix of officer, enlisted, civilian and different career fields and musical backgrounds also enables some off-duty networking and relationship building.

“I love singing,” said 1st Lt. Deanna Kerkhoff, of the 341st Mission Support Group. “It’s just fun. I love singing with a group of people.”

She sang with the show choir while attending the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Kerkhoff was singing during a rehearsal next to Staff Sgt. Sherry Greene from the base budget office. They know each other through their jobs, but singing together adds another layer.

They said it’s also been enjoyable to build a choir from scratch.

Young airmen also are getting a chance to interact on a regular basis with seasoned airmen and develop some leadership skills in a different venue.

But, it’s also time full of fun and jokes like this exchange while the group was working on its pace and breathing for the national anthem:

Crowe: “Oh yeah, the fermata.”

Stiles: “I’ve eaten one of those.”

Crowe: “That’s a frittata.”

They might not find themselves singing like characters on Glee, but the group members are having fun and expanding their appreciation for music.

“Now I can’t hear the national anthem without hearing my bass part,” Stiles said.”I can tell my musical tastes are changing. I worked out to Frank Sinatra the other day.”

jrowell@greatfallstribune.com

USSTRATCOM announced this week that Malmstrom was among the winners of the 2015 Omaha Trophies, representing the intercontinental ballistic missiles leg of the nuclear triad.

The winning organizations demonstrated “the highest standards of performance in support of USSTRATCOM’s global, diverse missions,” said Adm. Cecil Haney, USSTRATCOM commander. “Each nominee is truly an outstanding representative of their task force, joint task force, or functional component. Their sustained professionalism, record of mission accomplishment and emphasis on effective warfighting readiness is remarkable. I am proud of each and every one for their contributions to our nation’s defense.”

The Omaha Trophy, which dates back to the Air Force’s Strategic Air Command, was originally created by the Strategic Command Consultation Committee in 1971. At the time, a single trophy was presented annually as a token of appreciation to the command’s best wing.

Since then, the tradition has evolved to unit-level awards that recognize USSTRATCOM’s premier ICBM wing, ballistic missile submarine, strategic bomber wing and global operations (space/cyberspace) unit. This year, a new category was added to include the combatant command’s top strategic aircraft wing, according to a release.

The other 2015 Omaha Trophy recipient organizations are listed by category below:

• Ballistic missile submarine: USS Wyoming (SSBN 742), Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga.
• Strategic bomber: 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale AFB, La.
• Strategic aircraft: 92nd Air Refueling Wing, Fairchild AFB, Wash.
• Global operations: 460th Space Wing, Buckley AFB, Colo.

Denisse Willis was on her way home from the emergency room with her 18-month-old daughter, Aryanna, when Aryanna had a febrile seizure, which are convulsions that occur in children between 6 months and 5 years old. The seizures are triggered by fever.

“My first instinct was to pull over and get her out of the car,” Willis said Friday.

She was headed back to Malmstrom Air Force Base on 10th Avenue South and pulled into a left turn lane.

Someone pulled up behind her, and “I yelled at him to call 911,” she said.

Another man helped her get across the street to a grassy area.

That’s when Tech Sgt. Shaun Russell showed up.

He and two other airmen had been at AutoZone at 3300 10th Ave. S. picking up parts for their vehicle shop. Russell is with the 341st Security Forces Support Squadron.

Initially they thought they were seeing a vehicle accident, but then they noticed Willis in the road with her baby.

Technical Sgt. Sean Russell helped save 18-month-old Aryanna Willis during a roadside emergency Thursday.

Photo Credit: TRIBUNE PHOTO/JULIA MOSS

They pulled over, partially blocking traffic, and checked to make sure Aryanna had a pulse.

She did, so he rolled her on her side to open her airway.

At that point, Staff Sgt. Joseph Stalzer showed up. Stalzer is with the 819th RED HORSE and did a jaw thrust maneuver to open the baby’s airway and she started showing signs of recovery, he said.

The airmen in Russell’s vehicle used their fleece jackets to keep the baby warm.

Shortly afterward, local emergency medical personnel arrived and took care of Aryanna. On Friday, the baby was doing just fine, Willis said.

It turns out that Aryanna’s father is also a member of 819th RED HORSE and both of the airmen who stopped to help had CPR training outside of the military. Russell was formerly an emergency medical technician and Stalzer spent four years working in an emergency room as an EMT-intermediate.

Staff Sgt. Joseph Stalzer helped save 18-month-old Aryanna Willis during a roadside emergency Thursday.

Photo Credit: TRIBUNE PHOTO/JULIA MOSS

Stalzer has two young children, including one who shares a name with Willis’ daughter.

“It hits home,” he said. “I would want someone to do that for me.”

Neither airman wanted much attention and said they’ve stopped to help in several situations, never seeking thanks.

“I didn’t tell anybody,” Russell said about the incident. “I just did what needed to be done.”

Willis said she also knows CPR but was grateful to see military members rushing to help.

“It was very comforting to see other military, because I knew they knew what they were doing,” she said.

Willis said she’s thankful to the airmen and the civilians who stopped to help.

“You can tell they genuinely cared,” she said.

“We’re pretty excited about this,” said Tom Moore, assistant superintendent for secondary schools with Great Falls Public Schools.

Great Falls high schools offer a wide spectrum of courses to prepare students for life after graduation, Moore said, and many of their students join the military.

Col. Bobby Woods, AFJROTC director at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, said Montana was the last state without a program.

“We’re incredibly excited to be opening in Montana,” he said. “We think it’s an outstanding fit.”

Around 2008, Air Force officials approached the GFPS curriculum director about starting a JROTC program.

But that was also a time of major budget cuts and adding a new program wasn’t in the cards, Moore said.

Over the summer, they were approached again by the Air Force and asked to submit an application to start a JROTC program in Great Falls.

“In a military community, JROTC makes sense and it’s missing,” Moore said.

Even if students don’t go into the military, the program teaches responsibility, discipline, task completion and other skills that help in any career they might choose, Moore said.

Part of the law that established the AFJROTC program requires that each service participate and they try to create a fair and equitable distribution across the county of their units, Woods said. The program was formally created in the 1916 National Defense Act.

“Usually once we start getting into a community and other schools start seeing positive effects, start seeing what these cadets start learning, we hear amazing stories of the impact on lives that comes from this program,” he said.

Nationally, the program has close to 2,000 instructors across 870 units with about 125,000 students.

The new program in Great Falls will get support from the Air Force in the form of equipment, uniforms and whatever it needs to get started. The Air Force also provides the curriculum and reimburses the school district half of the instructors’ salaries.

The school district will hire two instructors, who must meet the AFJROTC requirements. Moore said they estimate the school district cost will be $35,000 to $40,000 annually.

Moore said GFPS is working with the local military community, such as the Military Affairs Committee of the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, to help find funding.

It’s also looking at grants and foundations to help fund the program.

If it can’t find new funding sources, Moore said they would reallocate some existing funding to get the program started.

That doesn’t mean any jobs in the district will be affected, Moore said.

“We’re going to get creative in the way we fund that,” Moore said.

Woods said the military presence in Great Falls was part of their reasoning to approach GFPS to start JROTC there.

“Getting into a community that already has appreciation for military and is supportive of military, we find those units typically do really well,” Woods said.

It’s also helpful for military students who may have been part of JROTC at other schools and then their parents get stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base.

Woods said having military bases nearby can also open partnership opportunities for students to see the military in action.

“When cadets get a chance to see that, it just opens their eyes. It makes them realize how important teamwork really is,” Woods said. “Not one person is overly important; everybody is important to make the mission happen.”

Woods participated in JROTC and then continued with ROTC in college.

“I still remember my instructors,” he said.

There is no obligation to join the military with the JROTC program, Woods said. Instead, it’s a citizenship program, like the Civil Air Patrol program already in place in Great Falls.

“We believe that the things they’re going to learn through this program are going to help them no matter what career they end up choosing,” Woods said. “I think it’s degrees of good that come from the program.”

But if cadets chose to enlist after high school, having completed at least three years of JROTC and basic training, they’ll come out as an E2 or E3, whereas most would come out of basic training as an E1.

That means a higher rank and higher pay grade from the start for those who have three years or more of JROTC versus those enlisted without that background.

Heather Hoyer, GFH principal, said the soft launch of the program in the fall will include two courses, and once they fully launch they need to keep 100 students in the program to keep the unit.

Hoyer said they’ll be explaining the program to students this week and hope to get feedback from them. She said they’ve been getting positive feedback from parents who are glad to see the program at GFH.

For now, the program will only be at GFH, which was targeted because it’s a Title 1 school, meaning it has a large number of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, Hoyer and Moore said.

The Air Force has data showing the JROTC program is successful in Title 1 schools at keeping students in school and improving graduation rates, Moore said.

With an Air Force ROTC program at Montana State University and Army ROTC at the University of Montana, it’s a good way for students to learn about the program in high school and then decide if they want to make the jump to the collegiate level, where they can get scholarships and be commissioned as officers in the military.

Hoyer said the program compliments the values the community already has.

“I think it’s a natural fit for Great Falls,” she said. “It’s about time.”

The simulated electronic launch-Minuteman, or SELM, is a test of all the steps leading up to the first-stage ignition of a missile launch.

This week’s test involved two launch control centers and six launch facilities. The LCCs and LFs were configured into a test squadron and cut off from the rest of the missile complex to prevent actual launch of a missile.

It’s an infrequent piece of the test, said Lt. Col. Scott Fleming, assistant director of operations at the 490th Missile Squadron.

SELM is conducted every other year and rotates between the three ICBM wings so it’s about every six years that it’s done at Malmstrom. This week’s test was out of sequence as Malmstrom did the test last cycle also, which was in 2013.

But the selected sites in the 490th had never been tested under SELM, Fleming said.

On Tuesday, airmen from the base and local officials traveled about 3½ hours to LF K-09 to watch part of the SELM test.

The test involved blowing the launch enclosure door, which is about 100 tons, to ensure that it would open properly should a missile ever get the order to launch.

Fleming said the Air Force only blows an enclosure door every other year during the SELM test.

Base personnel built a wall 12 feet high using sandbags and filled dirt behind it to prevent the door from blowing completely.

Fleming said the door opens with such force that “we need that much earth to stop it and keep it on the slide rail so they can reset the site afterward.”

After the door blew, which took about three seconds, some maintenance airmen yelled, “That was awesome!”

Maintenance airmen have been on site preparing for the SELM test for the past month.

Tech. Sgts. Harrison Roberts and Dustin Flint and Senior Airman Sanderson Conway were part of those maintenance teams.

Watching the test “definitely validates what you do,” Roberts said.

Flint said the test required more work than their day to day and even though there’s a lot of pressure for team perfection daily, it’s heightened during the tests.

For the maintenance airmen, it was also an added bonus to have airmen from other career fields on base watch the test. Many of those watching were security forces and Conway said that helps them understand what they’re guarding in the field.

It was also a chance for “the public to know that they’re doing their jobs to the highest level every day,” Roberts said.

The other component of the SELM test involves Navy aircraft to validate the system that would allow a missile to be launched from the air if a ground launch facility were incapacitated.

Air Force personnel aboard a Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft operate the Air Launch Control System during that portion of the test, Fleming said.

The SELM test is the second half of the operational test used to validate the Minuteman III system.

The first half was conducted in March, when Malmstrom airmen launched an unarmed ICBM from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

During that test, a missile was pulled from a site near Stanford, taken apart and transported to Vandenberg, where Malmstrom airmen reassembled the missile and Malmstrom missile crew members turned the keys to launch the missile.