Col. Jason Beers was removed from command of the 91st Security Forces Group at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota after a string of incidents, including the loss of a crate of grenades and a machine gun. (Airman 1st Class Jonathan McElderry/Air Force)
Col. Jason Beers, who last month was relieved of command of the 91st Security Forces Group at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota over the loss of weapons and ammunition, is moving to a new leadership position at Air Force Special Operations Command.
This summer, Beers will become the chief of AFSOC’s installations division, AFSOC spokeswoman Capt. Amanda Farr said in an email Friday.
Beers was fired after the high-profile losses of a case of grenade launcher ammunition and a machine gun earlier this year.
Minot officials said at the time that the commander of the 91st Missile Wing, Col. Colin Connor, removed Beers “due to a loss of trust and confidence after a series of events under the scope of his leadership.
A security forces airman from the 929th Special Operations Security Forces Squadron fires an M-240 during heavy weapons qualification. Minot Air Force Base on May 16 discovered one of its M-240s was missing during a weapons inventory check. (Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Jasmin Taylor)
The superintendent of the 91st Security Forces Group, Chief Master Sgt. Nikki Drago, was also removed alongside Beers.
In Friday’s email, Farr said that AFSOC is “fully confident in the colonel’s ability to manage our security forces and civil engineer programs for the command.”
Farr said Beers will be responsible for managing resources at the command “to support the readiness of our [security forces and civil engineer] personnel, as well as implementing Air Force policy that affects the division.”
The crate of grenades fell off a Humvee on a Native American reservation near Minot on May 1. About two weeks later, a weapons inventory on the base found an M240 machine gun was missing.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter at Defense News. He previously reported for Military.com, covering the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare. Before that, he covered U.S. Air Force leadership, personnel and operations for Air Force Times.
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