Ask Maj. Gen. Roger Burg, commander of 20th Air Force, which oversees the Air Force’s ICBM force, and he says that the service’s nuclear enterprise “standards have not changed—did not change.” Burg, who was at Minot AFB, N.D., home to the 91st Missile Wing, on Feb. 18, told Minot airmen that while the standards have not changed as the Air Force reinforces its nuclear surety program, the “application of those standards has changed dramatically.” Missile and bomb wings that have undergone nuclear surety inspections over the past year have experienced this tougher application of standards, in several cases prompting the units to face re-tests. The day before Burg was at Minot, his current boss, Gen. Bob Kehler, head of Air Force Space Command, visited Malmstrom AFB, Mont., home to the 341st Missile Wing, where he congratulated the unit for passing its nuclear surety re-test; however, he noted that the recently toughened NSIs would not remain static. In other words, the inspections will get even harder. Kehler said that in addition to regular NSIs every 13 to 18 months, the nuclear-capable force could expect more no-notice inspections. He said, “You still have a lot of work to do, but you don’t need me to tell you that.” Although AFSPC will shift its ICBM force to the new Air Force Global Strike Command, Kehler assured the Malmstrom airmen, “There is no difference to you because your job is combat readiness and upholding the standard of perfection every day.” (Minot report by 2nd Lt. Kidron Vestal; Malmstrom report by SrA. Dillon White)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.