New Minot commanders promise accountability

[unhappycamper]

Col. Douglas Cox, a B-52 navigator, took over for Col. Joel Westa as commander of the 5th Bomb Wing based at Minot Air Force Base, N.D.


New Minot commanders promise accountability
By James MacPherson - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Nov 28, 2009 15:41:49 EST

MINOT, N.D. — The sign over the main gate at Minot Air Force Base brags, “Only the Best Come North.”

It’s been a questionable claim over the past two years at the North Dakota base following a rash of nuclear-related screwups that spurred no mushroom clouds but embarrassed the military and cost several officers their careers.

The new base commander said the foul-ups — including a cross-country flight from Minot of a B-52 bomber mistakenly armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles — stemmed from lax attitudes in maintaining the arsenal there.

“We had a compliance problem,” Col. Douglas Cox told The Associated Press in an interview at the base. “There were rules that weren’t followed or were atrophied.”

Cox and Col. Ferdinand Stoss, the 91st Missile Wing’s new commander, are both promising perfection — just as their predecessors did. Stoss said he’s such a perfectionist that it drives his wife bonkers at home.


REst of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_airforce_minot_new_commanders_112809/