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90th OG faces 72-hour alerts with three-person crews

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Jacqueline Murrish
  • 90th Operations Support Squadron
F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. --  Alerts for the missile combat crews are changing at Warren. 

The 320th Missile Squadron has been testing the 72-hour alerts with three-person crews since Oct. 1. As soon as operationally feasible, the 319th Missile Squadron and 321st Missile Squadron will follow. 

With the duration of missile alerts growing from 24 to 72 hours, the number of members on each crew is growing as well. The 90th Operations Group is adding a new position to the crew. 

When a new crew member arrives from the school at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., they will be trained and certified as a missile combat crew member. When they are ready, the member will upgrade to a deputy missile crew commander position then later complete another upgrade to become a missile combat crew commander. 

In order to advance to each position, the crew member will go through classroom and simulator training. Upon completion of this training, they'll be evaluated in their new position to prove they are ready to assume a greater level of responsibility. 

A 72-hour alert has crews meet for mission planning and pre-departure briefings at 7 a.m. on the first day and then drive to the field with the site's facility manager and chef. Upon arriving at the missile alert facility, the crew processes downstairs into the launch control center for crew changeover and inspections. 

Each crew independently decides sleep shifts; most crews establish eight-hour or 12-hour shifts at the console. Crews place two members in the capsule and one upstairs. Being topside is a new role for crew members and allows them to interact with security, maintenance and support personnel at their MAF. Crews continue this rotation until the fourth day when they are relieved by a new crew. 

The bonus for the crews is the schedule, especially the predictability and time off it allows. 

"When the 72-hour alerts first started, we were only given two days off between alerts, making alerts unbearable by the fourth and fifth alert," said Capt. Stephen Toth, a missile combat crew commander for the 320th MS. "Leadership adapted the schedule to give us more downtime between alerts to make alerts more bearable and give us more quality time off. On the 24-hour alert schedule we were rarely given two days off together. Another bonus is that you can work on your additional duties while topside so that you are not coming into the office on your days off." 

Optimally, crews will only pull two 72-hour alerts back to back, which would include two days off in between the alerts. The crew would then be given five days off before their next set of back-to-back alerts. During their off time, crews are required to attend two days of monthly training and take a monthly four-hour simulator ride. 

"The 72-hour alert is helping us minimize exposure to driving accidents by reducing mileage to one-third of what it traditionally has been," said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Smith, 320th MS commander. "More importantly, the three-day alert gives crews better situational awareness by allowing them to see maintenance and other tasks through, from beginning to end. Three-day alerts allow crew members to interact more with topside personnel, providing leadership and mentorship opportunities."

"They also allow combat crew commanders more flexibility in adapting their crew's study and sleep schedules to operational requirements," stated Colonel Smith. "Finally, when we get the schedule nailed down, the longer alert period will allow us to give crew members longer breaks and better schedule predictability, which addresses one of the chief complaints crew members have." 

"Making this transition has not been without its challenges; after all we're changing processes and mindsets we've held for decades," said Col. Mike Fortney, 90th Operations Group commander. "But despite the rough spots, our missileers have responded very well and have been actively providing feedback along the way allowing us to develop better ways of doing business. And as we transition into a wing-wide test implementation in the next couple of months, I'm confident we'll get even better at it." 

"While change is rarely easy, and this is no exception, these are really exciting times to be a missile operator. Our missileers will someday look back and remember they were a part of something that fundamentally changed the ICBM ops mission," Col. Fortney said.