Warriors of the North explore the past during visit to historic missile site

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Bonnie Grantham
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
COOPERSTOWN, N.D. --  Members of the 319th Air Base Wing toured the Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility in Cooperstown, N.D., Sept. 26 as other Warriors of the North briefed the tour groups on what it was like to live and work on the MAF.

The Oscar-Zero MAF is included in North Dakota's Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site with the November-33 Launch Facility and is operated by the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

It was completed in 1965 as a part of the Grand Forks AFB 321st Missile Wing with Minuteman II missiles installed shortly after. It worked together with the November Launch Facility, also located near Cooperstown staying on a continuous alert for nearly 30 years.

Missileers would work 24-hour alerts every three days. They stayed in the underground Launch Control Center constantly awaiting orders year-round.

In the above-ground Launch Control Center Support Building, security forces members sat, maintaining the security of the mission and the building. There were also maintainers and facility managers that kept the base in working condition.

Lt. Col. Jeffery Becker, current 319th Security Forces commander, was a security element leader at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., from 1999 to 2001, where he was responsible for five missile alert facilities, including the Oscar-Zero MAF. He was able to brief the tourists on the responsibilities of the security teams he managed.

The Airmen were able to view both the LCC and the LCCSB as they appeared many years ago accompanied by a few of Grand Forks' own who started their career at the Oscar-Zero MAF, and facilities similar to it, many years ago.

John Gorman, outdoor recreation manager for Grand Forks AFB, led a briefing about his time as the NCO in-charge, also known as the facility manager, at the Oscar-Zero MAF. While leading a briefing, he said he found it incredible how the site today is still in the exact condition as he remembers it from his time spent there.

"It was nice to hear from the people who worked there when it was all functional," said Airman Juan Robalino, an equipment accountability apprentice with the 319th Logistics Readiness Squadron. "I've already recommended making the trip to some of my friends."

Among the briefers that accompanied the tour, Lt. Col. Aaron Bass, the 319th ABW Inspector General, who shared his experiences and personal recollections of being a missileer, formally known as a Commander Evaluator with the 321st MW, down in the LCC of the Oscar-Zero MAF, which is where he began his Air Force career.

"This was home for us," Bass said as he showed the members of the tour the bed, microwave and bathroom all set up to accommodate the needs of the missileers locked away in the LCC for 24 hours at a time. "It was like college, but we all had money. Life was simple as a missileer for me."

Another briefer from the tour, James Bolton, treaty compliance officer for the 319th ABW, was able to educate tourists about the missile silo using his experience as a former missile maintainer.

Bolton, though stationed at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., would travel to and from different launch facilities to perform maintenance on the different missiles, and later provided supervision to other missile maintenance teams.

"I wanted to be able to show what part we played in the Cold War," said Bolton, who was stationed at Minot AFB from 1977 to 1986. "What was most rewarding was having the knowledge that if the systems had to launch, they would do so and not fail because we had maintained them properly. And that gave us all great peace of mind."