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Original Message
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Sorry about the gaps guys. Links, references, and citations available on request.
5/2004
Weston Kissel of Tennessee graduates from the Air Force Academy as 2nd Lieutenant Kissel, United States Air Force (USAF).
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At 18, Adam Barrs of South Sioux City, Nebraska enlists in the United States Air Force out of high school.
2/2005
Being a communications navigation mission systems journeyman, Airman Barrs is promoted to Senior Airman and assigned to the 5th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, where he is responsible for maintenance and troubleshooting on B-52H Stratofortresses.
Note: The Minot 5th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron is also one of the units that are responsible for loading and unloading weaponry onto the B-52H Stratofortresses.
3/2006
19-year old Todd Blue of Wythevilla, Virginia enlists in the United States Air Force.
7/2006
1st Lieutenant Weston Kissel is assigned to the 23rd Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base as a pilot of the B-52H Stratofortress.
8/2006
Airman First Class Todd Blue, USAF, is stationed to Minot Air Force Base of North Dakota as a response force member, immediately assigned to the 5th Security Forces Squadron where he will undertake his responsibilities, including that of security of nuclear weapons, under Squadron Commander Lt. Col John Worley.
3/2007
The United States Air Force begins to transport the AGM-129 missiles from Minot AFB, North Dakota, to Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, on their way to Tucson, ARIZONA for disposal. The missiles are carried by B-52H.
3/14,15/07
General Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff, pays visit to Minot Air Force Base.
6/2007
Colonel Robert D. Critchlow is transferred from the Pentagon to Minot AFB and appointed commanding officer for the 91st Operations Group, a missileer unit and the operational "backbone" of the 91st Space Wing. In Washington, D.C., he was posted into Air Force Nuclear Response and Homeland Defence.
Colonel Myron L. Freeman is transferred from Japan to Minot AFB and appointed as the commander of the 91st Security Forces Group.
Colonel Gregory S. Tims is appointed as deputy commander of the 91st Space Wing after being transferred to Minot AFB from California almost a year before.
Colonel Bruce Emig is transferred to Minot AFB from Ellsworth in South Dakota and becomes commander of the 5th Bomb Wing as well base commander of Minot Air Force Base itself.
Colonel Cynthia M. Lundell is transferred from a NATO post in Western Europe to Minot AFB, becoming commander for the 5th Maintenance Group, responsible for loading and unloading weaponry onto the B-52H Stratofortresses.
6/15/07
President George W. Bush meets senior Minot AFB officers at USAF Base McConnell in Wichita, Kansas during a visit to Boeing's Integrated Defense the personnel from Minot are reported. However, reports have been made of meetings between military families and the U.S. President in his office aboard Air Force One.
7/03/2007
Senior Airman Adam Barrs, 20, is involved in a car crash on the outskirts of Minot. Helpless in the passenger seat, he watches as the driver, a 20-year old Airman Stephen Garrett, fails to negotiate a curve, hitting the approach at high speeds, leading the vehicle directly into a tree. The vehicle starts on fire.
Barrs is pronounced dead at the scene. Garrett, in critical condition, is taken to Minot Trinity Hospital. There have been no updates regarding Stephen Garrett since.
7/17/07
1st Lieutenant Weston Kissel, 28-year old B-52H pilot of Minot AFB, dies in reported motorcycle accident while on leave in Tennessee.
8/25/07
Captain John Frueh, assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Florida, reportedly flies to PORTLAND, OREGON to attend the wedding of a childhood friend.
8/29/07
8:00 A.M. - Crew from Minot Air Force Base prepares 12 AGM-129 missiles, all of which were supposedly assumed to be "dummy," training warheads, for transport to Barksdale AFB via B-52H Stratofortress. 6 missiles are loaded onto each pylon, which will in turn be placed under each wing.
Instead of being loaded with 12 "dummies," 6 of the missiles on the aircraft contain actual, nuclear warheads. Each of which carry a "dialable," 150-kiloton W80-1 warhead, for a combined total of 60- times the destructive power of the bomb that landed on Hiroshima in 1945.
9:25 A.M. - Somehow, after a supposed inspection, both of the missile-loaded pylons, including that which contains 6 nuclear warheads, receive proper clearance and approval for attachment to the B-52H aircraft.
9:30 A.M. - Air Force Captain John Frueh last seen taking a walk through Portland's Nob Hill in a blue coat. His possessions reportedly included a backpack containing a cell phone, video camera, and GPS locator.
5:25 p.m. - 8 hours later, the crew at Minot AFB finishes loading the pylons onto the B-52H.
The aircraft, with the missiles loaded, now remains parked at Minot AFB for 15 straight hours. Left overnight without any sort of guard as required for such weapons, 6 nuclear warheads sit unattended.
8/30/07
8:00 A.M. - One of the aircraft's flight officers, whose name is also is reportedly and presumably unknown, signs the B-52H's cargo manifest despite the presence of actual nuclear weapons on the aircraft.
Despite his responsibility to do so, the B-52H command pilot fails to do a final verification check before departure.
8:40 A.M. - The B-52H Stratofortress departs Minot Air Force Base, ND for Barksdale AFB, LA with 6 nuclear warheads attached to it's wing.
Depending on the route flown, the warheads "waft" for 3 hours over:
North Dakota and
either South Dakota or Minnesota,
Nebraska or Missouri,
Oklahoma or Arkansas,
and Louisiana.
Note: No U.S. aircraft has ever been armed with this many nuclear weapons before this day.
11:23 A.M. - The B-52H lands at Barksdale Air Force Base.
Once again, the aircraft remains parked for over 9 hours without a special guard.
12:28 p.m. - USAF Captain John Frueh reportedly phones his family from the area of Mill Plain Boulevard and I-205 in Vancouver, Washington.
8:30 p.m. - A Barksdale munitions team arrives to remove the AGM-129 missiles from the B-52H. A crewmember notices something unusual about the cargo.
10:00 p.m. - A supervisor determines that actual nuclear warheads are present; orders them to be secured and the incident to be reported.
It is still unknown to the public as to how many warheads were found on the aircraft at the time of their discovery by the Barksdale ground crew. The Air Force claims five to six were present, while some theorists say as few as zero were still attached to the B-52H.
8/31/07
USAF Chief of Staff, General T. Michael Moseley, contacts U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, presumably to inform him about the incident. After Gates requests daily updates on the incident, he then contacts President of the United States, George W. Bush.
As of March of 2008, the U.S. Air Force has yet to officially designate what type of incident actually occurred. Only that it was a "mistake," or an "accident."
9/4/07
Captain John Frueh is reported missing in the PORTLAND area after failing to arrive in Florida like his family had expected.
Portland authorities and F.B.I. initiate a public search for the 33-year old special operations vet. This is strange, however. The U.S. Air Force would not let a missing persons' investigation go forward by police without conducting its own investigation. Why the F.B.I. got involved so quickly is also extremely curious.
9/5/07
The Minot Nuclear Incident story is first released to the public by Military Times after being leaked by military servicemen, ruining the federal government's hopes for a lack of press on the subject.
Air Force and Department of Defense officials are quoted as boldly stating that there was "no press interest anticipated."
During a news briefing at the Pentagon on the same day, Press Secretary Geoff Morrell states that "at no time was the public in any danger."
9/6/07
Commander of Air Combat Command, General Ronald Keys, appoints Major General Douglas Raaberg, Air Combat Director of Air and Space Operations, to investigate the incident.
9/7/07
General Russell Elliot Dougherty dies at his home in Falcon Landing military retirement community, located in Arlington, VA, from an apparent suicide.
General Dougherty was once one of the most senior individuals responsible for the nuclear arsenal of the U.S. military, commander of Strategic Air Command, and also director of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff which, among its responsibilities, identified worldwide nuclear targets.
Along with those responsibilities, Dougherty had specialized in issues pertaining to Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), the multiple uses for nuclear weaponry, Nuclear Supremacy for the United States and, lastly, tackling the effects of wind and weather - due to their unpredictable natures - on the use of nuclear weapons.
9/8/07
The body of Captain John Frueh, USAF, is discovered in the woods near Badger Peak, south-central Washington. He is found near an abandoned vehicle parked on Forest Service Road 2816, which he reportedly rented a week or so earlier.
The only information ever provided regarding Frueh's death was that foul play was "not suspected." David Cox, Skamania County Undersheriff, said he could "give no further details on how the Air Force captain died."
9/10/07
At the age of 20, Airman First Class Todd Blue dies while on leave with his family in Virginia.
To this day, no information regarding Todd Blue's death has been released.
9/14/07
Air Combat Command halts all air operations to "review procedures." The Minot specialists who carried out the nuclear loadout are temporarily "decertified" from handling the weapons.
1:00 p.m. - Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne arrives at Minot AFB to personally investigate the storage, protection, and handling of nuclear weapons there. Air Force officials do not allow any base access to the media during this visit.
A Munitions Squadron commander is supposedly relieved of command.
9/15/07
Senior Airman Clint Huff, belonging to the 26th Operational Weather Squadron, Air Force Special Operations in Barksdale, LA, dies with his wife in a motorcycle accident when a small SUV collided with them.
9/17/07
General John Abizaid, while speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, states, "We need to press the international community as hard as we possibly can, and the Iranians, to cease and desist on the development of a nuclear weapon, and we should not preclude any option that we may contain to deal with it."
9/20/07
Defense Secretary Robert Gates asks for an outside investigation of the Minot Nuclear Incident to be conducted, but instead of requesting an independent, non- military researcher to perform the task, Gates asks former USAF Chief of Staff Larry Welch to do the investigating.
10/15/07
Vigilant Shield 2008 (VS-08), to be conducted over North America and the Northern Pacific Ocean, is a large-scale military exercise, designed to deal with a "terrorist" or "natural disaster scenario in the United States.
Expecting to end on October 20, these war games are being conducted by the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, amidst mounting U.S. pressures and threats to actually declare a "real war" on Iran.
PRIMARY EXERCISE VENUES FOR VS-08 INCLUDE LOCATIONS IN OREGON, ARIZONA, AND THE TERRITORY OF GUAM
7/21/08
A B-52 stationed out of Barksdale AFB, LA crashes off the coast of GUAM, killing all 6 crew members on board.
The aircraft and crew were deployed to Guam with the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, as part of the U.S. military's continuous bomber presence mission in the Pacific.
THE AIR FORCE HAS BEEN ROTATING B-1, B-2, AND B-52 BOMBERS THROUGH GUAM SINCE 2004
10/05/08
Bombers from Barksdale AFB, LA deploy to Andersen AFB, Guam.
This is nothing new. Andersen and Barksdale are commonly referred to as "sister bases," especially with the rotating B-52H Squadrons between the two.
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