Fellow Missileers:

Just a reminder that the last day to register for the August National Meeting is Friday, 3 July.  We hope you can join us to learn more about the current mission issues, hear more on the Missile Cancer Study, and enjoy the great folks of Minot!

10th Annual Missileer Gathering at the AFA ASC Conference:  The General Charles A. Gabriel Chapter of the Air & Space Forces Association is hosting the 10th Annual Missile Gathering at the Gaylord National Resort & Ramp; Convention Center, 201 Waterfront Street, Room - National Harbor 10, National Harbor, MD on 15 Sep 2026 from 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM. So that we can get an accurate head count for food and beverages, we are asking that all attendees, active duty,

Reserve, Guard, retired, veterans, spouses, and friends to please register at this website 10th Annual Missileer Gathering Registration. Also, at the registration website, we are selling specially minted 2026 10th Missileer Gathering Coins as a fund raiser.  Attire: Flight Suits, OCPs or business casual.

Combined 308th and 381st SMW Reunion: 25-26 September 2026, Marriott Hotel, 5580 Tech Center Drive, Colorado Springs, CO. In our first-ever combined 308th and 381st SMWs Reunion. Reception Friday evening, 6:00 PM, Saturday evening Reunion Banquet 5:30. 

Celebrate our unique heritage on the 39th and 40th anniversary of our Wing deactivations (we’d love to see 390th SMW folks too and hope to have a reunion of all three wings in the future). For more information and /or registration form, contact Dave Shiller shillerbuckeyes@gmail.com, or Linda Aldrich lsaletters@comcast.net

Titan Missile Complex 374-7 Historical Marker Dedication: Information below. Please respond to Julie Nelson at jnelson@southsidebb.org if you plan to attend.

Cancer Study support: The following was posted this week from the Torchlight Initiative: Action Requested: Please Contact Your U.S. Senators.

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the FY27 NDAA does not appear to include language comparable to the House ICBM cancer amendment. As the House and Senate negotiate the final bill, now is the time to ask your Senators to support retaining the House language. The House amendment would require an independent scientific review of the occupational health, safety, and force readiness of the ICBM enterprise. It would:

* Independently review the Missile Community Cancer Study.

* Evaluate occupational and environmental hazards, including PCBs, asbestos, combustion

byproducts, VOCs, radon, and other toxic exposures.

* Conduct an independent cancer study comparing missile community personnel to a similar

low-exposure military population.

* Review DOEHRS, ILER, and other exposure documentation systems.

* Recommend improvements to occupational health protections, medical surveillance, and the Sentinel program.

This is about ensuring current and future missileers, maintainers, security forces, family members and support personnel receive the answers and protections they deserve. Congressional oversight has already led to important progress, including the Missile Community Cancer Study, acknowledgment of PCB hazards, and increased attention to occupational health.

Let’s keep that momentum going. Please take a few minutes to contact your Senators and ask them to support retaining the House ICBM occupational health language during NDAA conference negotiations. Your voice can help protect generations of ICBM personnel to come.

Survey says? Your inputs are appreciated: A poll and a survey are coming your way. The National Meeting poll was released on 25 June via email to members and is asking your response NLT 17 July. The questions address where you want to meet in the future and what we can do better. If you didn’t get the email, you can find the survey at https://www.afmissileers.org/Sys/Poll/73828. The survey which will be released on 17 Jul and close out on 1 August is focused membership—we are at an all-time low in members so we want your insights into what we can do better. We’ll review the results during the general members meeting in Minot on August 8th.

Twentieth Air Force New Mission Video: You want to see what our ICBM troops are doing in the field today? In June, Twentieth Air Force released a "brand-spankin" new four-minute YouTube video that captures the professionalism of our amazing people on alert 365 days a year. All you former missileers should be proud that you were part of this heritage that is the bedrock of our US nuclear forces. Hopefully you will come to see our troops again at Minot AFB in August. Watch this video and be proud: Don't Wimp Out

AFA supports the Air Force Missileer Hall of Fame: The Air & Space Forces’s (AFA) History and Heritage Committee awarded a grant to the Association of Air Force Missileers (AAFM) for new digital displays of the Air Force Missileer Hall of Fame at selected museums. Check out this story from AFA.  Donation

Impact of Tactical Nuclear Mini-Drones on Deterrence: The ICBM fields can be a dangerous place! Not only because of environmental conditions, but security threats have dramatically increased with the introduction of drone warfare. ICBM and SF leadership knows this and has taken action to mitigate the threat. Don’t ask "what action?"... that's like asking for all the plays in a Super Bowl before the game. "Real Clear Defense" writer David Lasseter wrote an interesting short-read, article titled "The Radioactive Brink: Securing the American Warfighter in 2026. Quote from the article:

"We’ve entered a "Second Nuclear Age," defined less by the strategic stalemate of the Cold War and more by the proliferation of low-yield weapons and the terrifying new nuclear threat is less powerful—but far more likely to be deployed— tactical nukes designed to kill on the front lines.  The nuclear threat is no longer just about "city-killers" and global apocalypse; it is about the low-yield (aka: tactical) nuclear weapon designed for use on the front lines."

Want to know more? See: Nuclear Drones?

There was a joke during the Cold War era that said the Soviets were unable to make a suitcase nuclear bomb because, that although they had solved the miniaturization problem...they couldn't make the suitcases

As always, your comments and inputs are welcome and appreciated and should be sent to me at Director@AFMissileers.org

Thanks,

Jim 

James F. Warner

Executive Director