Security troops on US nuclear missile base took LSD

The entrance to F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, is seen Thursday, May 24, 2018. Documents obtained by The Associated Press reveal at least six airmen involved in a drug ring at F.E. Warren were buying, distributing or using the illegal hallucinogen LSD. (AP Photo/Mead Gruver)

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — One airman said he felt paranoia. Another marveled at the vibrant colors. A third admitted, “I absolutely just loved altering my mind.”

Meet service members entrusted with guarding nuclear missiles that are among the most powerful in America’s arsenal. Air Force records obtained by The Associated Press show they bought, distributed and used the hallucinogen LSD and other mind-altering illegal drugs as part of a ring that operated undetected for months on a highly secure military base in Wyoming. After investigators closed in, one airman deserted to Mexico.

“Although this sounds like something from a movie, it isn’t,” said Capt. Charles Grimsley, the lead prosecutor of one of several courts martial.

REVEALED: How the US dropped a hydrogen bomb on Spain… and then Russia tried to steal it

The crashed B-52 bomber

 

 

IT has been 50 years since the United States nearly caused a nuclear catastrophe which could have wiped out large parts of southern Spain – in a secret mission that has gone largely untold.

On January 17, 1966, an American B-52 dropped four nuclear bombs on Spain in an accident that risked handing Cold War victory to the Russians.

The warplane collided with a refuelling tanker during a secret mission over Europe.

North Dakota nuclear missile base struggles to recover from scandals

It’s a little difficult to say which is more alarming: The chronic degredation in general of the U.S. strategic nuclear forces or the fact that the ‘latest’ missles at Minot were built and designed in the 1960’s.

 

A bitter wind relentlessly whips across acres of frozen prairie at this remote base, where hundreds of airmen and women stay on alert around the clock to do the unthinkable: launch a nuclear attack.

This is the only installation in the nation that hosts both intercontinental ballistic missiles and B-52 bombers, two legs of the so-called nuclear triad with submarines. Yet it has been besieged by scandals and mishaps that have marred its historic role.

In August 2007, crews at Minot mistakenly loaded six cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads onto a B-52 heavy bomber that flew to another base in Louisiana. The warheads were not properly guarded for 36 hours before anyone realized they were missing. Partly as a result, the secretary of the Air Force was forced to resign.

In the last two years, two commanders have been dismissed at Minot and one reprimanded after Pentagon brass lost confidence in their ability to lead. In addition, 19 officers were stripped of their authority to control and launch the nuclear-tipped missiles that sit in silos, and did not get it back until they completed additional training.

Now the vast base, close to the Canadian border, is struggling to recover.