Sink or Swim: Team Minot washes away flood concerns, successful flood control pays off Published May 15, 2013 By Maj. Shane Balken Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- One of the most important lessons learned from the 2011 Souris River Flood is paying off in the 91st Missile Wing this spring as Airmen here are happy to be washing their hands free of any further flooding concerns. "Start early and don't underestimate the power of a shovel"-- These two lessons are proving invaluable this spring as Team Minot crews have been battling over-land flooding around the 150 missile launch facilities for the past six weeks. So far, their efforts have paid off without any major problems of water reaching the missiles. Lt. Col. James Wakefield, 91st Maintenance Operations Squadron commander, said assessment teams began surveying the missile launch facilities two months ago to watch the snow melt and make preparations for flood control. Although he added he is not comfortable yet with declaring the fight over, most indications look like the worst of the water issues are subsiding. Teams from the 91st Maintenance Group and 5th Bomb Wing Civil Engineering Squadron have been out with bobcats, snow blowers, and a lot of shovels diverting water away from the missile launch facilities, said Chief Master Sgt. Shelton Haskins, 91st MXG Superintendant. "We have been checking all 150 sites and making sure water does not get close to the tops of the missile sites," said Chief Haskins. Two years ago, during Minot's major flooding, three missile sites had water damage and required the missiles to be removed and sent to the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Depot at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, for refurbishment. Wakefield explained removing one missile and replacing it costs the government several millions of dollars. On-site crews rate each missile launch facility from one to six, with one being the site is flooding and needs 24-hour surveillance, and 6 being the site is clear. As of early May, Wakefield said there were no sites in danger of flooding but he still wasn't ready to declare all sites flood-free due to Mother Nature's crazy spring weather. Master Sgt. Robert Gorman, 91st MXG quality assurance chief of evaluations, said this is his first experience with flood control. "People have been working around the clock to fight the flooding and everyone has been doing their best," Gorman said. As he and other senior leaders in the group have been on-site checking the water levels, it's been the people behind the scenes in the Maintenance Operations Center who have been monitoring and tracking each site daily. Capt. Jared Hostetler, 91st MOS operations officer and Flood Control Officer, 1st Lt. Hank Hughes, 91st MOS MOC Officer in Charge, and Master Sgt. Jeremy Finley, 91st MOC NCO in charge, have been working 24-hour operations at the MOC assessing sites and relaying information out to the field. "Everything we do, we really look to them (MOC) to be our eyes and ears when we are out here," said Wakefield. Hostetler added one of the most important tools for the MOC to relay information out to the field is the remote visual assessment cameras that are on-site at every missile launch facility. "We are constantly looking at the sites and determining if water is getting close to the missile facility, and in turn, sending crews out to fix the problems," said Hostetler. Once the flood control teams have stopped and all sites are declared green, Hostetler estimated the total number of man hours to be about 4,700 and the total number of dispatches more than 400. Compared to 2011, this year's numbers are less than 25 percent of the efforts from two years ago. "With the slow thaw, we were able to get crews out to dig trenches and get ahead of the flooding," explained Finley. "This is has made all the difference."