Missile Fields and Spring Published April 22, 2009 By Lt. Col. Robert A Fabian Commander, 91st Maintenance Operations Squadron MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- The 91st Missile Wing, with support from the 5th Bomb Wing, has been surging to protect their 150 Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles from melting snow and flood waters since March 11, 2009. A core team of flood control experts from the 91st Maintenance Group, alongside Airmen from the 91st Operations Group, 91st Security Forces Group and the 5th Civil Engineering Squadron, have put in over 13,600 work-hours ensuring the wing's missile fleet is safe. Every day, survey teams in trucks on the ground and, as the thaw has continued, in helicopters in the air, check for changes at the various sites that could indicate potential flooding. At the same time, pump, sandbag, and digging teams drive out in response to priorities set by the central Flood Control Command Post on base to remove snow, clear drainage ditches, pump pools of water off the sites, and build sandbag berms to keep rising water away from the missiles. These teams run rotating 12+ hour shifts so that work in the field never stops. A typical survey or digging team carries shovels, ice picks, a water pump, and hoses, while a dedicated pump team adds two more water pumps to their load. It's cold hard manual labor, but it is also essential to keeping the missiles dry. Some digging teams also bring Bobcats to move heavy snow drifts and the 5th Civil Engineers bring the really heavy equipment when needed. The sandbag teams drive flatbed trucks carrying 8 pallets of sandbags, each containing 40-50 sandbags per pallet. They work with the digging teams to seal off launch facilities when the water rises faster than it can drain off the site. Together, the Airmen of both wings - maintainers, operators, pilots, security forces, chefs, facility mangers and civil engineers - are still hard at work ensuring the safety, security and reliability of our nuclear deterrent, no matter what the weather, or anyone else for that matter, can throw at them.