The new Air Force Chiefs stated that they would attain perfection once more for the air force with regard to their nuclear standards and operations. The comments were made in reference to their predecessors who made several costly and inappropriate mistakes. I for one am quite satisfied that they have gone on record to state their objective is perfection. We honestly can’t have anything less when dealing with nuclear weapons. One mistake could cost thousands of lives. It is simply too dangerous to leave room for error. General Norton Schwartz said that anything less than perfection “is not acceptable.”
There were two serious mistakes that brought attention to the blundering standards with nuclear weapons within the Air Force. First nuclear cruise missiles were mistakenly loaded onto a B-52 bomber without the pilot or air force’s knowledge. The pilot then flew the cruise missiles to Louisiana where the air force then realized their mishap. Secondly the air force accidentally shipped four nuclear fuses and nose cone assemblies instead of the helicopter batteries they thought they were sending. This error then flew under the radar for a year and a half.
How terrible are these mistakes made on behalf of the US air force? Do you believe they were significant enough to merit the firing of the Air force Chiefs? Was this actually within their control? After all, it’s not like they were personally making these mistakes? How much perfection can we expect from our officers?
