Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News

So why not Minot?

Jul 29, 2008 - 04:06:29 CDT

There is a maxim, sententious or pithy saying and answer to a question about North Dakota's fourth largest city.

"Why not Minot?"

"Freezin's the reason!"

The question was reportedly someone's idea for a tourist or recruitment campaign, one that ended with an answer that resulted in bumper stickers, T-shirts and pass-along humor.

Minot actually is a great city (as well as the Magic City). It is host to the recently completed Sate Fair, the location of Norsk Hostfest (North America's largest Scandinavian heritage festival), Scandinavian Heritage Center and Park and a station stop for Amtrak's Empire Builder.

But a new and somewhat regular occurrence is creating an image that really isn't fair to the fair people of Minot.

Why not Minot? Missiles and mistakes!

Once again, the unthinkable has happened at the Minot Air Force Base. Three ballistic missile crew members fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices. Yes, the codes were outdated and remained secure while the three were sawing Z's. Yes, it was just a procedure violation without compromise. And yes, a B-52 bomber armed with six nuclear warheads was perfectly safe when it flew from Minot to Louisiana.

At least, that has been how the embarrassing incidents have been explained and spun, as well as an Air Force flight to Taiwan with four fusing devices for warheads.

Gov. John Hoeven seemed to explain away the latest situation Monday by saying: "I think if people understand that it was a self-reported incident, that it was fully reviewed, fully reported, things were handled properly - it shouldn't be an issue going forward."

Sorry governor; we think it is an issue, but we understand your spin. Governors generally try to make the best of a bad situation and you did serve as executive vice president of First Western Bank in Minot from1986 to 1993.

It is an issue, however, because it shows a dangerous pattern or trend.

But like the governor, we also support Minot. While the city and base have served each other well for many years, the city deserves better than the goofs and gaffs it has had to face in the past year or so.

Americans, from North Dakota and throughout the world, can be proud of our military. Let's keep it that way. Let's not keep allowing slip-ups, no matter how minor, especially when it comes to nuclear weapons. Let's be more careful out there and stay awake.

News > Opinion

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Comments

sammyhain wrote on Jul 29, 2008 4:30 PM:

" This story has nothing to do with the issue at hand. How does this reflect upon the city of Minot? I'm really scratching my head on this one. "

Dave wrote on Jul 29, 2008 12:16 PM:

" was this even necessary? must have been a boring day at the Trib. "

dave wrote on Jul 29, 2008 11:10 AM:

" Go on Tribune beat the dead horse......again. "

USAF Retired wrote on Jul 29, 2008 10:56 AM:

" I find it very interesting that the individual who wrote the article is so very quick to judge the professionals of Minot AFB. The military is made up of professionals who have traded their private lives for a life of service to the United States. I personally know that code change is a very grueling and intense time for the combat crews and from the sound of it they were near the end of the change when they had the misfortune of sleeping. This will forever impact their lives and careers in the USAF. I wonder would the individual who wrote the judgmental article have the moral fortitude to fess up to a mistake that would forever change his or her life to protect the integrity of the company they work for or took an oath to protect. The United States active military is an all volunteer force which is now severely under staffed and requiring greater commitment from the members that freely serve i.e. frequent deployments to combat zones, extended time away from family, more frequent alerts at our missile alert facilities. Would the individual give up their private life and freedoms to perform military duty in todays environment of constant deployments and 24 hour duty? For too many individuals the military is just a disposable asset used to perform a function they are not willing to do themselves. Those individuals then sit back and criticize when a mistake is made. (Remember freedom is not free it has been paid for with the blood of our citizens and military members. If all the military members suddenly said enough and returned to civilian life where would all of our freedoms be?) In closing I ask the writer to a little less judgmental until you have walked a mile in the professionals of the USAF shoes. "

TW wrote on Jul 29, 2008 9:56 AM:

" How far do you need to stretch to say 3 people falling asleep on the job is a bad reflection on Minot? utter nonsense "

MamaMia wrote on Jul 29, 2008 8:39 AM:

" Why are you dragging the city of Minot into the AFB fiasco? They had nothing to do with it. "

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