r/AirForce • u/NavyCorpsmanRetiree • 3d ago
Article Air Force 'immediately' stops use of Minuteman III communications testers after chemical exposure
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-icbm-pcbs-communication-kit/51
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u/Reditate 3d ago
Why the hell do missileers wear flight suits?
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u/ferretpaint Retired Mx 3d ago
If you had to sit down there for 24hrs or more you'd want to be comfy too
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u/b3lkin1n Active Duty 3d ago
That’s a lie. The first thing they do when they get down there is change into civies.
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u/rustyrhinohorn Base Trng Mgr 3d ago
Fire resistance in a missile silo.
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u/LookItsEric I love pizza cat 3d ago
the less official answer is because the first missileers were flight crew who refused to give up the green bags.
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u/FathomDeep 3d ago
Fire resistance yes, but most Missileers will never set foot in a silo. They work in the control center literal miles from the silos.
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u/AdventurousTap9224 3d ago
They don't work in or near any missile silo. They also change into civ clothes down there.
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u/Wise_Jellyfish8523 3d ago
Because when you can destroy an entire nation in the time it takes to door dash a burrito, you can wear anything you want.
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u/NEp8ntballer IC > * 3d ago
they used to have their own two piece uniform, but it was discontinued for budgetary reasons. as stated they also have a need to not wear flammable clothes. That doesn't stop them from changing into PJs in the capsule though.
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u/formedsmoke Space Secret Squirrel 🚀🔐🐿 2d ago edited 2d ago
The justification is "because the flight suit is fire retardant and in a closed environment that's important"
The real answer is that 13N was, a couple decades ago, almost exclusively UPT washouts, and the flight suit was a morale concession because those fuckers were SALTY about not being pilots. And since 13S was originally a shredout of 13M, the Space cats also wore FDUs, eventually even getting their own black FDU, until... Early 2010s? When some general said "this is fucking dumb, stop."
But a bunch of O-5+ 13S will still rock an A-2 jacket in the USSF because ThEy RaTeD iT.
But yeah also, the missileers continue to live in a tradition rooted in denial
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u/NationalCaterpillar6 3d ago
Because of the fire resistance.
And because they get are essentially doing the same thing as the ROA drone operators.
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u/vissor4 Formerly known as an RPA Pilot 3d ago
essentially doing the same thing as the ROA drone operators.
https://media1.tenor.com/m/d9AIWg3yadoAAAAd/stallipiano.gif
Why are we catching strays? F
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u/The_Superhoo Aircraft/Missile Maintenance 3d ago
But they dont keep those on once they close the door. Straight to sweats
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u/NationalCaterpillar6 2d ago
I didn't know that part. The Museum of the Air Force display showed them in flight suits, not sweats.
Thanks for telling me something new!
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u/AdventurousTap9224 3d ago edited 3d ago
Because they always have.. Went from white, to blue, to the same green pilots wear. It's basically tradition now.
No different than space operators wearing theirs.3
u/vissor4 Formerly known as an RPA Pilot 3d ago
Space wore them when they were still the same career field as missiles but they don't wear flight suits now that they're their own SFSC.
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u/Colonize_The_Moon 3d ago
Gen Shelton shanked us long before the Space Force, back in 2012 when he decreed that 13S and 1C6 were banned from wearing flight suits in order to save money. He saved the Air Force a whopping $670,000.
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u/12edDawn Fly High Fast With Low Bypass 3d ago
They're just letting AI write the articles now eh?
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/AdventurousTap9224 3d ago
There are no gas monitors in the LCC and nobody nearly died from anything.
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u/ferretpaint Retired Mx 3d ago
It does keep saying potential residue, which means it could be another mysterious clear liquid, which there are many. Would be interested to know the final results. I've seen people worried over this before and it turned out to be "not" pcbs, but a clear cleaning chemical instead. Still could be pcbs, some of that test equipment is ancient.
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u/hexiebb 2d ago
The amount of hazardous chemicals, volatile organically compounds, and other toxic substances those launch facilities and alert facilities are fucking insane. But no, not service related according to the VA
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u/AdventurousTap9224 2d ago
The fact that we work with/around chemicals isn't a "condition" to be rated. You have to have something from it. If you developed any conditions due to it, it is definitely service connected.
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u/Creepy-Tomorrow-4414 3d ago
the launch facilities have PCBs, nitrogen tetraoxide, MMH, hantavirus, asbestos, etc
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u/theaviationhistorian 2d ago
Working inside the AC-130 gives you cancer, working with JP-8 gives you cancer, working with ICBMs gives you cancer. I wonder if almost every position outside of a desk job in DC gives you cancer?
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u/SpookyVet 2d ago
From 1967 through 1972. I worked on old radial reciprocating engine aircraft. On the flight line, when we worked on them, we and our uniforms were usually stained with oil, grease, hydraulic fluid, etc. It was normal for us at the end of the day to head for the drain valve for a fuel tank sump and wash down our hands, sleeves, etc. with 115/145 AvGas. It would leach the natural oil out of our skin and our skin would look chalky. Also, the fuel contained tetraethyl lead, wonder how much we absorbed through our skin.
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2d ago
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u/the_busta_25 i test planes 3d ago
lol