After this most recent incident of a overturned truck carrying an Intercontinental Ballistic
Missile (ICBM) booster, one thing is certain:
North Dakota’s Minot Air Force Base is in the news again.
Since June, the Peace Garden State, with some of the United
States' largest nuclear weapons arsenals, has provided headlines that have put
North Dakota in the limelight unfortunately by an Air Force fraught with
systemic problems including the removal of their current leadership, aircraft
mishaps, fraudulent multi-billion dollar contracts, and the
continued mismanagement of their nuclear devices.
To add to the long list of Air Force calamities, this Thursday a truck
carrying the booster for a Minuteman III missile overturned a few miles east of
Parshall in northwest North Dakota. The Air Force said there was no
danger to the public, since it was an unarmed booster rocket for an
intercontinental ballistic missile.
The truck and booster rocket, which is 66 feet long and weighs 75,000
pounds, were still sitting along the road Saturday under armed guard.
"The scene is still in the assessment phase," said Maj. Laurie A.
Arellano, an Air Force spokeswoman. "It's still on its side in the
ditch."
According to the Associated Press, “the truck was traveling from Minot
Air Force Base to a launch facility in northwestern North Dakota when
it crashed on the gravel road Thursday morning between Parshall and
Makoti, about 70 miles from the air base. Two airmen in the vehicle
were not seriously injured.”
Folks in this area are used to missiles being transported, and they trust the Air Force. Residents of the small towns seem unfazed by an ICBM
rocket booster lying in their ditch.
Darwin Quandt, a resident of Makoti said he wasn't
worried. "As long as it ain't going off, we're OK," he said. "And if
it did, it wouldn't matter anyway."
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