The commander of the 91st Security Forces Group at Minot Air Force Base was fired Wednesday after the loss of grenades and a machine gun in separate incidents, the U.S. Air Force announced Wednesday.
Col. Jason Beers was relieved by Col. Colin Connor, 91st Missile Wing commander, “due to a loss of trust and confidence after a series of events under the scope of his leadership, including a recent loss of ammunition and weapons,” according to the release.
On May 1, a container of ammunition for an automatic grenade launcher fell out of the back of a Humvee and could not be located after a two-week search for the ammunition in North Dakota. The Air Force also offered a $5,000 reward for information that would lead to the recovery of the ammunition.
On May 16, an M240 machine gun was discovered missing during a weapons inventory.
The ammunition and the machine gun have not been found.
91st Missile Wing Security Forces Group commander at Minot Air Force Base relieved of duty after two incidents involving misplaced weaponry. https://t.co/JAvRn6ZmRJ
— KMOT-TV (@KMOT_TV) May 23, 2018
Air Force Global Strike Command ordered a command-wide inventory check on all weapons due to the two incidents.
The 91st Missile Wing Security Forces team is responsible for protecting the intercontinental ballistic missile silos that are in use by Minot Air Force Base.
“Beers was responsible for ensuring the 91st SFG was trained, organized and equipped to secure 150 Minuteman III missiles and launch facilities, and 15 missile alert facilities geographically separated throughout 8,500 square miles of the missile complex,” the release said.
