According to the Great Falls Tribune, Malmstrom AFB officials have removed the first of the 50 missiles from the 564th Missile Squadron near Great Falls. The other 49 missiles will be removed within the next year.

One idea the Defense officials used to justify taking down the 50 missiles is they “really” needed them for testing to pro-long the life of the other 450 missiles. One has to wonder what the Air Force did with the 300 missiles they removed from Whiteman AFB, MO and Grand Forks AFB, ND over the last two-plus decades. I don’t remember hearing about that many test launches, but I’ve been busy.

Probably the biggest question on everyone’s mind now: “Is this the beginning of the end for Malmstrom?”

The answer is nobody knows for sure.

In the political world at the Pentagon, and with the billions we’ve spent on the war, they have to be looking for cuts to save money. Big cuts. So this could be the case, but not too soon.

Of course, there could always be a new BRAC round.

Montana, sadly, has a weak Congressional Delegation in the Pentagon’s eyes, with none of three having a seat on any defense or military committee. So, if you’re looking to cut something, why not pick on the weakest link – the one who can’t really fight back?

As for a new mission, the same holds true, especially getting one to replace the 500 military personnel they are losing with the 50 missiles.

Although losing 500 people at the base and probably another 500-1000 when you count family members is tough, this is not really about economics in Great Falls or Montana. It’s about national security. Having a deterrent is important, just like having missile defense is important.

But, the USA has decided to take down some of their missiles and they picked Malmstrom and did it without much of fight from Montana’s congressmen.

In the meantime, Iran continues toward building nuclear weapons. North Korea, India, Pakistan, have reportedly conducted nuclear weapons tests. China has them, along with Russia.

Sure, it would be nice if there were no nukes anywhere, but that will never be the case. We have them in this world; we have to live with it.

The world is a dangerous place. The United States is weaker today than it was yesterday.