It was nice to read the Billings (Montana) Gazette opinion this morning titled, “Bring military airlift wing to Montana” where they write about the C-130 airplane issue and Montana.  Unfortunately, after the headline the Gazette editorial board crashed and burned.

Big time.

The editorial board writes, “That relief could just as well come from C-130 transport aircraft stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls.”

Wrong.  Malmstrom AFB is not where the C-130s are due to be stationed – they are supposed to be assigned to the Montana Air National Guard (MANG) which is located at a separate location from Malmstrom Air Force Base (AFB).

I had my map department draw a map to assist readers (and the Gazette editorial board) in understanding this issue a little better:

Then the board writes, “The Great Falls base, the only Air Force base in Montana, will be losing its F-15 wing later this year.  Even with the arrival of the C-130 planes, Malmstrom would see a net loss of 144 jobs.”

Wrong again.  The F-15s are stationed at the Montana Air National Guard base which is next to the Great Falls International Airport – on the other side of Great Falls.  Please review our map (again).

The “Great Falls base, the only Air Force base in Montana…” is correct.

Malmstrom’s main mission is the command and control of 150 Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM).  There’s also a RED HORSE Squadron (Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers) at Malmstrom.  Malmstrom also has a helicopter squadron (UH-1N) that supports the missile mission.  There are about seven helicopters assigned to Malmstrom AFB.

Right now the Montana Air National Guard controls about 19 F-15 jets.  They also have a RED HORSE unit assigned.

We can forgive the Gazette editorial board for their mistakes and give them a pat on the back and say, “Nice try.”  Besides, their knowledge is right on par with that of U.S. Senators Max Baucus, Jon Tester, and Representative Denny Rehberg.

Editor’s Note:  After this column was posted, the Billings Gazette corrected the errors.