Once again Montana’s congressional delegation failed to protect another military mission in the state. It was announced on Tuesday that the three Minuteman missile bases (Malmstrom in Montana, F.E. Warren in Wyoming, and Minot in North Dakota) will lose a total of 50 missiles.
Malmstrom already had 50 missiles removed in 2007 under the watch of Jon Tester, Max Baucus, and Denny Rehberg. Just recently the delegation allowed F-15 fighter jets to be removed from the Montana Air National Guard and replaced with a few cargo planes. Jets had been part of the Montana Air National Guard for over 50 years. The delegation has been against the expansion of the Powder River Training Complex in southeast Montana, basically telling the Department of Defense (DoD) and aerospace companies that Montana’s skies are closed. Now, the DoD will remove more missiles.
So when Senator Jon Tester, Senator John Walsh, and Congressman Steve Daines tout their support for Montana’s military, it’s pretty hard to see.
It would be nice if at least one of three acted just a little irate at more cuts, but instead we see a press release trying to spin it as a victory with, “Tester, Walsh praise decision to keep Malmstrom’s ICBM silos operational.” Tester was quoted in the joint press release saying this was a “big win.”
The Western Word 