One of the new missions being undertaken by the North Dakota Air National Guard’s 119th Fighter Wing Happy Hooligans will be to provide security forces to guard ICBMs operated by the 91st Space Wing at Minot AFB, N.D. Gov. John Hoeven announced the new role earlier this month, saying the Air Guard unit would begin hiring for 60 full-time and 80 part-time positions in April. The plan calls for the Hooligan squadron to integrate its airmen with the 91st Security Forces Group. According to the Minot Daily News, the Guardsmen will replace active duty Security Forces airmen tapped to deploy overseas. A 119th FW spokesperson, 1st Lt. Penny Ripperger, told MDN that the Air Guard members would not deploy.
The Air Force’s airlift fleet is in desperate need of modern connectivity, spare parts, and other innovations to keep going amid growing demand and modernization plans still in their infancy, according to a former senior leader and a new research paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
