Missileers at
Vandenberg AFB, Calif., launched an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM on Sept. 7, successfully sending its re-entry vehicles 30 minutes later to targets, some 4,200 miles away, at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll. Participating in this launch were airmen from the 91st Space Wing, Minot AFB, N.D., in addition to numerous 30th SW personnel at Vandenberg.
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.

