New documents acquired by the Associated Press show that the “marginal” performances of US nuclear weapons bases were misleading, and that the reality was actually much worse.
“Marginal” is surely not a rating to be proud of, but if one only considers the actual nuclear weapons personnel and launchers the rating would’ve been completely substandard.
The reason it was that good was because the report only revealed the base average, which was inflated by good ratings by cooks and other “support staff,” who brought up the failing missile launchers.
The Air Force documented a culture of “rot” in the nuclear weapons wings, noting routine mass-cheating on exams was treated as “taking care of each other” and that officials tolerated virtually anything from them.