Guards at US nuclear missile base took LSD, coke and ecstasy
According to court martial testimony, the airmen watched YouTube videos then went longboarding on the streets of Denver while high on acid
One airman said he felt paranoia. Another marvelled at the vibrant colours. A third admitted he “felt more alive”.
Air Force records show US service members entrusted with guarding nuclear missiles that are among the most powerful in America’s arsenal bought, distributed and used the hallucinogen LSD and other illegal drugs as part of a ring that operated undetected for months on a highly secure military base in Wyoming.
“Although this sounds like something from a movie, it isn’t,” said Captain Charles Grimsley, the lead prosecutor of one of several courts martial.
A slip-up on social media by one airman enabled investigators to crack the drug ring at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in March 2016. Fourteen airmen were disciplined. Six of them were convicted of LSD use or distribution or both.
None of the airmen was accused of using drugs on duty. Yet it is another blow to the reputation of the Air Force’s nuclear missile corps, which is capable of unleashing hell in the form of Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs.
The service members accused of involvement in the LSD ring were from the 90th Missile Wing, which operates one-third of the 400 Minuteman 3 missiles that stand “on alert” 24/7 in underground silos scattered across the northern Great Plains.