One Minute and Fifteen Seconds
Jose Alberto Morales, born in Colorado in 1979, grew to be an honest and humble man. His parents were born in a small town in Puerto Rico and moved to Colorado to start a family. During his youth, he was raised to be dignified, straightforward and understanding. He was molded into a brave man, and quickly joined the US Air Force where he flourished. During his time there, Jose was a team player, trusted his colleagues and made lifelong friendships. He pushed himself mentally, physically and emotionally to serve his country and protect our nation.
On June 11th of 2002, he was stationed at FE Warren Air Force base in Nebraska. There, he worked in security forces, AKA Air Force security, where he insured the safety and health of him and his fellow airmen. His hard work and passion propelled him through ranks and he eventually became a Sargent. He worked as a Sargent there for four years, and was responsible for an entire area that was home to nuclear silos and nuclear weapons.
Towards the end of his career, there came a day that could have ruined the rest of his life.
He was liable for a team that was transporting a Nuclear weapon for maintenance. During the transportation process, Jose was assigned to check in on his team every fifteen minutes. He did this throughout most of his teams travel time, but neglected to do a check-in during a very specific and important time.
He realized he forgot to check in with his team and tried contacting them. He tried the radio; it wasn’t working. He tried his own personal cellphone; still, nothing was working.
His heart was beating out of his chest. He didn’t know what to do. He thought to himself, “This is the end of my career; my life…” He frantically continued to try and contact his team from the radio, but now everyone around him knew what he had lost.
He lost a nuclear weapon.
Lieutenants, Captains and even the Colonel were at his throat, screaming and threatening to strip Jose of his rank. They called him a “grimy maggot” (among other names), and told him he was going to jail. His heart dropped and existential dread set in. This is one of the biggest incidents that could happen in nuclear facilities. The Lieutenant was shouting into radios; “Broken arrow! Broken arrow.” Jose recognized that term, and knew it meant we lost a nuclear weapon.
For one minute and fifteen seconds, Jose had no idea where his team or the nuclear weapon was
Eventually, Jose got back into contact with his team, and the nuclear made it safely to the base. Jose’s team went through a dead zone during their time of no contact. There was no radio signal and no cellphone signal. His team should have warned Jose about the dead zone, and Jose should have been keeping up with his status checks. Jose got to keep his rank and didn’t go to jail, but had to endure shame and scolding. Better communication between Jose and his team was needed in order to prevent that incident, and he will never forget it.
