Air Force Investigating Airman’s Death at Nuclear Missile Base

A security forces Airman died early July 20 while on duty at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., the 90th Missile Wing said in a brief release.

The Airman was assigned to the 90th Security Forces Squadron, part of the wing that operates ground-launched nuclear weapons at Warren. His death is under investigation.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of a valued member of our Mighty Ninety team,” Col. Terry Holmes, 90th Missile Wing commander, said in the July 20 release. “Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the Airman’s family, friends, and his fellow Defenders during this incredibly difficult time.”

The Air Force will not identify the person until 24 hours after his family is notified, per Pentagon rules. The isolated incident does not pose a threat to the base or to the broader community, the release said.

The wing did not respond to a request for more information July 21.

The announcement came just two days after the Air Force published the results of its investigation into the death of another security forces Airman at Warren, in 2023. 

Airman Trinity Reinhart, 19, died when she was thrown from a Humvee that lost control on a dirt road near the Wyoming-Colorado border on the evening of Sept. 16, 2023, the Air Force said in a June 18 release. 

Reinhart, who belonged to the 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron, was on her way back to base after providing security for maintainers working on a nuclear missile facility in Colorado when her up-armored High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle began sliding off the road. The vehicle was moving at about 45 miles per hour when the driver lost control, the Air Force said in the release.

The Humvee spun, caught the edge of the road, and flipped upside down into a ditch.

“As the vehicle rolled, both front doors opened,” the Air Force said. “Reinhart, who was not wearing her seatbelt, was ejected and sustained fatal injuries.”

The driver was treated for minor injuries, the service said.

Reinhart was one of two security forces Airmen assigned to a nuclear missile base who died in Humvee rollovers in 2023. The other, 19-year-old Airman Alton John of the 341st Missile Security Forces Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., died following a highway rollover south of the base that October.

Another Airman with the 341st SFS, 37-year-old Staff Sgt. Jorge Delgado, died while traveling to his duty station in a June 2024 Humvee wreck that also injured three passengers and two first responders.

Their deaths are the latest Humvee-related fatalities despite years of effort to curb military ground vehicle accidents.

More than 120 people died in Army and Marine Corps ground vehicle accidents between fiscal 2010 and 2019, the Government Accountability Office reported in 2021. Humvees were involved in more of those accidents than any other type of tactical vehicle, and rollovers accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total crashes, the watchdog said.

The Air Force plans to buy more than 2,000 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles to replace Humvees with a safer, smoother ride.