Photo By Staff Sgt. Michael Richmond | Airman 1st Class Colin Seaver, 90th Civil Engineer Squadron Horizontal Repair Shop...... read more read more
F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming - Deep within the interior of the United States, 80 miles north of Denver and just over 300 miles east of the Rocky Mountains lies F.E. Warren Air Force Base in southeast Wyoming.
It’s a rather unusual Air Force base - one without any airborne vehicles beyond helicopters. Without the roar of jet engines, F.E. Warren AFB may seem like a quiet base, with the only real commotion coming from pronghorns blocking traffic every now and then.
But don’t be fooled by the stillness. While F.E. Warren may not sound like a traditional Air Force base, its mission is anything but quiet - and if the sovereignty of the United States is ever challenged, its impact will be heard and felt around the world.
But what is its mission?
F.E. Warren is home to the 90th Missile Wing, a unit under Air Force Global Strike Command that oversees 150 LGM-30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). These nuclear weapons serve as a crucial deterrent, ensuring the security of the United States and its allies.
While these ICBMs are powerful, without the people who operate them, these weapons are nothing more than metal and wires in the ground. The success of this mission depends on a human touch.
In the harsh Wyoming winters, the roads can become nearly undrivable. Ensuring that missileers and other mission-essential personnel can reach their posts becomes a challenge of its own - one that the 90th Civil Engineer Squadron’s Horizontal Repair Shop, better known as the "Dirt Boyz," is tasked with solving.
“If the Dirt Boyz didn’t exist, and no one was clearing snow, the base would shut down - period,” said Master Sgt. Dallas Heath, 90 CES Horizontal Repair Shop non-commissioned-officer-in-charge. “Critical missions here on base and in the missile field would come to a halt, and that’s not an option. People have to get to work, they have to get home, and they have to access base facilities. If we weren’t here to ensure that, the mission would fail.”
To keep the base operational, Dirt Boyz work tirelessly to clear snow from the roads, and that isn’t something they do just once a day on a whim - it’s a serious operation that requires teamwork and strategy.
"It’s a team effort,” said Airman 1st Class Levi Phillips, 90 CES Horizontal Repair Shop pavements and equipment journeyman. “For bigger roads, like Randall, we’ll send two or three trucks down in tandem. When we finish one area, we’ll radio to see where else needs help. We don’t just randomly plow - we coordinate to make sure we’re not wasting time or missing areas."
Beyond strategy and teamwork, Dirt Boyz also conduct 24 hour operations in times of severe weather.
"During heavy storms, we sometimes operate 24-hour shifts for multiple days straight,” said Heath. “In 2021, we got 31 inches of snow in 36 hours. Our team stayed at the shop for four days straight - day shift worked while night shift slept, and vice versa. At one point, the snow was too heavy for plows, so we had to use loader buckets to physically scoop and remove it. It was one of the most challenging but also one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had here."
Thankfully, snow isn’t a year-round occurrence in Wyoming. So, one may ask ‘what do Dirt Boyz do to keep themselves busy in the summer?’
According to Phillips, “...during the summer, our focus is more on pothole repairs, curb maintenance, and improving the appearance of the base. But as soon as fall and winter hit, it’s all about snow removal. If we get a warm day in the winter - say, 30 degrees - we take that opportunity to do maintenance on our equipment. We’ll take trucks in for repairs and try to get everything back before the next storm hits. Every day is different, but we always have something to fix or plow."
The Dirt Boyz don’t just clear roads for convenience - they ensure that the entire base remains operational. Without them, security forces couldn’t send defenders to man the gates. Firefighters couldn’t drive their trucks to put out a fire on the other side of base. Missileers couldn’t reach the missile alert facilities. Kids couldn’t get to school. Chefs couldn’t make it to the dining facility to feed Airmen.
Without the Dirt Boyz, the mission would grind to a halt.
Heroes don’t always wear capes. The Dirt Boyz are such heroes - but unfortunately, current AFI regulations don’t allow them to wear capes in uniform.
What they do wear, however, is the grit and determination to ensure F.E. Warren AFB never stops operating. Because without CE, there would be no missile wing. And without the missile wing, the security of the United States and its allies could come into question.
So, the next time you see a Dirt Boy, be sure to shake their hand and thank them - because without them, none of us could do what we do. They are the true unsung heroes of F.E. Warren AFB and the nuclear enterprise.
| Date Taken: | 02.10.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.10.2025 16:26 |
| Story ID: | 490490 |
| Location: | F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, WYOMING, US |
| Web Views: | 526 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Unsung Heroes of F.E. Warren: The Dirt Boyz, by SSgt Michael Richmond, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
