Commander of 69th Bomb Squadron Talks About Their Award

It was a fitting end to what was a year of change and adaptation for the 69th Bomb Squadron. It also seemed to come at the perfect time as the Knighthawks returned from their 6 week Bomber Task Force deployment to RAF Fairford, BTF 25-2.

Lt. Col Joseph Cangealose commands the 69th and was able to take a few minutes to talk about what factors contributed to the presentation of the 2024 Brig. Gen. Kenneth N. Walker Award for the Best Overall Bomber Squadron in Air Force Global Strike Command.

Let’s talk about the 2024 Brigadier General Kenneth N. Walker Award for Best Overall Bomber Squadron. What do they look for when they choose a squadron for this award, and what does winning the award mean to the Airmen of the 69th?
Lt Col Cangealose: The Walker award is the award for best overall performance over the last year. For the Knighthawks, winning it is awesome. The men and women have worked tirelessly over the past year, starting out last May when they went on a Bomber Task Force in Europe. The came home back from that and we immediately went on an agile combat deployment exercise for a few weeks in July, a nuclear exercise, and a no notice deployment to U.S. Central Command to cap off the year, so they have been super busy and they have absolutely crushed the mission on all of those. I couldn’t be more happy to see them win the best bomb squadron in the Air Force.

The 69th Bomb Squadron, according to Lt. Col Cangealose has about 89 flyers right now. Lt Col Cangealose has been in Minot for about 2 ½ years “and I was stationed here previously for about 4 ½ years as well between 2013 and 2017.”

I know you just returned from (Fairford) England. Maybe you could review some of the highlights of the BTF and fill us in on what happened during this deployment?
Lt Col Cangealose: During this Bomber Task Force especially we really demonstrated the power of the strategic bomber deployment. It’s all about power projection and long range strike capability for us. Deploying to another theater and putting jets on the ground there allows us to strengthen not only our relationships but the tactics with those allies and partners as well. We flew hundreds of flight hours while we were there, we supported 4 geographic combatant commands and showcased the global reach and responsiveness of the BTF’s.
We integrated with 13 partner nations; we flew sorties down into the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility as well. We integrated with our partners in the Middle East, and we integrated with our European partners and allies.

We dropped both high explosive and inert munitions throughout Europe. We executed the first ever flyover of Oslo, Norway. We also improved dynamic targeting tactics significantly.
It was really a great experience for the air crew to fly a low pass over the capital of another country. It was a pretty incredible signal of allies and partnerships.

It appears that the Bomber Task Force model of deployment will be standard procedure for the 69th in the foreseeable future. Could you review what it takes for Team Minot to support this type of mission.
Lt Col Cangealose: This type of deployment takes seamless integration from all of Team Minot. It’s about getting the bombers, the flyers, the maintainers over there. It doesn’t happen without all of the rest of the supporting team here, specifically the LRS (Logistics Readiness Squadron) plays a huge hand to make sure all of our cargo gets out there and all of our personnel are cleared for the deployment. It truly is a Team Minot effort to get this large footprint out the door in time and the seamless re-integration so we can get everything back here so we can get back up and running and flying global missions again the following week.

Cangealose shared that there were 224 total Airmen that were part of this BTF, and he becomes the command of the expeditionary bomb squadron. This particular BTF was a bit more challenging as the 69th deployed while planning the BTF deployment.

The mission of the 69th Bomb Squadron is certainly vital to the United States and of course our allies. What has changed in the preparation of Airmen assigned to the 69th as they work to support this mission.
Lt Col Cangealose: I wouldn’t say that anything in our mission has really changed, we’ve always been responsible for power projection and long range strikes. These missions are great training opportunities for us to fly in non-U.S. airspace. The Knighthawks are the best in the business, I can promise you that. We don’t really have to do significant preparation on the tactics, it’s really the flying in that airspace.

On the short end we flew some sorties that we flew over there would be 8 to 9 hours and we flew some sorties that were over 24 hours. A BTF shows us that we can pick up with a large bomber package and put it in another theater rapidly, and almost immediately be able to execute missions. If the airfield supports us we can probably get in there and operate. The evidence that what we do, we do well. There is no better evidence than an award that says Minot has the best bomb squadron in the Air Force.

My final question is about the future of the 69th Bomb Squadron. What are the future challenges as the 69th transitions to what will be the B-52 J model? Also, as the B 52 J model comes online, will there be an expanded mission for the 69th?
Lt Col Cangealose: Our biggest challenge with the B 52 J is going to be adapting to our new tactics with some increased capabilities. As far as the mission set goes, I don’t see it changing. Our mission will still center around long range strike and nuclear capabilities. The biggest capability that we are looking forward to getting is the increased data link capability. We’ll take the challenges in stride.

For Lt Col Joseph Cangealose, he is in “the best job in the Air Force. I’ve got such a phenomenal team here. They continue to impress me every time. The fact that they won, I am not shocked. They deserved it. They are true professionals in everything they do. I don’t want to leave this job because I get to lead a group of professional and highly motivated Airmen.”