Airman 1st Class Vincent Padilla, 5th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. – Airmen assigned to the 91st Missile Wing (91MW) successfully executed Operation Bully Stick, an exercise designed to test the wing’s ability to maintain its critical role within the nuclear mission under shortened time frames during the fall of 2025.
Operation Bully Stick emphasized that the intercontinental ballistic missile mission relies on more than a single career field.

“Operation Bully Stick is not exclusive to maintenance Airmen,” said Senior Master Sgt. Edward Burlison, a 91st Missile Wing operations chief. “It also took the efforts of security forces, missile combat crew members, munitions squadrons, planners, security and maintenance controllers and supervisors working together to make sure the operation ran as smoothly as possible.”
Throughout the operation, teams executed a series of coordinated actions across multiple mission areas, ensuring safety, security and procedural compliance while maintaining continuous communication between above-ground personnel and missile combat crews.

“If you break down the tasks being performed during Operation Bully Stick these tasks are performed over several days,” said Staff Sgt. Zacharye Hougen, a 91st Missile Maintenance Squadron team chief. “With Operation Bully Stick, we did what would take 2 to 3 days and accomplished it within 16 hours.”
Exercises like Operation Bully Stick reinforce the wing’s ability to execute time-sensitive tasking while validating training, procedures and teamwork across the unit. By integrating multiple units, the 91MW continues to demonstrate its commitment to safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrence operations.