An airman was killed and five others injured after a Humvee mishap at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana on Saturday, marking the latest incident with the armored military vehicle at America’s nuclear missile bases.
Late Monday evening, the airman was identified as Staff Sgt. Jorge Delgado, 37, assigned to the 341st Security Forces Squadron at Malmstrom. He was killed while traveling to his duty location in the Humvee.
Three airmen also in the vehicle with Delgado were injured, and two first responder airmen were harmed while responding to the incident, the base said in a news release. All five were taken to medical facilities for treatment. As of Monday, two remained in the hospital in stable condition and three had been released.
Military.com reported earlier this year that the 20th Air Force — the numbered command that oversees intercontinental ballistic missile operations at Air Force bases such as Malmstrom, F.E. Warren in Wyoming and Minot in North Dakota — changed the way it was training and using Humvees following airmen deaths in the vehicles. Humvees are used by security forces airmen to make the long treks out to the missile alert facilities scattered through the remote and often treacherous terrain of the American West.
Officials told Military.com, which first learned about the new policy during a visit to F.E. Warren, that it was a “deliberate pause coupled with a reassessment of training, certification and employment.”
That change came after one airman died in Colorado in September and another died in Montana in October.
Airman Trinity Reinhart, a 19-year-old security forces member from Oregon, stationed at F.E. Warren, died Sept. 16 in a Humvee incident near Grover, Colorado, the base said at that time.
Roughly one month later, Airman Alton John, a 19-year-old security forces member at Malmstrom, was killed in a vehicle incident Oct. 21, according to the base. Local media outlets at that time, citing Montana Highway Patrol information, stated the Humvee attempted a downhill right-hand curve “at an excessive rate of speed for the vehicle,” adding that it crossed into the other lane, spun and then left the road, where it rolled “multiple times.”
Officials with Air Force Global Strike Command told Military.com that the policy from late last year modifying Humvee use is still in place at all of the intercontinental ballistic missile bases.
There have been other recent deaths outside of the nuclear missile bases. In 2022, a 19-year-old Air Force ROTC cadet was killed in a Humvee accident at Saylor Creek Range, a part of the Mountain Home Range Complex, in southwestern Idaho.
From 2019 to 2024, at least nine airmen died in government-owned vehicles, according to the latest available data from the Air Force Safety Center.
An investigation into the Humvee incident at Malmstrom is ongoing.
“Team Malmstrom and our surrounding community grieve not only the loss of an outstanding airman, but a family member and a friend,” Col. Dan Voorhies, 341st Missile Wing commander, said in a statement. “As we help our impacted airmen and families, I urge us all to spend a little extra time checking in on one another, wrap our arms around those in need, and provide love and support, so we can keep enduring.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct Delgado’s age due to incorrect information originally supplied by Malmstrom Air Force Base.
Related: Humvee Use at Air Force’s Nuclear Missile Bases Changed After 2 Airmen Died in Recent Months