A troubling sequence of tragedies has shaken one of the U.S. Air Force’s most sensitive installations. At F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming — a cornerstone of America’s nuclear deterrence mission — a fourth airman from the 90th Security Forces Group has been found dead since July. The latest, Airman 1st Class Marcus White Allen, was discovered on base the morning of October 8. His death has cast a deep shadow over a unit already reeling from months of internal turmoil, loss, and investigation.
White Allen’s name had surfaced months earlier in connection with another fatality — the July 2025 on-duty shooting of Airman Brayden Lovan. Initially, that incident made national headlines under the assumption that it had been a tragic equipment failure.
Reports at the time suggested that an M18 service pistol, the standard-issue sidearm across the U.S. military, had accidentally discharged. The speculation prompted immediate concern: Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees F.E. Warren’s nuclear mission, ordered all M18s temporarily withdrawn from use pending inspection. Air Combat Command followed the same precautionary measure.
But the narrative soon changed. As investigators dug deeper, it became clear that this was not a case of mechanical failure but human action. Airman White Allen was arrested and charged with manslaughter and making false statements regarding the shooting. Though his identity was not publicly released at the time, the connection was unmistakable when his death was confirmed this month.
The circumstances surrounding White Allen’s death remain undisclosed. The 90th Missile Wing’s statement was brief but heavy with implication: “Authorities are actively reviewing the July 2025 incident and White Allen’s death to determine the full circumstances of each. Base leadership is fully supportive of both investigations with a focus on supporting those impacted by these tragic events.”
For a unit tasked with one of the U.S. military’s most critical and psychologically demanding responsibilities — guarding nuclear missile silos scattered across the windswept Wyoming plains — the recent pattern of violence has raised profound questions. Since July, four airmen in the same security forces group have died under violent or mysterious circumstances. In August, Senior Airman Joshua Aragon was killed off-base in Cheyenne after another airman, Jadan Orr, allegedly fired an AK-47 through a wall. Weeks later, in late September, Airman 1st Class Marcus Evan Jackson died in what authorities in Fort Collins later classified as a murder-suicide.
Now, with White Allen’s death, the list of casualties within the 90th Security Forces Group has grown both longer and more haunting.
The Air Force has not indicated whether these incidents are connected beyond their proximity in time and unit assignment, but their accumulation paints a stark picture of internal strain within one of the service’s most high-pressure commands. The 90th’s mission demands perfection — it guards not just men and machinery, but the very weapons that underpin U.S. strategic power. Yet behind the walls of security and secrecy, it appears that the stresses of that mission have taken a devastating toll.
Investigations continue, but at F.E. Warren, the sense of unease is palpable — not only over how these airmen died, but over what their deaths may reveal about the silent burdens carried by those who stand watch over the world’s most dangerous arsenal.
