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Lt. Col. Stan Bialas with President Bill Clinton at the U.S. Atlantic Command headquarters
in Norfolk in Sept. 1994.
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Auburn business alumnus Stan Bialas (鈥�75) knew from an early age that he wanted to join the Air Force and follow in the footsteps of his father, an electronic warfare officer, and uncle, a pilot.
鈥淚t was in my blood,鈥� said Bialas, referring to his father Howard Stanley Bialas Sr. who served for 26 years and his uncle Robert who tragically died in a flight training accident in 1947.
鈥淚 was in elementary school during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Kennedy assassination,鈥� he added. 鈥淚 grew up with the Soviet [Cold War] threat. I felt like I could contribute to keeping America free.鈥�
Once at Auburn, Bialas joined the Air Force ROTC program and earned the rank of cadet colonel his senior year鈥攁 distinction that recognizes students for their leadership, character and academic excellence. An Eagle Scout, Bialas also became a member of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, and helped 鈥攖he university鈥檚 golden eagle.
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As a member of Alpha Phi Omega, Stan Bialas Jr. helped care for War Eagle IV鈥攑ictured here at the groundbreaking for the aviary that would house the golden eagles in 1974. |
One of the most unusual aspects of his undergraduate days, though, was being classmates with his newly retired father, who used GI Bill benefits to finish the degree he had started at API before being called to active duty during the Korean War.
鈥淗e only had to go to school like a year and a half to finish his degree, but we took a management course together in [spring] 1973,鈥� said Bialas, noting that his dad graduated at the end of that semester. 鈥淭he professor had a hard time wrapping his head around the concept.鈥�
Besides taking a class together, the father-son duo also flew one of the university鈥檚 planes to transport War Eagle IV and her caretakers to several away football games, including big matchups in Athens, Georgia and Knoxville, Tennessee.
Bialas earned his degree in transportation management in June 1975. His first assignment as a newly commissioned Air Force second lieutenant was with the Strategic Air Command鈥檚 (now known as Global Strike Command) 321st Strategic Missile Wing at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota鈥攁n assignment he eagerly accepted.
The base, which was home to B-52 bombers and Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles, played a key role in U.S. security during the Cold War because of its nuclear deterrence capabilities. The Minuteman missiles were armed with nuclear warheads and were deployed in underground silos across North Dakota.
If the Soviet Union launched a nuclear attack against the United States and the president ordered a counterattack, Air Force personnel like Bialas would execute the president鈥檚 orders to launch those missiles.
The base鈥檚 remote location and harsh winters鈥攁long with the stress of possibly launching nuclear missiles鈥攎ade it an unappealing assignment to most personnel.
Bialas looked past those negatives and saw a golden opportunity awaited him. He knew the Air Force was about to deploy a major upgrade to its Minuteman II Missile systems. He reasoned that if he could learn this new system, he鈥檇 become an invaluable asset in the Air Force, and his career would take off.
鈥淚 was in the [first] Minuteman II command data buffer class, and when I walked in the door, I was more knowledgeable on the upgrade than the guys that had been there,鈥� said Bialas, who parlayed that knowledge into soon becoming an instructor. 鈥淭hat opened a lot of doors and set my whole career running.鈥�
Three years into his service, Bialas was selected for the Grand Forks AFB team that competed at the Olympic Arena鈥攁n annual competition that pitted teams from each of the six Minuteman and three Titan II missile operation sites nationwide against one another in simulated war scenarios. The competition allowed the service members to get some well-deserved recognition for their work, while learning new techniques from each other.
鈥淚t was a big deal in the missile world to have been an Olympic Arena guy,鈥� Bialas said. 鈥淚t was an amazing, intense six months of training, working together, pulling alerts together and writing up the most devious events you could come up with for the weapon system.鈥�
In late 1979, he transferred to Vandenberg Air Force base near Santa Barbara, California, where he taught weapons systems and trained new launch officers.
A few years later, the Air Force selected him to become one of the first program managers overseeing the development of a ground-launch version of the Tomahawk cruise missile weapon system, which up to that point was deployed on U.S. Navy ships and submarines.
鈥淲e were taking a Navy Tomahawk missile, putting it on Army trucks, and manning it with Air Force service members. What could go wrong?鈥� he said deadpan.
This ground-based missile system was deployed in the early 1980s to U.S. NATO ally countries like the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Germany as a deterrent to the Soviet Union鈥檚 development of comparable ballistic missiles.
Bialas likened his role to that of a 鈥渜uarterback at the headquarters鈥� ensuring that the weapon system鈥檚 training facility and personnel had everything they needed to function. He also spent a lot of time at General Dynamics, the prime defense contractor that built the launch control centers, transporter-launchers and actual missiles.
鈥淚t was fun working in the General Dynamics factory. It was an amazing four years,鈥� said Bialas, who was promoted to major during this assignment. 鈥淚 was all set to go to Europe to one of the ground launch cruise missile units when I got selected to go to the National Security Agency (NSA) instead.鈥�
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Bialas visited the Auburn AF ROTC unit in July 2025. |
During his first two years at NSA, an Army installation located between Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Bialas conducted information systems security assessments.
鈥淲e would go to different organizations and units and watch their operations to see where they were giving up classified information in unclassified documents and procedures,鈥� he explained.
For example, Bialas and his team visited a Royal Air Force base in England that was experiencing regular anti-nuclear protests outside its perimeter every time a Lockheed SR-71 reconnaissance jet was about to take off from the base.
The commanding officer of the unit told Bialas that he鈥檇 never find any classified information leaking from his operation. 鈥淗e said to me, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e not going to find anything. We鈥檙e 鈥榮uper secret鈥� here,鈥欌�� said Bialas, who led his team on a survey of the base.
鈥淭hree hours later, I came back and asked him if he ever wondered why they have protesters at the back gate every time they launched a plane on a sortie,鈥� Bialas said. 鈥淗e told me that鈥檚 impossible because the launch times are top secret. But I explained to him that it wasn鈥檛 top secret that security police would secure the base鈥檚 back gate 30 minutes before takeoff.
鈥淥ur job was to bottle up unclassified information that could lead to the exposure of a classified item.鈥�
Later in his NSA career, he supervised 500 civilian employees who worked on keeping the U.S. nuclear code books and encryption systems up to date and secure.
In his final Air Force assignment, Lt. Colonel Bialas worked for the U.S. Atlantic Command.
Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, he served as the cruise missile coordinator in Current Operations during the first Gulf War against Iraq in the early 1990s and later as a crisis-action team chief.
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An Air Force officer, Bialas worked closely with the U.S. Navy at times during his career. He鈥檚 pictured (right) aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt with its commanding officer Captain Steve Abbott in 1992. |
It was in this latter role that Bialas encountered one of the 鈥渕ost harrowing鈥� episodes of his military career. It was September 1994, and the United States was preparing to intervene militarily in Haiti as part of an international effort to restore the democratically elected president who had been overthrown three years earlier in a military coup.
Code named Operation Uphold Democracy the U.S.-led intervention was set for Sept. 19 and would include 25,000 American military personnel from all service branches along with 2 aircraft carriers and strong air support.
Elements of the 82nd Airborne Division were actually by aircraft when a U.S. delegation led by former President Jimmy Carter with the coup leaders.
Bialas and his Norfolk, VA based team had to get the C-130 troop transport planes turned around and back to Fort Bragg safely.
鈥淲e did it. All 30 of them made it back. It was an amazing operation that nobody knows about,鈥� he said.
Later that month President Clinton and Department of Defense officials visited the command center in Norfolk.
鈥淧resident Clinton wanted to thank those of us that were working the night that the 82nd Airborne was headed south,鈥� Bialas said. 鈥淚 introduced him to some of the people on the crew that had worked that night, pointing out each person鈥檚 role in overseeing the operation, including bringing the C-130s back safely.鈥�
The president, Bialas recalled, then leaned in and asked him a question: 鈥淐olonel, how come y鈥檃ll are wearing camouflage?鈥�
Rather than telling the president that his crew was still wearing their typical uniforms from the previous night鈥檚 shift and thought they鈥檇 be off duty when he visited, Bialas replied: 鈥淪ir, we鈥檙e wearing camouflage because that is the uniform the troops down range are wearing and we鈥檙e running the entire operation from here, so we鈥檙e all dressed alike.鈥�
As the president stepped away, Bialas saw White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta giving him a thumbs up as he said: 鈥淐olonel that was a great answer鈥攔ight at his level.鈥�
In 1996, given his collaborations with the U.S. Navy during his career, Bialas鈥� retirement ceremony took place on a Navy guided missile destroyer and included the ceremonial Last Bell鈥攁 series of eight rings鈥攖o mark his final watch.
鈥淎s far as I鈥檝e been able to tell, I鈥檓 one of two Air Force officers ever to retire on a Navy ship and get gonged ashore,鈥� he said proudly.
Bialas retired from the Air Force and embarked on an 18-year career as a defense contractor, helping the Navy successfully implement new concepts through overlaying those concepts operationally and transparent to the forces in their pre-deployment exercises.
Looking back on his career, Bialas is grateful for his military service and how his gamble on taking the missile launch crew job paid off.
鈥淗aving opportunities like that and being in a position like that doesn鈥檛 happen to somebody who has a normal career path. I鈥檓 proud of my career. I made sure to surround myself with some very smart and talented people, and I had a lot of fun contributing to the freedom of this country.鈥�
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Stan Bialas (left) with his younger brother Geof, who also served as a missile launch crew member, at Grand Forks AFB in N. Dakota. |
In addition to Stan and his father Stan Sr., three other Bialas family members graduated from Auburn and served in the military.
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