News

Civil engineers ready to roll into Iraq

  • Published
  • By Tech.Sgt. Jake Chappelle
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --   The 446th Civil Engineer Squadron, a Reserve unit here, is scheduled to deploy at the end of August a flight of about 40 Reservists to Iraq. The flight is set to be there until March 2010, as part of an Air Expeditionary Force rotation in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

When a Reserve unit gets mobilized, the deploying personnel have to be organized, trained, and equipped to do their job in the Area of Responsibility. The Reservists with the 446th CES have been doing just that. In fact, it is a continuous process in most of their everyday lives.

"I've been in the military for almost 33 years," said Maj. David Walter, 446th CES commander. "This is the best group of senior NCOs, NCOs, and officers I've ever seen and it's not because they are under my command. It's because they're pumped up and ready to go. I didn't have to task anybody go. Everybody on the team volunteered and I find that refreshing. All they wanted was ample time to inform their families and employers and a chance to suit up and go."

The flight will be the lead civil engineer team, integrated with units from Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Fort Worth, Texas., Dover Air Force Base, Del., and Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. Together, they will make up the 506th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron.

Major Walter will deploy as the 506th ECES commander.

"We're feeling really good because we're going over there as the lead unit," said Tech. Sgt. Tory Miller, 446th CES unit deployment manager. "We will be conducting lead unit operations and directing other units who are coming in and joining us. We feel we have a pretty important mission on this deployment."

Sergeant Miller dissects the flight's duties.

"We're going over as a base maintenance function team," said Sergeant Miller. "We'll be maintaining the base and keeping everything operational. We're the last Air Force team going into this part of Iraq, so we're the close down team. We'll get it cleaned up and train the Iraqis so they can come in behind us and take over the facilities."

Major Walter states his unit has the proper training from both military and civilian experience to accomplish the mission.

The difference between 446th CES and some of the other squadrons is the electricians in the 446th CES are master electricians in the civilian world, said Major Walter. The plumbers are master plumbers in the civilian side and the structures guys are master carpenters and master masons in the civilian side. They stay proficient in their jobs in their military and civilian lives.

Major Walter and Sergeant Miller agree that this opportunity will help build experience for the younger troops.

According to Major Walter, this deployment will be a good experience for the younger guys. They're going to get veteran's experience and benefits and lots of real world experience that they can't get anywhere else.

"It's a chance for these guys to get hands-on training in their career fields," said Sergeant Miller. "Our training is hard to come by as Reservists. So, it's real valuable for their experiences and they're going to come back and be more valuable assets to the wing and the squadron. They're excited knowing they have a legit mission to go over there and hammer out."

Aside from the normal computer-based training, equipment issue, and medical preparation, Major Walter has added physical training to get the squadron prepared for the deployment.

"We do PT three days a week," said Major Walter. "We started everyone on PT about a year and a half ago. We worked with the people who needed a little more encouragement for their fitness tests. The idea is to help them succeed at the tasks we assign them at the maximum level."

According to Sergeant Miller, part of the preparation process involves priming families.
Families will be left in the best possible situation, said Sergeant Miller. But, the members themselves are pretty content with going. They've got enough years in the military that they know the proper way to discuss it with the families and know what avenues are out there for family assistance. The families are getting as much information as possible to make sure they know how to get the assistance they need.

Major Walter prepped his wife early.

"My wife and I talked, about a year ago when we knew the squadron was being looked at to deploy. She is a strong, independent woman and she'll be fine. However, you just can't say 'no' when you have an opportunity to go downrange with people this good. It's an exceptional group of people and I want to be a part it and my wife knows that. I bless her because of the fact that it's important to me, it's important to her."

Keeping civilian employers in the loop is also part of preparation, according to Major Walter.

"Employers are definitely supporting their people," said Major Walter. "Some employers realize they get a better employee back when they let them do stuff like this. My employer sees how much value he gets out of the investment the Air Force puts in me and he gets to reap the rewards."

The deploying Reservists of the 446th CES have made sure that their transition to the AOR is a smooth one.