JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD -- Engineers from both the Washington Air National Guard and the 446th Airlift Wing teamed-up for a first-ever training event in April.
Engineering Assistant training introduced engineering geographical designing programs like Revit Architecture ArcGIS (Geographic information system), and field survey using Robotic Total Station.
The 248th Civil Engineering Flight from the Washington ANG provided the venue and the equipment needed to accomplish this training.
“Citizen Airmen and Guardsmen come from different backgrounds with different set of experiences, and this type of collaboration provide us with the tools necessary to be successful and achieve our mission,” said 1st Lt. Jose Medina, 446th CES Engineering Flight commander.
As part of the training, all the EAs, engineers from various Air Force Specialty Codes worked hands-on with the software, and designed a simple structure.
The Robotic Total Station is a new technology that makes jobs easier by allowing a single operator to complete a survey, said Medina.
“The Robotic Total Station is an electronic transit with an electronic distance meter that can be controlled via a remote control. It is used for surveying and layout buildings,” he said. “It’s an important tool used by Engineering Assistants in the Air Force to layout buildings, utilities and to locate existing infrastructure.”
The two engineering units teamed-up in preparation for the statewide Cascadia Subduction Zone Exercise recently held in Washington State, and performed field survey, downloaded and manipulated data, and staked-out campsites.
“Members who attended the training saw the value of a training with the proper equipment,” said Senior Master Sgt. Dan V. Garvida, 248th CEF facilities maintenance manager.
Lastly, the 446th CES provided an overview of the importance of ArcGIS.
“ArcGIS is a system designed to create maps and manage geographic information in a database,” explained Medina. “It displays maps along with information about the map features like roads, location of utilities like water, storm power, or building number. It’s used in the AF for project planning, project design and for base facilities management including base utilities.”
Going forward, members of the 248th CEF and the 446th Civil Engineering Squadron are preparing future training to cover project management, estimating, introduction to project programming, and “Civil 3D.”
“This training was very valuable and gave us the opportunity to perform AFSC specific training with our counterparts from the Washington Air National Guard using some of the most advanced technology available in the engineering career field,” said Medina.