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36th CES exercises wartime capability

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  • 36th Wing Public Affairs
Civil engineer Airmen are rapidly deployable, specialized civil engineer units that provide a full range of engineering support required to establish, operate, and maintain garrison and contingency airbases. One of their core missions is to ensure the airfield is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Airmen from the 36th Civil Engineer Squadron conducted Airfield Damage Repair (ADR) training at Northwest Field here, Aug. 30. The Airmen simulated a missile crater at the new airfield damage repair pad in order to rehearse one of their core contingency competencies, Airfield Damage Repair.

The ADR pad, located at Northwest Field, was constructed this year in order for the 36th CES to incorporate home station training rather than travel to other destinations to stay proficient on this specialized training.

"Airmen are rehearsing one of their core contingency competencies they learn in tech school as well as specialized training sites," said Master Sgt. Peter Stewart, ADR chief. "A full ADR mission utilizes eleven different civil engineer AFSCs. During this ADR training, the focus was on filling the crater with equipment operators. The object is to get the team out on the airfield and have the field repaired as fast as possible."

At a moment's notice, the team can be out on the airfield with the equipment and repair anything from a small crack to multiple large craters in a short amount of time.

"The goal is to bring the airfield back to serviceable condition so we can get planes back in the air," said Sergeant Stewart.

After all the damage has been recorded and prioritized, the airfield repair process begins with the ADR team receiving a notification that the airfield is damaged. The Airmen immediately respond to conduct a clearing operation that employs both manual labor and heavy machinery to remove debris away from damaged area.

Once the area is cleared, the Airmen fill the crater and then compact the material until the material is flush with the rest of the field.

"In designing a crater team to go out, you want to know what the Airmen's strengths are in operating equipment," said Staff Sgt. Brent Fallon, 36th CES pavement equipment operator and crater team chief for this most recent iteration of ADR training. "They need to be proficient with loaders, grater and the other equipment and know the process in order to stand in for another person if, for some reason, they are unable to accomplish their task."

"Most importantly, everybody out here needs to put safety first and be aware of their surroundings," continued Sergeant Fallon.

The ADR team that trained on Aug. 30 was new. With the majority of the Airmen on the team fresh out of technical school, the supervisors who overlooked the ADR training were impressed with how fast the task was accomplished and the excellent quality of the product that was produced in such a short amount of time.

"To be able to see these guys come out here and orchestrate ADR training seamlessly is outstanding," Lt. Col. Christopher Carter, 36th Civil Engineer Squadron commander. "I've been here for about two months and have noticed that we have a lot of Airmen who are working hard and taking the initiative to accomplish more than what they were tasked. I am amazed day by day of what our Airmen in the 36th CES are doing, and I am proud to be serving with them."