ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Gavin Lawrence, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command Commander (SDDC), visited members of the U.S. Air Force 356th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group (ECEG) on the Island of Tinian, Feb. 1, 2024.
As a premier civil engineering team, the 356th ECEG is able to expertly demonstrate contingency construction, showcasing increased base operations and support functions where there previously were none.
Lawrence engaged with the 356th ECEG while on the island to see the progress made for their mission of adaptive rehabilitation of airfields. These airfields are critical components to expanding U.S. Air Force’s Agile Combat employment (ACE) capabilities and interoperability in austere locations.
ACE is the warfighting concept that the U.S. Air Force is operationalizing to ensure agility, deterrence, and resiliency in a contested or degraded environment.
“This effort expands our capabilities to project air power across the second island chain so we can deter any potential aggression,” said Capt. Katie Littlefield, A4 lead, 356th ECEG.
The 356th ECEG, which contains the 513th Expeditionary Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operations Repair Squadron Engineer Squadron (ERHS), partnership with the SDDC provides the logistical coordination and transportation of the heavy equipment needed to rehabilitate the historic 20.8 million square foot WWII airfield.
“I believe SDDC in partnership with the 356th ECEG provides the Air Force and Space Force joint interior lines that provide these Services the positional advantage to facilitate agile employment and sustainment of capabilities from distributed locations in Asia and the Western Pacific,” Lawrence said.