Civil Engineers prepare for deployment part 1

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kimberly Hickey
  • 934th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Ft. McCoy, Wis. --  Editor's note: This is the first article in a series detailing the 934th Airlift Wing/Civil Engineering Squadron's mobilization training at Fort McCoy, Wis. in preparation for their deployment to Southwest Asia.

Civil engineers from the 934th Airlift Wing/Civil Engineering Squadron began mobilization training at Fort McCoy, Wis., in Jan. 2011, in preparation for their deployment to Southwest Asia in support of joint civil engineering operations with the U.S. Army.
After training is completed, the 934th AW/CES will deploy to take command of the 577th Expeditionary Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force Squadron at Bagram Airfield. The 934th AW/CES leadership will hold the command package during their deployment. They will be supported by civil engineers from the 452nd CES, March Air Reserve Base, the 81st CES, Keesler Air Force Base, and individual reservists from Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units across the U.S.

The 577th EPBG was established at Bagram Airfield on Sept. 18, 2009. Its mission includes planning, surveying and light vertical construction for forward operating bases and contingency outposts in designated regions served by three subordinate squadrons throughout Afghanistan: the 577 EPBS at Bagram Airfield, the 777 EPBS at Kandahar Airfield, and the 877 EPBS in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The EPBG mission requires Air Force civil engineers to team with U.S. Army units and travel with their Humvee convoys on assignments to FOBs and COPs throughout Afghanistan. Deployment to support the EPBG mission now demands Air Force civil engineers to complete specialized mobilization training.

"The reason we're here is the Army and the Air Force got together to determine what are the skills that engineers need for them to be in an Army convoy, said Lt. Col. Leslie P. Canarr, the new commander of the 577th EPBG. "This training is different because before we were never allowed to go outside the wire."
Preparing for 'outside the wire' CE missions necessitates training under the direction of Army instructors from the 181st Infantry Brigade at Fort McCoy, Wis. While participating in the Joint Source Training Oversight program, Air Force engineers receive over three weeks of combat skills training that prepares them to assist the Army units with which they will be partnered while deployed.

"We just can't sit there if there is a firefight," said Lt. Col. Canarr. "We have to help. They are teaching us about crew served weapons, combat life saver, driving, even truck commanding, so if things do go bad, at least we can contribute."
Fort McCoy functions as a training base for civil engineers preparing for deployment. Combat skills training for civil engineers there is administered through a Situational Training Exercise platform, which includes practice scenarios on counterinsurgency, improvised explosive device identification and defeat, and operations
in an urban environment.

"My biggest focus is making sure we are tailoring the training the best we possibly can," said Army Lt. Col. Timothy P. Schneze, commander of the 1st Battalion, 338th Regiment, 181st Infantry Brigade at Fort McCoy, Wis. "It makes good sense to give them a cross-section of various threats."

The training curriculum is based on current threat postures and is modified as new threats emerge, he said. Guidance requiring modification to the training curriculum is then passed down from the commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.
"We provide enough training for them so that they can function in a hostile environment," he said. "We introduce a lot of the Air Force for the first time to an Army environment they may be involved with."