Photo By Gina Randall | U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Abigail Cheek, 100th Civil Engineer Squadron...... read more read more
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ABERDEEN CITY, United Kingdom - As the base population and its mission continues to grow, the 100th Civil Engineer Squadron’s Engineer Assistants shop maps the base’s development.
“Every unit on RAF Mildenhall receives service from my section,” said Master Sgt. Solomon Vincent, 100th CES Programs Flight superintendent from Bladensburg, Md. “Each time any building is built or modified, my shop has to update the associated floor plan and base map.”
Every inch of the base is accounted for, and it’s the role of the engineer assistants shop to record this data using specific technology designed for the job at hand.
“We provide world-class facilities and infrastructure, protect people and property, and support diverse Team Mildenhall missions,” said Senior Airman Young Park, 100th CES engineering journeyman from Horsham, Pa.
The shop is made up of six service members, all highly trained in mapping techniques. They collect accurate and precise geospatial information and use this information to map and plan for future development of RAF Mildenhall.
The shop’s members are able to get out into their surroundings and take a closer look at the country they currently call home by mapping the location they spend time in. It’s a very versatile job and no day is the same.
“I’ve always enjoyed the thought of being in engineering since I was a kid, and when I saw how I would be planning and designing as well, I found it to be even more appealing,” said Senior Airman Logan Fountaine, 100th CES engineering journeyman from Ontario, N.Y.
The shop provides mapping, drafting and surveying support to keep the installation base map up-to-date. They design and maintain floor plans, and make sure all utilities and infrastructure are properly geo-referenced to their exact coordinate system.
In today’s financially and environmentally-challenging times, this shop is all the more vital to the base and its resources. The 100th CES team pulls together to assist the base squadrons and ensure their mission runs efficiently with the housing of their personnel and equipment mapped for future members.
Vincent and his team assist in community relations by reducing noise pollution. They validate RAF Mildenhall‘s Air Installation Compatibility Use Zone by precisely mapping noise produced by the base’s aircraft. This is taken into consideration in the planning stage of new runways or buildings.
“We help every unit on base assist in saving Air Force assets and reducing emergency response times because of our updated data,” Fountaine said.
Recently the shop has put its skills to use by assisting many units on base. The shop helped the 100th Operations Support Squadron by creating a temporary aircraft parking plan to host up to 18 RAF Lakenheath F-15 fighters, mapping eight acres of airfield surfaces and updating the base map to reflect the newly constructed taxiway, Echo. The shop also assisted the 352nd Special Operations Group by performing the initial computer aid drawings for the $80 million SOG bed down project in order to accommodate the CV-22 mission and updating the quantitative distances explosive safety arcs established by the Ministry of Defence and Department of Defense Explosive Safety Board.
There is a real sense of teamwork in the shop and the service members there enjoy their work and the results it produces.
“This career field is very rewarding and working with the numerous other units on base has been a great opportunity to meet other people I might not have if I was in a different field,” Fountaine said.
| Date Taken: | 09.27.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 10.16.2013 08:34 |
| Story ID: | 115207 |
| Location: | ABERDEEN CITY, GB |
| Web Views: | 111 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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