Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Daniel Heaton | Airmen of the 118th Prime Power flight, a specialized unit of the Tennessee Air...... read more read more
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The creation of a “PRIME Power” package in the Air National Guard is paying dividends in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricanes Maria and Irma, which slammed into the island in September.
One of the PRIME Power teams is in Puerto Rico, supporting operations at Muniz Air National Guard Base near San Juan. The other is on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, supporting operations there. The hurricane response is the first operational use of a PRIME Power unit and Major Nathan Smith, officer in charge of the team in Puerto Rico, said the team’s operations “have been very successful for certain.”
The PRIME Power team is a relatively new equipment package established in two Air National Guard units over the last three years, made up primarily of electricians and power generations specialists in existing Civil Engineer Squadrons in the Tennessee and New Mexico Air National Guards.
“This package was made for this kind of work,” said Master Sgt. Joe Hagan, the superintendent of the PRIME Power team from the 118th Wing, Tennessee Air National Guard.
As he spoke loudly over the sound of a running 100 kilowatt generator – most of his team from the 118th was working to rewire a large power junction box outside one of the buildings at Muniz.
Across Puerto Rico, several weeks after Maria hit the island, power service is non-existent to almost 80 percent of the island. The use of power generators is critical to allowing the Air National Guard mission of supporting hurricane relief operations to continue.
In Puerto Rico, the PRIME Power team is augmenting the manpower and equipment available from the Puerto Rico Air National Guard’s 156th Civil Engineer Squadron to keep the PRANG operational at Muniz.
“No Civil Engineer Squadron is equipped to keep a base operating when it has no commercial power coming in to the base over a sustained period of time. In this case, we’ve been able to come in, with our generators, our tools and manpower to allow the mission of this base – to support airlift into Puerto Rico – to continue,” Smith said. “The good news is our unit was equipped with the exact type of equipment needed to support this type of mission.”
The 118th’s biggest challenge to date in the Puerto Rico support operation was simply in getting to the island.
“Originally, the thought was that any natural disaster, we would truck in all of our equipment. So, before we could go anywhere, we had to stop and figure out the airlift piece,” Smith said.
The PRIME Power team arrived in Puerto Rico with eight of the 100kw generators, several trucks, dozens of tools boxes and scores of cables, wire, connectors and other pieces and parts needed to generate and distribute electrical power. The team also arrived with tents, cots and military Meals Ready to Eat to be able to sustain itself for up to 30 days with no outside support, if necessary.
After more than a week in Puerto Rico, the Tennessee and Puerto Rican Citizen-Airmen have integrated their operations to maximize their capabilities.
“This is the kind of mission you want to be a part of, helping our own fellow citizens in need,” said Master Sgt. Wade Crick, a member of the 118th team. “The Puerto Rico Airmen have just been great to work with and we’re proud to be able to be part of this mission.”
On the Virgin Islands, the PRIME Power team from New Mexico’s 210th Red Horse Squadron is integrated with the full range of Civil Engineer squadron functions, such as construction and building repair, road work and other related activities.
| Date Taken: | 10.12.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.13.2017 13:28 |
| Story ID: | 251538 |
| Location: | PR |
| Web Views: | 583 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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