Photo By Christopher Ingersoll | Airmen from F.E. Warren Air Force Base practice guarding the perimeter during a...... read more read more
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The 21st Civil Engineer Squadron from Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado; the 90th CES from F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming; the 460th CES from Buckley SFB, Colorado; and the 50th CES from Schriever SFB, Colorado, conducted a joint exercise at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Oct. 23, 2024.
During the exercise, Airmen covered integrated defense; defensive fighting positions; individual movement techniques; chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive response; disaster and attack preparations; and troop leading procedures plus military decision-making process.
“We want to train our civil engineers to deploy to remote and hostile airfields, setting up bases with lodging, communications and logistics to quickly generate aircraft,” said U. S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael Maze, 21st CES locksmith noncommissioned officer in charge. “This aligns with the agile combat employment concept emphasized by our leadership.”
The ACE concept emphasizes the ability to rapidly decentralize from large bases to remote forward operating bases as a means of frustrating enemy plans and strategies. The concept requires Airmen to train outside of their main duties, so they become proficient in tasks required to set up a bare-bones base quickly.
“For the kind of warfare we will face in the future, we need multi-capable Airmen who can perform various duties beyond their specific career fields,” Maze said.
While setting up tents and building perimeters aren't new skills, the three-day exercise allowed Airmen to practice longer and coordinate more with the other civil engineer units, adding depth that wouldn’t be possible in a standard one-day training. In the case of the 21st Force Support Squadron, feeding Airmen for three days gave them a chance to try a new method.
“We had folks from the 21st FSS practice feeding more than 100 individuals without a dining facility or MREs,” said Master Sgt. William Simonsen, 21st CES prime base engineer emergency force manager.
Rather than using MREs, force support Airmen were able to experiment with freeze dried meals.
“These freeze-dried foods are outside our typical meal preparation scope, but they supported the exercise cost-effectively,” said 2nd Lt. Jenna Flaugh, 21st FSS officer in charge of fitness and sports operations. “Airmen successfully handled contingency feeding outside their usual training.”
In addition to preparing 600 meals, the FSS team hosted morale, welfare and recreation events, including a cornhole tournament, tug-of-war challenge and card games.
“This exercise not only enhanced our operational readiness but also fostered teamwork and camaraderie among our Airmen,” Flaugh said.
As the exercise concludes, lessons learned from the three-day training will give each unit’s leadership the information they need to drive future collaboration, continuously improving the capabilities of civil engineer units in support of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.
| Date Taken: | 10.23.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.13.2024 16:37 |
| Story ID: | 487492 |
| Location: | COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 36 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Strength in numbers: CES joint training exercise increases readiness, by Christopher Ingersoll, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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