Photo By Mark Abueg | Rodney Stephen, resource manager, left, and Cassandra Reed, administrative assistant...... read more read more
MOBILE, Ala. – Forward Engineer Support Teams situated throughout the divisions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers trained at the Readiness Support Center here on Dec. 1 to 8 to better support disaster relief operations and the warfighting.
The teams divided itself into groups for various lessons, which included base camp development, bridge reconnaissance, and reachback operations procedures.
Getting over the bridge was not going to be difficult for Capt. Willie Hutchinson and his team members of the 579th Engineer Detachment (FEST-M). It was what they were planning to do afterwards that would be a defining moment as a field force engineering team.
“Here’s a situation where you really need to depend on your team,” said Hutchinson, who was the FEST-M officer-in-charge during the exercise. “We need to take what each group learned and bring it all together to be successful.”
The training as a whole is needed because the teams need to be trained on what is expected of them to accomplish the mission explained Marc Dumas, the field force engineering program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, South Atlantic Division.
“We’re using tools that we train to standard, not to time,” Dumas said. “So we’re training the folks on skill sets that they need to make sure that they understand and know, and if they don’t know, ask the questions so they get through the difficulties and understand what they’re working with.”
Despite the training, Dumas is quick to point out that this is only a stepping stone.
“This is just a familiarization,” Dumas said. “They need to get some real world exercises after this. This is a classroom environment. They need to get into a simulated environment that gives them the stresses of working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for several weeks.”
The Soldiers and Civilians of the FEST-M have the opportunity to be stationed across the globe. They can be sent anywhere in the U.S. assisting with natural disasters, and even deployed worldwide in support of contingency operations. On the battlefield, FESTs are expected to accomplish the same mission as they are in their training, including basecamp development and reachback operations.
“We’re going to new places,” Dumas said. “We’re going to build base camps. Where the best place to build base camps goes back to this week’s training. Then you start looking at the force protection standard that goes back to the anti-terrorism force protection class that we’re teaching here too. We’re going to do more than just building a base camp.”
The exercise allows the FEST-M to learn engineering techniques that will apply to the mission outside of overseas deployments. If there is a dam in a stateside city and it is ever breached, the FEST-M will know how to react.
“What the FEST-M learns to do here definitely still apply on a local and state level,” Dumas said. “Building base camps – build a brand new town. Put a temporary town in there until it can be rebuilt. New schools, police station, fire station; we can go in and do that.
“We know how to clear and certify bridges, so we can go in to do that. We can help on out and see what’s the problem with their electrical distribution. We have the capabilities. A lot of stuff that is applicable to war time is very applicable to peace time.”
Despite the training for certain situations, it may be difficult to understand why non-engineers, such as Chris Culbert, automotive worker for the 579th Engineer Detachment (FEST-M), participate in field force engineering exercises.
“I was initially skeptical of the training because I’m not an engineer,” Culbert said. “But after going through the classes, I see the importance. I have to know what’s going on out there. It gives me a great understanding of what the FEST-M does.”
It is highly recommended that the non-engineering sections of the FEST-M not have the mindset that they have to be an engineer to take the training.
“You don’t,” said Dumas. “A lot of this stuff you can provide backup to other members of your team that you thought maybe you couldn’t. It is key for members that are not engineers understand what we do. Even if it’s not in your area of expertise, you can still help on out and if you know what our job is and what we’re suppose to do, you’re better able to speak about what we do.”
There may be a time when Culbert will have to trade in his wrench for a Geospatial Assessment Tool for Engineering Reachback (GATER). The advancing technology that provides rapid field data collection for personnel deployed worldwide. The suite of applications allows for a three tier business process, including field data collection, a conduit to synchronize data from the field to the desktop, and online data visualization capability.
“This is a good tool to use because it’s got a laser range finder in it, and it’s got a digital camera that can geo-reference the pictures you’re taking,” Culbert said. “To know how to use it is a great thing because you have to take the correct tool that meets the correct task.”
For the final day of training, Hutchinson, Culbert, and the rest of the FEST-M briefed the training exercise commander on airport functions, route reconnaissance from the airport to the base camp location, and site selection development of the base camp.
“I was very pleased by what my team and I accomplished,” Hutchinson said. “I was thoroughly impressed with the level of training we received. We now feel comfortable with the equipment we’re going to operate. We also feel better about giving presentations to the commander.”
Hutchinson didn’t expect to find was how well the FEST-M worked together. The team is comprised of individuals that recently were recently brought into the unit within the past 60 days.
“It was amazing. The field force engineering program bonds the group we are on because we have to work as a team to produce one project, one product and everything else involved. So it’s been very successful training.”
| Date Taken: | 12.09.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 11.12.2010 09:13 |
| Story ID: | 59998 |
| Location: | MOBILE, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 98 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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