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Warriors of the North deploy to...Fargo

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Amanda Callahan
  • 319th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Members of the 319th Civil Engineer Squadron headed to Fargo, N.D., Aug. 27 for a week's worth of training at the Fargo Air National Guard regional training center. They ended the week with an airfield damage repair exercise Aug. 30.

The exercise was a chance for 319 CES members to train on equipment not readily available at Grand Forks AFB and was based on CE's contingency responsibilities, such as airfield damage repair and emergency management.

"At home station we can look through the books and do the classroom work, but we don't have the equipment at every Air Force base," said Lt. Col. Greg McClure, 319 CES commander. "We don't have the opportunity to use the equipment until we go overseas.
These National Guard training sites give us that chance."

Most of the squadron's military members was at the site learning their war-time tasks.

"Everyone's here, HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning], electrical, power production, utilities, heavy, structures, engineering assistants, readiness ...," said 2nd Lt. Benjamin Rhoda.

These CES Warriors spent most of the week in classrooms learning to use equipment properly.

The readiness flight also learned about performing in their new role as first responders.

"This training exposes us to equipment we don't have on our installation," said Tech. Sgt. Mohamed Sharief. "In fact, one piece of equipment allows us to detect a variety of materials. It's a piece of equipment that we'd use in a TIC/TIM [toxic industrial chemicals/materials] environment to detect what we may have been exposed to."

According to Sergeant Sharief, readiness personnel are now out in the field with the first responders, as opposed to their previous role as a support function in the emergency operation center.

Thursday was a test to see how all of the Airmen applied what they've learned all week, added Lieutenant Rhoda. Even with chemical suits and masks, the 319 CES gave their all.

"MOPP [mission oriented protective poster] four didn't slow us down a bit," exclaimed 1st Lt. Jessica Switzer, airfield damage repair officer in charge. "They worked right through it. It's been going great and everyone has been communicating very well."

MOPP four wasn't the only obstacle for the 319 CES members.

"This has been very realistic, minus the bombs going off and bullets flying over head," added Senior Master Sgt. Jeff Rosen. "Being in the gear, doing all the things to keep everyone safe, making sure people are hydrated, watching out for folks ... it's all things we have to do in a deployed environment."

The 199th Wing of the North Dakota Air National Guard members also played an important role during the training. According to Lieutenant Switzer, members of the Happy Hooligans acted as instructors for the 319 CES.

"They're here to make sure we do it right, so that when we do deploy, we don't make any mistakes," she said.

Despite a few glitches, the training went extremely well, Colonel McClure said.
"We have a little room to improve, but overall they did an awesome job."