Top civil engineer visits PACAF Airmen

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Lynsie Nichols
  • 374 Airlift Wing/Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  The Air Force Civil Engineer visited civil engineers across Pacific Air Forces to discuss initiatives pertaining to their career fields.

Recently, Maj. Gen. Timothy Byers, visited 374th Civil Engineer Squadron at Yokota Air Base and spoke to Airmen about their vital role in Operation Tomodachi, improving and modernizing existing airfield damage repair capabilities and energy conservation efforts.

Yokota AB is in the middle of his Pacific Air Forces tour, which started in the Republic of Korea at Osan Air and Kunsan Air bases and will end at Joint Base Pearl Harbor- Hickam in Hawaii.

"I try to make annual trips to PACAF to not only check on civil engineers, but also to see the living and working conditions of all Air Force personnel," he said. "These visits allow me to assess the condition of the bases and facilities, and help me prioritize where we need to invest our limited resources, as well as determining which military construction projects we need to fund."

 "Civil engineers have a responsibility to steward the real property on our Air Force bases through maintenance, repair and construction, as well as dispose of unneeded real property," he added.

The general also discussed the duties of the civil engineer squadron during Operation Tomodachi.

"Civil engineers are responsible for the emergency management and preparedness for the Air Force," he said. "We stood up emergency operations centers at Yokota and Misawa air bases, Japan ... as well as provided water purification systems and tested food sources as they arrived on base."

General Byers also spoke to Airmen about the Airfield Damage Repair Modernization Program.

"A major part of our mission at home station and expeditionary bases is to ensure our runways and airfields remain operational," he said. "We have a robust training program that allows us to respond in a variety of contingency environments to quickly repair damage to a runway to ensure persistent Air Force operations."

PACAF is the test bed for a new technology to improve upon and modernize existing airfield damage repair capabilities, General Byers said.

"Using current methods, civil engineers can repair a damaged runway or airfield quickly, but the repairs are temporary and might not work for all aircraft. Additionally, current expedient repair methods require future, more permanent repairs for extended operations," he said. "This new modernization effort will allow civil engineers to perform repairs quicker, the repairs will last much longer and support all types of aircraft."

General Byers added that repair techniques can be used at home station as well as for wartime response, improving training and readiness.

"What's great about this program is not just the quicker and longer lasting repairs, but that we are sharing this capability with our sister services and our allies," he said. "In the foreseeable future, PACAF Airmen will train with Soldiers, Sailors and Marines with the goal of eventually holding a joint response exercise."

The general ended his briefing with words about energy conservation.

"PACAF is out in front in energy conservation efforts. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, has done a great job implementing a base-wide energy metering program. These smart-meters track energy consumption data and relay the data wirelessly to a central control station allowing them to compare power consumption throughout the base," he said. "This awareness of facility performance allows facility managers to focus efforts on the highest energy consuming facilities. They also encourage facility users to make energy-conscious decisions every day, like turning off lights and monitors."

Energy metering is happening Air Force wide. Over time, metering will extend to other base utilities, like water, General Byers said. Initiatives like metering are critical to the success of meeting efficiencies goals.

"Our goal is to build sustainable installations," he said. "Our multi-prong facilities energy strategy is designed to conserve energy and water, increase renewable energy development, and manage costs."

PACAF is meeting efficiencies challenges through their program called Energy, Condition and Optimization. This program includes a variety of assessments of all the facilities on their installations to find opportunities for energy and space conservation and facility condition.

Using Geobase and other tools, this data is aggregated for the entire installation and eventually the entire command, allowing engineers to make smart decisions about where to demolish unneeded facilities, consolidate into under-utilized space or invest in energy conservation projects.

"The civil engineers in PACAF are constantly looking for opportunities to be more efficient and effective," he said. "I am so proud of the PACAF engineers."