Airmen design everything from bridges to buildings for Army

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Travis Edwards
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq --  Airmen here are helping their Army brethren everyday in different parts of Iraq, improving their quality of life by creating the blueprints for what may be the next place the Soldiers rest.

Those Airmen are the engineering assistants of the 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron Det. 6. They're filling "in-lieu-of" taskings, augmenting the 20th Army Engineering Brigade, by designing everything from bridges to buildings.

Along with designing critical construction projects, the Airmen perform other jobs that go along with their field of expertise.

"We do drafting, surveys, mapping, GeoBase (an advanced digital mapping system) and construction assurance, which is like quality assurance," said Staff Sgt. Frank Castelluccio, a 732nd ECES Det. 6 engineering assistant and NCO in charge of the three-man shop.

They are currently engineering the layout, design and dimensions for a $625 million bridge on the Tigris River. Once complete, the bridge will give convoys an alternate supply route, reducing the "high threat" path by nearly 130 miles.

"The Army needed a bridge put on the Tigris River to make their routes easier and shorter to the other FOBs (forward operating bases)," said Senior Airman Renardo Sanders, a 732nd ECES Det. 6 engineering assistant and bridge master designer.

Airman Sanders said he used a computer aided design, or CAD, program to help map and draw in lines to represent the new roads and routes to the bridge.

"To do this job, you need to know math, trigonometry is commonly used," said Sergeant Castelluccio. "And although most of what we do is now computerized, we need to know how to do it manually in case our systems crash."

But before they even start an outline, there is a crucial step in making sure the designs are dimensionally and mathematically correct, surveying.

"Surveying is the beginning stage for planning future development of an installation," said Staff Sgt. Ishanti Holmes, a 732nd ECES Det. 6 engineering assistant. "The data collected from land surveying is key to plan anything from escape routes for fire evacuation to bus stops for transportation."

The surveying here and at the FOBs consists of operating manual and electronic surveying equipment. With this equipment, they can collect, convert and present field-survey data for civil engineering projects.

With a topographical survey, they can map out a drainage layout and with the Global Positioning System they can update the base map on a regular basis, which is crucial to the installation, Sergeant Holmes said.

Since their role here is to support the Army, these Airmen move from the more secure confines of the base and help FOBs and patrol bases in Iraq.

"I like going off base to the FOBs and seeing that I am actually doing something positive and making a difference for the Soldiers," said Airman Sanders. "It's a good feeling, I know I'm helping." 

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