Combat Airmen keep convoy routes open

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stacy Fowler
  • 506th Air Expeditionary Group
KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  Fifty-eight Air Force engineers filling a shortage of Soldiers in Iraq have completed more than a dozen construction projects, often under fire, throughout a 10,000-square-mile zone for the Army's 1st Brigade Combat Team.

After six months, the Airmen of the 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron's Detachment 10 have maintained and repaired six convoy routes and seven forward-operating bases.

"It's been very strenuous, and sometimes extremely dangerous. I'm ready to get home, see my family and unwind," said Master Sgt. Ken Dunbar, Det. 10 superintendent of operations and acting first sergeant. "We have been here for a long time, and have seen the other (air expeditionary force) rotations come and go -- now it's our turn."

When an improvised explosive device, or IED, detonates on one of the roads coalition forces travel, Airmen from Det. 10 go out and repair it. But this in itself can be extremely hazardous.

"If there is an IED crater in the road, this gives insurgents the chance to put another (explosive) in there, and this one would be almost impossible to see," Sergeant Dunbar said. "Not to mention the fact that we know we become the target when we go out."

In fact, during the detachment's first mission in Iraq to Ft. McHenry in January, the lead gun truck was hit point-blank by a roadside IED. Senior Master Sgt. Sidney McNeil, Det. 10 chief of operations, was in the vehicle at the time.

"We were just driving along conducting our first mission, when we heard an explosion," Sergeant McNeil said. "I felt the explosion in my feet and saw flames outside the window. It happened so fast that the driver and I just looked at each other for a few seconds after it happened ... and we got out of there."

The team assessed the damage, took accountability and got out of the "kill zone" quickly to get back to base. Two days later Airmen went back out and completed their orientation with the Army as well as a large crater repair mission. Now half a year later, Det. 10 has finished its last crater repair, and according to Sergeant McNeil, it has been very lucky.

"We've been blessed that nobody in the team has been seriously injured," he said. "There have been some close calls though, and we have lost some of our Army brethren on missions. We've been to each one of the ramp ceremonies and have said our own good-byes to our friends and partners."

In addition to going outside the wire for crater repair, the Airmen of Det. 10 are also responsible for numerous maintenance, repair and construction missions at seven forward-operating bases in the area.

Their first mission was to renovate and construct a complex underground facility for the Army to bed down Task Force Phantom, a 101st Airborne Division long-range reconnaissance mission, in February. This proved to be a challenge, especially because of flooding caused by heavy rains and major structural faults in the facility.

"We not only had to deal with all the water, but also the fact that the facilities that Phantom wanted to use weren't able to be used," Sergeant Dunbar said.

So the team salvaged materials, found another abandoned facility and completed a full-scale structural, electrical and heating, ventilation and air condition renovation in 30 days, transforming Phantom from a single waterlogged tent into a 4,000 square feet facility for operations.

Other missions during their tour included transforming an Army annex into the Bastogne Tactical Operations Center; closing Patrol Base Barbarian in Kirkuk; and building the Kirkuk Ivory Combat Clinic.

"Our sole purpose is to the support the Army. We are Air Force Airmen assigned under tactical control of the 101st Airborne," Sergeant Dunbar said.

According to Maj. Chris Fuller, detachment commander, Det. 10 is the first and last Air Force civil engineering unit doing these types of combat operations outside the wire.

"We have extended well beyond our traditional CE mission and delivered it well," he said.

As Det. 10 prepares to return home, its mission with the Army has strengthened all the Airmen who have had the opportunity to take part in this history.

"We've been running ever since our feet hit the ground in January," Sergeant Dunbar said. "We can now stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our Army brothers and sisters and say, ‘Yeah, we did that too.'"