Tuzla Air Base, Bosnia, has an airfield that has been maintained by the Air Force since the mid 90s. But because it was a pre-existing location, many issues of safety, that would be disallowed at a stateside or NATO base, must be covered in a waiver package under United States Air Forces in Europe standards.

The waiver package is collected and maintained by civil engineers from the 401st Air Expeditionary Wing, Aviano AB, Italy.

“We are here to support the airfield commander and this downrange base,” said Maj. Louis Lilley, 401st AEW, civil engineer officer. “We are his experts because of his limited manpower. Our goal is to not only keep the airfield open, but to keep it safe.”

Tuzla AB currently has three Air Force personnel and relies heavily on support from CE, communications and safety personnel from their Aviano headquarters.

“Because we don’t have any of these functions here, they are essential to getting the mission accomplished,” said Lt. Col. David Lowe, commander of Detachment 1, 401st AEW. “There’s nothing we can do to get the waiver package done by ourselves. CE and safety have to make the tough calls on what needs to be in the package.”

Some examples of waivers from Tuzla AB are towers near the airfield, which are warranted due to local threats, as well as tree lines that are close to the runway, but due to suspected landmines in the area, are left cordoned off, often times on private land.
“I’ve been very impressed with Major Lilley and Master Sgt. Smith,” Colonel Lowe said. “They are dedicated to getting the package approved and doing it right and they have all the expertise to make sure it’s done correctly.”

For Major Lilley and Master Sgt. Michael Smith, 401st AEW civil engineer craftsman, working the waiver package from Aviano to Tuzla is just part of their job, but it does pose a challenge at times.

“One of the challenges for us is not having CE Air Force members on site,” Major Lilley said. “The other is, this is a contingency base and there are issues such as land constraints, which pose a great challenge. Because of the limited land availability we have significantly more waivers than we would at a permanent base.”

The role of preparing the waiver package and reducing obstructions is primarily conducted by CE and airfield management personnel, but safety and communication play a vital role in the process as well.

“Safety is a key player, because they prepare the operational risk management assessment, an integral part of the waiver package,” Major Lilley said. “Comm is involved because many of the obstructions are their equipment, such as navigational aids.”

“I helped identify different meteorological and navigational equipment on the airfield and explained the purpose of all the equipment, to help CE understand why it’s there on the airfield and why it’s at its particular location,” said Staff Sgt. Mario Morris, 401st AEW, meteorological and navigational system certifier. “The things that CE may consider as an obstruction, by simply looking at the map, are things that are vital to the mission. That was my small part from the world of comm to help with the waiver package.”

The general basis for a waiver is to identify all obstructions and structures that violate safety criteria on the airfield.

“There’s a criterion that defines where things can go on airfield and tells us what the obstruction is,” Major Lilley said. “We must go out and identify these obstructions. If it isn’t sited properly, we must get the USAFE vice commander’s approval for the waiver, which basically says we have something that is violating airfield criteria and we are willing to assume the risk.”

Conversely, if the risk is not worth taking, the waiver is not approved, and the airfield can be shut down until the violation is corrected.

The reason USAFE standards are used is because they are somewhat less stringent than Air Force standards. This dates back to World War II and the fact that European airfields are generally challenged by land constraints, Major Lilley said.


For both Maj. Lilley and Tech. Sgt. Thomas Johnson, 401st AEW, safety NCOIC, getting to work on an airfield waiver is something that they normally don’t work on at home station. In Major Lilley’s case, most bases have civilian community planners that work this duty. For Sergeant Johnson, his primary duty is ground safety and usually safety, is broken down to ground, flight and weapons safety.

“It’s been a learning experience for me, since I don’t normally work as closely with airfield management,” Sergeant Johnson said. “One of the challenges I’m facing as a ground safety troop is becoming educated on how to understand the airfield management and waiver program. It’s really making me learn more about the Air Force mission and is helping me become a well rounded safety NCO.”

For Capt. Mark Arzate, Det. 1, 401st AEW, chief of airfield operations, the key to getting the work done is getting all the different parts together.

“It’s been a great team effort,” Captain Arzate said. “When at a deployed location you aren’t as constrained as you are back home. It’s nice to have a dedicated team, because things get done quicker and there’s better cohesion. It’s the way it should function at a forward location. Waiver packages are done everywhere, but it just seems to mesh so much better here at a deployed location.”