Civil engineers wage the war on terrorism by stepping outside the wire and bringing the fight into the streets. They are the only Air Force unit in Iraq who come with armored dump trucks, excavators and concrete, repairing the many craters pitting the roads in Kirkuk and surrounding area.

The primary mission of Detachment 10 of the 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron is twofold. While road repair goes a long way in rebuilding the damaged infrastructure of the country, and in turn the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, the reason behind it has a more tactical goal.

“Insurgents are known to put improvised explosive devices in existing craters and when the Army rolls up while on patrol, they are unable to see it,” said Maj. Chris Fuller, detachment commander. “Our engineers fill in the craters, which makes the patrol routes safer to travel -- for both the locals and the military.”

Det. 10 works nonstop providing concrete crater repairs on roadways and bridges, as well as backfilling craters on shoulders, blind spots and ditches along roadways.

The detachment has 58 people covering the spectrum of civil engineer duties, including carpenters, plumbers, electricians, as well as vehicle maintenance and supply. The goal of these engineers is to keep the convoys and patrol moving.

“Crater repair is a core competency for Air Force engineers,” said Master Sgt. Kirk Kessler, chief of heavy repair. “We are skilled at repairing damaged runways, and we use the same techniques to repair roadways.”

However, filling holes in a combat zone isn’t the same as runway repair on a secured base. The slow-moving team is a target for insurgents and once they repair a hole, steps need to be taken to prevent insurgents from placing IEDs into the wet concrete. To cover approximately 100 miles of road, many days of prep work are involved each time the team hits the road.

The initial steps are reconnaissance and planning, according to Staff Sgt. Dale Self, who is in charge of mission planning and execution. A team travels a convoy route inspecting existing craters. Once they are identified, the hole is measured so the crew knows how much fill and concrete to bring with them.

“Planning our supplies allows us to complete the work fast,” he said. “Right now we’re trying to figure out a way to bring more concrete with us so we can cover more ground.”

The keys to success lie not just in the planning, but in completing the groundwork needed to carry out the mission.

“We have to schedule our repairs to occur around other military operations in the sector. Like us, the route clearance teams are low density, high demand assets,” said Captain Preston Rufe, operations officer.

The team can repair more than 20 craters in one day. This is achieved by turning the whole process into an assembly line. Each repair mission involves about 20 fully armed Airmen ready for action, carrying 60 pounds of individual body armor, weapons and ammunition.

Since repairs take place on heavily traveled roads, the team must be prepared for anything. Everything is mobile, even the hydraulic excavator that digs out and backfills the craters.

“We try to get the whole process done quickly and completely,” Major Fuller said. “The whole road is blocked off and we fill multiple craters by jumping from one to the other.”

Completing a repair is a three-step process. The excavator clears debris out of the hole and readies it for fill, the dump truck then supplies the fill. When the excavator finishes filling in the hole, it goes on to the next one while the concrete truck finishes the job.

“By the time the concrete truck is done filling the hole, the excavator has already finished with its second hole,” Sergeant Self said. “Once the process is finished, we mark the repair so other military units know we did the repair.”

The teams take special precautions in filling the hole, such as rebar mesh embedded in concrete.

“The rebar mesh prevents insurgents from popping out the concrete repair or using a chisel to break it apart and inserting another IED and camouflaging it with more concrete,” Sergeant Kessler said. “In addition, members of the Iraqi Army guard the holes until the concrete dries so the bad guys don’t put anything in there.”

Making the process smarter is the goal of the unit. That, and not getting attacked.

”Our unit has been hit with IEDs but we haven’t had any injuries,” Major Fuller said. “We are a high priority for the Army so they look out for us.”

“The Army really goes out of their way to support our missions,” said Staff Sgt. Steve Latimer, heavy equipment operator. “If it were up to them, we’d be out there every day, but we definitely need reconstitution time to resupply,”

Resupply is key considering the amount of terrain the unit must cover. They are responsible for about 10,000 square miles. In just the first 30 days for their six-month deployment, the Airmen have managed to cover 350 miles of roads.

In that time they have used 200 tons of dirt and 40 cubic meters of concrete. In perspective, that amount is equal to a community-sized swimming pool, filled in and converted for parking -- all one bucket at a time.

The detachment is currently the only Air Force unit conducting this type of mission off-base.

“We are doing a mission normally reserved for the Army,” said Staff Sgt. Kirk Everhard, who is one of the unit’s carpenters but serves as the weapons noncommissioned officer in charge. “The adrenalin gets pumping once you leave the safety of the base.”

To the Airmen of the 732nd ECES, there’s a fight for the streets and they are winning. With every crater they fill, they are saving lives and doing their part to rebuild Iraq.

“What we do is important not just for the safety of our military, but for the safety of the civilians here too,” Sergeant Everhard said. “The locals see us fixing the roads. They see us helping them, and the hope is that they can help find the next bad guy.”