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20th CES prepares to 'Exercise Exercise Exercise'

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jonathan Bass
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
The 20th Civil Engineer Squadron spent two days, June 12-13, setting up a bare-base for an upcoming operational readiness exercise here.

"This is part of our Prime BEEF training," said Master Sgt. Erik Field, 20th CES compliance office superintendent. "It's all of our war-time tasks going on at once."

Prime BEEF, which stands for Prime Base Engineer Emergency Forces, are civil engineer forces organized for direct combat support or emergency recovery from natural disasters. These Air Force engineering unit's missions are to rapidly deploy and establish, operate, and maintain garrison and contingency air bases.

"These opportunities give us a great chance to simulate the deployment environment," said Senior Master Sgt. Robert Padar, 20th CES engineering flight superintendent. "Prime BEEF is a monthly proficiency training that we must go through."

Almost all of the 20th CES participates in this training.

"We have a whole lot of the squadron out here," said Field. "We have guys from structures, HVAC (heating, air conditioning and ventilation), power productions, barriers, and surveying."

Field explained how a base is constructed. They begin by building essential structures such as tens, flightlines and hardened shelters. After a working air base has been built, less essential structures such as sidewalks can be built.

Padar said that while the construction is occurring, this training gives the younger non-commissioned officers the chance to lead and is essential to the success of the operation.

"Oftentimes you find that in the deployed environment you have staff sergeants in charge," said Field. "We use this time to give them the experience of leading."

Those NCOs learn how to lead in the low stress environment here so they are able to perform those leadership tasks when called upon in high-stress situations.

"The NCOs make decisions and process obstacles here in training," said Padar. "Afterwards we'll give them a debrief to discuss corrections and whatnot."

The Prime BEEF training is a necessary and valuable tool for the 20th CES to develop and deliver combat ready Airmen.

"It's worth all the time that it takes," said Padar. "We need to make this like second nature."