Reservists exercise in bare base operations Published May 5, 2014 By 1st Lt Denise Haeussler 433rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-Lackland -- Leaving warm, sunny San Antonio to board a three hour flight to cold wet and muddy Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, approximately 30 Air Force Reservists from the 433rd Civil Engineer Squadron landed to launch Exercise Patriot Warrior 2014 April 26 - May 8. Despite the change in climate for the worse, everyone hit the ground ready to work. "This is a premier event for training, not an exercise or inspection" said Chief Master Sgt. (ret) Ralph Browning, an Air Force Reserve Command fire protection specialist and exercise deputy director. "This year CE is involved to take care of bare base bed down, sustainment and redeploy. It's a chance for personnel to get hands on experience, skills, and training not available at home station." "In past years, this exercise was Operation Global Medic, focused on moving injured war fighters out of a war zone to a higher echelon of care," said Chief Master Sgt. Timothy Pittman, Aeromedical Evacuation, Operations, and Training Superintendent for AFRC, and exercise director. "It has been refocused to Exercise Patriot Warrior, an air component integration exercise to move equipment and supplies for all involved. We are supporting a 5,000 personnel Army force by establishing a full air base on a dirt air assault strip." According to Browning, this is the first time AFRC CE is participating in and supporting an exercise of this caliber. In the past it was Army support, but wartime missions have exceeded soldier capability to support a Forward Operating Base. "The 433rd CE was chosen as the test bed by the AFRC Prime Beef superintendent based on performance and results from our last Operational Readiness and Compliance Inspections where we scored an excellent on both." said Capt. David Shaw, 433rd Operations Flight Commander. The 433rd CES were first on the ground and arrived to an empty field; a bare base. CE personnel included Engineering Assistance, Structures, Electricians, Utilities, Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning, Fire Fighters, and Operations. The first 72 hours is base bed down. During that time, as tents were being built, there was no heat, no hot meals; limited Meals Ready to eat, and no clean water. Basic necessities were built and gathered from scratch, mostly in rain, sleet and darkness. Engineering Assistance came in first to survey the area, and provided community planning and layout for the camp, making sure everything was compliant with fire protection and utility planning. "This is my first time opening and putting my hands on my Unit Type Code kit," said Tech. Sgt. Kit Lui, a 433rd CE engineering assistant. "It felt like Christmas Day as it was unpacked because it's equipment I don't handle at home station." Next, structures built tents from the ground up to form a FOB for operations, living, and sleeping. Electricians provided power and light, and ensured proper grounding for fire protection. Firefighters are responsible for fire safety and prevention throughout the camp. They are training, but handle real world emergencies as well. They are also the ones who provided the water by extracting it from a nearby lake using the tanker fire truck, transported back to camp and emptied into a bladder. From there utilities filters the water through an on-site Reserve Osmosis Water Purification Unit to make it potable for drinking and showering. Utilities also oversaw sanitation for the camp. "This exercise has been a refresher for me as far as setting up the ROWPU, showers, and laundry facilities, but this is my first time working in these cold, wet and muddy weather conditions," said Senior Airman Chris Cleveland, a 433rd CES utilities journeyman. Last, HVAC controlled the climate, and monitored refrigeration to keep food fresh and perishable once it became available. According to Shaw, once everything is up and running, operations is the focal point for maintenance of the camp working out of the Unit Control Center. For example, if a generator is out or a tent is flooded, operations is contacted to fill out a work order and call in the proper team to fix the issue. Within 72 hours, the 433rd CES turned a bare base into a FOB to support 500 Air Force personnel who provided support to the Army as a force multiplier once the exercise kicked off May 7. "AFRC is supporting the Army in real world war time missions" said Browning. "This exercise is as close to real world operations as it gets. It's the final training that takes place before a deployment; it's the report card to see if service members are ready to deploy." "Despite a climate Alamo Wing Reservists are not used to, the 433rd CE did an outstanding job with bed down," said Shaw. "The first few days were rough with cold, rainy weather, no heat, limited food and clean water. My guys got right to work, not only setting up the camp for themselves to live comfortable, but also getting it ready for the main body. Main players showed up to heated tents with power, hot food and warm showers. I hope they appreciate the comfortable living they arrived to. The 433rd CE took the exercise as it came at them; fought inclement weather, overcame obstacles, and charged ahead. Morale was high throughout, and I could not be more proud of the work generated by these Airmen," said Shaw. The end result here is to have a fully forward deployed Air Expeditionary Wing consisting of an Aerial Port, Services, Firefighters, Mortuary Affairs, Aeromedical Evacuation, PERSCO, Chaplains, and an Operations Group supporting rear echelon staging base all falling under a joint air component commander within this exercise, said Pittman. It is the only AFRC exercise in which we have joint accreditation, he said.