The best part about being deployed is coming back home

  • Published
  • By Valerie Mullett
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs Office
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  "The best part about being deployed is coming back home." 

That's what Lt. Col. Timothy Dodge, 341st Civil Engineer Squadron commander, told his 25 Airmen Jan. 8 during an in-processing briefing welcoming them back from a 179-day deployment to Southwest Asia. 

"It is wonderful to get these folks back to home station," Colonel Dodge said. "They have executed a critical mission helping the GWOT fight in the area of responsibility, but to have these experienced NCOs and Airmen back in the squadron with their sharpened technical expertise and leadership is a huge asset to the wing and its home station nuclear mission." 

The group of Prime BEEF (Base Emergency Engineer Force) members represented all but four of the Air Force Specialty Codes for CE, according to Master Sgt. Scott Woodland, NCOIC of the section. And for many, this was not their first time being deployed. 

"In 2008, all CE AFSC's except the firefighters, were removed from the Air Expeditionary Force construct and placed in one of three enabler bands," Sergeant Woodland explained. "Each enabler band represents a six month deployment time frame with 12 months reconstitution and training in between." 

Tech. Sgt. Robert Skiff, the NCOIC of the horizontal shop, or "Dirt Boyz," as they are affectionately known, just completed his third six-month deployment to Iraq. 

"This has been one of the best deployments so far," he said. "The leadership was great and we had all the supplies we needed to get the job done." 

That job was to maintain the base - from fixing asphalt runways, to tending to power outages to constructing new facilities - the 341st CES troops were part of those efforts.
The group, who left Malmstrom at the start of the warm summer season, landed in their deployed location with 130 degree temperatures greeting them. 

"Getting used to the heat was a very hard adjustment," said Tech. Sgt. Elizabeth Williams, NCOIC of the electrical shop. "It also caused a lot of extra work for my team members because there were so many unscheduled power outages as a result of the heat." 

It wasn't until about September, she said, when the temperatures started to cool and the unscheduled power outages subsided. 

Back at home, the effects of them being gone has been felt in day-to-day operations.
"We own some of the highest deployment rates in the Air Force for several AFSC's," Colonel Dodge said. "It is a constant balance within our civil engineer squadron when supporting two missions. With deployments, our junior officers, junior NCOs and even Airmen step up and fill enormous shoes. No programs here have been eliminated - just re-prioritized."

The 341st CES has deployed 87 individuals to 13 locations since the start of the enabler concept in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. This represents 30 percent of the total personnel assigned. Current CES manning is only at 70 percent authorized for the unit. 

"Just as we gain some important individuals back, we lose another group of critical folks," Colonel Dodge said. "We still have 29 more deployed, as of Jan. 13. We recently deployed a team of six firefighters and an explosive ordnance troop, and 18 more are tasked and getting ready to be deployed." 

But while supporting two missions creates stressors, they tend to be overcome by the pride felt in the accomplishments achieved. 

"I am fortunate to have been able to sit down with every one of my troops when they return from deployment and it never ceases to amaze me what our civil engineers continue to accomplish on their deployments," Colonel Dodge said. "We have Airmen maintaining massive airfields, installing airfield lighting systems, repairing pavements, constructing billets to improve the quality of life, advising locals, safing IEDs, fighting aircraft fires, saving Airmen, Soldiers and Marines injured in battle and participating in convoys. The list goes on. I would assert no other career field has such a vast assortment of unique duties that impact the mission in so many different ways." 

Times have changed and will continue to evolve for CE in its war time, global support mission, according to Sergeant Woodland. But he is quick to reinforce the squadron's motto. 

"As always, we, the members of the 341st CES, are - and always will be - 'CE proud to serve, ready to fight.'"