Nothing average about bioenvironmental engineers

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Emerald Ralston
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs Office
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Who are those guys in the weird space suits and the masks checking chemicals in random locations and not getting nearly enough credit for keeping all of us at Malmstrom safe and uncontaminated every day? 

The bioenvironmental engineers -- one of the many groups of unsung heroes at Malmstrom. 

An average day for a bioenvironmental Airman might seem like a busy day, and it is. But the average day really doesn't exist, as the tasks at hand can vary widely from one day to the next. 

"Our primary function is occupational health," said Tech. Sgt. Ignacio Florendo, NCOIC of the bioenvironmental flight. "We have 83 shops we have to inspect annually, which includes the missile alert facilities. We will look at their personal protective equipment, the chemicals that are being used and other related things." 

After conducting the inspections, they write a report and send it to Public Health for review. 

"Keeping Public Health informed is important," Sergeant Florendo said. "These reports help the doctors when they perform the annual assessments [PHAs] on Airmen."
The other major task the bioenvironmental staff performs on a regular basis is quantitative fit testing of gas masks. 

Bioenvironmental Airmen are also a part of the base CERF team - which stands for CBRNE Emergency Response Force. CBRNE is also an acronym, which stands for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear or Explosive. 

"A lot of people get confused when we talk about the CERF team and think it is a subset of Civil Engineering - which it is not, although CE members are part of the team," Sergeant Florendo said. "For any exercise or real-world scenario that involves a hazard, known or unknown, we will be called to respond to it. Therefore, we always have to be ready. We will be the ones who eventually determine the safety of an area and clear the site to resume operations." 

That final determination is a job that typically falls on the shoulders of a more experienced bioenvironmental engineer, not one at the three-level still in training. However, at Malmstrom, the three-levels have had to step up and fill the shoes of the five-levels they don't have. 

While being constantly on the go can be taxing at times, Capt. Aaron Weaver, Chief of Bioenvironmental Engineering can see the job's rewards. 

"The most rewarding part of our job is protecting people from the potential exposures in their daily mission activities, environmental exposures to the community, hazardous material accidents and terrorist acts that are life threatening," he said. 

While they days are busy and sometimes extremely long, the bioenvironmental team continues to hone their skills and provide an invaluable service to the 341st Missile Wing mission. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed. 

"The wing commander recognized one of our members as a professional performer he chose to highlight during the recent inspection out brief. The IG recognized the shop as setting an Air Force standard for emergency response operations and Command and Control, in spite of the shop being half the size it should be and with 60 percent of those assigned being three-levels," Captain Weaver said. "That is something any shop commander can be proud of."