LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Family, friends and fellow Airmen gathered Aug. 16 at the 633d Civil Engineer Squadron back lot to support more than 20 engineers as they prepared to deploy to Afghanistan for a six-month tour, the first of its kind for the squadron.
The 633 CES team will attend 10 days of Combat Airman Skills Training at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., before flying to Afghanistan. The team has been tasked with the construction of forward operating bases for U.S. Central Command as part of the 877th Expeditionary Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force Squadron, according to Master Sgt. Todd Kirsch, Air Combat Command A7 staff.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Ullman, 633 CES commander, attended the send-off to provide words of motivation to his team before their departure on the unique deployment supporting the Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force program. Prime BEEF is an Air Force headquarters, major command, and base-level program that organizes civil engineering force teams for worldwide direct and indirect combat support roles.
"This is the first opportunity we've sent them out as full team," he said. "[U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus] just this weekend talked about the importance of pushing counter-insurgency operations into the north, and these Airmen are going to be in the middle of that."
According to Capt. Jason Caranta, 633 CES chief of operations support, the team, which includes five first-time deployers, will join other engineers in theater to service FOBs from their central operating point.
Colonel Ullman called the deployment "the opportunity to making a huge difference in the joint fight" in Afghanistan.
"CENTCOM can't do the mission without you all going to Afghanistan to do your job," he added. "Here's the opportunity to demonstrate the Air Force's capabilities and contributions."
Sergeant Kirsch agreed, calling the deployment "a prime example of expeditionary combat support going out the door from the 633d Air Base Wing."
While leaving family behind is never easy, the chance to work alongside familiar faces will make the deployment less stressful.
"This is what we do. We go build stuff," said Captain Caranta, who will leave behind wife Diane and two-year old daughter Peyton. "But I'm looking forward to accomplishing the mission with guys that I know."