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Show 10 TIMES July 26, 2012 HILLTOP TIMES 100th CES Dirt Boys cement relationships, partnerships with Hill AFB reservists BY KAREN ABEYASEKERE 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs R AF MILDENHALL, England — Piles of steaming asphalt were transformed into a short section of road July 12, when active duty members from the 100th Civil Engineer Squadron Heavy Horizontal flight, along with reservists from 419th Civil Engineer Squadron, Hill Air Force Base, worked together to get the job done. A team of 62 reservists from the 419th CES recently spent two weeks at RAF Mildenhall receiving valuable training. The road in the 100th Logistics Readiness Compound area was completely resurfaced after it had become unsafe due to wear and tear over the years. "Our usual day-to-day job mainly consists of daily sweep operations — our main priority is to keep the airfield free of (foreign object debris)," said Senior Airman Billy Crocker, 100th CES Heavy Horizontal pavements and construction journeyman. "We also take care of the recurring work program for all the soakaways on base, both on the streets and the airfield, sucking out the stuff clogging up the drains, so rainwater can drain away." The Hughes Springs, Texas, native added that they also do block paving work. While they don't build sidewalks from scratch, if any repairs are needed the heavy horizontal guys — more commonly known as "Dirt Boys" — take care of the maintenance by taking out the bricks, repairing the area and replacing them. "Typically, we don't usually do these type of jobs, so when the reservists come in, they KAREN ABEYASEKERE/U.S. Air Force help us with this type of projects that we Staff Sgt. Michael Dowse, 419th Civil Engineer Squadron, drives a roller along freshly-laid asphalt as Master Sgt. Kelly aren't normally able to do," said Crocker. Wayment, also 419th CES, watches to ensure he flattens the asphalt right up to the edge of the road July 12. The 419th "Something like this would normally be reservists were at RAF Mildenhall for two weeks as part of their annual training. While here, they assisted 100th Civil contracted out because we don't have the Engineer Squadron members with projects around base that they ordinarily do not have the manpower to complete. manpower to do it. Having these guys here helps us and the base saves money as we don't have to pay contractors to do it." The "Dirt Boys" use a variety of equipment, ranging from rollers to backhoes, graders, loaders and tractor trailers to bulldozers. Asphalting the road, they used a roller and grader to smooth out the hot pile of asphalt, then both active duty and reservists worked together to spread it out before it was then smoothed over with a grader and flattened by a roller. "Every year, our reservists do their annual two-week tour for training," said Senior Master Sgt. Lori Noble, 419th CES infrastructure superintendent. "Our shops come out to different bases to complete projects and get some training. "Doing this helps hone our skills and learn new tricks, so when we go out to a war zone, we're more prepared and better equipped to take care of the mission," she said. "Training alongside the active duty also builds their confidence in (our) capabilities. When we work together, we bring different trades and skills. Our people do (many of these) jobs in the civilian world, so it makes us more cohesive when we deploy." The 419th CES deployed to Afghanistan from July 2010 to March 2011, and were the second reserve unit to deploy in support of the U.S. Army. "We'd leave the main base at One Night Only... Don't Miss It! Bagram and went out to smaller FRIDAY, AUG. 3rd 07:00p.m. (forward-operating bases and 1 che EGYPT¿ AN THEATRE FOUNDATION Presents combat outposts) to provide help," Noble said. "Some of the smaller JESSE FRED RALEY outposts had been without showers JAMES DALTON THOMPSON CUOCO for four months — but within four hours, we had the showers operating. The Army was quite happy, to say the least!" Noble said a lot of their work while deployed included building structures which would become chow halls and billets. A lot of the other jobs, such as repairing leaking roofs, were quality-of-life jobs. "It was nice to be able to help our own," she said. Above, Senior Airman Kevin Alexander, Airman 1st Class Stephen Noble, from Syracuse, Utah, Beasley, both 419th Civil Engineer Squadron, and Senior Airman Billy said although civil engineer-based, Crocker, 100th Civil Engineer Squadron, work together to smooth out their civilian jobs are quite differasphalt. Sixty-two reservists from Hill Air Force Base spent two weeks at ent to their reservist duties. RAF Mildenhall, training alongside active duty members from 100th CES "We brought firefighters, refrigeration specialists, electricians and bringing their own skills to share. Above that, reservists from the and a host of other CE-type jobs," 419th Civil Engineer Squadron watch to ensure a grader is smoothing she said. "Most of our troops have out fresh asphalt correctly. r.a.m.p. multiple talents — some are elecA STORY OF tricians in the civilian world but work in heavy equipment as their reservist MUSIC'S ORI r AL BAD BOY! Ear Kink Sin 1t111111441:3rJ1 VOA.: o,r,1 LOU duty. We have a lot of different skill sets, so KIIESIncem 1R1111K11911111111111161110 "We have a lot of different skill sets, so we can pull from all of them to get the job Dii NOWA done." we can pull from all of them to get the Noble explained that some of their reAli seats $ 8. PEERY'S job done." servists have been in the unit for 20 years, r 801-689-8700 SENIOR MASTER SGT. LORI NOBLE, 419th CES providing their team with a firm continuity www.egyptiantheatrefoundation.org OGDEN foundation. infrastructure superintendent. HANK WIL AMS |