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RUKLA, Lithuania – Members of the 34th Engineer Detachment’s Forward Engineer Support Team – Advance, from U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Northwestern Division, conducted land surveys and structural inspections at a Lithuanian Ministry of Defense base near Mumaiciai, Lithuania, July 2, 2015.
The 34th FEST-A’s activities were a result of an increasing need to support the significant increase in technical engineer requirements generated by European Activity Sets.
To further assist in the EAS site tour, the team focused on capability refinement, along with preparing prototype designs of key facilities to better support site adaptation of land constrained sites.
“Our purpose is to review the entire site,” said Maj. David Stalker, commander of the 34th FEST-A. “We measure all buildings, while inspecting the electrical and mechanical structures of each building."
The end result of the site is intended to serve as a base of operations for the storing and maintaining of essential brigade combat assets and equipment.
“Our goal is to analyze the buildings in terms of constructability, operability and sustainability," said Stalker. "The overall intent is to capture measurements, put a design together relatively quickly, then get input not only from the end user, but also from the customer and the host nation. After that, we can start to get a good picture of what this site may look like.”
The 34th is also unique in that it is comprised of not only service members but also Department of Defense civilians.
Kevin Hace, a structural engineer from Portland, Oregon, and a DOD civilian with the FEST-A, gave his insight and shared his experience with regard to the rapid expansion of sustainability operations.
“My job is to look at the building, see what concerns we have and plan for possible upgrades in order to meet the mission,” said Hace. “As a team, we all work together and help each other out, because some of the guys might see things that I don’t always see.
“It is really great to be a part of this team and to have an opportunity to do something out of my normal day to day job. The Army pace is a lot faster than my civilian job, but it’s been a great experience and a lot of fun.”
The eventual completion of the site has several benefits not only to the interoperability among service members working in the facilities, but also allied relationships as a whole.
“In this area, and all the Baltic nations, having a presence sends a strong message to the world about the strength of our partnership with all the NATO countries,” Stalker added. “Getting this activity site built, it prevents us from hauling equipment back and forth. It also improves our capability to conduct longer and better exercises as different units rotate over here to train.”
| Date Taken: | 07.02.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.03.2015 10:13 |
| Story ID: | 169037 |
| Location: | MUMAICIAI, LT |
| Web Views: | 139 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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