Photo By Staff Sgt. Andy Orozco | Lance Cpl. Jeremy Folk, a heavy equipment operator with the Special Marine Air-Ground...... read more read more
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MOCORON, Honduras - A detachment of engineering Marines with the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force- Southern Command continue to renovate and widen an airfield in Mocoron, Honduras, Sept. 10, 2015.
“Construction as of now is going great,” said 1st Lt. Tyler Martin the Mocoron engineer detachment officer in charge with the SPMAGTF-SC. “We’re about 90 percent complete and with good weather in a few more days we’ll finish the airfield.”
Before construction began on the airfield, it would have only been able to handle a few passes of a C-130 Hercules. Marines recently began paving the run way of the airfield with Operational Ready Dirt, which is a polymer soil stabilization agent, to further strengthen the soil of the airfield.
“This is the first time myself or any of my Marines have ever worked with Ops Dirt,” said Martin, an Alexandria, Virginia native. According to Cramer, this is one of the first times the Marine Corps, let alone the SPMAGTF-SC has ever used Ops Dirt for a project like this.
“Finding the correct Ops Dirt to water ratio so that the airfield is constructed properly has been one of our biggest challenges,” said Martin.
In order to get the Ops Dirt to mix properly with the soil on the airfield, Marines and civilian contractors began applying the Ops Dirt by 200 foot sections.
Martin went on to explain the advantages of using Ops Dirt over more conventional methods such as concrete or asphalt.
“Ops Dirt itself is much easier to spray than concrete and is applied much faster,” said Martin. “Not only that but once it’s on, it will help with erosion control as well.”
Strengthening the airfield will allow the country to get in more supplies and personnel into the rural area of the country in case of an emergency such as a natural disaster. Construction is slated to be completed in early October.
“The completion of the runway’s improvements will enable both Honduran and U.S. forces to land fixed-wing aircraft in Mocoron,” said Capt. Eric Cramer, the Logistics Element OIC for the SPMAGTF-SC.
“Such fixed winged aircraft could carry Honduran forces and supplies directly into Mocoron. Mocoron is currently cut off from the rest of Honduras and is only accessible from Puerto Lempira via a 70km dirt road. All supplies must be flown or barged into Puerto Lempira, in order to be transported to Mocoron,” said Cramer.
| Date Taken: | 09.10.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2015 16:33 |
| Story ID: | 176890 |
| Location: | MOCORON, HN |
| Hometown: | ALEXANDRIA, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 250 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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