Base Engineer Emergency Force prepares for deployment for training

Photo By Sgt. April de Armas | Air Force Master Sgt. Brett Neil, Tech. Sgt. Travis Brotherton and Staff Sgt. Aaron Rule inventory supplies at Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Camp Justice, April 13. The supplies will be used by the Air National Guard units, who will arrive at Joint Task Force Guantanamo in late May. JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detainees, including those convicted by military commission and those ordered released. The JTF conducts intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination for the protection of detainees and personnel working in JTF Guantanamo facilities and in support of the Global War on Terror. JTF Guantanamo provides support to the Office of Military Commissions, to law enforcement and to war crimes investigations. The JTF conducts planning for and, on order, responds to Caribbean mass migration operations.  

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA

04.24.2009

Story by Spc. April de Armas 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — The Base Engineer Emergency Force at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay is preparing to welcome three different Air National Guard units which will be conducting their annual training here.

The units are coming from Tennessee, California and Maryland and will be arriving at different intervals throughout the summer. The teams will be upgrading the restroom and shower facilities at Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Camp America. The upgrades will enhance the living conditions for Joint Task Force troopers living and working at Camp America.

National Guard and Reserve forces, no matter which branch of service, have a set training schedule for their troopers. They usually train one weekend each month and two-to-three weeks during the year. The weekend training typically takes place at an armory, a near-by training site or reserve military base.

However, during the two- to three-week annual training, units often deploy to military installations in the U.S. and around the world to perform tasks and practice their job skills so they are always ready for action.

Air Force Master Sgt. Brett Neil, 474th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron supply team non-commissioned officer in charge, is one of many troopers working to help prepare for the incoming Airmen.

"This is an opportunity for the units to not only help the Joint Task Force mission, but also allows the guardsmen to use the skills they were trained to do for the Air Force."

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Travis Brotherton, with the 474th ECES supply team, said, "We support their needs while they are here and we'll provide their living quarters at Camp Justice."

Brotherton is a supply sergeant working with Neil to ensure the teams have all the supplies and tools needed to complete their mission.

"Our job is to order and receive the inventory from sources that are not government contracted, such as Lowe's, Home Depot, and the local U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo supply store Paperclips," said Neil. "We inventory everything that is ordered and store it here at Camp Justice so it will be ready for the teams when they come in."

Air Force Staff Sgt. Aaron Rule, also with the 474th ECES supply team, is responsible for ensuring supplies with national stock numbers, like boilers and such, are ordered.

"I make sure these types of supplies are ordered so the mission can be completed in a timely fashion," said Rule.

Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Groll, the 474th ECES production control NCOIC, said, "Our office is where all the work orders are started and then disseminated to the proper shops."

"We are excited to welcome the units and glad to do all we can to work with the JTF to help make the living conditions at Camp America better for the troopers who live and work there," said Groll.

• Date Taken: 04.24.2009
• Date Posted: 04.27.2009 11:44
• Story ID: 32914
• Location: GUANTANAMO BAY, CU