Building bases from the ground up

Photo By Senior Airman Thomas Charlton | Airman 1st Class William Taul, 628th Civil Engineer Squadron electrical power production technician, simulates how to help tow a damaged military vehicle during an exercise on Joint Base Charleston’s Naval Weapons Station, S.C., Aug. 28, 2019. These exercises help hone participants’ wartime skills, understand how to be as efficient as possible with minimal manning, and how to better operate during worst-case scenarios. The Prime BEEF section is a rapidly deployable unit, providing a full range of engineering support required to establish, operate, and maintain garrison and contingency air bases. Their primary mission is to provide civil engineer support for the beddown of personnel and aircraft. Their capabilities include air base site surveys, establishing bare base camps and operations, and utility system installation. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Thomas T. Charlton)  

JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, SC, UNITED STATES

09.11.2019

Story by Senior Airman Thomas Charlton 

Joint Base Charleston

Military installations house service members across the Department of Defense who carry out missions and priorities worldwide, but without units like the Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force, there wouldn’t be bases to house them.
The 628th Civil Engineer Squadron Prime BEEF section is a rapidly deployable unit, able to provide a range of engineering support required to establish, operate, and maintain garrison and contingency air bases.
“Whether within the continental United States or overseas, our job is to establish a base from the ground up,” said Master Sgt. Johnathan Rosario, 628th CES Prime BEEF manager. “While our main mission is primarily during deployments, we will help with the upkeep on station as well as our training requirements.”
Prime BEEF’s primary mission is to provide civil engineer support for the beddown of personnel and aircraft. Their capabilities include conducting air base site surveys, establishing bare base camps and operations, and performing utility system installation.
“As the manager for the program, my job is to coordinate the civil engineer units needed to send to commence beddown operations,” said Rosario. “Performing operations and training here allows us to hone our crafts and to ensure we perform as quickly and efficiently as possible to allow us to build a base from the ground up in any situation.”
These units have the necessary command, control and communications of other units under a civil engineer squadron so they can provide unique engineering capabilities when it comes to establishing a base. Since Prime BEEF specializes in airfield operations, they are the primary units considered when establishing and sustaining airfield operations at locations where U.S. Air Force aircraft operate.
“Although Prime BEEF units are rapidly deployable and capable of providing support anywhere in the world on short notice, they are typically used for initial setup and sustainment of a base,” said Rosario. “Therefore, when operations require heavy construction support, the U.S. Air Force employs the capabilities of Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers or RED HORSE units.”
To ensure mission requirements are met, Prime BEEF members conduct monthly training encompassing a variation of situations they might go through while in a deployed location. These exercises help hone participants’ wartime skills, understand how to be as efficient as possible with minimal manning, and how to better operate during worst-case scenarios.
“I’m very proud of our team and what we do,” said Rosario. “If it weren’t for us, our members wouldn’t have a location to safely conduct operations or even have a flightline to allow our aircraft a place to land and take off safely. I’m proud of the work we do and the people who are a part of this mission.”

• Date Taken: 09.11.2019
• Date Posted: 10.03.2019 12:22
• Story ID: 340473
• Location: JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, SC, US