By Scott Prater
Mountaineer staff
When Joe Wyka, director of Public Works at Fort Carson, first learned that an Army Reserve unit was asking for his directorate’s assistance, he had to consider a number of variables before deciding to approve the action.
Did Fort Carson’s DPW have the space and time to host and train a unit of reservists? Were the relevant subject matter experts available during the time reservists would be at the Mountain Post? And, what training did he surmise would provide the best value for his sister unit?
“We could easily have told the reservists ‘no,’” Wyka said. “But the way we looked at the request was that it provided an opportunity for us to sort of pay it forward, so to speak. Ultimately, any knowledge we pass along will end up helping deployed Soldiers live and operate more effectively.”
After considering the relevant variables, Wyka and DPW staff agreed to host the 308th Engineer Facility Detachment (EFD) Soldiers for a two-week advise-and-train session in March 2021.
Consisting of 15 Army Reserve Soldiers, the EFD received news last October that they would mobilize and prepare for a future deployment where they would, essentially, perform a public-works mission. Though the 308th EFD is made up of capable and knowledgeable Soldiers, its leaders sought expert knowledge from an organization that performs the DPW mission every day. Hence, why they approached Wyka.
“This is one instance where the pandemic was actually advantageous for us because we have some folks who continue to telework, so we’ve got some open space in our building,” Wyka said. “We had the space … and we made the time.”
Comparatively, the Reserve unit is comprised of multiple sections, much like a DPW. Capt. Joseph Hines, powers officer in charge for the EFD, said the recent training included a mixture of briefings, classroom work and one-on-one interactions between counterparts in section-specific topics.
“We got a little (bit) of everything,” Hines said. “We had DPW environmental section’s Rich Yohn give us an overview of what to expect and the environmental policy that applies to where we are going. Then, we had a legal brief about working with contractors from Jeff Lindquist, chief of civil law, from the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) office, for example.”
While at the Mountain Post, teams conducted site visits of current construction projects, toured substations, power generator sites and natural-gas distribution centers for heating and cooling examples.
Hines said the EFD was recently stood up and consists mostly of junior officers and senior NCOs who are stationed around the country. In its future deployed environment, the EFD will be tasked with maintaining and managing current infrastructure as well as working on both new and existing projects.
“We wanted to shadow the DPW prior to our deployment to get a better understanding of how they operate and how they implement their current mission at Fort Carson,” Hines said. “Then, we want to carry that knowledge over with us.”
Following its training at the Mountain Post, the EFD will soon head for Fort Bliss, Texas, where the unit will be validated.
“Joe Wyka was most pivotal in ensuring that we were able to fit in with his sections,” Hines said. “The DPW personnel also helped to facilitate our training so we could get the most out of it. We learned a lot and they were great to work with.”
| Date Taken: | 04.02.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 05.04.2021 16:12 |
| Story ID: | 395626 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 16 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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