My current assignment in the USAF.

My current assignment has me in, what we call in the USAF, a staff position.  I am part of the operational planning staff and stationed at Ramstein AB, Germany which is just outside of the town of Kaiserslautern.  I, along with other various civil engineer specialties, use my subject matter expertise to provide inputs to operational plans.  These plans can range from combat aircraft operations, humanitarian assistance, or non-combatant evacuations.  As civil engineer planners, we provide information such as how much CE equipment is needed or how many CE personnel are needed to support the operation.  

In addition to providing CE planning expertise, we also perform site surveys.  A site survey team is comprised of up to 16 subject matter experts ranging from civil engineering, my specialty, to fuels and logistics.  Usually there are 2 civil engineer technicians on these teams due to the many CE tasks involved but sometimes there can only be one.  Our job on this team is to evaluate the strength of the runways, taxiways and parking aprons by drilling a small hole through the concrete or asphalt and testing the sub-surface.  

Testing of the sub-surface is accomplished by using a tool called a dynamic cone penetrometer.  A 17.5 pound hammer is lifted to a predetermined height and dropped to drive a cone into the sub-grade, via the small whole we drilled.  We count how many drops it takes to penetrate 1 inch.  After testing various points throughout the airfield we put the data gathered into a computer program that spits out a number and that number tells us whether it is strong enough for various USAF aircraft.  

We also assess the overall condition of the pavement by noting distresses.  In addition to testing the pavement strength, we are also responsible for gathering the information about the airfields infrastructure and utility capabilities.  We try to gather information about the electrical, water, and waste capacities and capabilities.  Furthermore, we have to assess the capability of the airfield fire department to assess whether they are equipped to deal with USAF aircraft.  

We then take all of this information gather in such a short time and write a report.  This report is used to provide information on an airfield that is being considered for use by USAF aircraft for some sort of operation.  

This is not normally a career assignment.  These assignments usually last for no more than 4 years at a time.  After I finish this assignment I will go back to maintaining generators and aircraft arresting systems.  

I've enjoyed this assignment very much.  It has given me a great opportunity to visit places in the world I would never have seen in my normal air force job.  From Cyprus to South Africa, I have had to perform site surveys.  The assignment has given me incredible career broadening experience as well.  It can be slow sometimes but I've enjoyed the hell out of it and I will miss it dearly.  

As always if you have any questions or want to contact me, garthvader@gmail.com or follow me on twitter @Domkizzle.