SPRINGFIELD, Ky. –
Engineer Soldiers said their farewells at a deployment ceremony at the Springfield Army National Guard armory in Springfield, Kentucky on August 5.
Approximately 15 engineers from the 613th Engineer Facilities Detachment (FACDET), 149th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, prepared to depart their armory for a 9-month mobilization to Camp Buehring, Kuwait to conduct base directorate of public works (DPW) operations.
Their role as DPW will be to oversee all construction and remodel projects on the camp, to include road repairs, new and old building construction, engineer contracts, and master planning.
The mission is like DPW operations at any standard Army installation; however, this is a bit different since Army installations usually have a more permanent DPW staff. In Kuwait, the need for Soldiers to rotate in and out of country dictates that the DPW staff must do the same.
The 613th FACDET was picked for this mission due to the Soldiers that make up the unit.
According to Lt. Col. John Ritchie, the commander of the FACDET and soon to be director of DPW at Camp Buehring, each of the engineers that makeup the unit also work in engineering in their civilian jobs.
“We have four degreed engineers, those who have a civilian degree in engineering,” Ritchie said. “We have another Soldier that’s a very skilled surveyor, works in AutoCAD, who does building inspections for the city he lives in.”
“The administrators we have to work the engineer contracts are like teachers, which is really just helpful on the negotiation and understanding the customer side of it.”
While it wasn’t just the experience of the Soldiers that makes the unit standout, it is also the extra training the FACDET has received to help them prepare for this mission.
The unit has been able to outsource a lot of their training from the engineer community.
“We have taken a lot of Army Corps of Engineer classes, such as joint construction management system (JCMS),” said Master Sgt. Kevin Walker, NCOIC of the FACDET. “We’ve taken several AutoCAD classes. JCMS is a program that works through AutoCAD where we can pull construction drawings that have already been published, edit them to our needs, then publish them again, saving us five to six hours of starting fresh.”
Another partner they FACDET had during the train up was the Bluegrass Community and Technical College (BCTC) engineering school. On drill weekends, the FACDET would take classes in AutoCAD, Civil 3D, and surveying.
According to Walker, sending a unit from the National Guard or the Army Reserves brings many benefits that the Active component just doesn’t get.
“One thing I have always said about the National Guard compared to the Active component is that we are unique,” said Walker. “The Active component knows their job inside and out. No doubt about it. But the National Guard and Reserves also use those skills during their civilian jobs to help with projects you don’t normally see in the Army. They also can gain knowledge from civilian engineers who think differently. So, you really get the best of both worlds.”
When it comes to a small detachment like the FACDET to run base facilities operations, the commander must rely on a team of experts; the team is made up of mostly officers and five NCOs. When it comes to building a team for this mission, Ritchie had to work with these Soldiers as a whole team.
“We have built the right team,” Ritchie said. “I was not building a unit when I got here, I was building a team, and I have been blessed that a lot of phenomenal Soldiers with phenomenal skillsets accepted this opportunity to go with us.”