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188th civil engineers gain valuable experience at Guantanamo Bay

  • Published
  • By Capt. Heath Allen
  • 188th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
FORT SMITH, Ark. --  The last day in January marked the first time in more than six months that many 188th Fighter Wing civil engineers had a chance to spend time with their families.

Thirty-eight members of the 188th Fighter Wing's Civil Engineering Squadron returned Jan. 31 from a six-month deployment to U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where they joined the 474th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron in support of Joint Task Force Guantanamo.

The 188th CES' primary function was to ensure the conditions at Camp Justice's Expeditionary Legal Complex remained acceptable to facilitate ideal trial conditions.

"They made sure billeting conditions were sufficient for the lawyers, media, human activist groups and dignitaries, who were involved in the trials of the detainees," said Maj. Joe Harrison, 188th base civil engineer. "They were tasked with making sure the courthouse was up and running and that the air conditioning, power and things of that nature were operating so that there were no interruptions during the commissions. They also focused on the quality of life issues for the detainees."

The 188th CES served as the lead unit during its deployment to Cuba. The 188th partnered with elements of the Maryland Air National Guard's 175th Fighter Wing, Illinois Air National Guard's 183rd Fighter Wing and the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing during the tour.

But it wasn't just Air National Guards units that the 188th toiled with during the deployment. Senior Master Sgt. Tim McConnell, a member of the 188th CES, who functioned as the operations flight NCOIC while deployed to Cuba, said the unit logged valuable experience while executing a diverse mission in a unique environment.

"It was a different kind of deployment and gave us the chance to do a lot of tasks and training in a real-world mission that we can't get anywhere else," McConnell said. "It was different in that we worked closely with the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard on daily basis."

The 188th CES helped maintain generators and electricity, provided carpentry skills, pest control services, utilities maintenance and heavy equipment operation.

"We provided the bulk of the support, command structure and personnel while there," Harrison said.

McConnell called the deployment "high-visibility" but added that it afforded 188th CES personnel the opportunity to encounter arduous yet valuable challenges under stressful circumstances.

"We had to make sure that nothing went wrong and that the detention center was well represented from a civil engineering standpoint," McConnell said.

The assorted tests didn't halt there. Harrison said during the final two weeks of the deployment the 188th CES worked with U.S. Army Migrant Operations at the Joint Task Force to help with the Haitian relief efforts, erecting more than 100 tents in preparation for Haitian evacuees, following a 7.0 earthquake in Haiti Jan. 12

"We felt a slight tremble," McConnell said. "It wasn't long after the earthquake that things starting ramping up over there."

McConnell said that many of the efforts to assemble the tents were mustered prior to the earthquake as part of an exercise that was slated for February.

"We had the earthquake in January so the exercise they were supposed to have turned into the real McCoy," McConnell said. "We geared up for the possibility of migrants right about the time we were rotating out. They were talking about setting up about 1,400 tents before we left."

For the 188th CES, it was an experience it won't soon forget.

"We got to be around a lot of history while we were there and whether or not the place closes down eventually or it doesn't, we know we were a part of that history," McConnell said.

The 188th CES last deployed as a unit to Kirkuk Air Base in Iraq for four months in 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as part of an Aerospace Expeditionary Force rotation. The 188th was also the lead unit during its stint in Kirkuk.

The 188th CES experienced a surge of deployments in 2009. The 188th CES also had eight firefighters deployed to Kuwait for six months. They returned last September.

Five CES members, including one CE officer, three heavy equipment operators and one power production specialist embarked on a year-long deployment to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in July 2009.


188th civil engineers gain valuable experience at Guantanamo Bay

  • Published
  • By Capt. Heath Allen
  • 188th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
FORT SMITH, Ark. --  The last day in January marked the first time in more than six months that many 188th Fighter Wing civil engineers had a chance to spend time with their families.

Thirty-eight members of the 188th Fighter Wing's Civil Engineering Squadron returned Jan. 31 from a six-month deployment to U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where they joined the 474th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron in support of Joint Task Force Guantanamo.

The 188th CES' primary function was to ensure the conditions at Camp Justice's Expeditionary Legal Complex remained acceptable to facilitate ideal trial conditions.

"They made sure billeting conditions were sufficient for the lawyers, media, human activist groups and dignitaries, who were involved in the trials of the detainees," said Maj. Joe Harrison, 188th base civil engineer. "They were tasked with making sure the courthouse was up and running and that the air conditioning, power and things of that nature were operating so that there were no interruptions during the commissions. They also focused on the quality of life issues for the detainees."

The 188th CES served as the lead unit during its deployment to Cuba. The 188th partnered with elements of the Maryland Air National Guard's 175th Fighter Wing, Illinois Air National Guard's 183rd Fighter Wing and the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing during the tour.

But it wasn't just Air National Guards units that the 188th toiled with during the deployment. Senior Master Sgt. Tim McConnell, a member of the 188th CES, who functioned as the operations flight NCOIC while deployed to Cuba, said the unit logged valuable experience while executing a diverse mission in a unique environment.

"It was a different kind of deployment and gave us the chance to do a lot of tasks and training in a real-world mission that we can't get anywhere else," McConnell said. "It was different in that we worked closely with the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard on daily basis."

The 188th CES helped maintain generators and electricity, provided carpentry skills, pest control services, utilities maintenance and heavy equipment operation.

"We provided the bulk of the support, command structure and personnel while there," Harrison said.

McConnell called the deployment "high-visibility" but added that it afforded 188th CES personnel the opportunity to encounter arduous yet valuable challenges under stressful circumstances.

"We had to make sure that nothing went wrong and that the detention center was well represented from a civil engineering standpoint," McConnell said.

The assorted tests didn't halt there. Harrison said during the final two weeks of the deployment the 188th CES worked with U.S. Army Migrant Operations at the Joint Task Force to help with the Haitian relief efforts, erecting more than 100 tents in preparation for Haitian evacuees, following a 7.0 earthquake in Haiti Jan. 12

"We felt a slight tremble," McConnell said. "It wasn't long after the earthquake that things starting ramping up over there."

McConnell said that many of the efforts to assemble the tents were mustered prior to the earthquake as part of an exercise that was slated for February.

"We had the earthquake in January so the exercise they were supposed to have turned into the real McCoy," McConnell said. "We geared up for the possibility of migrants right about the time we were rotating out. They were talking about setting up about 1,400 tents before we left."

For the 188th CES, it was an experience it won't soon forget.

"We got to be around a lot of history while we were there and whether or not the place closes down eventually or it doesn't, we know we were a part of that history," McConnell said.

The 188th CES last deployed as a unit to Kirkuk Air Base in Iraq for four months in 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as part of an Aerospace Expeditionary Force rotation. The 188th was also the lead unit during its stint in Kirkuk.

The 188th CES experienced a surge of deployments in 2009. The 188th CES also had eight firefighters deployed to Kuwait for six months. They returned last September.

Five CES members, including one CE officer, three heavy equipment operators and one power production specialist embarked on a year-long deployment to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in July 2009.