CADET CANDOR: Civil Engineering Academy

I attended the AFCEA, or Air Force Civil Engineering Academy, June 21-17. It was located at the Silver Flag training site at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., home of Detachment 1, 823rd RED HORSE Squadron. This is where they train all the RED HORSE and Prime BEEF squadrons how to do things.

RED HORSE stands for “Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer.” They are combat civil engineers who can build an airbase from nothing but a cratered runway, including housing, fuel, power, water and repair shops.

We got to sleep in the SSS, or Small Shelter System, which is a rather big tent with air conditioning — much appreciated. It was warm enough that if you stood outside for too long, you started dripping away.

The activity was arranged so that we had eight sections — two per day — to learn about civil engineering. The evenings were for the “Topics in Construction” presentations, which was a slideshow and speech about various parts of construction, such as blueprints, contracting processes, and how to dig giant holes in the ground. Lunch was pretty much always MREs, which was interesting — and yes, the officers ate them as well.

The week was basically how the Air Force sets up and runs the various parts of a BEAR base — Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resources. The first day we learned about utilities with the water distribution system and the Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit. This thing can filter seawater or even sewage into potable water. That afternoon was for structures, where we put up one of the SSSs and took it right back down again.

Cadet 2nd Lt. Keith Purvis, far right, stands with fellow cadets in front of an Air Force bulldozer used during AFCEA. Photo courtesy of CAP

The second day was explosive ordnance disposal and emergency operations. We got to play around with a $160,000 robot! The emergency operations sergeant showed us what they do if an NBC incident occurs — Nuclear, Biological and Chemical — and let us use a machine that costs $64,000 and tests substances to ascertain what they are. We then took samples and practiced packaging them according to the FBI rules. That night, we did an obstacle course, which included crossing a pool on a rope — the vast majority of cadets fell in.

Wednesday was the time we got to see the F-22A Raptor stealth-fighter and a guided tour around one of their training airframes.

We got to visit the 1st Air Force Air Operations Center, which is where the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center is. We had to wait until they declassified the control room before we could go in. The room is large and looks like an auditorium, except each person has their own computer and faces a giant screen with a radar picture of the U.S., a map of the National Capital Region, and CNN showing. This is the place where they look for rogue aircraft and issue, if necessary, the command to shoot it down. The AFRCC has its own section where they listen for distress signals and start the process of finding them. They have an old radar console as a bit of history right underneath the screen at the front.

That night, we went to the beach, had some rather good food and listened to some bagpipes.

Thursday was the fire/rescue and engineering assistance day. We got to suit up in $1,500 silver-colored bunker gear and practice searching a building and pulling out any dummies that we found — my boots are going to take ages of polishing to recover from that. The bunker gear protects against 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit; the sort you see at civilian fire departments are only up to 700-800 degrees. We also got to see them put out a fire on an F-16 fighter jet fire simulator with an airport fire truck; I got to sit next to the driver and watch from that angle.

Engineering assistance was setting out where everything goes and surveying. They would mark out a minimal operating strip on the runway to avoid any damage, plot where the generators are, where the tents go, and where the aircraft are parked. The surveying part is done with GPS and some more ridiculously expensive equipment. It works with a base station and rovers, which actually go out and plot everything. They let us loose with them plotting random locations.

That night, we got to go on a field training exercise. We got two of the new 2-1/2 ton trucks and two Humvees, along with a fake M-16 rifles for each of us. Our mission was to go and meet with a contractor to discuss materials for building a school in Afghanistan. We were briefed that we might get protesters telling us to go home. We went and found the contractor, but the protesters came out with placards.

Friday was the equipment operations and electrical sections. First, we got to see them blow up part of their training runway. Then, while EOD checked for bits of unexploded bomb, we went to the electrical section. We got to see the generators and the switchgear and transformers. We also got to see the emergency runway lighting system. Equipment operations was where we were shown the force protection stuff, which are flat pack things that can be filled with sand or dirt and are much better than sandbags. They then showed how the front-end loaders and bulldozers are used move dirt around in a giant sandpit.

That night, we had an outdoor ceremony with all the cadets still in their BDUs they had been wearing all day in the Florida sun. We were given the opportunity to buy T-shirts and coins and were given a window patch that the RED HORSE squadrons put on their private vehicles by the chief in charge of the site. This was the inaugural Air Force Civil Engineering Academy, so no one knew what to expect. The cadre and the site chief were all impressed with the Civil Air Patrol cadets.

This was one of the most fun special activities that I have been to — this is the fifth one I have attended.


By Cadet 2nd Lt. Keith Purvis
Andrews Composite Squadron


EDITOR’S NOTE — The Air Force Civil Engineering Academy exposes aspiring engineers involved in Civil Air Patrol’s cadet program to Air Force career opportunities in engineering related fields. Participants learn about heavy equipment, robotics, construction, demolitions and what it takes to construct an airfield from scratch. They take part in hands-on activities, simulations and career shadowing alongside Air Force officers involved in Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers, or RED HORSE. The academic elements of the course introduce the math, science and technology involved in engineering, encouraging the students’ continued development of those skills in fulfillment of their career goals.

Click here to see all the photos from AFCEA.

The academy is one of 30 National Cadet Special Activities sponsored by Civil Air Patrol this summer. These activities allow cadets to hone their skills in a variety of areas, including search and rescue, flight and emergency services, leadership fundamentals, citizenship and military courtesies, and to explore aerospace technology and aviation careers. In 2008, 1,064 youth participated in CAP-sponsored summer activities.

Through its cadet program, Civil Air Patrol builds strong citizens for the future by providing leadership training, technical education, scholarships and career education to young men and women ages 12 to 20.

Cadets wishing to post an article to “Cadet Candor” on the wing news feed may submit articles to Public Affairs at pa@natcapwg.cap.gov.