Engineers bound for Silver Flag

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Schaap
  • 931st Air Refueling Group Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  More than two dozen Airmen from the 931st Civil Engineer Squadron left here Saturday morning for two weeks of combat training at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga.

Tyndall AFB is home to Silver Flag, a week-long exercise designed to teach Airmen how to build and maintain bare-base operations at forward-deployed locations. CES Airmen are required to participate in the exercise every four years.

The 931st engineers were first headed to Dobbins ARB for a week of pre-Silver Flag training at the Air Force Reserve Command Expeditionary Combat Support Training Certification Center (what they commonly call the "TCC").

Staff Sgt. Brett Brittian is a TCC veteran. He's assigned to the 931st CES structures shop and, despite a very early wake-up call, was visually excited Saturday about returning to Dobbins for more training.

"TCC is the best (temporary duty assignment) I've ever had," he said. "It's very hands-on."

Not all of the 931st CES Airmen bound for Silver Flag left for Dobbins Saturday. About a dozen more, mostly senior leaders of the squadron, are scheduled to leave McConnell and meet their Airmen at Tyndall AFB on Sept. 26.

TCC courses are designed for certifying lesser experienced engineers in the specific tasks of their job specialties, in a predeployment-type environment. "So when they walk in to Silver Flag," Master Sgt. Cindi Schlitz said, "they have a good idea what is expected of them."

Silver Flags, which began at Tyndall in 1972, are nothing new to Sergeant Schlitz. She's been a civil engineer for more than 17 years. She transferred to the 931st this year after an eight-year break from structures, her original CE specialty.

Sergeant Schlitz went to TCC for some structures recertification. But just as important, she said, the added week of training "gives me a chance to be with my folks."

Engineers from the 931st CES last went to Silver Flag in 2005. The squadron was not only due for another, it was in need of the deployment-prep exercise. Most 931st CES Airmen are scheduled for a six-month deployment to Iraq in mid-2010.
Silver Flag is a sort of pre-deployment check-in-the-box for the squadron, Sergeant Schlitz said, planners "want us to do it before we go to (an area of operations)."

Preparations for Iraq will be far from over when the engineers return from Silver Flag in early October. More training is planned for them via a bivouac at McConnell, and what have been busy unit training assemblies every month are about to get even busier.

They expect their orders to Iraq to include a lengthy buildup/training period immediately before deployment. Not including all the work before those orders begin, the six-month of deployment will likely mean eight months of duty.