CE Readiness Flight Prepares Wing to "Survive and Operate"

  • Published
  • By Airman Justin Shelton
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  The 22nd Civil Engineer Squadron, Readiness and Emergency Management Flight perform two distinct missions based on their operating location. They are in charge of a peacetime, home station support mission as well as wartime, high threat area support mission.

"While they are distinctly different in many ways, both missions share the same goal and that is to survive and operate," said Master Sgt. Richard Williams, flight superintendent.

The peacetime mission consists of ensuring that the 22nd Air Refueling Wing is prepared to respond in the event of a major accident or natural disaster. Also, during peacetime the readiness flight is in charge of making certain that the wing can defend against an act of terrorism through the use of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosives.

These goals are achieved by developing and coordinating contingency response plans, managing the Emergency Operations Center, Mobile Emergency Operations Center, Emergency Management Representative Program and providing training on response and contingency operations.

The EMRP is a means for the readiness flight to have a connection with all squadron commanders. 

"One of the most vital ways for us to get Emergency response info out to the people," said Sergeant Williams.

In addition to emergency management duties, the readiness flight also manages the 22nd CES deployment and training program. This program is also known as Prime Base Emergency Engineer Force. Their responsibilities include identifying, budgeting, requisitioning, and accounting for all deployable equipment, supplies and contingency training requirements.

Finally, the readiness flight has its wartime/deployed mission of ensuring that the wing can recover and continue to operate following a CBRNE attack.

"The first step in recovery is preparation and that is accomplished by providing contingency training," said Sergeant Williams.

Contingency training is training that helps to prepare for possible future events. Training that involves the learning of CBRNE survival skills, Shelter Management, Ability to Survive and Operate as well as Post-Attack Reconnaissance team training.

Along with the numerous tasks involved in training and planning, the 22nd CES Readiness and Emergency Management Flight are responsible for CBRNE defense of the base. This means activating Nuclear, Biological, Chemical teams for shelter, contamination control, reconnaissance, plotting, reporting and detection.

The task of gathering all the pertinent information to create a complete picture of possible contamination to the installation commander is priority number one in the wartime mission.

"This detailed image provides wing leadership the ability to make the best decisions to protect personnel and ensure mission continuation with minimal degradation of capabilities," said Sergeant Williams.

It is obvious that the 22nd CES Readiness and Emergency Management Flight is not a widely known part of the Team McConnell Family however, the job they accomplish on a daily basis is still just as important.

Whether Airmen are stationed outside or inside of the continental United States, it is the training and preparation of organizations such as the readiness flight that helps Airmen to stay alive and save other lives, during the process of completing their mission.