Bioenvironmental Engineering saving lives

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Roy Lynch III
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Bioenvironmental Engineering is a lot more then testing water. Bioenvironmental Engineering provides operational health risk assessment expertise to enhance commander decision making and health service support capabilities.

Bioenvironmental Engineering optimizes combat and operational capabilities by preventing casualties and enhancing performance in deployed environments through full spectrum threat health risk reduction.

Some equipment used by Bioenvironmental Engineers are; Hazardous Material Identification System, Entry Rae, Wet Bulb Globe Temperature and Coliwasas.

Hazmat identification System, a field portable system that gives quick identification on specific material. It identifies solid and liquid chemical compounds and has excellent results in white powder responses.

Entry Rae is a small black mechanical device with a long transparent tube coming out of it. It is used for detection of harmful gases before entering an area, usually in small spaces like man holes.

Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, a device which has three separate prongs and is used to detect the temperature and moister of an area to see what effects that area could have on the body.

Coliwasas, a glass rod and a glass tube used to retrieve samples from the bottom of a container and then is left in the hazardous material because it is now contaminated.

Bioenvironmental Engineering has a lot of different jobs to go along with just this equipment. When samples are collected, rather it be solid or liquid, it can be tested to see if they're any chemical agents that could be harmful to military personnel.

Of course Bioenvironmental Engineering is a lot more then just testing water.
Every job in the Air Force has more to it then what people see. So reflect on your own job and think there is more to a job then collecting water, checking in a patient, digging a hole, checking identification at the gate and yes snapping a photo.