Slater said he believes most people come to the 249th because they enjoy helping others, and the diversity of those in the unit helps accomplish missions. “We have people from every walk of life, every MOS [military occupational specialty], and it’s amazing how much those skills help us,” he said. “I’m really proud that I get to work with some of the smartest individuals on a day-to-day basis; incredibly intelligent individuals that I can rely on to figure out a task, no matter how complicated it might be.”
Sgt. Tyler Bennett, also of Charlie Company, serves as a power station mechanic and also deployed to Romania on the mission to provide electrical power in support of the Aegis Missile Defense System construction site. That mission brings a special sense of professional pride to Bennett. “The fact that we were able to go from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to Romania with such a short deployment notice and be fully capable to provide power, that’s an amazing feat,” he said.
Maj. Jason Buursma and Sgt. 1st Class Jose Garciapena (right), members of USACE-Alaska District 62nd Engineer Detachment’s FEST-A Team, uncase their unit’s guidon during a relief-in-place ceremony in May in northern Afghanistan. Courtesy photo
Following the Romania mission last year, Bennett deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. “In Iraq, we provided a 1.6-megawatt-capable power plant for the coalition forces there, so a permanent power solution could be designed and implemented by contractors,” he said, and in Kuwait, “we provided personnel in missions to support Operation Inherent Resolve.”
Bennett also described some of the unit’s domestic activities, including assessing emergency backup power generation capabilities of Fairfax County fire stations and testing unit capabilities to provide backup power to parts of the Pentagon.
Regarding the power generation and disaster relief capabilities of Prime Power, Bennett said, “We go above and beyond every time.” Additionally, he emphasized the ability to help Soldiers and civilians whenever the need arises. “Being part of this unit, I can do that at any time, when people really need it.”
Alaska District FEST-A
The USACE Alaska District’s 62nd Engineer Detachment, Forward Engineering Support Team-Advanced (FEST-A), is deployed to Afghanistan, directly contributing to the national security mission.
“The team will be attached to the Transatlantic Afghanistan District while under operational control to U.S. Forces-Afghanistan,” said Maj. Jason Buursma, commander of the small, mobile, rapid-response unit. “As the only FEST-A supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan, the team will receive its missions directly from the senior engineer officer in theater and work on missions throughout the country.”
Sgt. 1st Class Jose Garciapena, noncommissioned officer in charge (NCOIC), described the team as comprising of two military personnel – one officer, one NCOIC – and six USACE civilian experts, including structural, civil, mechanical, electrical, and environmental engineers, and a cartographer.
“We try not to wait until we get the mission to assemble the team,” Garciapena said. “The goal is to have personnel identified prior to being called up to any deployment or any mission. So we’re always building a pool of primary and alternate [personnel].”
“We’re providing engineer data to allow them to make the best decision on relocating troops, using all the assets in Afghanistan to support national security and to support the president’s strategy.”
Buursma added, “I think Sgt. Garciapena likes to call us the ‘Special Forces of USACE.’ We are a small team, we’re flexible [and] we’re tailorable based on mission requirements. We can go anywhere in the world and take on just about any engineer mission.”
The team’s mission is primarily working on 30 percent base camp design projects, infrastructure, and site assessments, Buursma explained, as well as project cost estimates in support of the ongoing transition of base changing and realignment across theater. “Often the units in Afghanistan don’t have the engineering expertise to come up with these plans and designs, so that’s where we come in,” he said. “We don’t do 100 percent design work – every electrical fixture, the number of nails – but we’re doing a general, initial design that can be approved, budgeted, and contracted.
“We’re providing engineer data to allow them to make the best decision on relocating troops, using all the assets in Afghanistan to support national security and to support the president’s strategy.”