ROYAL AIR FORCE Mildenhall, England -- The 100th Civil Engineer Squadron pavement and construction equipment section ensures mission-readiness by routinely practicing base infrastructure repairs at Royal Air Force Mildenhall.
Pavements and construction equipment personnel, or “Dirt Boyz”, construct runways and airfields in remote global locations as well as maintain installation infrastructure, this includes the airfield.
In the event an emergency situation requires rapid repairs, the Dirt Boyz use radar kits to repair Team Mildenhall’s airfield rapidly.
These repairs require a range of heavy vehicle-operated equipment including asphalt burners, tractor trailers, tornado sweepers and dump trucks.
“Say a projectile hits the ground and creates a crater, we cut the ground, take it out, pick up the debris, fill the crater with material, rapidly set it and level it,” said Senior Airman Harold McIntryre, 100th CES pavement and construction equipment journeyman. “Rapid runway repair takes about an hour.”
In addition to training on RAF Mildenhall, the Dirt Boyz have undergone Joint Radar Training at RAF Lakenheath.
“Joining up with the 100th CES helped us gain additional experience on the types of machines we are going to be using for the process,” said Tech Sgt. Billy Morgan, 48th CES heavy equipment section chief.
“This readiness training ensures preparation for potential threats and ensures our capabilities island-wide.”