Photo caption:  More than 60 members of the 177th Fighter Wing’s Civil Engineering Squadron and Services Flight boarded a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft and departed yesterday for an intensive, combat readiness exercise known as Silver Flag at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.

The one-week exercise, which is a recurring training requirement for Civil Engineering Squadron and Services Flight personnel every 45 months, is designed to prepare them for world-wide deployment into hostile areas lacking the necessary facilities or infrastructure to support Air Force operations.   “This is the closest training to a real-world scenario civil engineering airmen can get without actually going to war,” said Lt. Col. John Elwood, commander, 177th Civil Engineering Squadron.
Each group participating in the Silver Flag exercise is comprised of members from diverse units and makes the exercise even more realistic.  “It is a great learning exercise,” stated 2nd Lt. Rich DeFeo, Commander, 177th Services Flight.  “It forces you to learn to work with people you don’t know which is a realistic possibility when you deploy somewhere.”
The first part of the training consists of classroom exercises broken down by skill sets.  Civil Engineering and Food Services members include carpenters, plumbers, electricians, heating and cooling specialists, heavy equipment operators, power generation specialists, cooks, mortuary affairs specialists, and others.  This is followed by a hands-on exercise that involves simulated attacks, a forced relocation to a remote area, and airfield recovery operations.