512th civil engineers "break ground" at Silver Flag

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Jake Chappelle
  • 512th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  You're a civil engineer working nightshift on an air field while deployed to a remote location. While performing your duties, your power generator runs out of gas and the air field loses its lighting ... only moments before an aircraft prepares to land.

What would you do?

Scenarios like these are presented to Airmen from various career fields in an eight-day contingency-training course to hone their job skills and prepare them for unexplained occurrences in a real-world environment. This training, known as Silver Flag, is required before deploying.

This is why more than 50 reservists with the 512th Civil Engineer Squadron here, participated in the exercise at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, June 6-13. They trained with other civil engineer and services units from across the Air Force and Air Force Reserve Command.

"At Silver Flag, an environment is created where Airmen can make mistakes and learn from them, as opposed to paying the price on a real-world deployment," said Master Sgt. Larry Mullen, 512th CES power production superintendent. "The training helps reservists find ways to apply their skills and adapt to change under pressure in order to accomplish their tasks after things have gone wrong."

For Reserve Airmen, this training may prove more critical than for those who wear the uniform daily.

Reservists don't work here every day, said Senior Master Sgt. Edward Kulick, 512th CES chief operations. They don't get to work with equipment such as bulldozers, dump trucks, reverse osmosis water purification units and other heavy equipment because they aren't available at home station. They're provided at Silver Flag. Aside from annual tours and computer-based training, this is how reservists learn their jobs.

Another element that isn't always provided at home station is integration with the services and other civil engineer units. This can make applying teamwork an essential factor.

"Teamwork is important," said Sergeant Kulick. "It gives the individual a better understanding of how their job contributes to the entire operation. When an Airman deploys, they're with people from other units. They have to be able to adapt to each other's work ethic."

In order to maximize teamwork cohesion, participation is key, said Sergeant Kulick. Having the willingness to participate and learn hands on is beneficial. Working with other units and getting familiar with the equipment make it easier to get the job done, as opposed to just observing.

Silver Flag can be a difficult, yet good experience if solid effort is put in.

"The more active you are, the more you take home from the training," said Sergeant Kulick. "When you're physically involved in the training, it's easier to learn and apply your skills because of the hands-on aspect."

Even though hands-on training may only last a week and a day, the preparation process is a little longer.

"I was told we were going to Ramstein (AB) six months ago, when I joined the squadron," said Sergeant Kulick, a four-time Silver Flag participant. "I had to start from ground zero by coordinating the air, ground, and luggage transportation, the paperwork, and lodging. As the resource advisor, I also allocated the training funds."

Overall, the entire Silver Flag process gives some exposure to the deployment process.

"We get the experience of going through the paperwork, briefings, deploying to the field, and inprocessing back into the unit," said Sergeant Kulick. "Silver Flag is the best training we get before a deployment."