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The 86th Civil Engineer Group hosted a training day Feb. 12 with its engineering technicians and explosive ordnance disposal Airmen teaching a core task to fellow comrades who are qualified in other CE skill sets.
Training days, or Prime BEEF days, allow Airmen to hone and develop their skills in different areas. During this day, the engineering technicians and EOD shared the knowledge they use every day on reading maps and compasses to teach land navigation to more than 190 Airmen across career fields.
“I am glad I could use my everyday skills to help out my CE brothers,” said Senior Airman Raymond Cage, 86th Civil Engineer Squadron training instructor. “I know that maybe the next Prime BEEF day anyone else in CE could be teaching me something, so I am doing my best to show them what I know.”
Land navigation is a task all civil engineer Airmen are required to understand and perform. One of the reasons is because, at any time, technology may fail them.
“With 12 AFSCs, we find ourselves spread out throughout the world,” said Tech. Sgt. Samuel Lewis, 786th Civil Engineer Squadron Prime BEEF training NCO in charge. “This also means that we will be outside the wire and we must be able to stand up a bare base. Our engineers must be able to navigate and have the foundation if (for whatever reason) they get lost or their technology breaks.”
Training Airmen is not a regular occurrence for Cage or other Airmen in the engineering technician career field team. On a normal day, an 86th CES engineering technician may go from maintaining floor plants to surveying and creating detailed maps for tactical use.
“We like to think we provide some of the best maps around,” said Senior Airman Dwayne Stewart, 86th CES instructor. “I like my job and the impact I have on the Ramstein and KMC mission.”
Stewart said he hopes the training and the engineer technician’s dedication to the mission allows a few more civil engineers to know the foundation of land navigation and understand how engineer technicians impact the mission.
