Holloman sends BEAR assets to Minot

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Siuta B. Ika
  • 49th Wing Public Affairs
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  To aid in the worst flood Minot Air Force Base, N.D. has ever experienced, the 49th Materiel Maintenance Group has sent its assets to fulfill the base's need for drinkable water.

Because the city of Minot, the water supplier for Minot AFB, is unable to support both the base's need for water and the city's need for water, eight of Holloman's Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Units, along with five water craftsmen, are being sent to provide water for the base.

The ROWPU is a portable, self-contained water treatment plant that can provide potable water from nearly any water source. Because of the flooding on Minot AFB, the water craftsmen plan to pull the water they need from the grounds of the base itself and after purification, distribute throughout the base.

"They need about 400,000 gallons of water a day," said Tech. Sgt. Trevor Szuch, 49th Materiel Maintenance Squadron assistant NCO in charge of water and fuels maintenance. "Each ROWPU produces 1,500 gallons per hour. We're taking eight units and will run each one 20 hours at a time, so we will provide as much as we can."

The team plans on being there for 14 days, but the ROWPUs will remain at Minot for as long as they are needed, explained Sergeant Szuch.

"We're relying on the (Civil Engineer) squadron over there because we're going to set up the units, train them on how to use the units and they're going to be the ones who operate and maintain them when we leave," he said.

Although they do many of the same things as CE personnel, Holloman's Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resources Base personnel have a very distinct mission, which allows them to support operations like this one at Minot AFB, explained Chief Master Sgt. David Martin, 49th MMG superintendent.

"Normally in a CE shop, you're maintaining that base and you have deployment requirements that you have to go down range and do," he said. "The difference in BEAR Base is that everything you do is about mobility. Our mission is to maintain all of our equipment and we always have to be ready to leave at a moment's notice because we could get a call at any time that we have to be in the middle east ,or in this case, Minot, North Dakota."

Besides having a distinct mission, BEAR Base's mission is also very unique, added Lt. Col. Robert Grainger, 49th MMS commander.

"Holloman is the only place where blue-suit personnel maintain war reserve material," he said. "Holloman's not the only place that has the capability to store war reserve material, we're the only unit that has Air Force personnel that can do the operations, the maintenance, as well as the experts that go out and set up the tent cities and all the individual equipment like the ROWPUs."

Although BEAR Base has deployed and prepared assets to deploy in support of Hurricane Katrina, Haiti, Chile and Japan's natural disaster relief missions, the operation at Minot AFB will be a little different, said Colonel Grainger.

"The troops will be staying on an Air Force Base, so it won't be field conditions like they would see down range where they would normally be needed," he said. "But whatever the commander there needs, we'll be there to support."

The ROWPUs also took a different route to Minot then it normally would have -- by flat-bed truck -- which was readily coordinated by the 49th Logistics Readiness Squadron, said Airman 1st Class Kyle Bender, 49th LRS freight rate clerk.

"LRS is pretty much handling all of the traffic management portions," she said. "We are coordinating all of the trucks that are coming in here to get loaded and sent to Minot. This is a really good (operation to be involved in) because you know you are helping people on the other end. I hope the support we are brining helps them out."

Sergeant Szuch echoes the 49th LRS's feelings.

"I'm proud to be here at BEAR Base and I'm ready to showcase what we have here at Holloman," he said. "(We're ready) to show the people at Minot that we are here to help them and hopefully get them back on their feet."