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149th Civil Engineers Tackle Projects In Armenia

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  • 149th Civil Engineers Tackle Projects In Armenia

    149TH CIVIL ENGINEERS TACKLE PROJECTS IN ARMENIA

    Blackanthem Military News
    Sept 17 2009

    Members of the 149th Civil Engineer Squadron erect an interior wall
    for an office in the Expeditionary Medical Support (EMEDS) building, on
    the grounds of the Military Central Hospital in Yerevan, Armenia. The
    Texas Air National Guard civil engineers deployed from San Antonio,
    Texas, to Yerevan to work on security cooperation initiatives and
    humanitarian assistance projects during the first two weeks of
    August 2009. The EMEDS building will accommodate medical equipment,
    supplies, tents and personnel to facilitate Armenian response to
    natural disasters and wartime contingencies. (Texas Military Forces
    photo by Tech. Sgt. Rene Castillo)

    YEREVAN, Armenia - The 149th Fighter Wing Civil Engineer Squadron
    can now add Armenia to the list of countries around the world where
    it has deployed.

    At the beginning of August, 45 of the 149th civil engineers (CEs)
    - plus two medical and two public affairs personnel from the wing -
    flew here from San Antonio, Texas, with some basic tools and supplies
    to tackle a handful of security cooperation and humanitarian assistance
    projects.

    "These projects not only provide excellent opportunities for our CEs to
    practice their skills but also offer them experience in deploying to
    a far-away, developing country and interacting with its people," said
    Lt. Col. Susan Vaneau, squadron commander. "They have to learn how to
    deal with situations when tools or supplies are not readily available."

    Armenia, nestled in the south of the Caucasus Mountains, and whose
    several immediate neighbors include Turkey and Iran, is an ancient
    country but has been dominated by other countries for centuries. Only
    since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 has a truly independent
    Armenia re-emerged.

    With every step toward accomplishing a project here, the CEs
    encountered a challenge, the chief among them being a language with
    which none of them were familiar and having at each project site, no
    more than one interpreter, who might not always be available. Another
    challenge was coordination of the bus transportation, arranged through
    the Ministry of Defense, between the job sites and to and from the
    Military Aviation Institute, where the Texans were billeted. Still
    another challenge was obtaining necessary parts and tools when other
    challenges arose at the project sites. "Use your imagination" and
    "Be flexible" quickly became slogans for the deployment.

    The primary project was to continue work on the Expeditionary
    Medical Support (EMEDS) building on the grounds of the Military
    Central Hospital here. The 25 by 100-foot building dedicated to
    housing medical equipment, supplies and tents that Armenian military
    medical personnel who comprise the EMEDS team will use to provide
    rapid response to natural disasters or military contingencies.

    "We needed a separate space to store our EMEDS equipment," explained
    Maj. (Dr.) Ara Ghazaryan. A weapons of mass destruction expert and a
    physician at the hospital, he became involved in the project because
    of his fluency in English. He noted that the EMEDS team was already
    formed and equipment was temporarily stored elsewhere. "Our government
    and yours made an agreement to build the building for us."

    "Dr. G," as he was fondly addressed by the Texas National Guard Airmen,
    also had also served as a liason with the Kansas National Guardsmen
    who laid the concrete pad and erected the basic building during two
    weeks before the Texans arrived.

    "It all started in 2007 when Armenia wanted to develop its own
    Expeditionary Medical Support system," said U.S. Army Maj. Michael
    McCullough, chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation at the
    U.S. Embassy in Armenia. "We began looking at 'mobility' [deployable
    CEs] to build the facility."

    Major McCullough said the EMEDS package would boost the Armenian
    military's ability to contribute to global operations.

    "The facility is the first step in the certification process for
    deployment," he continued, adding that the EMEDS team, whose officers
    and noncommissioned officers have received training in the United
    States, would be deployable in 2010. "And because Armenia is in
    a seismic zone [susceptible to earthquakes], the EMEDS will be a
    national asset for internal emergencies as well."

    The 149th CEs installed insulation and weather proofing, provided
    the electrical wiring for air conditioning units and light fixtures
    along with switches and outlets, and built a two-room office in the
    back of the building. The engineers also had to make several trips
    to the embassy to pick up materials.

    Captain Martinez, who led approximately half the CEs in completing
    the EMEDS project, said, "It was good [training] for them to go to
    a place, have to decide what they needed and determine how to get it."

    The CEs got the job done, and on Aug. 11, they connected the EMEDS
    building's electricity and "fired it up" for Dr. G and several
    representatives from the Armenian Ministry of Defense.

    "The CEs did very good work," said Dr. Ghazaryan. "I watched
    them.... They don't skip anything."

    Dr. Ghazaryan added that once the EMEDS equipment is formally accepted,
    it will be moved to the building.

    Meanwhile, other 149th CEs were involved in humanitarian assistance
    projects. Major McCullough said these projects addressed specific
    needs identified in the immediate area. "They are a great tie-in to
    developing the EMEDS," he said.

    St. Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center was the site of one of the
    projects, and an obvious tie-in to Armenia's ability to respond to
    large-scale emergencies. Built in 1977, the 800-bed multi-service
    hospital was named after Armenia's patron saint, who is credited
    for Armenia becoming the world's first officially Christian
    country. St. Grigor's and three other hospitals established the
    medical system for the entire country. The CEs' task was to help
    with the rehabilitation of three classrooms/conference rooms for the
    hospital's Regional Training Center.

    A number of nurses from St. Grigor's studied emergency medicine in the
    United States, according to Nellie Tedevosyan, chief of the hospital's
    international affairs and information department.

    "Now they teach medical students emergency medicine in the pre-hospital
    and hospital stages at the center," said Mrs. Tedevosyan, who also
    served as interpreter at the site.

    The CEs' original objectives included replacing the flooring, but
    after tearing up the old flooring - about 160 square meters -- they
    realized extensive electrical work had to be accomplished before
    further improvements could be made.

    "This entailed routing the plaster walls to run the electrical wire for
    the ceiling lights, wall-mounted lamps, light switches and electrical
    outlets," said Master Sgt. John Montoya, noncommissioned officer
    in charge of the task. "The obstacles were the language barrier and
    supplies and tools needed, but the team overcame all the obstacles
    and proceeded on completing the project."

    Another project site was Shengavit's Region No. 301 Nursery. What
    Americans would call a children's day care center, the nursery
    serves about 150 children between 18 months and 6-1/2 years of
    age. It includes learning rooms, recreation rooms, nap rooms,
    child-scaled bathrooms, a kitchen and eating areas, and even a laundry
    room. Nelly Mixailovna, the principal, said through her interpreter
    that the two-story concrete masonry structure was built in 1983. But
    Capt. Vincent Salazar, project officer for this site, said the plumbing
    and wiring appeared much older or at least reflected older workmanship.

    Captain Salazar noted that the original task was to complete
    rehabilitation of five rooms on the first floor. However, one thing
    soon led to another. Installation of new light fixtures required new
    wiring, and the new wiring required a new distribution box.

    Master Sgt. David Lewis pointed out some places where old, bare wiring
    had been strung along the wall.

    "These things are clearly unsafe for kids," Sergeant Lewis said. "If
    a child touches an exposed wire...." He left the sentence uncompleted
    and just shook his head.

    The CEs had to put off painting the walls until they completed the
    electrical work, patched walls - even reinforcing one wall panel to
    keep it from falling - replaced some of the woodwork, and smoothed
    down and wiped off the walls.

    "They never have everything they need, but when they're finished,
    it will be beautiful," said Sergeant Lewis. "They never cease to
    amaze me."

    Other CEs repaired or replaced plumbing fixtures, fixed a sink counter
    and stopped a leak from a tub.

    "When we walked in, there were hazardous electrical conditions, and
    there were two restrooms with no running water, and three toilets
    that were inoperable," Captain Salazar added. "We left the place a
    lot safer than when we found it.

    "The occupants expressed their gratitude," he continued. "When we
    arrived they were staring at us; before we left, they were smiling
    at us."

    A last site of the CEs' projects was the Military Aviation Institute,
    which the Texans called home for most of two weeks. Armenia's center
    for training its future pilots and signal corpsmen, the austere, gated
    campus is located on Yerevan's southeast side. Most of the CEs slept in
    one of three open bays, using part of a building where Armenian cadets
    also billeted. A brisk walk around the main building took them to the
    dining facility, where they ate breakfast and supper, which always
    consisted of an assortment of cheese, cold-cuts and fresh fruit, along
    with Armenian dishes whose ingredients they couldn't always identify.

    Master Sgt. William Strodtman led the work detail to install two large
    air conditioning units atop the simulator room in the institute's main
    building. Again the straight-forward tasking proved more complicated
    when they had to find brackets and came up against an unexpectedly
    thick, stubborn wall.

    "It took hours just to drill through the wall," said Sergeant
    Strodtman. "But we got the job done."

    As work wrapped up on all the projects, the work to redeploy
    began. Despite frustrations and inconveniences to go with arduous work,
    there was one day of recreation and a few brief evening excursions
    to ensure happy memories of the deployment. Most of the CEs knew it
    was unlikely they would ever return to Armenia. They hoped someone
    else would pick up where they left off.

    "Even though we had difficult challenges, all the teams considered all
    the options and thought outside the box," said Captain Martinez. "They
    not only successfully completed the mission and their training,
    but also bonded together as a squadron."
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