Two Air National Guard civil engineers came, saw, and conquered power problems at the Southeast Texas Regional Airport in Nederland, Tex. When SMSgt. Michelle Milliard and SSgt. Al Martinez of the 147th Civil Engineer Flight, Ellington Field, Tex., surveyed the airport, with trees and debris covering the field, they were told the most critical problems were an out-of-commission generator and downed power lines. Martinez had the generator fixed in five minutes. The airmen hooked up other, loaner generators, restoring airfield lighting, a range navigation system, the instrument landing system, and power to the fuel farm.
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…
