Some 15 Air Force civil engineers comprise a public works team supporting Army units at three different locations in Iraq. They technically are part of Det. 16, 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron at Balad AB, Iraq. Three of these airmen serve as the Power and Oil Infrastructure Team, currently working out of Kirkuk, where they assist Iraqis who run refineries and power plants and oversee some $32 million in construction projects in an area that is responsible for approximately 20 percent of Iraq’s oil production.
A dozen and a half Air Force Reservists formally transferred to the Space Force on July 15, becoming the new service’s first 18 part-time Guardians. The move is the culmination of more than two and a half years of work to create a system unlike any other military branch.