Nine Air Force civil engineer units contributed airmen to form a Prime BEEF team sent to help improve conditions at Contingency Operation Base Speicher, some 100 miles northwest of Baghdad. The COB is home to airmen, soldiers, sailors, and marines. The Prime BEEF team is working on everything from fixing lighting to constructing new buildings. Complicating the job is some inherited equipment that’s old and hard to maintain, not to mention scant supplies and little problems like getting the wrong parts.
Aircraft readiness will suffer if Congress does not approve some $1.5 billion worth of spare parts the Air Force requested in its annual Unfunded Priorities List, sent to Capitol Hill last week, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said.