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.
The Department of the Air Force wants to launch a construction boom with its fiscal 2027 budget, more than doubling its request over 2026, according to budget documents.