Fixing What ISIS Broke

Airmen with the 1st Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group recently restored the Qayyarah West Airfield to help Iraqi forces battle ISIS in Mosul, undoing intense damage that the group inflicted on the airstrip. The unit, which is based at al Udeid AB, Qatar, arrived at the airfield about three months ago to survey the damage done by ISIS using explosives and excavators, according to a Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command-Operation Inherent Resolve release. The team used a rapid damage repair system and super kit to repair the airfield, which is now used by coalition aircraft such as C-130s to resupply Iraqi fighters. The project took about three weeks, the release states. “Moving up here and opening up this airfield will support the warfighter – get more beans and bullets on the ground; help the Iraqi army to bring the fight to ISIL,” Virginia Air National Guard MSgt. Reid Burns, the lead noncommissioned officer of the team, said in the release.