Engineers leave for Silver Flag
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Tech. Sgt. Christopher Ross loads his bags on the bus that will take him and a team of 25 other civil engineers to the Training Combat Center in Georgia and then to the Silver Flag exercise site in Florida. Silver Flag provides combat support training to active-duty units, the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Command, Army, Marine Corps and allied nations. More than 5,600 people are trained each year at the site. During the five and one-half day primary course, civil engineer, Services, and Personnel Support for Contingency Operations (PERSCO) personnel learn how to build and maintain bare-base operations at forward-deployed locations. Students hone a variety of combat and survival skills, such as repairing bomb-damaged runways, setting up base facilities. Sergeant Ross is an electrician with the 916th Civil Engineer Squadron.