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Air Force CE caps off tour with Kadena visit

  • Published
  • By Col. Brian Duffy
  • 18th Civil Engineer Group commander
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Maj. Gen. Timothy A. Byers, Air Force Civil Engineer, wrapped up a five-base Pacific Air Forces tour recently with a capstone visit at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

Accompanied by Chief Master Sgt. Pat Abbot, Office of the Civil Engineer, chief of enlisted matters, the pair got a first-hand view of the living, working and training conditions the men and women of Team Kadena are operating in.

Byers is responsible for installation support functions at 166 Air Force bases and oversees an annual budget of $12 billion. He averages two base visits a month for first-hand looks at living and working conditions at Air Force bases worldwide.

"I try to make annual trips to PACAF to not only check on civil engineers, but also to see the living and working conditions of all Air Force personnel," he said. "These visits allow me to assess the condition of the bases and facilities, and help me prioritize where we need to invest our limited resources, as well as determining which military construction projects we need to fund."

Having served previously as the headquarters PACAF and headquarters Air Combat Command Civil Engineer, Byers understands well the risk being taken in facility and infrastructure funding so the Air Force can support other recapitalization efforts.

"Our goal was to focus the visit on the strategic level issues being worked at Kadena ... chief among them are recapitalizing our aging housing inventory; construction efforts on the runways which underpin Kadena's role as 'Keystone of the Pacific;' and current mission military construction needs such as our proposed $34-million, 45,000-square-foot expansion to and 65,000-square-foot renovation of the Risner Fitness Center," said Mark Wheeler, 18th Civil Engineer Group deputy commander.

During the visit, representatives from the 18th Force Support Squadron provided an overview of patron use rates at Kadena's Fitness Center, which exceed 88,000 visitors each month, and followed with a tour which highlighted the current space constraints and the effect on levels of service provided.

The 18th Civil Engineer Squadron provided an overview of the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning shop's Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century initiative, which invested $16 million in funding in 43 state-of-the-art split-unit chiller systems, extending service life 300 percent and saving over $60 million in lifetime energy and replacement costs. Additionally, they described their new automatic meter reading capability, an effort recently featured in Kadena news.

"PACAF is out in front in energy conservation efforts," said Byers. "Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, has done a great job implementing a base-wide energy metering program. These smart meters track energy consumption data and relay the data wirelessly to a central control station, allowing them to compare power consumption throughout the base. This awareness of facility performance allows facility managers to focus efforts on the highest energy-consuming facilities. They also encourage facility users to make energy-conscious decisions every day, like turning off lights and monitors."

Additionally, the 18th Civil Engineer Group provided an overview of military family housing on Okinawa, including the ongoing $650 million in improvements being conducted as part of the Post Acquisition Improvement Program at more than 3,700 homes and how the team works closely with other service leadership on Okinawa to enact housing policy and plan projects. Joining the housing briefing were senior representatives from the Office of the Commanding General, Marine Corps Base Camp Butler, headquartered at Camp Foster, who echoed the strong partnership between the Air Force and Marine Corps on matters related to housing.

The visit continued with an overview by the 718th Civil Engineer Squadron of the $17 million in ongoing improvements to Kadena's airfield; a stop at one of Kadena's Furnishings Management Office warehouses which provides more than 75,000 appliances and furniture items to more than 12,000 accompanied and unaccompanied personnel on Okinawa; and a tour of homes before and after PAIP renovations. The visit concluded with a stop at PACAF's Silver Flag training site, which annually trains more than 1,200 students from various Air Force installations throughout PACAF in expeditionary skills.

Throughout the visit, Byers and Abbott met with Airmen and civilians, both American and Okinawan, at all levels of the 18th Civil Engineer Group and 554th RED HORSE Squadron Detachment 1, and hosted an "Engineer Call" to provide Kadena's engineers an update on matters affecting installation management, deployment operations and tempo, and officer and enlisted career field-specific topics.

"The civil engineers in PACAF are constantly looking for opportunities to be more efficient and effective," Byers said. "I am so proud of the PACAF engineers."