Winged Beaver gnaws on civil engineer project in Canada

Published July 9, 2007
By SMSgt Marcus W Falleaf
147th Fighter Wing

MOOSEJAW, Saskatchewan -- Thirty-three members of the 147th Fighter Wing's Civil Engineer Squadron (CES) spent much of Father's Day en route to Canada as part of a Deployment for Training called Exercise Winged Beaver.

The first of three civil engineer units participating in the exercise, the 147th FW, Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, will be followed by the 149th CES, San Antonio, Texas, and the 144th CES, Fresno, Calif. Each squadron will deploy for two weeks with the exercise terminating in late July.

"This is an excellent opportunity to train alongside our allies," said Maj. Matthew Allison, 147th CES commander.

Wasting no time after a short night's sleep and receiving their in-brief, CES members began the project of renovating the Red Knight Arena, a recreational ice rink that is home to the base hockey team. Residents of Moose Jaw also utilize the arena for youth hockey leagues, said Canadian Forces Master Corporal Mark Pollock, wing transportation noncommissioned for the Canadian base.

Each member of the 147th CES is specially trained to provide support in some aspect of tearing out walls, reviewing blueprints, completing preliminary structural analysis or tracing electrical lines. This crew of assorted ranks, genders, skills and countries are all working toward a common goal.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding, the purpose of these training exercises is to improve the readiness of North American Aerospace Defense engineer forces and to improve interaction among U.S. and Canadian forces that are to operate in support of North American Air Defense activities.

For the next two weeks, "Houston, we have no problem!"

"The weather here is awesome," said Senior Master Sgt. Michelle Milliard, who arrived in Moose Jaw a couple days earlier to receive the main body.