CES participates in annual heavy equipment training

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Devin Long
  • 445th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Members of the 445th Civil Engineer Squadron completed a portion of their annual heavy equipment operation training at the 88th Air Base Wing CES building July 13, 2014.

Every year, each member of the 445 CES must recertify in safe heavy equipment operation to remain knowledgeable in their career field, said Senior Airman Kyle Adkins, a heavy equipment operator with the 445 CES.

The 445 CES is responsible for maintaining runways and air bases. Their mission requires the use of heavy equipment such as cranes, excavators and bulldozers, said Adkins.

Part of the training for recertification includes working with a dump truck and loader, said Adkins, a trainer for the course. It starts with familiarizing each member with the operation of each vehicle along with a physical demonstration. After that each trainee takes a turn operating the vehicle with the trainer standing by to assist. The next part is the written test portion.

"In two days you can get a lot accomplished," said Adkins, who has spent the entire drill weekend teaching the course. "I feel it's enough training."

In the case of deployment, many members who are not heavy equipment operators are also trained, said Airman 1st Class Jon Ernst, an electrical technician with the 445 CES and trainee of the course. Any member of the 445th CES knows how to operate basic heavy equipment if they were to deploy.

Many of the members feel the training is a nice change of pace from the usual grind.

"Usually you have to do computer based training or something like that and it's boring," said Ernst. "It's nice to get out and do this"

The July 12-13 drill weekend was spent entirely on teaching trainees the dump truck and loader. After completing this training, they must log 40 hours per vehicle in order to be certified, said Adkins.