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FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Mother Nature is the Airman who
completes this team – from the first day the Tanana River is
frozen enough to walk on, Airmen from the 354th Civil
Engineer Squadron range maintenance shop drill holes, pump
water and let it freeze, layer after layer.
It's a
constant game of hop scotch across sand bars, islands,
sloughs, creeks and Goliath spans of the main river to build
an ice bridge connecting civilization to the Blair Lakes
Bomb Range 33 miles away through the wilderness.
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Tyler Dray, a range maintenance structures journeyman and Senior Airman Jerry Mitchell, a heavy equipment operator, both assigned to the 354th Civil Engineer Squadron, use an ice auger while constructing a ice bridge in Fairbanks, Alaska, Nov. 20, 2014. The bridge must be constructed every other year to provide access to the $20 million range complex used to train pilots from around the world during Red Flag-Alaska exercises. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Shawn Nickel) |
“We don't always know what we have for ice, so
it's a little sketchy going across at first,”
said Shawn Kelly, the 354th CES range
maintenance foreman. “Our first day out we had
about 14 inches of ice all the way across. Our
goal is to end up with five feet of ice, but
after two weeks we were running between 24 and
30 inches.”
Kelly said the challenges
really come when the mercury dips to negative 50
degrees, but the advantages make up for it.
“Ice is easy
to make when it's that cold, but keeping pumps
and other equipment running or started is
extremely tough,” he said. “The opposite
challenge is when it's seven degrees like it has
been and we have a flurry, the water doesn't
freeze well and the snow insulates its warmth.”
To overcome the overwhelming cold on the
engines and machinery, they are started prior to
leaving Eielson, more than 30 miles away, and
run the entire day. After being in the damp
environment, air filters are cleaned daily and
everything is lubricated using high-grade
grease.
Second to the fluctuating
freezing temperatures, few hours of daylight are
often accompanied by ice fog, which can make
visibility next to nothing. There are no
landmarks on the open ice to keep track of the
trail or each other, so reflective “refrigerator
suits” keep these Airmen warm and offer
visibility, but a simple trick can guide them
home.
“Flags. Simple orange flag where we
drill holes mark the path,” said the long time
Iceman engineer. “It can be clear as day or
pitch dark with a great view of the Northern
Lights one minute then pea soup the next.
Getting lost out here could mean not making it
home at all.”
The mixed unit of civilians
and enlisted Airmen is one of the only teams
able to build an ice bridge. Seasoned retired
enlisted members who have stayed in Alaska offer
knowledge to the newer service members who often
endure the process for the first time. At most,
enlisted members will build three bridges in
their Interior Alaska tour.
“There are so
many tricks, tips and processes to get this job
done safely – these guys definitely know what's
going on,” said Senior Airmen Tyler Dray, a
354th CES range maintenance structures
journeyman. “Even if it's something they haven't
seen before or we have a suggestion, we all put
our heads together to get it done and improve
processes.”
Because building the bridge
is so unconventional, equipment is sometimes
fashioned or improved by hand to overcome the
Arctic environment. This year, sleds to carry
pumps and augers across chunk ice that is miles
wide, and drags to flatten snow and compact ice
when the weather is too warm, were a chip off
the block of what has been developed by range
maintenance since 1992.
“One of the best
parts of this job is being out here, where
hardly anyone will ever go, and getting to build
something that will have a huge impact,” Dray
said. “Two years of fuel alone would cost a
fortune to helicopter [supplies and equipment]
in to the range. This bridge hardly costs
anything and doesn't affect the environment
either.”
Overall, more than 190,000
gallons of fuel, thousands of cubic yards of
lumber and other heavy materials will be
delivered, which otherwise couldn't have been
moved by helicopter. The bridge has to be
constructed every other year to provide access
to the nearly $20 million range complex used to
train pilots from around the world during RED
FLAG-Alaska exercises.
A water use permit
is obtained from the state and no foreign
materials are used during the construction, so
as the weather warms long after the New Year,
time washes away any tractor marks and snow
berms used to form the ice.
“When we are
on land we leave a layer of snow so we can
reduce impact on soil and foliage, but when
spring comes and the ice melts, the entire
process is washed down the river,” said Kelly.
“Next time we start again the river will be all
different, the island's trees will be bigger and
the weather will bring all new challenges.”
More photos available below
By U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Shawn Nickel
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
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