Illinois, Ohio Guard Teams Survey Polish Bases with USAFE

The expeditionary site planning survey (ESS) team included members from the Illinois Air National Guard's 126th Air Refueling Wing and 182nd Airlift Wing as well as a contingency airfield pavement evaluation team from the 200th Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer (REDHORSE), Ohio Air National Guard.

"This is the first time that anyone in the directorate can remember National Guard members augmenting the mission," said Maj. Jason Chisolm, USAFE expeditionary site plan survey chief.

An expeditionary site planning survey consists of a team that travels across Europe, looking at airbases important to the United States and NATO and collecting data to determine their capabilities, runway strength and equipment to support aircraft and forces.

The survey information is collected in a database to streamline planning for future exercises or contingency operations. This allows senior leaders and planners to know what capabilities are available to execute missions in the future.

"This directly supports the ACE [Agile Combat Employment] concept," said Chisolm. "This gives us additional locations and airfields to rapidly distribute and protect our assets."

The information is shared not only with senior U.S. leaders, planners and embassy personnel, but also with the Polish Ministry of Defense.

Some of the areas considered were security, intelligence, services, ammunition storage, maintenance capabilities, airfield management, air traffic control and aerial port considerations.

A team within the ESS checks the runways, taxiways and aprons for strength to determine the size and frequency an aircraft can land on a runway. The runway check was done by the 200th REDHORSE CAPE team. The process consisted of drilling small holes into the concrete to verify the runway's thickness and the compactness of the dirt beneath it.

The team also performed a visual inspection of the concrete and asphalt sections.
"Depending on the types of distress I find," said Capt. Johnathan Whitesell of the 200th REDHORSE CAPE team, "I can recommend repairs or limit aircraft in certain spots."

For the Illinois National Guardsmen, it was a chance to work with their state partners, the Republic of Poland. Illinois has been a state partner with Poland for more than 30 years. The State Partnership Program was originally designed to help European countries emerge from behind the Iron Curtain. Now, 50% of the world's countries are paired with the National Guard of each U.S. state and territory.

"Working with my Polish counterparts was an amazing experience, especially because the Illinois Air National Guard is paired with Poland through the State Partnership Program," said Master Sgt. Tasia Clark, 126th Force Support Squadron, services. "I am extremely grateful to have been a part of this expedition and hope it will not be my last one."

Chisolm hopes there will be more of these cooperative endeavors between USAFE and the Air National Guard.