Malmstrom Airmen return home to families, friends

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Joshua Smoot
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Fifteen Airmen from the 341st Civil Engineer Squadron returned home July 22, after a six-month deployment to Southwest Asia. One more Airman is scheduled to return July 25.

The team deployed to U.S. Central Command to support the 577th Expeditionary Prime Base Engineer Emergency Forces Squadron. Once in country, the members of the team branched out to all locations in USCENTCOM's area of responsibility.

"The team did some great things to advance the Afghanistan retrograde," said Lt. Col. Walter Gibbins, 341st CES commander. "The team was busy reconstituting shelters and facilities and preparing to turn responsibility back to the Afghan people."

"We were pretty much the '911 engineers'," said 1st Lt. Rob Pukay-Martin, deployment officer in charge. "We filled the gap between RED HORSE, which is heavy construction, and main base civil engineering, which did minor construction."

The team developed a plan from ground zero to take down all large area shelters in Afghanistan. They worked hand-in-hand with the 82nd and 2nd Engineering Brigades, and the 19th Engineering Battalion to downsize military operations in Afghanistan. Their efforts enabled the recapturing of $80.4 million in assets.

They even completed "odd ball" jobs such as repairing high voltage lines that were on the ground, Pukay-Martin added.

"We uncharged it, repaired it, then put it back into service," Pukay-Martin said.

Airmen who returned home have already begun to make plans with their family during the two weeks for rest and recuperation.

"It's nice to be home," said MSgt. Jeffery House, 341st CES section chief of structural repair. "Talking to my wife everyday made the deployment easier."

House says he is going to take his family to visit Glacier National Park during his time off.

"The team represented the 341st CES and Malmstrom well by picking up numerous monthly and quarterly awards at the squadron and United States Air Forces Central level," Gibbins said. "We are proud of their accomplishments."