163d RW Civil Engineers Deploy to Guantanamo Bay Cuba

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Paul Duquette
  • 163d Reconnaissance Wing
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  Five members of the 163d Reconnaissance Wing's (RW) Civil Engineering Squadron deployed to McCalla Airfield, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in early September to work on a construction project with the 474th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron.

Three of the five 163d RW members, Master Sgt. Earl Rankin, Tech. Sgt. Paul Gomez and Staff Sgt. John Barber, recently returned from the deployment. Still in country, and slated to return sometime in March, are Wing members Master Sgt. Moses Alvarado and Tech. Sgt. Karl Childress.

The 474th is comprised of Air National Guardsmen from across the country to include Indiana's 122nd Fighter Wing, Wisconsin's 128th Air Refueling Wing, Vermont's 158th Fighter Wing, Ohio's 150th Fighter Wing and California's 163d Reconnaissance Wing.

The project was to construct a $10.2 million dollar Expeditionary Legal Complex. Here, the U.S. Office of Military Commissions will start the process of prosecuting enemy combatants detained in the Global War on Terror. The original completion date of the project was slated for March, 2008, but is now scheduled for mid February.

"One of the people I give a lot of credit to is one of our traditional guardsman, Tech. Sgt. Paul Gomez," said Sergeant Rankin, "He had prior experience working on this kind of prefabricated building, so he was a huge contributor to getting the overall project closer to completion."

"In my shop, there were three other master sergeants and I did not have the most seniority, so while I was there I acted as a heavy equipment operator," said Sergeant Rankin. "Being just an operator gave me a little more time to enjoy myself in country." 

"We (474th) were able to knock out some of the daily tasks quicker then expected," said Heavy Equipment Branch Chief Sergeant Rankin, "As a result, they were able send some members home earlier"