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File: aacep_03.txt
Page: 03
Total Pages: 59

accordion-like walls and when expanded reached 13 feet 7 inches by
       32 feet. However when contracted, each unit functioned as a
       shipping container  feet 8 inches by 13 feet to facilitate
      shipment. The Air Force used these units as billets' office space,
      exchanges, and storage areas. The expandable shelter container
       could be used for flightline shops' industrial shops, and power
       plant control rooms. Other common structures available for use in
       Operation Desert Shield included General Purpose Shelters. These
       hardwall structures served as gymnasiums, clubs, warehouses, and
       exchanges at the sites. One of the most interesting looking
       structures was the Harvest Bare Aircraft Maintenance Hangar' known
       as a clamshell hangar because of its unique fabric end closures.
       This seventy-six-foot structure was used for aircraft and vehicle
       maintenance' weapons loading' and even a base theater e Members of
       the 4449th Mobility Support Squadron, Holloman AFB, New Mexico'
       normally accompanied the hangar to assist in erecting it.
       Harvest Falcon basing sets also included shower/shave units
       consisting of a four-section shower element and four three-bowl
       washstands housed in a TEMPER tent. The washstands were on either
       side of the shower units and provided a compact total unit. An M-
       80 boiler unit provided hot water. The Harvest Falcon latrines
       consisted of three toilets and a urinal trough mounted above a 135
       gallon water tank and a 180-gallon waste tanks A pressured water
       system supplied water for flushing. The waste from these units was
       either pumped out by sewage trucks or distributed to an existing
       sewage system.
       These mobility basing sets have given the Air Force the
       capability to deploy to bases and establish flying operations
       within seventy-two hours' without establishing a permanent presence
       that a host government may not be willing to accept.
       Air Force Engineering and Services.
       Aerospace forces have projected combat air power worldwide,
       yet they operated from fixed bases; therefore, Air Force
       Engineering and Services (E & S) forces have an overlapping
       peacetime and wartime mission. The same personnel who operated and
       maintained bases in peacetime also must expand' recover' and
       restore them in wartime' although they may not perform their
       wartime duties at their home base. A portion of the force has been
       trained and prepared to move from one base to another. For Air
       Force E & S' this readiness to respond has been best provided
       through a mobile force that exercises extensively during peacetime.
       Since World War II' specially trained engineers have built'
       operated and maintained air bases around the world. They were
       also trained and equipped to recover bases in wartime. Air Force
       Civil Engineers go to war as Prime BEEF (Base Engineer Emergency
       Forces) teams and RED HORSE Civil Engineering squadrons. The Prime
       BEEF program was instituted in 1964 to provide the Air Force the
       mobile civil engineering capability required to support wartime and
       contingency operations. The Air Force had recognized that it was


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