The removal of 890 cubic yards of limestone from the navigation channel on the Mississippi River near Thebes, Ill., began Dec. 17, 2012. This is just one phase of the action the Corps is taking to improve the navigation channel for the river industry. Photo by Romanda Walker

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Story by Romanda Walker

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rock removal work is underway on the Mississippi River near Thebes, Ill.

Work began Dec. 15, upstream of the Thebes railroad bridge. Low water on the river has allowed rock removal to be accomplished using excavating equipment. The progress of the excavation reduces the need for marine blasting, although that remains one of the options for permanently improving the channel for low water periods.
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Leonard Sinfield, South District hydrogeologist, inspects well pipes stacked and ready for installation in a new well site on the Afghan National Army 9th Commando compound in Herat province, May 1. Photo by Dave Melancon

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Story by Dave Melancon

Water is a critical element for rebuilding Afghanistan’s economy and security, according Afghanistan Engineer District-South’s hydrogeologist, Leonard Sinfield.

“Without water, nothing can happen,” said Sinfield, one of about a dozen hydrogeologists working for U.S. federal, military, or non-government agencies in Afghanistan. Sinfield assesses water resources for the Afghan National Security Forces and U.S. forces facilities and installations.

“The Corps of Engineers looks to see if there are adequate groundwater resources because you cannot build a facility without water,” he said during a site visit to wells in Herat and Qala-i-Naw May 1 and 2. “We try to predict if there is good water or not.”
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Afghan utility workers prepare power lines at the Kajaki Dam to receive a new primary switch center. USACE Photo

A small contingent of soldiers play a huge role in improving and maintaining southern Afghanistan’s electric power infrastructure, primarily in Kandahar City.

These non-commissioned officers, deployed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ only active duty unit, the 249th Prime Power Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C., are all prime power specialists assigned to Task Force Breshna Barq. Established in the summer of 2010, the task force’s primary mission is bringing more and more reliable power to Kandahar City.

“These soldiers are responsible for electric power outside the wire,” said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Thomas Black, deputy commander of Task Force Breshna Barq. “Locally, four soldiers are based at the USACE-built and managed power stations in Kandahar city — two at the Bagh-e-Pul power station in western Kandahar and the others at the Shurandam Industrial Park power station.”

The initial task force mission was two-pronged: daily oversight and contract management for the installation and commissioning of two $40 million, 10-megawatt diesel-fueled power plants and the validation and assessment of about 40 kilometers of 20-kilovolt, overhead medium-voltage feeder lines. The electric lines distribute electricity to satisfy the industrial, business, agricultural and residential demands of one third of Kandahar City’s 480,000 residents.

- Editor’s note: Keep in mind that all the fuel for these plants has to be trucked into the country. -

“We are here to assist in the development of the Afghans’ outdated electrical distribution networks throughout the region so businesses can thrive and stimulate the economy,” said Staff. Sgt. Mario Sanchez.

Once the two power stations were commissioned, the task force members began overseeing the $10.3-million operations and maintenance contract for the power stations and developing and managing $7.2 million worth of “starter kit” tools and materials for DABS (Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat), the Afghan power utility company.

The starter kits include transformers, medium and low-voltage cable, distribution panels and tools. Also included are electrical test equipment, bucket trucks, and pole truck with a trailer. The kits will provide the Afghan utility with the resources it needs to accomplish immediate, lasting, effective and reliable repairs in Kandahar province so they meet the needs of their Afghan customers.

As the conditions and needs evolved, the prime power team took a mentoring role on as well.

“We work with the utility company to maintain the power systems and train their employees,” said Staff Sgt. Alex Brown. “They really do want to improve their way of life and are willing to work hard at it.”

Sgt. Joshua Strausbaugh agreed and added: “In the United States, there are many codes that must be followed when working with electricity to ensure safety. In Afghanistan, they don’t have these kinds of regulations. Fortunately, the utility employees picked up quickly on the whats and whys that we were trying to communicate to them.”

Safety is an essential component of all USACE projects, said Air Force Col. Benjamin Wham, South District commander. “Our first priority is keeping people safe. We must share that fundamental value with our Afghan partners.”

The team worked hard to accomplish their goal of safely getting more power production and effective distribution inside Kandahar, and were gratified by the appreciation they saw on the faces of Kandahar City residents, said Strausbaugh.

The team’s work has also taken them to the Kajaki Hydroelectric Plant, where they installed special protective switchgear. This relatively inexpensive installation increased the reliability of the transmission lines to Kandahar and Helmand provinces. According to Black, a new diesel plant providing an equal amount of power would have cost $24 million.

A private contracting company was willing to install the switchgear at a cost of $1.5 million with an eight-month lead time. Instead, three Prime Power soldiers, working with and mentoring the Afghan hydroelectric plant operators and electricians accomplished the installation in six weeks for less than $150,000.

“The $150,000 for the primary switch center was borne by USACE as it had the item in stock,” said British Air Force Wing Cmdr. Charlie Allan, Regional Command Southwest development plans officer. “But that said, there was also a benefit to the power house staff who were given on-the-job training by the prime power team during installation.”

“Language barriers and the idea that ‘doing things the old way was fine,’ were issues we overcame working with the Afghans,” said Brown. “But the challenge of doing something that would improve the life of Afghans was worth it.”

From initial conception to completion took just 39 days, but the impact on the electric system was immediate, said Allan. The switchgear protects the two Kajaki turbines where none existed before and prevents hard shut downs of the grid and mechanical deterioration of essential generators. This, in turn, leads to a far more stable power supply to the people of Helmand and Kandahar and far fewer power outages leading to longer electricity availability per day.

“Regardless of how costs are measured, having prime power specialists in Afghanistan is an exceptional value,” said Black. They supervise, operate, install and maintain electric power plant and associated systems and equipment—the 249th is a unique unit with unique and valuable capability.

“The 249th has a really critical mission here,” said Air Force Col. Benjamin Wham, South District commander. “Afghans need electricity to develop and sustain their economy. By helping the Afghan utility company improve and maintain its electric power generation, this small group of soldiers delivers huge benefits. The outgoing crew has done an outstanding job training Afghan technicians and working with our private contractor to ensure Kandahar City enjoys reliable, stable power. I salute the outstanding efforts of the 249th soldiers.”

This team of prime power non-commissioned officers will return to the United States soon and will be replaced by a new team.

“There is still much to do,” said Sanchez. “Substations powered by the Kajaki Dam will need upgrades to increase power throughout southern Afghanistan. The new team will continue the mentoring and contract oversight mission.”

Story by Karla Marshall
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A crane lifts community storm shelters into place at Duquesne Elementary School at Duenweg, Mo., July 15. Each shelter weighs more than 77,000 pounds and has a capacity to hold 34 people. U.S. Army photo/Tom Black

Tornadoes don’t get any stronger than the one that struck Joplin May 22.

A rare EF-5 storm, with winds exceeding 200 miles per hour, it churned for six miles through Joplin’s heart; killing 159 people, injuring 1,000 more, and destroying as much as a third of the city.

It was the deadliest tornado since modern record keeping began in 1950, according to the National Weather Service.

Seven weeks after the disaster, the devastation is still clear. But so is the progress of recovery. More than two-thirds of the estimated 1.87 million cubic yards of debris have been cleared – an amount larger than New York’s Central Park – and rebuilding has begun.

Under the National Response Framework, the guidelines that govern the federal government’s response to a disaster, the Federal Emergency Management Agency assigns different missions to the federal agencies best equipped to carry them out. After the Joplin tornado, FEMA assigned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers three missions: remove tornado debris from streets and home lots, build temporary replacements for critical public facilities like fire stations and schools, and build the sites for temporary housing communities to shelter more than 600 families whose homes were destroyed. Corps’ urban search and rescue staff also helped in the first days after the storm.

It came at a time when the Corps was also responding to a deadly spate of tornadoes in Alabama and flood fighting on America’s two largest river systems – with hurricane season still to come. Yet more than 300 Corps staff from around the country have traveled to Joplin to help with the recovery mission.

The Corps’ Kansas City District quickly set up a field office in Joplin, led by the district’s commander, Col. Anthony Hofmann. An Army Reserve officer and Texas businessman, Col. Daniel Patton, then volunteered to command the ongoing recovery operation.

In its first eight weeks, the Corps awarded more than $160 million in contracts – more than $150 million of it to local small businesses – for debris removal and construction work, built two temporary fire stations and started construction on two temporary housing sites and facilities for all eight public schools the tornado destroyed. All temporary school facilities are on schedule to open before school starts in Aug. 17. Families are expected to begin moving into the temporary communities by the end of July.

Heather Wright, a park ranger at the Corps’ Stanislaus River Parks in California, said she came to Joplin with only helping in mind.

“It’s so hard to do anything really impactful as an individual. But to join forces with others in the Corps, it helps me see that something really significant is being accomplished for people who are so desperately in need,” she said. “I wanted to serve the core need of the people here – to get help get them back on their feet.”

Lynn Jefferies, quality assurance representative, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, talks with a contractor while supervising debris clearing from a home that was destroyed after an EF-5 tornado struck Joplin, Mo., May 22. The debris removal mission includes clearing the right of way (10 feet from the curb) and right of entry homes, which the property owner or the city has given the Corps the right to go onto the property to clear debris. The Corps is responsible for clearing more than 1,400 properties. U.S. Army photo/Andrew Stamer

Debris removal is ongoing. As of July 19, more than 1.2 million of the estimated 1.87 million cubic yards of debris from homes and vegetation has been cleared. The Corps also continues to oversee the construction of temporary schools and mobile home sites. The mission is expected to continue into the fall.

“The Army Corps of Engineers is our hero,” said Dr. Debra Fort, principal, Irving Elementary School, which was destroyed by the tornado.

The Corps began its temporary public facilities mission to replace Irving and other schools, by using existing school campuses throughout the area – some in use and others that were vacant, such as the Washington campus that Irving schoolchildren will begin to attend classes at this fall.

These facilities consist of modular units, tent structures and storm shelters. Inside the modular facilities are classrooms, kitchens, labs and restrooms. This also includes all electrical and cables needed for today’s educational environment. Concrete is in place for gymnasium floors for those schools that don’t currently have such facilities.

“Irving Elementary is a family and one of our greatest concerns was that we would be split in different directions. We were relieved to learn we could remain as a family at Washington Education Center by bringing in modulars,” Fort said, who lives a few miles north of Joplin in Webb City, Mo., and has been the principal at Irving for 13 years.

“We are amazed at how quickly the modulars have been put in place. My teachers love them,” Fort said. “There is an excitement among the Irving families as we look toward the future. The Corps has given us hope and provided a reassurance to us that we can continue to educate our students at a high level.”

Fort has even quelled concerns of other principals whose schools were affected by letting them tour her campus and see for themselves the quality and workmanship that have gone into the facilities. Irving is 65 percent complete, and progress is made every day on all eight schools.

“The long-term mission of FEMA, the city of Joplin and the Corps is to leave the city in a condition that they can build upon after the Corps is gone,” Patton said. “We want to help create a vision for the citizens of Joplin that their community is going to be better and stronger in the end.”

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Story by Chris Gray
(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public affairs specialists Sara Goodeyon and Andrew Stamer also contributed to this report.)

This white golf ball like structure houses one of several radars that scan the skies for foreign military rockets and missiles at Thule Air Base, Greenland.

Within the Arctic Circle, among icebergs and glaciers, there is a fortress in Thule Air Base, Greenland. Inside, U.S. Air Force men and women have their eyes locked on computer radar screens. They have the immense responsibility of tracking foreign military rockets and missiles using large powerful radars. The moment a threat is detected they’re able to communicate directly with the White House.

This is one of several critical missions they are performing for America’s national security at Thule Air Base, supported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District. The base is home to hundreds of active-duty U.S. Air Force personnel and American, Danish and Greenlandic civilian contractors.

For decades, under extreme Arctic conditions, the Army Corps has constructed facilities for the base in support of the Air Force’s mission.

These facilities include aircraft runways, dormitories and medical centers. Most recently the Army Corps improved the base’s heating system by replacing outdated and inefficient boilers with energy-efficient exhaust gas boilers that will save the U.S. Air Force and taxpayers millions of dollars in fuel costs.

“Two Lee” – is a 254 square mile base located in a coastal valley in the northwestern corner of Greenland, within the Arctic Circle. The base is the United State’s northernmost military installation and is nestled between mountains and surrounded by icebergs and glaciers as far as the eye can see.

New Energy-Efficient Heating System

The base’s heating system boilers were in need of replacement because they were either no longer operational or operating very inefficiently. Recoverable heat from the system was being lost to the atmosphere and a considerable amount of fuel was being consumed to make up for this loss. The U.S. Air Force expressed to the Army Corps that it needed to replace and upgrade the boilers and make the heating system more energy efficient.

The Army Corps at the request of the U.S. Air Force has designed the system and is performing this work with Denmark-based contractor GC/MTHøjgaard. According to Stella Marco, project manager with the Army Corps’ New York District, the new system is expected to save the U.S. Air Force and tax payers $3 million annually in energy and fuel costs.

Before this project began, the base’s heating system consisted of three structures that included a building called the M-Plant that provided the base’s electricity and some steam and two steam plant facilities that provided the base’s steam for heating and hot water. All of these buildings used considerable fuel to run engines and boilers.

The Army Corps is removing the old boilers and installing four new exhaust gas boilers in the M-Plant which will practically consolidate all steam production under the M-Plant’s roof. To make room for these boilers an extension was built onto the M-Plant. The two steam plants will serve as an emergency backup heating source. This consolidation will save the base approximately 1.6 million gallons of fuel annually.

Two boilers were installed this past summer and two more will be installed next summer when it’s warmer again to perform construction.

The new exhaust gas boilers are connected to the M-Plant’s existing five 12-cylinder Cooper-Bessemer diesel engines that drive five large generators, each rated at 3,000 kilowatts. Each diesel runs on jet fuel (JP-8). These large engines produce an abundance of exhaust fumes at a temperature of 700-840 degrees Fahrenheit.

“The diesel engines that drive these generators are very much like those found in today’s vehicles only much larger and stationary,” said Robert Philbrick, Air Force Team Leader, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District.

“They convert fuel oil into mechanical energy to turn the electric generators, instead of turning vehicle wheels. The exhaust fumes from these engines are usually released directly to the atmosphere via an exhaust pipe,” said Philbrick.

“The new boilers the Army Corps is installing are energy efficient and economically feasible because they’re taking these exhaust fumes to create steam that can be used for heating and hot water throughout the base. The old boilers, due to their age and disrepair, wasted the fumes to the atmosphere,” added Philbrick.

The exhaust fumes are lead into the exhaust gas boilers by the exhaust pipes. An exhaust gas boiler is a large cylinder that is filled with water with tubes or pipes submerged in the water that run from end to end of the cylinder.

The fumes enter the boilers tubes and heat the water surrounding them converting the water into steam. When the exhaust fumes leave the boiler it’s about 330 degrees Fahrenheit. This steam is then piped to all of the base’s buildings to use for heating and hot water.

When the steam reaches a building it goes into a mechanical room where it enters a heat exchanger and the steam is used to create hot water. The hot water flows through the building’s radiators and heat the rooms.

Construction work in an Arctic Environment

Construction can be challenging due to severe weather and limited daylight, which requires the use of unique building techniques and fast paced construction.

Construction is limited to the summer and autumn months, from May through October, because there is sufficient sunlight and temperatures are bearable to work in. Temperatures can reach 40 degrees Fahrenheit and there is 24 hours of sunlight from June through August.

During the remainder of the year, there are severe storms and temperatures have dropped as low as minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit. There is also 24 hours of darkness from November through February.

It is also only during the summer months that shipments of building materials and fuel can be received via cargo. During the summer, Greenland’s iced shipping lanes can be broken up to allow supply ships into port. Greenland is locked in by ice nine months out of the year.

Shipped in building materials include prefabricated parts that enable workers to perform construction rapidly.

In addition to having a short construction window, workers have other challenges including a ground foundation comprised completely of ice.

Most of northern Greenland is covered with permafrost – permanently frozen ground – ranging from 6 to 1,600 feet in depth.

Because of permafrost, most structures have to be elevated including the M-Plant building extension. “If buildings are not constructed off of the ground, the heat from inside the building can melt the permafrost, making the ground unstable and causing buildings to sink,” said Paul Jalowski, Resident Engineer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District.

The buildings need to be elevated one meter from the ground. Buildings are elevated with the use of spread footing that goes down about 10 feet deep and concrete columns come up and support the floor system above the ground.

In the case of the M-Plant building extension, the building’s flooring was also insulated to prevent any heat from the building or its equipment, such as the boilers, from heating the permafrost.

Besides buildings, the base’s steam and electrical piping conduits also need to run above ground for the same reason.

Thule Air Base is in the throes of its winter storm season and severe temps can cause frostbite in less than a minute. The base is now benefiting from their more efficient heating system and fuel costs will no longer take a bite out of the U.S. Air Force budget.

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Story by JoAnne Castagna