Air Force Magazine – July-August 2019

JULY/AUGUST  AIRFORCEMAG.COM   

Force’s E-4 nuclear command, control, and communications
platform managed by STRATCOM.
“ings aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination,
but the things that we need are operational,” Hammond said.
Many groups were forced out of their oces. e 55th Wing
headquarters now occupies a low-slung, brown-brick confer-
ence center. Other units are sharing previously abandoned
buildings, including a former library.
Doubling up employees in crowded buildings stresses the
surviving facilities. More electronics, people, and working
hours translates to more power, heating, and cooling. Groups
have to vie for limited access to secure spaces.
“We’ve been trying to put additional resources in there, but
we’ve come to a limitation,” said Mo Krishna, a former 55th
Operations Group commander who now helps lead ood
recovery as a civilian. “Not as many people can do not as
much work anymore because of a limitation on ... [Sensitive
Compartmented Information Facilities] space, computers,
and the HVAC.”
To ease the crowding, some airmen were sent to bases in
Japan and the UK that support the RC-135. Others are traveling
to depot facilities in Greenville, Texas.
But sending instructors and students away from Outt isn’t
sustainable in the long run, Hansen said. e moves separate
families and run up costs.
More than 100 mission crew students will spend six weeks
away from home for training, then deploy for up to six months,
Hansen said. It’s worse for the instructors: ey face up to six
months away from their families in addition to operational
deployments.
“You can meet it today, but the question is, are you going
to have anybody left in the future to continue meeting this
tasking?” Krishna said. “is is not even a marathon or an
ultramarathon, this is just running for your life. is is what
the wing’s been doing for a very long time.”
Rebuilding Outt is currently expected to cost more than
$650 million. at follows $20 million from a tornado in 2017
and another ood that rose to within 50 feet of the base’s
runway in 2011.
is time, a heavy winter snowfall quickly melted and joined
with additional rainfall to overpower levees and sandbags near
the base. No one at Outt was hurt or killed.
“It was amazing how fast it got wet and warm when we had,

what, like 18 inches of snow on the ground,” Krishna said. “e

ground was solid, frozen, and then all of a sudden, all the water

came. e rain came, the heat came, the melt came.”

Outt was the second Air Force base hit by powerful weather

events between October 2018 and March 2019, after Category 5

Hurricane Michael plowed through Tyndall AFB, Fla., last fall.

Having a counterpart in disaster proved useful to Nebraskans,

who looked to Tyndall’s experience and proven best practices

for storm cleanup, mold prevention and remediation, and

setting up a recovery oce.

Outt ocials have drawn up blueprints for how they intend

to invest its share of $1.7 billion in congressionally approved

disaster-relief funds for Air Force bases. A program manage-

ment oce will oversee that eort, partially modeled on its

counterpart at Tyndall.

AFTER THE FLOOD

e response was swift, but lengthy. Within 72 hours of the

ood, the Air Force, along with government services contractor

Dyncorp, were already starting recovery eorts. Tyndall oered

initial advice: “Cut the drywall, get things opened up, get the

fans in there, and move forward and start the assessment pro-

cess of the 44 [occupied] buildings that were aected down in

the southeast quadrant,” recalled Outt Recovery Operations

Center Director Lt. Col. Vance Goodfellow.

Ocials said the base had everything it needed upfront to

handle mold and other potential biohazards.

As with Tyndall, the Air Force’s long-term vision for Outt

mirrors the base’s plans for a more ecient, user-friendly

installation. e Nebraska base wants to consolidate rebuilt

facilities into eight campuses: a “nonkinetic eects center

of excellence” for cyber and intelligence personnel; campus

areas for security forces; bulk fuel storage; aircrews who stay

on alert for the E-4 and E-6; another for NC3 operations; a

training campus; a recreation area, hangars; and, possibly, a

new backup power plant for STRATCOM.

About 50 of 137 above-ground structures need to be demol-

ished and rebuilt in new areas and, in some cases, on higher

land. Another 10 can be restored. Aected facilities are build-

ings and other structures, such as water pumps.

e ood also expedited the timeline for when the 55th

Wing can move into a STRATCOM building as the combatant

command transfers into its new, $1.3-billion command and

Photo: Zachary Hada/USAF

Charles Cswercko

moves flood debris

at Outt AFB, Neb.,

clearing room for a

temporary parking

lot. Despite

massive flood

damage, the base

hasn’t missed a

deployment and is

meeting continued

demands.