Airmen Provide Light in the Night for Remote Alaskan Village

American Forces Press Service ^ | Aug 22, 2005 | Petty Officer 3rd Class Gail E. Dale, USCG

[SandRat]

RED DEVIL, Alaska, Aug. 22, 2005 – Air Force engineers brought a gift of light to this remote Alaskan village last week.

In the small village of Red Devil, 250 air miles west of Anchorage, air travel is the sole means to enter and leave the town. The 4,750-foot gravel airstrip lined with orange cones is essentially the town's lifeline to the rest of the state. This lifeline was significantly strengthened Aug. 17 when airmen from the 611th Civil Engineer Squadron, based at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, installed a runway lighting system.

Red Devil, along with 62 other communities, qualified for the portable runway lighting system through the state's Rural Alaska Lighting Program because its airstrip was inadequately lit for aircraft operations at night. The portable system is ideal for the quiet village because a fixed, in-ground system would be destroyed by ice sheeting from an adjacent hillside in the winter and flooding of the Kuskokwim River in the spring.

"Many small villages don't have roads out of town, so if someone gets injured they're stuck," said Carl Siebe, Alaska Department of Transportation acting deputy commissioner of aviation. "Once the system is in place, the lighting kit will allow an aircraft to land at night, load up a patient and take off to get that person medical attention," he said.

The deployment of the system took place Aug. 17 as part of Alaska Shield/Northern Edge 05, the largest homeland defense/homeland security exercise conducted in Alaska. The exercise provides an opportunity to integrate local, state and federal government responses to simulated emergencies. For the purpose of the exercise, the lighting system deployment was part of a scenario in which Juneau's runway lights were damaged by an earthquake.

A 517th Airlift Squadron Blackhawk helicopter appeared through a haze of smoke from a nearby wildfire to deliver the lighting equipment to the small village.

Within minutes of touchdown, the engineer crew assembled a metal ramp and unloaded the portable lighting system from the belly of the helicopter onto a small trailer.

Approximately 40 minutes after unloading the system from the Blackhawk, the four-person engineer team distributed the 40 lights around the runway. Even in the middle of the day, it was easy to see how useful the system would be during night hours as the green lights glowed around the airstrip.

Deploying the system to a remote location not only benefited the small village, but the military units as well.

"It's a totally new environment for everyone involved," Air Force Tech Sgt. Gregory Eckroth, with the 611th CES, said. "The training is more realistic when dealing with transporting and setting up the system in a remote location."

The Red Devil residents said they were thankful to have the new system. "Red Devil doesn't have a clinic, so in the event of an emergency at night we will have a more restful feeling knowing night operations are possible," said Theodore Gordon, tribal administrator of the Red Devil traditional council. "We are extremely grateful to the military, not only for bringing us the lighting system, but also for demonstrating how to set it up."

[SandRat]

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Greg Eckroth, of the 611th Civil Engineering Squadon, aligns a light during installation of a portable runway lighting systems in Red Devil, Alaska, Aug. 17. The deployment of the system was part of the Alaska Shield/Northern Edge 05 exercise, a massive homeland defense/security exercise. The exercise is the first opportunity within the state to integrate local, state and federal government response to a series of simulated emergencies including natural disasters, terrorist attacks and mass casualty scenarios. Photo by Petty Officer Second Class Michael Hight, USN

[SandRat]

Helping at home.

Tonk,

It takes a USCG Yeoman to write up the story and a USN Photographers Mate to take a picture of the Air Force doing something. Thought you might like the irony of that.

[MoJo2001]

LOL!!
And as many Sailors would tell you in Guam:

*The Air Force has the best bases*. There was always more to follow, but this is a family discussion. Hehe!

[sinanju]

It's the Red Devil liquor store that is the town's principal claim to fame. Everywhere else is officially "dry".

[Issaquahking]

I suppose this beats the old way we used to do runway lighting. We used to cut coke and beer cans at about a 60 degree angle, so that the inside would be a parbolic reflector. Take them out to the runway and place them about every ten feet. Various angles from 45 to 90 degrees made for a great reflector for landing lights on a Cessna 185 or a 206! Pilot would line up between them and have a great "landing light system".

I can imagine the price difference between the two systems (lol)!

[mylife]

Youve got to be a Marine L0L

[mylife]

Hey
I meant that respectfully

I admire folks that make the best of things

[Issaquahking]

Nope

Dad was a Marine in WWII

I was U.S. Navy 78-82.

One has to know the limitations of the man and machine.

Navy's job is to get the target area softened up for Marines, and to provide transport for them.

Sometimes the transport methodology requires ingenuity...

[herewego]

cut to fit- file to finish- paint to match.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[Eska]

Boy that's the truth. Wife and I have spent the last 5 years off the road system. We once were offered the teaching slots at stoney river, but declined.

Great not having locks on doors, never taking keys out of anything, and no drugs in school; but life was so much better over all in the matsu. Too many anti-social people hiding out from the law or hiding from themselves in the bush.

Our gravel strip is the lifeline for our village too. Getting weathered in for up to 2 weeks in winter is quite common. Getting stuck in fairbanks for 8-9 days is even worse I guess.