ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- Three members assigned to 554th Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, conducted a training course at Daegu Air Base, Republic of Korea March 13-16, 2023.
The three Silver flag contingency training instructors taught U.S. Air Force members, Pacific Architect and Engineers, Korea contractors and Republic of Korea service members how to use and maintain the U.S. Air Force’s new Water and Fuels Expedient Repair System.
“If our infrastructure is attacked and damaged, the WaFERS is employed to repair water and fuel assets,” Tech Sgt. Thao Chau, 554th RED HORSE water and fuels system maintenance contingency training instructor, said.
This asset enables practical repair or recovery of mission essential water and fuel distribution systems and associated infrastructure. It is strictly kept as a war reserve material, meaning that it should only be used in times of war.
“This training is invaluable.” Senior Airman Sabian Sanchez, 51st Civil Engineer Squadron water and fuels system maintenance journeyman, said. “It will raise the Air Force’s emergency response to another level.”
The capabilities of WaFERS includes pipe repair or bypass, valve and manifold repair or bypass, fuel hydrant capping, storage tank patching, fuel or water pumping and fuel filtering. Having this system readily available saves time and allows the mission to move forward.
Guam is the only location in the U.S. Air Force with the ability to train on the WaFERS as it is the only site with eligible instructors as well as its own WaFERS.
“I feel that we as instructors got just as much out of the course as the students did.” Chau said. “We plan to use this course to better the system and our preparation to employ it.”