 The Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency has developed the following video to support the Air Force Qualification Training Program. This video covers step-by-step procedures for a specific task identified in the Specialty Training Standard of the Career Field Education and Training Plan. This video does not take the place of on-the-job training. It is not intended to replace the applicable technical reference. However, this program is intended to enhance the on-the-job training process, standardize the training procedures, provide just-in-time training, and provide the minimum knowledge on a task or piece of equipment when a unit does not have the equipment. We hope you'll find this video a valuable training tool. This Civil Engineer Air Force Qualification Training Program videotape contains contingency operations Damage Control Center. Each base is unique in its layout and mission. Keeping the facilities looking good and the utility systems running smoothly is a major undertaking. The Civil Engineer Focal Point for keeping these systems operational is the Control Center, commonly referred to as Service Call or Customer Service. Each center has the same goal and requires basically the same resources to effectively accomplish the mission. What happens when a contingency strikes your base? This contingency can range from the base being attacked, a terrorist act, or a natural disaster like a hurricane, tornado or flooding. How does the base Civil Engineer Organization respond to the emergency situation? How does it transition from its daily mode of operation to an organization that can effectively respond to and efficiently recover from an emergency? In most cases, the Service Call function will convert to a Damage Control Center or DCC as it is commonly referred to. Some of the larger overseas organizations have separate Damage Control Centers pre-established in hardened facilities that can be activated. Routine non-emergency work is halted at this time. Specifically, the DCC monitors, coordinates and direct civil engineer recovery operations involved in damage assessment, recovery and repair. The only exception is the fire department. They monitor and coordinate their activities through their own in-house control center. The support group commander, base civil engineer, or the operations flight commander can activate the DCC. When you receive the call to activate the DCC, remember to ask for all the information they know about the situation and which key people they want recalled. The DCC staff is usually made up from the senior or most qualified and listed personnel from the various elements of the operations flight. At many locations, a small support staff from the engineering and operations flight may also be included. Additional people may be added as the requirement dictates and space allows. The operations flight commander is in charge of the DCC. There are two centers in the chain of command directly above the Damage Control Center. They are the Wing Operations Center or WACC and the Survival Recovery Center or SRC. The Wing Operations Center is the highest level command post and is only found at bases with a flying mission. This center is responsible for the overall management of the base combat operations and is directed by the Wing Commander. The Survival Recovery Center is subordinate to the WACC and is directed by the Combat Support Group Commander. At bases without a Wing Operations Center, the SRC assumes full responsibility. This includes plotting damage, recommending recovery priorities, and directing recovery efforts. The base civil engineer usually guides CE recovery efforts from this vantage point. Regardless of how many centers are in the chain, specific areas of responsibility must be identified, lines of communication established, and practice exercises conducted to ensure this process works. Once the Damage Control Center is activated, the damage assessment and repair teams need to be assembled. There are a number of different repair teams. There are two damage assessment teams that we want you to be familiar with. They are your main source of reliable damage information. They are the Damage Assessment Team or DAT and the Damage Assessment Response Team or DART. Most bases with a flying mission divide themselves into two different categories for damage assessment purposes. Runways, taxiways, and associated airfield pavement and equipment are surveyed by the Damage Assessment Team. The DAT reports directly to the Survival Recovery Center and normally consists of one explosive ordinance disposal technician, one engineering specialist, and one augmentee. They are responsible for locating and identifying unexploded ordinance and airfield damage pertinent for the development of the minimum operating strip. The remainder of the base falls under the jurisdiction of the Damage Assessment Response Team. This team is used to make a preliminary analysis of major facility and utility damage and isolate utilities in an emergency. Team members consist of structural, utility, and electrical personnel. A number of teams may be needed to adequately cover the base proper. They report their finding to and are controlled by the Damage Control Center. The largest repair team is the Rapid Runway Repair Team. This team is responsible for runway and taxiway bomb crater repair, spall damage repair, airfield lighting, mobile aircraft arresting system installation, and minimum operating strip marking in a base recovery after attack scenario. This team consists of the bulk of civil engineers on a base with a flying mission. The remaining personnel are generally divided into two specialized repair teams, structural repair and utility repair. The structural repair team is responsible for rescue assistance, wrecking and shoring, repair and restoration of damaged facilities, mechanical and POL system isolation, debris clearing and construction of temporary facilities. The utility team is responsible for the isolation, restoration or expedient re-establishment of essential utilities to critical base facilities. This includes electrical, water and waste systems. A number of smaller teams are also required. They include the NBC Reconnaissance, EOD, bomb removal, generator response, and fire department to name a few. Emergency responses are never the same. Civil engineers must remain flexible with the mission of recovering the base foremost in their mind. Keeping track of the assessment and response teams and all the information that will be flowing into the Damage Control Center will take an organized and properly trained crew. The following four forms are used to log and track information. The first form is the Air Force Form 1924 Events Log. This form is fairly self-explanatory and is used to enter events as they happen. Note that this form captures in chronological order each event as it occurs. As each event occurs, the time and description of the event is annotated. It's important to put as much detail as possible because this form will be reviewed after the contingency to evaluate what took place and recommend improvements for future contingency responses. Make sure you have an adequate supply of these or a similar locally developed form on hand to record the events as they happen. There is nothing worse than running out of forms when you need them the most. Both the Damage Control Center and the Damage Assessment Response Teams use a locally developed Facility Damage Report Sheet to report the damage assessment findings. These sheets include the extent of the damage and what repairs are necessary to make the facility or utility operational. Note that this form asks pertinent key questions such as, is the building on fire? Are there UXOs present? It also establishes a damage code to quantify the extent of the damage, provides a description of the damage, and indicates the utility status. Another form used by the Damage Assessment Team and the Survival Recovery Center to record airfield damage information is called the Airfield Damage Report Sheet. This sheet is also locally developed and tailored specifically to meet each airfield's requirements. In the event the Survival Recovery Center turns over control of the operations to the Damage Control Center, these sheets must be readily available in the DCC. The type of information included on this sheet is the type of damage, location by grid coordinates or known reference markers, size, number and UXO data. This information must be extremely accurate because the proposed minimum operating strip will be based on this data. Air Force Form 637 BCE Job Order Log can be used by the DCC to track and control emergency work requirements. During a contingency situation, the only work requirements accepted are emergency in nature which warrant immediate attention to safeguard loss of life or critical resources. This form should use a predetermined block of job order numbers and includes a detailed description of the work required, shop assigned and track the status of the job until complete. These four documents can generally be found in most Damage Control Centers. Locally developed forms are usually present because they have been tailored to meet the requirements of that location. Don't wait until the DCC is activated to find out what forms you'll be using in an emergency. During a deployment exercise or a response to a real world contingency, one of the most challenging tasks is to maintain positive control over personnel, equipment and material. These resources must be accounted for. Should an attack occur, it's much easier to determine their whereabouts if their dispersal location has been pre-established. Likewise, should the Damage Control Center have a tasking for a specific person or piece of equipment, they don't have to waste time hunting. When dispatching craftsmen to perform emergency repairs, the best and most common communication method is the radio. Call the team chief or supervisor and notify them of the requirement. This method of communication is fast, but airtime may be limited and the message garbled. If that method of dispatch is not effective, you may have to use field phones or send a runner. In many cases, the runners are more effective because one-on-one detailed instructions can be given. Keep in mind that the runner method takes more time, something you may be critically short of. Also located in the Damage Control Center is an itemized listing of the equipment that is used in the recovery effort. Each vehicle registration number, type, location and operational status should be reflected on a status report. The DCC commander decision to accomplish certain types of repairs may be based on the availability of equipment reflected on this report. The unit's vehicle control officer or NCO should be the main point of contact for getting information on the CE vehicle and equipment fleet. When the DCC is activated, a vehicle recall should be made and vehicles reassigned to the various response teams. One person should never keep all the keys. A predetermined key location, either in the DCC or in the vehicle, is required to prevent lost time looking for the keys. Whatever method or location is developed, everyone must be aware of the procedure. Vehicles and equipment should be dispersed to ensure their survivability. Dispersal is necessary to keep them from being at target. It is much easier to locate a fleet of vehicles than it is to spot an individually dispersed and camouflaged vehicle. Their dispersed location must be relayed to the DCC to keep the status current. If the status is not kept up to date, it is rendered virtually useless. A complete list of available resources like wood, electrical supplies, piping and backfill material must be known in order to plan for and implement emergency repairs. A copy of this information should be kept in both the Survival Recovery Center and the Damage Control Center. A logistics person is usually co-located in the DCC to assist the commander in making decisions that require these types of resources. Logistics is your link to the emergency local procurement of repair materials. Not only can they help acquire the much needed items, but they can provide insight on delivery times, exact quantities and information on substitutable items. During a contingency, you'll never have an abundance of people, equipment or material. Keeping track of what you have and effectively using these resources is a real challenge. The success or failure of a contingency recovery operation is directly related to how well our communication network functions. There are several means of communications located in the Damage Control Center. Each has its own capabilities, advantages and disadvantages. If at all possible, there should be a backup means of communicating. If you're located on an established base, the DCC should have adequate telephone lines to support all the necessary communications. How many phones are enough? How many key people are going to be located in the DCC? How many workstations are you going to have? Answers to these questions will help determine how many telephones you'll need. The DCC should have direct telephone communications with agencies such as the Wing Operations Center, Survival Recovery Center and Fire Department. These dedicated lines permit instant communication up, down and across the chain of command. At some of the permanent high threat overseas locations, STU-3 type phones may be installed to handle classified transmissions. While these phones are generally found in the Survival Recovery Center, they may also be co-located in the Damage Control Center. The most common method of communication with civil engineers scattered throughout the base is the radio. Radios could become your primary means of communicating with other base agencies when the telephone becomes inoperative. Many deployed locations do not have telephone lines and must rely solely on the radio. The DCC is responsible for controlling the radio resources. Usually, a number of radios are kept in reserve or day-to-day radios are recalled for the emergency. Keeping track of who has been issued the radio is made considerably easier by using an Air Force Form 1297 temporary issue receipt, commonly referred to as the hand receipt. Some organizations use a locally developed master sign out log and inventory sheet. There are a variety of Air Force general purpose forms available to satisfy this requirement. A single form may be easier to keep track of than a bunch of individual receipts. Once the radios have been issued, there are a number of factors that affect their clarity and range. This includes the weather, terrain, antenna, power and the location of the unit itself. Trying to communicate near man-made objects such as buildings and power lines may also affect radio transmissions. The Survival Recovery Center, Damage Control Center and the Fire Department must operate on separate frequencies. All three organizations should have the capability to monitor one another. This enables all three users to communicate independently yet effectively with one another. With today's multi-channel radios, this shouldn't be too big a problem. Communication security or COMSEC denies or delays unauthorized personnel from gaining information from your communications. Common security practices should be followed no matter what method of communication you're using. You never know who's listening. Some of the more common security practices are listed here. These are by no means all the guidelines. Each base mission and the threat potential will determine how in depth the COMSEC guidelines must be. An effective communication program doesn't come easy. Enforcing net discipline and correct radio procedures in the day-to-day workplace will be a tremendous help in a contingency situation where chaos reigns supreme. Non-civil engineers for the most part don't have the same sense of pride that we take driving onto our base each day. They can't appreciate the amount of effort and work it takes to keep the facilities looking good and the utility systems operational. Just let something break and who do they call? Civil engineers. Our ability to respond to peacetime emergencies is the training ground we need to be able to respond to real contingency situations. Civil engineers are organized, trained, and equipped to respond to these emergencies as a matter of routine. Our recovery operations include damage assessment, recovery, and repair to keep the base operating to fulfill its mission. This program was produced for headquarters, Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency, Operations Support Directorate, Training Division.