GREENVILLE, Ky. - Soldiers with the Kentucky Army National Guard's 206th and 201st Engineer Battalions, joined forces to build living quarters, an access road and started preliminary work on a landing strip at Wendell H. Ford Regional Training Center in Greenville, Ky.
The air strip, which is still in the construction approval phase, will be expected to land military aircraft, potentially including the C-17 Globemaster III. If approved, the airstrip will be used for rapid strategic and tactical airlifts located near the new contingency operations location. As part of preparing for possible construction, Soldiers with the 206th Eng. Bn. completed cut and fill estimates.
"The mission is time consuming but the completed project will be beneficial to future operations and serve as a tremendous asset to this training area," said Army 2nd Lt. Cory Netherton, combat engineer officer with the 206th Eng. Bn.
Soldiers used the engineer field data manual to formulate calculations from topographic data at the proposed elevation located at the proposed air strip site.
The 206th and 201st also managed fuel operations and logistics missions to the contingency operations location while taking part in their engineer duties.
And the Soldiers from the two battalions were excited about taking part in the ongoing construction projects.
"Great things are happening here and years from now these Soldiers will look back with pride and say, 'I built that," said Army Lt. Col. Dean R. Gosney, commander of the 201st Eng. Bn.