Supporting the Title X Engineer Effort in the Balkans

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) continues to provide continuous and diverse support to engineers and commanders in the Balkan area of responsibility. Currently, USAGE has soldiers and civilians deployed in Germany, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in support of various engineer requirements resulting from U.S. contingency operations.

The majority of the forward-deployed USACE support is provided by teams. The size and makeup of the teams are based on an analysis of the task-force engineer's requirements by the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineer (ODCSENGR), United States Army, Europe (USAREUR). The main-body team, called a Base Camp Coordinating Agency (BCCA), coordinates the engineer construction being performed by military and civilian personnel and contractors in the task-force area of operations.

The BCCA employs several technical capabilities. For instance, there are master planners, who design base-camp layout for the best use of facilities and land management. In addition, draftsmen-through the use of computer-aided

design (CAD) software such as AutoCAD(r)-maintain detailed plans and drawings of the camps as well as other facilities being constructed or refurbished.

All but one of the USAGE employees work in either the BCCA or on engineer staffs, and the remaining employee is assigned to USAREUR as the Operation Joint Forge cell chief. He serves as the primary liaison between the BCCA and basecamp staff engineers and ODCSENGR. The USAGE civilian personnel are facility, mechanical, environmental, structural, and multidisciplined engineers (project mangers), as well as construction representatives, real estate specialists, and AutoCAD operators. Additionally, ODCSENGR uses Reserve USAGE officers on 179- and 270-day orders to fill BCCA engineer positions in Bosnia, Kosovo, and USAREUR. The Reserve officer's role is expected to increase as the Balkans mission continues.

Title X

Contingency construction in support of USAREUR's mission in the Balkans is provided under the auspices of 10 U.S. Code 101 (a)(13) often referred to as "Title X." Appropriations for military construction are not used for contingency operations when construction is clearly intended to meet a temporary operational requirement to facilitate combat or contingency operations and the construction is not permanent. Congress provides the actual funding for contingency operations and supporting construction through supplemental appropriations.

The USACE Europe District-headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany-serves as the "door to the Corps" for the European Command and USAREUR engineers in coordinating deployments to the Balkans and providing technical support as needed. Both military and civilian employees of the USAGE provide technical expertise, design capability, project management, and quality-assurance assistance and support to the USAREUR in overseeing the Title X effort. This covers all areas of logistical and facility support to U.S. personnel deployed in the Balkans-construction, environmental, topographic, fire fighting, hazardous material (HAZMAT)/spill response, countermine/demining, base-camp standards, prime power, real estate, bridging, and snow and ice clearing (SNIC).

The ODCSENGR plays a major role in overseeing the Title X effort, which includes the support provided to other services, mainly the Air Force and to a lesser extent the Navy. Operationally, units within the Balkans report and operate under various commands that report to either NATO or subordinate USAREUR commands.

Construction. This is the area where USACE expertise and assistance has been used the most under Title X support. To provide such things as food, laundry, fuel, lodging, and morale and welfare support, either new facilities must be built or existing facilities renovated. All operations in the Balkans are considered contingency operations and thus require temporary construction. ODCSENGR defined temporary construction as that which "must be designed and constructed on an expedient basis, with finishes, materials, and systems selected with energy efficiency, maintenance, and life-cycle costs being secondary considerations with a life expectancy of 5 years or less."

Consistently using temporary construction standards is an ongoing challenge when units rotate in and out. Commanders constantly weigh the importance of trying to improve the soldier's quality of life (QOL) beyond that enjoyed by previous rotations versus creating a legacy from their tour that soldiers will remember and identify with and congressional visits will point to as a poor use of taxpayer dollars. This is often referred to as "QOL creep."

In Kosovo, U.S. Department of Defense engineers (Army and Navy) worked on initial construction requirements such as site preparation and critical facilities. [1] However, civilian contractors now execute most of the construction in Kosovo and Bosnia.

The Corps has several tools to ensure that construction can be performed, the main one being contract construction. One contracting tool is the indefinite delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts that are maintained with reputable firms that can be turned on with little notice. These contractors are usually prepared to travel anywhere they are needed. However, the most widely used tool is the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) contract. [2] This is a cost-plus contract that can be used to provide any service or construct anything that is needed by a military commander. Because the U.S. military has downsized so dramatically, it maintains a reserve capability through contract support. The LOGCAP contractor is awarded a contract to provide services and construction on an as-needed, reimbursable basis.

A LOGCAP-type contract supports operations in Kosovo and Bosnia. In the early days of these operations, the Corps's emergency managers coordinated with several military units to develop a scope of work for anything and everything that the contractor might be asked to perform. Since the contract was relatively unknown to many maneuver commanders, this coordination proved to be invaluable. Today, the Balkans Sustainment Contract (BSC) still carries out the lion's share of Title X construction, providing transportation, dining and bed-down facilities, laundry services, waste management and disposal, and a host of other services to deployed forces. [3] The BCCA provides construction oversight for the BSC and other construction-related contracts in the Balkans.

Environmental. USACE deploys civilian environmental specialists to provide technical oversight on base-camp and forward-operating-base operations to ensure that U.S. personnel comply with environmental regulations, protect human health, and practice responsible environmental stewardship. Located within the BCCA at Task Force Eagle and Task Force Falcon and on the National Support Element engineer staff at Taszar, Hungary, these specialists establish and document environmental baseline surveys at base-camp and forward-operating-base locations, conduct periodic sampling at base camps, and monitor wastewater-treatment operating parameters and performance, pest and vector control, and general environmental-program management and controls. They also assess current practices and activities to identify environmental concerns and develop action plans to address those concerns and to minimize or prevent waste and other forms of pollution.

Topographic. USACE provides limited topographic support to base camps through the BCCA AutoCAD operators and their specialized equipment. In addition, a USACE contractor developed a Bosnia master plan to assist in land management. Most topographic support is coordinated through ODCSENGR's Geospatial Information System (GIS) officer, using the 60th Topographic Detachment, which is attached to ODCSENGR.

Fire Fighting. The BCCA staff helps develop and maintain fire-inspection and -prevention measures. USACE has provided technical expertise on alarm systems and individual and structural fire-fighting equipment.

HAZMAT/Spill Response. The BCCA environmental specialists provide guidance on HAZMAT storage and management, to include spill response, although the BSC is primarily used for spill response. Initially, in Kosovo, Department of Defense fire-fighting teams were deployed to provide general fire-fighting services and HAZMAT/spill response. After initial-entry operations and the establishment of base camps, fire-fighting facilities and equipment were delivered through the BSC. Eventually, the general fire-fighting service, facilities, and equipment were all provided through the BSC. This freed up military firefighters, a low-density capability, for other deployments by March 2000.

Countermine/Demining. [4,5] The BCCA assists in ammunition-surveillance maintenance requirements. This has focused on developing plans to correct new deficiencies noted during each inspection of ammunition-storage and -holding areas where unexploded ordnance is stored as a result of weapons- and ammunition-collection efforts and demining operations.

Base-Camp Standards. ODCSENGR has established a Red Book on Base-Camp Standards to prescribe uniform facility standards within the limits of good fiscal stewardship for the Balkans. The ODCSENGR contracted a company through the USACE Europe District to develop a master plan for Bosnia for the next 3 to 5 years that would provide a prioritized road map on how to get from the existing conditions to the Red Book standard. The independent, coordinated effort of the master plan also provides supporting justification for the remaining construction effort in Bosnia. Construction managers and quality-assurance representatives from the BCCA ensure that proper construction practices and methods are being followed, that there are no safety hazards, and that contractors are meeting their requirements.

Prime Power. In both Bosnia and Kosovo, commercial power was not available when U.S. forces began their peacekeeping missions in support of NATO. The 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power), Fort Belvoir, Virginia, provided power generation initially and helped plan and coordinate for continued power generation beyond the initial-entry time frame. [6] Commercial power is now used in Bosnia; however, the 249th still leases some equipment to support Task Force Eagle. In Kosovo, commercial power will not be available for at least 2 more years. Technical experts have assisted ODCSENGR by gathering information to increase efficiencies with the current power generation system and to develop a power-generation plan for the next few years until commercial power is available.

Real Estate. USACE provides personnel on both a temporary and a permanent-hire basis (1-year tours) to handle real estate issues. Real estate expertise is required to execute leases at every site that U.S. personnel camp at or use. This has been especially challenging in Kosovo, where the landowners may not be known or multiple parties may claim ownership. Real estate specialists in the BCCA ensure that real estate impacts are included in construction-cost estimates so that potential real estate problems can be avoided. When claims are made against the United States for property damage, these specialists assess the damage and compare it to preexisting conditions to help settle claims.

SNIC. A USACE expert develops SNIC plans for the base camps and the main supply routes and lines of communication to and from the base camps and surrounding areas--a critical effort during the winter months. ODCSENGR purchased 5-ton and high-mobility, multipurpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV)-mounted snowplows and sand spreaders to give each task force the capability to operate when road conditions would otherwise be BLACK. The Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) sent a training team to help install the equipment and train operators. This technical assistance and training is still provided annually before the snow season since units rotate out every 6 months, taking the experience and trained operators with them. Initially, in both Bosnia and Kosovo, the task-force engineers were responsible for SNIC. Although engineers from both Task Force Falcon and Task Force Eagle retain a SNIC capability, once the operational environment stabilized, they contracted out base-camp and task-force route clear ance to host-nation contractors through the Defense Contract Management Command. SNIC along NATO routes is contracted out by the Stabilization and Kosovo Forces.

General Engineering and Technical Support

USACE provides additional engineering and technical support to ODCSENGR, divisional engineers, and commanders in the Balkans that is outside the basic Title X categories. For the most part, any support or expertise that USACE possesses has been used. Over the past year, this support has included the following areas:

The capability--used daily during the first months of the Kosovo mission--is still used at least weekly to continue coordination on construction progress and issues and to achieve efficiencies in construction methods and resource usage on a Balkans-wide basis. Over the past year, Tele-Engineering capabilities have been extended to divisional engineer brigades in Germany, the 130th Engineer Brigade, and the Task Force Eagle BCCA.

Tele-Engineering. [7] USACE, through the U.S. Army Research and Development Center's Waterways Experiment Station (WES), established Tele-Engineering capability between the Task Force Falcon BCCA and ODCSENGR at the beginning of the Kosovo mission, using a deployable video teleconferencing (VTC) system. This high-speed data link via satellite enabled ODCSENGR to conduct secure VTCs as well as other secure data transfer among ODCSENGR, WES, USAGE Europe District, and the Task Force Falcon BCCA to coordinate various operational and construction issues. Personnel in the Balkans were able to consult with subject-matter experts thousands of miles away. This is tremendous value added to any operation si nce it keeps the number of deploying personnel down and gives access to a larger pool of experts.

Laboratories/Centers of Expertise. In addition to the CRREL support for SNIC, USAGE laboratories and centers of expertise have deployed personnel and teams on the following missions:

* Bridge and Route Reconnaissance. The USACE structural engineers perform surveys for both vehicular and train routes and assess the load classifications of bridges that may be crossed with heavy equipment on main supply routes.

* Asphalt Capability Assessments. Geotechnical experts perform soil stabilization and test batch samples of asphalt and concrete prepared by local batch plants. USACE sent asphalt experts into FYROM and Kosovo to assess bituminous-production capabilities and paving-materials availability.

* Base-Camp Closure Environmental Assessments. Numerous base camps and forward-operating bases have been closed in the Balkans. USACE has contracts in place for conducting environmental assessments, as required, which are coordinated through the permanent-party USACE environmental specialists/coordinators in each area. A comparison is made to the baseline survey to develop accurate scopes of work and timetables for returning land that is no longer used. Real estate specialists and supporting teams are also available to coordinate lease impacts.

* Force Protection. A force-protection expert ensures that camp design, layout, and function meet mission requirements while affording camp personnel with uniform force-protection measures based on the threat level. The USACE security-engineering and force-protection specialists were also used during camp planning and construction.

* Well Drilling. Hydrologists find the best places to drill for water, which has proved invaluable in areas where local water supplies are either not available or not potable. For larger base camps, wells have also resulted in a significant decrease in daily operations costs to the Army through greatly reduced water purchases.

USAREUR Engineer Repository. [8] The ODCSENGR used WES to purchase and install hardware and software, populate the database, and finalize system requirements for an engineer repository. WES also provides training for the system, database administrator, and users. A secure Engineer Information Repository Web site is under development, and a nonsecure site can be accessed at http://engrep.-hqusareur.army.mil. These sites contain archived copies of operations, after-action reviews, studies, and reports of various operations conducted in the Balkans and elsewhere within USAREUR's area of responsibility. In addition, both sites include country studies and other useful information.

A Combat Multiplier

There are a lot of new initiatives on the horizon as the Army prepares for a transition to the Objective Force. USACE has provided quality, responsive engineering services to the nation and the Department of Defense for a long time and is getting better with each operation. Military officers and civilian emergency managers in the Balkans face unique missions and often experience an uphill fight in getting support from counterparts in other USACE offices in the United States. By working through the technical and traditional problems with command support and emphasis, we are producing an engineering organization that has truly been a combat multiplier in the Balkans.

Major Horne, a deputy district engineer for the Sacramento Engineer District, served as the ODCSENGR Operation Joint Forge liaison officer for 6 months. He previously commanded Bravo Company, 91st Engineer Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas. MAJ Horne holds a bachelor's in civil engineering from West Point and a master's in environmental engineering from the University of Washington.

Mr. Lowdermilk is the chief of Operations, Plans, and Security for the Europe District in Wiesbaden, Germany. Past assignments include contingency plans officer Transatlantic Programs Center, 1991-1996; operations officer, Europe District, 1996 - 1998; and contingency plans officer, Europe District, 1998 - 2000. Mr. Lowdermilk has an associate's in survival and rescue operations and a bachelor's in emergency management.

Endnotes:

(1.) COL Robert L. McClure, "The Engineer Regiment in Kosovo," Engineer, April 2000, pp.6-10.

(2.) COL Donald T. Wynn, "Managing the Logistics-Support Contract in the Balkans," Engineer, July 2000, pp. 36-40.

(3.) Ibid.

(4.) ILT Eric Midden, "Demining in Bosnia-Herzegovina" Engineer, February 2001, pp. 20,26.

(5.) COL Andrzei Zarczynski, "Mine Threats in Mission Areas," Engineer, February 2001, pp.4-7.

(6.) CPT Jared Ware and SFC Ed Dawe, "The Next Generation of Power Generation," Engineer, July 2000, pp. 7-10.

(7.) Dr. Paul F. Mlakar Sr., James C. Ray, and CPT Todd C. Liebig, "Bridge to the Future: Tele-Engineering and the Bubiyan Bridge Assessment," Engineer, April 1999, pp. 44-46.

(8.) MAJ Barrett W. Larwin, "Enhanced Off-the-Shelf Technologies Help Engineers Prepare for Future Operations," Engineer, October 2000, pp. 38-39,46.

COPYRIGHT 2001 U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group