AFCEC civilian deploys to Afghanistan

  • Published
  • By Eric M. Grill
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --  A year after volunteering, a civilian employee with the Air Force Civil Engineer Center here, recently joined her military counterparts serving overseas in a warzone.

Melissa Markell, an environmental restoration program manager, said she volunteered with the Civilian Expeditionary Workforce because of her desire to directly support warfighters downrange and gain necessary experience in the field that will help her when she returns to her headquarters job at AFCEC in 2014.

The deployment experience allows civilians to use their capabilities, experience and knowledge as a crucial component of helping the Department of Defense accomplish its mission abroad, according to Civilian Deployment Workforce officials.

While working at AFCEC's headquarters is a challenge for Markell, she said she missed the operational Air Force.

"I'm excited to get back to working closer to the mission, nearer to those flying planes and operating installations," Markell said prior to leaving on her one-year deployment to Afghanistan. "I'm also eager to get installation-level experience doing environmental compliance work."

Markell's experience both in San Antonio and at her previous job at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, was in environmental restoration. As an environmental compliance program manager working in Afghanistan, Markell will work with other expeditionary civilians, military members, contractors and foreign nationals to ensure regulatory compliance in programs related to air emissions, wastewater discharges, hazardous waste generation, and natural and cultural resource management.

"In a year from now, I hope to return from this deployment with experience directly applicable to installation compliance management, which will make me a better planner and programmer," she said. "I will also be a more capable resource for the installation compliance managers I support."

Getting ready to deploy wasn't easy for Markell, who has no direct military experience, but was still expected to go through the same combat training Airmen receive before deploying.

Markell first received weapons qualification training for both the M9 pistol and M4 rifle. Then, once in Combat Airman Skills Training at Camp Bullis, Texas, she received land navigation, vehicle convoy operations, small unit tactical training, weapons' firing, improvised explosive device recognition and providing care under fire.

The training was "hard, but worth it," Markell said.

She graduated CAST "a little bruised up, but 'Battle-Ready,'" Markell said.

Markell didn't have to wait long to experience the harsh realities of war and being deployed - a rocket attack on Bagram Air Base on Thanksgiving, the same day of her arrival, killed two and displaced several people.

"I am amazed and humbled by the people I am working with here at Bagram," she said. "They have been wonderful to me, and the way (they keep this base) running in this contingency environment, from fixing faulty sewer systems to finding immediate new living quarters for people who have been displaced by rocket attacks in the middle of the night, is nothing short of miraculous.

"I'm honored to be here," she said.

For more information on civilian deployments, go online to the Civilian Expeditionary Workforce website at www.cpms.osd.mil/expeditionary/.