MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. -- Combat engineers from Marine Wing Support Squadron 271 built a new walkway for VMA-223 Jan. 8 -11.
“Basically, we had this big mud hole in front of the turnstile. It looked unsightly,” said Capt. Stephen Davis, a logistics officer with Marine Attack Squadron 223. “Instead of asking (Cherry Point facilities maintenance) to do it, as they are busy, we asked a support squadron to do it for us.”
By working with another squadron to have the walkway built, VMA-223 saved a lot of time and cut through the red tape, according to Davis.
“Doing it this way, we had it done in a month,” said Davis. “We got all the permissions and supplies from the air station and the Marine aircraft group, but by working out a deal with MWSS-271, we got our sidewalk with minimum wait.”
The benefit was not only the attack squadron’s. Marine combat engineers got valuable training that is hard to get in garrison, said Sgt. Heath Keller, a combat engineer with MWSS-271.
“Normally we don’t do work like this in garrison,” said Keller. “The last time I worked with concrete was in 2011, while I was deployed in Afghanistan with the 8th Engineer Support Battalion. We were placing end caps on culverts to deter improvised explosive device emplacement.”
Keller said most of the work he and his Marines do is in a field enviornment. He said it felt good building something more permanent than they may have built in the field.