ANDREWS AFB, Md. –
While plows around the region struggled to clear accumulations from three inches to nearly a foot of snow in southern Maryland, the snow that accumulated on Andrews airfield was no match for the 316th Civil Engineering Squadron's super snow avengers, otherwise known as the Andrews snow team.
Monday's commute to Andrews was a memorable morning for 2nd Lt. Shane Deckert, 316 CES chief of programming and the snow command's officer-in-charge.
"I drove to work right in the height of the storm," said Lieutenant Deckert. "I live in Alexandria, Va., and on the way up hills my car was slipping and sliding, but I followed the trucks and was able to plow through and get here right in time for the thick of the storm."
Lieutenant Deckert and his team had a mission: to keep the Andrews' airfield and its taxiways clear.
Working 12-hour shifts, the 'Super Snow Avengers,' or Lieutenant Deckert's team of 30 snow team members, were armed and at the ready with nine snowplows, four snow blower trucks and snow broom trucks to beat the snow. Tracing his finger on a map of the flightline, Lieutenant Deckert explained his team's responsibilities, "We're responsible for the entire airfield area including the 113th, 459th, 1st Helicopter Squadron, the Navy side runways and taxiways, and, of course, the Air Force One hangar," said Lieutenant Deckert. "We're also responsible for the area that's called the 'racetrack;' that's the route that makes a loop around the airfield."
One of the biggest challenges was keeping the airfield clear, since snowdrifts would quickly cover the runways and taxi-ways. "When we'd get the call that there was a mission coming in, we'd send our folks out onto the airfield and that was the priority: getting the airfield cleaned up so that the planes could come in," said Lieutenant Deckert.
For the 'Super Snow Avengers,' there is no such thing as a snow day. "Your Andrews snow team is here around the clock at the ready - while everyone else had the day off, we put in 12 hours. We know the mission and we get it done," said Lieutenant Deckert.
In his first season with the snow team, Senior Airman Shane Simpson, 316 CES utilities systems apprentice and snow team controller, said it is not so much the snow that is a challenge as it is the ice. "When everything melts and then re-freezes, that's so much tougher than dealing with snow. When it's ice, it's a really tough area to treat and control, but overall our team really did a great job."
"I knew coming into work that it was going to be hectic because of the amount of snow that came and the big area we have to cover - all we could do is, do as much as we can as fast as we can, and that's exactly what we did," said Airman Simpson.
With a smile, Airman Simpson added, "I'm really looking forward to the spring."