JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. –
Los Angeles, 1984. Atlanta, 1996. Salt Lake City, 2002. Joint Base Andrews, 2025. What do all these locations have in common? They’ve all hosted the Olympic Games—or in the case of Andrews, something close.
On July 3, 2025, Joint Base Andrews hosted its inaugural Prime BEEF Olympics, a skills-based competition designed to boost deployment readiness for Airmen assigned to the 316th Civil Engineer Squadron.
The Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force unit consists of total force personnel with CE specialties and capabilities. These teams are designed to rapidly respond worldwide in support of agile combat employment to provide engineering expertise and emergency services required to establish, sustain, protect, and recover bases for the employment of joint, interagency, and multinational operations.
U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Donald Armond, 316th Civil Engineer Squadron heavy equipment superintendent, helped develop the event.
"The Prime BEEF Olympics is a readiness exercise designed to test and enhance the skills of our Airmen and their primary functions,” Armond said. “It’s a series of timed and competitive events that simulate real-world deployment scenarios, focusing on teamwork, rapid response, and technical proficiency.”
Armond, a seasoned civil engineering Airman, drew inspiration from the Silver Flag Exercise and the Air Force’s Readiness Challenge to create an exercise that increases the readiness of Airmen stationed here.
Similar to a decathlon, the Prime BEEF Olympics included multitude of events such as “Breach!,” an integrated defense test, “Treat the Wounded!,” a tactical combat casualty care event. Each event supports the squadron’s monthly readiness objectives.
"In order to make sure that our Airmen are ready at a moment’s notice, we’re very intentional about our training,” said Master Sgt. Phillip Rubalcava, 316th CES Prime BEEF superintendent. “If we don’t do this, then we’re not going to be ready for the next fight, the next conflict.”
Airmen were split up into eight teams based on their Air Force Force Generation deployment cycle. Each team consisted of at least one Airman from every engineering Air Force Specialty Code.
The AFFORGEN model is a two-year cycle comprising of four six-month phases: reset, prepare, certify and deploy. According to Armond, the goal is to make the Prime BEEF Olympics a capstone event for the certify phase.
"We’re really targeting the Airmen who have not deployed before,” Armond said. “This gives them an opportunity to ask questions about what it’s going to be like when they inevitably deploy.”
During real-world deployments, Airmen are often called upon to perform duties outside of their primary career field. Lt. Col. Marie Harnly, 316th CES commander, emphasized the importance of developing multi-capable Airman.
“Our job is to deliver engineer capabilities downrange, and that will differ depending on each individual’s AFSC and skill set,” Harnly said. “What we focus on is not only those Airmen combat skills, but also how we refine the skills for your particular career field in order to be able to deliver those capabilities.”
The team that demonstrated the highest level of proficiency across 12 events was Alpha 2, led by Master Sgt. James Loveless, 316th CES electrical systems shop section chief.
Loveless was proud to lead team Alpha 2 to victory and said it feels good knowing he made an impact on his team.
"It is extremely important for us to always be ready as civil engineers, we are always answering the call and leading the way when it comes to deploying,” Loveless said. “If you stay ready, there is no need to get ready, so we use our monthly Prime BEEF days to get after training while also finding new and creative ways to make training fun and exciting such as the Prime BEEF Olympics.”