lessonslearned Cleaning Up D 74 MILITARY OFFICER DECEMBER 2011
A representative from Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe learns to trust the opinion of his subordinates when it comes to picking up trash at a secret U.S. air base in Egypt.
During the last year of the Carter administration, the Iranian govern- ment had taken a number of Americans hostage. Negotiations seemed to be get- ting nowhere, so U.S. forces were de- veloping a covert rescue operation at a secret location in Egypt. The operation was being organized at a small host- country air base east of the Nile River. (As it turned out later, the operation was a disastrous failure, with the hostages only being released after President Rea- gan took offi ce.) At Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in
Europe, I was asked to visit the secret base to check out basic sanitation issues, because such niceties often seem to go downhill in that type of temporary, out- of-the-way location. One day during my brief stay at the
base, a young sergeant approached and asked me to accompany him to deal with a situation he had. We went out near the single airstrip where they had bulldozed out a large pit for trash disposal. The sergeant explained they were having trouble because the wind kept blowing the trash out of the pit as soon as they put material into it. I explained to him that when runways
are laid out, they usually are in the di- rection of the prevailing wind. This was done so takeoff s and landings could take advantage of headwinds and crosswinds would be minimized. The sergeant and his men had, of course, bulldozed the pit
parallel to the runway, thus producing their problem.
I advised him to fi ll the pit, make a new one at a right angle to the runway, and then burn and partially cover each trash load as soon as possible after de- livery. He indicated he understood and would make the change and keep my sug- gestion in mind for future deployments. Then we looked at the nearby perim- eter fence, which had collected most of the blown trash. I told the sergeant they should clear that material from the fence and put it into the new pit. He indicated he didn’t want to dispute my directions, but he emphati- cally said that action would not be possible. Thinking he meant the work was below him or was “not in his job de- scription,” I asked why the simple task couldn’t be done. He responded, “Sir, the perimeter fence
is mined.” This headquarters expert picked his
jaw up off the sand and told him that was an excellent reason. As we drove back, I mentioned it was pretty clear we both had learned something quite useful.
MO
— Robert W. Clegern is a retired Air Force colonel from Catonsville, Md. For submission information, see page 18.
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