Bioenvironmental - Protecting the health and safety of all Thunderbolts

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tong Duong
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  In order to keep the more than 200 Luke F-16s up and flying, some Airmen are frequently exposed to chemicals, that if not monitored could become a health risk. 

To protect the Air Force's greatest asset at Luke, a squadron of 15 Airmen specializes in dealing with those types of issues. 

According to the 56th Aerospace Medicine Squadron Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight's mission statement, the flight provides operational health risk assessment expertise to enhance commander decision-making and health services support capabilities. 

"The Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight plays an important role in supporting the missions of Luke by ensuring personnel are protected from potential environmental hazards," said Lt. Col. Charles Tedder, 56th AMDS commander. "By providing occupational health support to all Luke industrial shops, the BEEs protect the workers by identifying chemical, physical, biological and ergonomic hazards and appropriate countermeasures to reduce hazards to the workers." 

According to Tech. Sgt. John Bowen, 56th AMDS biological engineer, whose been through 16 weeks of training at the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine in Brooks City-Base, Texas, the flight promotes and maintains the health and wellbeing of the operational, industrial and community environments by encompassing workplace industrial hygiene evaluations (hazardous chemicals, noise, ventilation, radiation, etc.), environmental monitoring and health-risk assessment and drinking water surveillance. 

Not only does the flight work to reduce health risk on base, but also of deploying Airmen and the community surrounding Luke. 

"The BEEs support the deployment  ission of Luke by ensuring that all deploying personnel have appropriately fitting gas masks to protect them against enemy chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear explosive attack," Colonel Tedder said. "Finally, the BEEs protect the base and surrounding community by providing disaster response to all HAZMAT and other mishaps, ensuring the safety of the water and protecting the community against environmental pollutants." 

While Airmen are doing jobs around base that could expose them to potentially hazardous chemicals and equipment, they can rest in knowing there are other Airmen whose job it is to ensure their workplace is safe.