15 members of the Kentucky National Guard’s 613th Engineer Facility Detachment are heading to the Middle East today. The unit is charged with ensuring the stability of facilities and environment practices on all installations at the Kuwaiti base.
Lieutenant Colonel Scott Thomas is the commander of the 613th. “We have a big responsibility of what’s called operations and maintenance. Now that constructions are there, there’s constant maintenance. An air conditioner unit goes out, we’re the entity that they call to get things fixed,” said Thomas.
Thomas says the operation in Kuwait is very busy with most every military branch going through that complex. The Lieutenant Colonel says that includes troops headed for Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and the Horn of Africa. The 15 professional engineers are expected to be in Kuwait for much of 2018.
