Fort Indiantown Gap offers heavy-equipment training site for airmen

Fort Indiantown Gap plays host to “a unique Air Force training site” that provides Air Force equipment operators with upgrade training, contingency training and pre-deployment training, according to a release from the Pennsylvania National Guard.

The Regional Equipment Operator Training Site, or REOTS, is a 40-hour course operated by airmen from the National Guard’s 193rd Special Operations Wing, Sgt. Kayden Bedwell said in the release. “It is open to both active-duty and reserve component Airmen and focuses primarily on runway repair utilizing heavy equipment such as bulldozers, loaders and excavators,” she explains.

Falling under the Air Force’s Regional Training Sites, REOTS was established at Fort Indiantown Gap in November 1988 and is one of five regional training sites offered to airmen worldwide.

Although originally there was one REOTS per Air Force component, the Fort Indiantown Gap site is currently the only one in the Air Force, Bedwell said in the release.

Master Sgt. Jesse Mitchell, a senior instructor at REOTS, said instructors aim to create a comfortable experience in the classes for the students.

“I think it’s more personable here, especially active duty component coming to a Guard schoolhouse,” Mitchell said in the release. “They’re really used to that strict environment, but one of the main things that we tell our students is that it’s a training environment. And historically, we found that, if it’s a more laid back environment, the students were more adept to learning.”

Tech Sgt. Matthew Banks, an airman with the 19th Combat Air Base Squadron from Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, said he enjoyed the opportunity to learn alongside Airmen from other bases and components.

“There’s Airmen from Little Rock, like me,” Banks said in the release. “There’s a few Guard guys, an Airman from Grand Forks, another from Langley. We come from all different places.”

“I really like the course because of my job as a pavement and construction specialist, I work with asphalt, concrete and heavy equipment,” senior airman Camren Haney, with the 633rd Civil Engineer Squadron from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, added. “This is just another leg that we could use outside of the military, or just to better ourselves as airmen on the job.

“The instructors are great, they’re teaching us little tips and tricks that I really appreciate. If I have to ask questions in layman’s terms for me to understand it, they break it down easy enough for me, it’s like a light bulb goes off.”

Students say the courses are enjoyable, with some hoping to come back in the future.

“Volunteering to come here was definitely worth it,” said Haney. “I want to come back for the tractor trailer course.”

Mitchell showed pride in the fact that the schoolhouse, including all courses, has nearly a 100% pass rate.

“I tell all my guys, if you have somebody failing REOTS, it’s because you’re not doing your job as an instructor,” said Mitchell. “If they’re having trouble, get in there and show them how to do it.”

The training site also offers other classes outside of REOTS, including an 80-hour crane course and an 80-hour tractor trailer course. Other courses offered by the RTS are BEAR Distribution System (BDS), Emergency Airfield Lighting System (EALS)(EALS-C), Mobile Aircraft Arresting System (MAAS), High Power Generation (HPG), Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit (ROWPU), Survey Grade GPS Course (40 hour), and Crane Refresher Course (40 hour).