The 249th Engineer Battalion has one of the more colorful histories in the U.S. Army because its mission has evolved several times since the battalion's inception during World War II.
Initially a combat construction battalion, the 249th was deactivated and reactivated numerous times after World War II before settling into its current mission in 1994.
"Each time it got reallocated the mission changed," said Master Sgt. Frank Darling, 249th Engineer Battalion, noncommissioned-officer-in-charge. "When it was a combat engineer battalion, the mission was to fight, blow up and build bridges. Once they started as a Prime Power Battalion, our mission has been pretty consistent. The one task we have is providing mobile electric power."
Installing and operating a power plant, distribution systems, installing temporary power for a national response framework event during a hurricane, tornado any other natural disaster are among the 249th Engineer Battalion's responsibilities both stateside and overseas.
Whether they are using their own equipment, equipment from other countries or commercial equipment from off the shelf, the battalion is expected to carry out its mission regardless of circumstances.
"It's a very broad mission that has a lot of very broad components to it," said Darling. "We sent a team to East Timor (in Southeast Asia) to do repairs on generators they had never seen before using manuals that weren't even written in English. As far as the Army is concerned, our mission is to provide mobile electric power, but it doesn't define how we provide that power."
The 249th has shown its full range of capabilities over the past decade, starting with the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The Battalion was one of the response teams called to the Pentagon and to New York City to aid with the rescue and relief efforts.
"We had generators powering the Pentagon, and we had personnel in New York City working with Con Edison of New York, the local power company, to re-energize the financial district," said Darling. "We had people moving pretty quickly after the Pentagon was hit. We can have people there within an hour due to its proximity to Fort Belvoir."
The Battalions post-9/11 work has taken them to Iraq and Afghanistan to assist U.S. forces in theater. Since 2002, the Battalion has rotated platoons in and out of Afghanistan and was the only U.S. Army unit in Iraq from day one of the war until the final drawdown day.
Four platoons were initially sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Battalion has rotated platoons in and out of both areas every six months since.
"Initially, we sent four platoons into Iraq and Afghanistan and we only have eight platoons in the battalion," said Darling. "They established the base camps and power infrastructure."
Power distribution was established at Camp Victory in Baghdad in 2004 as the Battalion worked out of Baghdad International Airport. The 249th was able to establish power, on one side of the base, that didn't exist when they first arrived.
"We went from having nothing on the North side of the base to a 5-6,000 base camp," said Darling. "We laid 16 miles of 11,000-volt cable and distribution into the ground. That allowed the engineers, who came in - in coordination with us, to build up the life-support areas for the units coming in."
Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Alexander, 249th Engineer Battalion Senior Power Station Electrician, spent time at Joint Base Balad, Iraq in 2005 assisting American engineer contractors with their work.
"They were always building different sites and breaking underground power lines," said Alexander. "We would have to fix those lines."
The establishment of power distribution in Iraq and Afghanistan was crucial to the war effort because units normally have just enough power to provide their basic needs, according to Alexander.
"You can't rely on the commercial power in Iraq or Afghanistan because it goes down all the time," said Alexander. "So, they have enough power to operate their mission-support areas."
The quality of life is also improved for Soldiers in theater because of the power provided by the 249th. That power allows units to utilize air conditioning and heating units for longer periods of time.
"Most Soldiers are over there 12-18 months at a time, and the average temperature over there in the summertime is, minimum, 120 degrees from sun up to sun down," said Alexander. "So, providing this initial power to them gives them air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter."
Assisting Soldiers in theater is not all the 249th is capable of doing. Recovery assistance for natural disasters like hurricanes, ice storms, earthquakes, tsunamis and tornadoes are capabilities the 249th possesses, according to Darling.
"We provide power for critical facilities during natural-disaster recovery assistance," said Darling. "So, we isolate that facility down to just what it requires to power that facility."
During super storm Sandy, the Battalion sent over 160 Soldiers to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and all of the New England states. The amount of time the Battalion is in an area depends on the amount of damage done by the disaster.
"It can be as short as five to seven days, or as long as 30," said Darling. "Katrina was a lot longer because of the damage sustained and the population density in New Orleans."
The 249th does not assist with disaster response, just recovery, according to Darling. Local power companies are responsible for the relief efforts.
"The local power companies provide infrastructure power," said Darling. "We just help power the critical facilities."
There is one other capability the 249th Engineer Battalion has that Darling deems critical to their abilities.
Outgoing platoons are able to pass along to their relief platoon, coming into any theater, information about ongoing operations. This familiarity of process and execution between each of the 249th's platoons allows the new platoon to continue the mission seamlessly.
"People stay in the battalion so long that they know one another. They each have the same amount of information and experience because they've served in the same places," said Darling. "We can pass that information along to one another as we rotate in and out of an area."
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