JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- Maj. Zachary Schumann, 11th Civil Engineer Squadron Engineering Flight commander, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, D.C., is the chair for Mission Area Working Group 4 at the 2023 Installation and Mission Support Weapons and Tactics Conference.
The out-briefs will take place on Oct. 4 with the four MAWGs delivering their solutions to installation and mission support challenges to Air Force and Space Force leaders here.
Schumann and his team are developing solutions for the following topic:
Andersen AFB Combat Resilience Master Plan.
In May of 2023, Typhoon Mawar passed to the north of Guam as a Category 4 typhoon, subjecting Anderson Air Force Base to sustained winds of more than 140 miles per hour and damaging built infrastructure, equipment and systems across the installation. Deliberate thought and planning are required to ensure rebuild efforts are focused on modernization and threat-based resiliency. This MAWG’s work will guide the rebuild of the base in a way that ensures the installation’s combat resiliency and readiness for threats characteristic of a peer fight.
We asked Schumann a few questions about the topic, being a MAWG chair and how the team’s solutions will impact the Air and Space Forces.
- Please describe why you feel you were chosen for the topic and what experience you bring to the team.
I was stationed at Andersen AFB from 2014 to 2016, so I have some residual familiarity with the base and its missions. I have my Professional Engineer license in power systems and presented energy system resilience research to the American Geophysical Sciences Union in Chicago and the Civil Engineer Board during the Civil Engineer Summit.
- Why is the topic you’re solving for important for the DAF?
Combat resilience is vital in ensuring full-spectrum mission capabilities at our critical power projection platforms. Resilient infrastructure and facility systems are an integral component of our ability to compete, deter and win in a high-end fight.
- How does it feel to be part of an event that can change the Air and Space Forces?
This is an incredible opportunity, and I am very grateful for having been chosen as chair for this. Combat resilience planning helps us deliver infrastructure and facility systems that are hard to break and quick to fix.
This year’s event will be recorded, and the video will be made available shortly after the conference. Visit the 2023 I-WEPTAC website at for the link more information.