WEBVTT 00:00.613 --> 00:01.510 (strong winds) 00:01.510 --> 00:03.010 - People living on Florida's panhandle 00:03.010 --> 00:06.060 could be just about 48 hours away from a hurricane. 00:06.060 --> 00:08.568 - It's expected to make landfall as a category three. 00:08.568 --> 00:13.330 - 150mph winds that is seven miles shy of being a Cat Five 00:13.330 --> 00:14.930 Cat Five, Cat Five (soft music). 00:18.220 --> 00:21.583 - [Narrator] October 10th, 2018 Hurricane Michael 00:21.583 --> 00:23.980 smashes into the Florida Panhandle, 00:23.980 --> 00:25.850 leaving little standing in it's path. 00:25.850 --> 00:28.040 (soft music) 00:28.040 --> 00:30.677 Tyndall AFB, a key part of the network of bases 00:30.677 --> 00:33.918 protecting the continental US, took a direct hit. 00:33.918 --> 00:36.335 (soft music) 00:37.990 --> 00:41.630 The storm peeled off roofs, tore down trees and powerlines 00:41.630 --> 00:44.427 and caused significant structural damage to buildings. 00:44.427 --> 00:46.844 (soft music) 00:52.290 --> 00:54.420 - [Amy] As you go, from the airport 00:54.420 --> 00:58.381 to where the base is, it got more and more devastation. 00:58.381 --> 01:00.823 Trees down, buildings destroyed, 01:00.823 --> 01:04.232 there were piles of debris everywhere, 01:04.232 --> 01:08.121 medians in the road were stacked up with debris. 01:08.121 --> 01:11.646 The base was eerily quiet. 01:11.646 --> 01:13.410 - [Levi] The closer we got to the base, the more we realized 01:13.410 --> 01:15.040 this was worse than we thought it was gonna be. 01:15.040 --> 01:17.265 - [Pat] We pull up to Tyndall Air Force Base 01:17.265 --> 01:19.250 and it's just complete devastation. 01:19.250 --> 01:21.227 I mean, I couldn't believe it in my eyes, you see pictures, 01:21.227 --> 01:23.680 you hear descriptions, but until you're there, 01:23.680 --> 01:24.860 walking the ground, 01:24.860 --> 01:26.971 you don't have a true appreciation of the devastation 01:26.971 --> 01:28.860 Hurricane Michael caused. 01:28.860 --> 01:30.830 - [Ross] I grew up in Louisiana, with lot's of hurricanes, 01:30.830 --> 01:34.990 and so this was so much more devastating than anything 01:34.990 --> 01:36.810 I experienced as I was growing up. 01:36.810 --> 01:38.460 - [Narrator] Before Michael made landfall, 01:38.460 --> 01:41.972 the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center began 01:41.972 --> 01:44.770 response planning in San Antonio. 01:44.770 --> 01:46.000 As soon as the storm passed, 01:46.000 --> 01:48.817 AFIMSC began receiving requests. 01:48.817 --> 01:51.140 - [Ross] We figured out that they had an immediate need 01:51.140 --> 01:56.140 for MREs and some sort of follow-on food service capability. 01:56.680 --> 02:00.129 So, MREs went in there, as soon as the base 02:00.129 --> 02:02.818 was able to receive it, which was just a couple of days. 02:02.818 --> 02:06.110 And then, within a few weeks after that, 02:06.110 --> 02:09.010 they were able to contract out for an actual field kitchen 02:09.010 --> 02:12.330 and they were feeding hot meals to the entire populace. 02:12.330 --> 02:15.652 Every single one of our hard billet lodging operations, 02:15.652 --> 02:18.670 they were all damaged, some worse than others, 02:18.670 --> 02:20.360 some were completely destroyed. 02:20.360 --> 02:24.910 So, the initial clean up teams stayed in tents 02:24.910 --> 02:28.620 and that went on for months while they were trying to bring 02:28.620 --> 02:29.980 all the rooms back. 02:29.980 --> 02:33.432 - [Jason] There was no fence, there was no perimeter fence. 02:33.432 --> 02:37.381 I think it was ACC tapped into one of their resources, 02:37.381 --> 02:41.611 which is the 820th, who drove from Valdosta, GA 02:41.611 --> 02:46.611 with 150 or more, maybe 200, cops to secure the area, 02:48.120 --> 02:51.227 to kinda reestablish that security. 02:51.227 --> 02:55.533 And then we took the post, we went and made sure that those 02:55.533 --> 02:57.303 sky watch towers were working, 02:57.303 --> 03:00.130 that the troops knew how to work 'em. 03:00.130 --> 03:02.310 - [Narrator] In order to, assess damages and to make 03:02.310 --> 03:03.970 determinations on facilities, 03:03.970 --> 03:06.748 to preserve as much as possible and to clean up debris, 03:06.748 --> 03:10.620 on October 19th AFIMSC sent their Vice Commander 03:10.620 --> 03:12.470 to lead Task Force Phoenix. 03:12.470 --> 03:15.220 - [Pat] We had the ability to see change each and every day. 03:15.220 --> 03:17.359 It was just unbelievable, the amount of work 03:17.359 --> 03:18.870 that we're accomplishing. 03:18.870 --> 03:21.030 Perhaps the most amazing thing was the diversity 03:21.030 --> 03:22.380 of the task force. 03:22.380 --> 03:27.380 We had soldiers, we had sailors, we had active duty 03:28.150 --> 03:31.390 and reserve, we had folks from across the civil engineer 03:31.390 --> 03:34.530 community - both Prime Beef as well as Red Horse. 03:34.530 --> 03:36.710 But that wasn't just it, it wasn't just an engineer force, 03:36.710 --> 03:38.898 we also had folks from the acquisition community, 03:38.898 --> 03:41.430 from the force support services community, 03:41.430 --> 03:43.260 we had folks from the resource management, 03:43.260 --> 03:44.730 the comptroller community. 03:44.730 --> 03:46.214 And they all came together 03:46.214 --> 03:50.344 to form up about a 112 person team, joint service team, 03:50.344 --> 03:52.630 to get after this assess, determine, 03:52.630 --> 03:54.090 preserve, and clear mission. 03:54.090 --> 03:56.250 - [Levi] To see the amount of progress we made, 03:56.250 --> 03:58.073 in the two months we were, that I was, there 03:58.073 --> 04:00.600 it was an incredible, it was a very proud moment 04:00.600 --> 04:02.560 as an Air Force member, to see that many people 04:02.560 --> 04:04.393 come together and get such devastation cleared out 04:04.393 --> 04:06.696 and get the mission going, it was impressive. 04:06.696 --> 04:09.113 (soft music) 04:12.640 --> 04:14.820 - [Narrator] It's been a year and the progress made, 04:14.820 --> 04:18.194 with the resources available, has been remarkable. 04:18.194 --> 04:20.985 - [Patrice] We were on it, pretty immediately. 04:20.985 --> 04:24.649 We've had quite a bit of clean-up done, on the base, 04:24.649 --> 04:27.617 there is quite a bit of demolition that's happened, 04:27.617 --> 04:30.870 that demolition clearly needs to occur 04:30.870 --> 04:32.750 before we can start building new construction. 04:32.750 --> 04:34.810 - [Tom] You know, the first four or five months, 04:34.810 --> 04:38.285 after the hurricane, it was pretty hard to imagine 04:38.285 --> 04:40.820 that this base was going to recover quickly. 04:40.820 --> 04:42.395 But every day, it's gotten a little bit better. 04:42.395 --> 04:44.558 If you left here, eight or nine months ago, 04:44.558 --> 04:46.430 and came back today, you would be shocked 04:46.430 --> 04:48.640 at how much better the base looks, and the community. 04:48.640 --> 04:51.160 - [Brian] In that year, we've restored nearly 04:51.160 --> 04:53.990 all of the mission sets, that we had on the base, 04:53.990 --> 04:55.558 prior to the storm hitting. 04:55.558 --> 04:59.730 We've been able to bring back about 80% of all the people 04:59.730 --> 05:01.400 that we had on the base. 05:01.400 --> 05:03.680 - [Amy] In November when I was down there, it was very dark. 05:03.680 --> 05:07.693 No street lights, buildings didn't have exterior lights, 05:07.693 --> 05:12.693 it was like you were out in the middle of nowhere. 05:12.830 --> 05:15.098 By January, things were starting to look better. 05:15.098 --> 05:19.167 By April, the trailers had started coming in 05:19.167 --> 05:21.030 and most people were back to work 05:21.030 --> 05:24.169 and it was almost back to being a normal base. 05:24.169 --> 05:26.790 (soft music) 05:26.790 --> 05:27.623 - [Brian] Air Force IMSC 05:27.623 --> 05:30.340 and Air Force Civil Engineering Center 05:30.340 --> 05:33.073 have sent, to Tyndall, their champions. 05:33.073 --> 05:35.192 We get all of the expertise, 05:35.192 --> 05:38.150 that the Air Force has to offer, 05:38.150 --> 05:41.920 to ensure that we do this rebuild correct. 05:41.920 --> 05:43.720 - [Tom] You know the Air Force has made 05:43.720 --> 05:44.880 a really strong commitment 05:44.880 --> 05:46.350 to build Tyndall Air Force Base. 05:46.350 --> 05:48.754 Not only as a base, but as the base of the future. 05:48.754 --> 05:50.950 And they've sent us the best planners, 05:50.950 --> 05:53.150 engineers and experts. 05:53.150 --> 05:55.690 Subject matter experts that have really focused 05:55.690 --> 05:57.900 on what this should look like and how the community 05:57.900 --> 05:59.262 can interface with the rebuild. 05:59.262 --> 06:02.290 I'm very very impressed with all that has been done, 06:02.290 --> 06:05.448 by the Air Force and with AFCEC and AFIMSC, 06:05.448 --> 06:07.951 to make sure the best experts are here on site. 06:07.951 --> 06:10.902 - [Amy] We're doing a 30 to 40 year plan at Tyndall, 06:10.902 --> 06:13.250 over the next five years. 06:13.250 --> 06:16.647 So, it was incredible foresight on our leadership to say, 06:16.647 --> 06:19.226 "Hey, let's take advantage of this opportunity to do some" 06:19.226 --> 06:21.520 not just the base of the future 06:21.520 --> 06:23.630 but also the realignment of missions. 06:23.630 --> 06:26.100 - [Levi] The silver lining, to what happened out there, 06:26.100 --> 06:27.393 is we get to build the base of the future, 06:27.393 --> 06:29.233 it's not a complete clean slate, but it's close. 06:29.233 --> 06:33.410 And we get to build what the next generation of bases 06:33.410 --> 06:34.760 should look like and we're gonna do it right 06:34.760 --> 06:35.593 from the ground up. 06:35.593 --> 06:36.648 - [Pat] The landscapes changing, 06:36.648 --> 06:39.010 it's getting better day-by-day, 06:39.010 --> 06:40.120 we're not there yet. 06:40.120 --> 06:41.487 And we're gonna be able to bring back 06:41.487 --> 06:43.400 a strong fighting platform 06:43.400 --> 06:45.938 to tomorrow's standards, for the next fight. 06:45.938 --> 06:48.670 Tyndall Air Force Base is a place that we can go 06:48.670 --> 06:49.970 to take care of our own. 06:49.970 --> 06:51.780 So we're invested, everybody who's been through 06:51.780 --> 06:53.982 Tyndall Air Force Base is curious how it's going today 06:53.982 --> 06:55.860 and how can I help for tomorrow. 06:55.860 --> 06:58.112 So, yes we're going through a fight today at Tyndall, 06:58.112 --> 07:00.624 to rebuild, and we're gonna continue to make that fight 07:00.624 --> 07:03.017 but knowing that it's gonna pay dividends in the future 07:03.017 --> 07:05.411 for the Air Force's capability and capacity 07:05.411 --> 07:07.870 to take the war to the enemy. 07:07.870 --> 07:09.860 - [Brian] We had our air field runway open, 07:09.860 --> 07:11.640 less than 24 hours, 07:11.640 --> 07:14.366 after the storm passed, we were flying, 07:14.366 --> 07:17.610 conducting our flying operations, in and and around, 07:17.610 --> 07:20.937 Tyndall Air Force Base very soon, within a month, 07:20.937 --> 07:22.644 after the storm. 07:22.644 --> 07:27.644 We were hosting exercises on the base, aircraft coming 07:28.010 --> 07:30.520 in from other bases around our Air Force to train 07:30.520 --> 07:34.270 at Tyndall, in less than two months after the storm. 07:34.270 --> 07:38.080 And that is because of the sense of purpose of our Airmen, 07:38.080 --> 07:39.591 who know their mission, who own their mission 07:39.591 --> 07:43.810 and are resilient in getting that mission done. 07:43.810 --> 07:48.290 We are in this together and we could not rebuild the base 07:48.290 --> 07:50.500 if not for that tremendous support, 07:50.500 --> 07:52.970 that direct involvement, those boots on the ground 07:52.970 --> 07:54.703 from AFCEC and Air Force IMSC. 07:54.703 --> 07:57.120 (soft music)