Caleb Prentice Returns from Deployment

Today, we are excited to welcome back engineering technician Caleb Prentice from his recent tour. A Master Sergeant in the Air Force Reserves, he was away from the office for 10 months. A portion of that time was spent in training, while the rest was overseas. In this short interview, Caleb shares a little about his history in the military and his deployment.

Tell us a little about your background.
For 6 ½ years, I was on active duty in Las Vegas at Nellis Air Force Base. When I was up for renewal, I decided to move to the reserves and transferred to Whiteman Air Force Base, which was closer to family. When joining the Air Force, my goal was to be an engineering assistant. This has helped me develop my skillsets as an engineering technician for life in the civilian sector. As part of my current role as a reservist, I attend monthly training sessions at Whiteman and two-week annual tours each year.

What did you do on your recent deployment?
For this effort, they combined two squadrons, which included around 300 people. Together, we traveled to multiple countries across the Middle East. At each location, we assessed various engineering projects and developed any needed design solutions. While there, we took projects from conception to completion, moving quickly and offering an outside expertise to those on site.

What did you learn from this experience?
This experience provided me with the opportunity to collaborate with a large number of people. Together, we were able to build off one another to find the best solution for each site. There was lots of great teamwork and interesting challenges. Going into each day, we never knew what might pop up. I also had the privilege of leading my team in material testing of concrete, soils, and aggregates, drafting designs and material estimates for vertical and horizontal projects, conducting site surveys in multiple countries, and taking equipment inventory of our survey and material testing assets.

What have you most enjoyed about being back?
That’s an easy answer. It’s great to be back with my family. I have four, young daughters, so it’s been wonderful reconnecting with them, as well as my wife.