A team of nine Marines and two civilians are all Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico relies on to clear snow and ice off 312 acres of flight line, parking lots and MCAF roadways.

These 11 people “come in twice as early,” said Cpl. Gerald Sears, mobile refueler and one of the Marines on the MCAF clearing crew, to prepare the airfield for the arrival of the nearly 1,000 Marines and civilians who work aboard MCAF.

“Snow here is a huge deal,” said Staff Sgt. Nathan Hendrick, MCAF S-4 chief and Motor Transport chief. “It’s not about the airfield; it’s about getting the president where he needs to be.”

While most base personnel were at home Jan. 29, due to the weather and road conditions, the MCAF team was clearing the airfield in support of Marine Helicopter Squadron One’s operations.

The MCAF team was also hard at work around the clock Feb. 12-14 when Quantico received approximately 11 inches of snow, leaving the base closed all day Thursday and until noon on Friday.

Though Maj. Christopher T. Smith, MCAF S-4 officer, leads the team, much of the work is choreographed by his young Marines: two sergeants, five corporals and two lance corporals.

Clearing the flight line, parking lots and roadways all require different techniques.

While the team can plow snow off the flight line, they can’t remove ice that way. Instead Cryotech, a chemical in the form of small pebbles that melt ice but don’t corrode aircraft like salt does, is put down at least an hour before flights are scheduled, according to Hendrick.

“But after three hours, it can refreeze,” said Smith. “There is a science behind it.”

There isn’t a Marine Corps military occupational specialty for snow clearing, though. So they all learned how to clear snow and ice through on-the-job training, according to Hendrick.

“We have Marines from Florida, Arizona and Jamaica who have never even seen snow, let alone plowed it,” added Hendrick.

Their lack of experience hasn’t hurt them however.

“I can’t speak highly enough (of my Marines),” said Smith. “There has not been one incident of (privately owned vehicle) or fence-line damage this year and they have been clearing some very slippery surfaces.”

This year has seen more snow accumulations than in recent years.

The one snow last year didn’t really need to be plowed, the temperatures would have cleared it, but we did it anyway because it gave us training for when we would need to clear snow, said Hendrick.

“They have an unblemished safety record,” Smith added.

— Correspondent: Rebekka.Heite@usmc.mil