PRIME BEEF (Base Engineer Emergency Force) teams of civil engineering personnel were organized, equipped and trained to respond within hours to worldwide emergencies and to support the Air Force's mission. Prime BEEF began in October 1964 following a lengthy base-by-base analysis of the 43,000 military engineers and assigning each to a mobile team ready to respond to natural disasters, humanitarian work or wartime duties. Since their first deployments in 1965, Prime BEEF members have carried on the tradition of excellence set by their predecessors and have been a part of every major conflict or contingency. The Lebanon Crisis of 1958, the Berlin Crisis of 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 demonstrated a need for the capability to respond to worldwide emergencies. Aircraft and support personnel were being deployed without providing runways, water supply, electricity, housing, and other facilities necessary to support them. Civil engineering personnel, who could rapidly respond, were needed to accompany aircraft and to provide basing facilities. The Air Force's answer was the PRIME BEEF program.
