Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers

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RED HORSE
US Air Force RED HORSE Emblem.png
RED HORSE emblem
Active1965-present
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Branch Military service mark of the United States Air Force.svg United States Air Force
Role Combat Engineering
Insignia
Red ball cap worn by RED HORSE units with RED HORSE emblem imprinted with the unit's designation on the dozer blade
US Air Force Red Horse Red Ball Cap.jpg
An airman with the 820th RED HORSE Squadron ensures a block is level at a high school construction site in Belize, 2014 New Horizons construction progress on schedule 140409-F-EE220-055.jpg
An airman with the 820th RED HORSE Squadron ensures a block is level at a high school construction site in Belize, 2014
A RED HORSE airman (left) and a Seabee construct building frames at a primary school as part of a joint military construction team supporting Pacific Partnership 2015 US Navy Seabees and US Air Force RED HORSE engineers build a school in Papua New Guinea during Pacific Partnership 150703-N-UQ938-019.jpg
A RED HORSE airman (left) and a Seabee construct building frames at a primary school as part of a joint military construction team supporting Pacific Partnership 2015
Air Force paratroopers with the 820th Red Horse Squadron, Airborne Flight conduct airborne insertion training at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, 2012
Heavy equipment operators from the 820th RED HORSE Squadron operate vibratory rollers to compact material under the runway at Seguin Auxiliary Airfield, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, 2014 820th Red Horse Squadron 140623-F-IJ798-116.jpg
Heavy equipment operators from the 820th RED HORSE Squadron operate vibratory rollers to compact material under the runway at Seguin Auxiliary Airfield, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, 2014

Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer (RED HORSE) squadrons are the United States Air Force's heavy-construction units. Their combat engineering capabilities are similar to those of the U.S. Navy Seabees and U.S. Army heavy-construction organizations. [1]

Contents

About

During the Vietnam War, Air Force "Prime BEEF" ("PRIMary Base Engineer Emergency Force") teams filled a need for short-term construction capabilities. However, the Air Force needed a stable and longer-term heavy-repair capability. The response was to organize two, 400-man (12 officers and 388 airmen) heavy-repair squadrons. [2] RED HORSE units activated in 1966 when Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara asked the Air Force to develop its own combat construction team. [3]

RED HORSE squadrons provide the Air Force with a highly mobile civil engineering response force to support contingency and special operations worldwide. Units are self-sufficient, 404-person mobile squadrons, capable of rapid response and independent operations in remote, high-threat environments worldwide. They provide heavy-repair capability and construction support when requirements exceed normal base civil engineer (Prime BEEF) capabilities and where U.S. Army engineer support is not readily available.

RED HORSE units possess personal and crew-served weapons, vehicles, equipment and vehicle maintenance, food service, emergency management (to include CBRN passive defense and Counter-WMD operations), comptroller, contracting, supply and medical equipment and personnel.

RED HORSE's major wartime responsibility is to provide a highly mobile, rapidly deployable, civil engineering response force that is self-sufficient to perform heavy damage repair required for recovery of critical Air Force facilities and utility systems, and aircraft launch and recovery. In addition, it accomplishes engineer support for beddown of weapon systems required to initiate and sustain operations in an austere bare-base environment, including remote hostile locations, or locations in a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) -prone environment.[ citation needed ]

The primary RED HORSE tasking in peacetime is to train for contingency and wartime operations. It participates regularly in Joint Chiefs of Staff and major command exercises, military operations other than war, and civic action programs. RED HORSE performs training projects that assist base construction efforts while, at the same time, honing wartime skills. Air Force RED HORSE units possess special capabilities, such as water-well drilling, explosive demolition, aircraft arresting system installation, quarry operations, concrete mobile operations, material testing, expedient facility erection, and concrete and asphalt paving.[ citation needed ]

To support the "Open the Airbase" mission, RED HORSE added an Airborne capability in 2003. With this capability, RED HORSE can rapidly deliver small specialized teams and equipment packages by airdrop or air insertion to conduct expedient airfield repairs. Initially, the only RED HORSE unit to have air-inserted troops was the 823rd RED HORSE, in April 2003 at Baghdad International Airport, however, the 554th established an Airborne capability known as the 554th RHS Assault, Assessment, and Repair Operations (AARO, pronounced "arrow") team to provide an Airborne-inserted rapid airfield seizure and repair capability for the Pacific theater. [4]

Units

There are four active-duty, 4 Air Force Reserve Command, and five Air National Guard RED HORSE squadrons: [5]

On 26 April 2022, the 823rd RED HORSE Squadron Detachment 1 was inactivated and replaced by the 801st RED HORSE Training Squadron. [7]

The 1st Expeditionary RED HORSE Group (inactivated) was in the USCENTCOM area of responsibility (AOR). [8] The 557th Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron is now located in the USCENTCOM AOR, and is part of the 1st Expeditionary Civil Engineering Group that also consists of one Prime BEEF Squadrons and one RED HORSE Squadron.

Air Force Reserve:

Air National Guard:

The Air National Guard squadrons are split units with separate commanders. When mobilized (excluding the 219th and 254th), these units come together as one squadron.

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">819th RED HORSE Squadron</span> Military unit

The 819th RED HORSE Squadron is a unit of civil engineers based at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, who are responsible for heavy duty repairs around the world. Originally activated at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, the unit has been active and inactive at several different bases over the last 55 years. The unit was most recently activated as the first ever Air Force-Air National Guard RED HORSE associate unit at Malmstrom on 1 June 1997. The unit is ready at all times to fully deploy to anywhere in the world and remain stationed for an indefinite amount of time. The squadron's most notable deployment was in Vietnam, where it received numerous awards for its work during the war.

References

  1. ↑ "Factsheets : RED HORSE history". Afcesa.af.mil. Archived from the original on 30 August 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  2. ↑ "REDHORSE and PRIME BEEF History". redhorsehistory.com. 2012. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "Airborne RED HORSE (Combat Engineers)". about.com. 11 April 2011. Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  4. ↑ "Print Page - Airborne RED HORSE". Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  5. ↑ "Factsheets : United States Air Force RED HORSE Squadrons". Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency. 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ "Factsheets : 823rd RED HORSE Squadron/Detachment 1". Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  7. ↑ "The first RED HORSE training squadron is up and ready to run". Tyndall Air Force Base. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  8. ↑ Zachary, Stacia (16 September 2009). "Dirt Boyz: Red Horse Airmen build base up amid desert conditions". centaf.af.mil. Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  9. ↑ "News".
  10. ↑ "The National Guard - A RED HORSE rises in Ohio". Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
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