Long name, serious mission: RED HORSE changes command Published Oct. 8, 2008 By Senior Airman Thomas Trower 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq -- The 557th Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron here welcomed new leadership at a change of command ceremony Oct. 6 in Town Hall. Brig. Gen. Brian Bishop, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing commander, presided over the ceremony and presented Col. Wilfred Cassidy as commander of the latest squadron of self-sustaining, mobile Airmen to assume the mantle of this expeditionary wing. "We deploy with our home unit, and this is my second time to lead my unit to (Joint Base Balad, Iraq), so it's different than a normal change of command," Cassidy said. "Still, it's a great opportunity to command and lead a unit in a combat situation such as this." Cassidy will lead the RED HORSE, or Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers, Airmen deployed from the 820th RED HORSE Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. They account for more than 70 percent of all RED HORSE Airmen in U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility and will contribute to the unit's mission at 13 locations across the AOR for approximately six months. "We will have Airmen outside the wire and operating in a joint environment on a regular basis," said Cassidy, a native of Fort Fairfield, Maine. "I'm honored and humbled to serve with the Airmen in the AOR." The new Airmen will have big shoes to fill to maintain the 557th ERHS' record. During the course of Air and Space Expeditionary Force rotation 3/4 alone, the unit designed 62 projects valued at $30.1 million, completed 33 Operation Iraqi Freedom projects valued at $9.2 million, placed 3,400 cubic yards of concrete and constructed 92,000 square feet of new facilities. They also recycled 1.72 million square feet of asphalt and laid another 30,700 tons of asphalt. The commander's current vision is for the unit to provide quality construction services in an expedient manner to warfighters. Maximizing productivity of RED HORSE Airmen in theater can enhance joint operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said. The unit's variety of career fields and the cohesion created when they all are working together provides "outstanding results." The squadron, however, does not work alone, said Cassidy. "The 557th ERHS is a (joint service solution) tasking assigned to Multinational Corps-Iraq, so all of our efforts support our sister services. Most of our work supports the Army at forward operating bases and patrol bases or the Marines at Al Asad Air Base," the colonel said. "Coordination and cooperation with our sister services is critical to our success here in Iraq." Cassidy's goal is to keep his Airmen involved with high-priority work, he said. To do this, they need to improve logistics support, so their engineering craftsmen have the equipment, supplies and materials they need to work with. "My other unit goal is get every one of our Airman home in one piece and better in some way at the end of the deployment," he added.
