Two RED HORSE Squadrons deploy for OIF, OEF Published April 3, 2007 By Senior Airman Travis Edwards Nellis AFB Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- RED HORSE Airmen from Nellis took-off Saturday morning for a six-month deployment in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. The 820th and 555th RED HORSE Squadrons here are two of only about 11 elite combat engineer squadrons in the Air Force that are self-sustainable and able to create and maintain an air base from scratch. RED HORSE stands for rapid engineers deployable heavy operational repair squadron engineers. This will be the first time the two are deploying together and the first time the 555th RED HORSE Squadron, an Air Force Reserve squadron with members from the Las Vegas area, has deployed since the Vietnam War. Both squadrons will man the 557th Expeditionary RED HORSE, at Balad Air Base, Iraq. While there, they will have two primary missions. One mission includes "in lieu of" tasks. That means they will take over a portion of the Army's job by setting up a bare base in preparation of the Army surge of personnel in Iraq, in addition to numerous other construction tasks assigned by Army forces. "We're exited to finally be able to employ our skills we've been honing since our re-activation in 2002," said Lt. Col. Michael Kozak, 555th RED HORSE commander. "We just want to start our mission and be able to help out as much as possible." More than 400 RED HORSE Airmen are supporting the Army's "in lieu of" tasks and have been since 2005. The other mission will be accomplishing Air Force tasks across the area of responsibilities. Some of the projects include the construction of facilities, roads and airfield pavements maintenance of roads, runways, taxiways, structural maintenance, and helipads among building other structures. "This is what we are here for. We train and train, and now we get to go out there and get it done for real," said Maj. Jarrett Purdue, 820th RED HORSE operations flight commander and acting commander. Before heading to the theater, all deploying RED HORSE personnel will make a month-long stop at Fort McCoy, Wis., to receive combat skills training. During this training the Airmen will learn enhanced combat weapons proficiency training, convoy tactics, expanded self-aid and buddy-care, and detection and response to improvised explosive devices training.
