ANDERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Guam –
Airmen from the Virginia Air National Guard, Virginia Beach-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron are serving rotations on a joint tasking to Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, from March 24-June 24, 2015, providing construction support, along with their sister unit, the 202nd RED HORSE Squadron based out of Camp Blanding, Florida.
The focus of the mission for the RED HORSE Squadrons is to erect a 7,500 square foot facility for the Pacific Air Force, which will be used for Facilities Systems Training. The FST facility is being constructed to allow Silver Flag training, which is being moved from Kadena Air Base, Japan to Anderson AFB.
The FST is a one-story, pre-cast concrete “Tilt-Up Construction” building using troop labor, under the Air National Guard Deployment for Training program. The facility is designed to withstand hurricane-force winds and earthquakes. Airmen from the 202nd RHS, 203rd RHS and the Guam-based 254th RHS are supporting the 554th RHS and PACAF. The FTS facility is required to support the Silver Flag mission to provide civil engineer, contracting, and force support contingency training, contingency capabilities, and technical assistance focused on PACAF forces.
“This type of facility design and construction capability using troop labor only resides in RED HORSE Squadrons,” said Lt. Col. Stock Dinsmore, 203rd RHS commander. “The 202nd RHS and 203rd RHS volunteered for this deployment as an opportunity to work with our sister units on a fairly complex construction project. The project requirements and location allowed us to engage nearly all of our different AFSC’s together on a single mission.”
This training mission presents the opportunity for the RED HORSE squadron personnel to focus on: project planning, design, surveying, site development with cut and fill operations, heavy equipment operations, vehicle maintenance and repair, project and troop management, logistical and personnel support, food preparation and lodging procedures, utility systems, and electrical and fire alarm installation.
RED HORSE stands for Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers; the unit provides a highly mobile civil engineering response force to support contingency operations worldwide.